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Jokerit duo Iiro Pakarinen and Hannes Bjorninen were on target as Finland edged past Germany in the World Championship semi-final. The Finns will face Canada, who defeated the USA 4-2 with Justin Danforth among the scorers. Germany plays the Americans in the bronze-medal game in Riga tomorrow afternoon.

Russia’s World Championship campaign ended in disappointment after an overtime loss against Canada knocked Valery Bragin’s team out at the quarter-final stage. For the first time in the tournament, Russia failed to win after scoring first and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky’s first game in this year’s competition proved to be his last. Canada goes on to face the USA in Saturday’s semi-final, while Finland will take on Germany in the other match-up.

In Latvia, the IIHF World Men’s preliminary stage ended with many surprises and unpredictable results. KHL.ru analyzes the performance of its players.

The World Championship quarter-finals promise another instalment of a classic hockey rivalry when Russia takes on Canada. Valery Bragin’s team secured top spot in Group A with an emphatic win over Belarus, while the Canadians crept into the last eight thanks to Germany’s victory over Latvia.

Valery Bragin celebrated his 65th birthday with a shoot-out win over Sweden, a result that means the Tre Kronor cannot progress to the knock-out phase. It’s the first time since the playoffs were introduced in 1992 that Sweden has not been there. Kazakhstan, meanwhile, is still waiting to see if it will make its first ever quarter-final after losing to Norway in its final group game.

Sunday’s action at the IIHF World Championship was all about whether Sweden, Latvia and Canada could get the results they needed to remain in contention for a quarter-final spot. In the event, they all picked up something — Sweden beating Slovakia, Canada thrashing Italy and Latvia taking a point from Finland — to set up a nerve-jangling finale. However, Belarus saw its hopes of progress emphatically ended by Switzerland.

A goal-crazy performance from Kazakhstan brought an 11-3 win over Italy to keep the country’s playoff hopes well and truly alive in Group B of the IIHF World Championship. And Russia continued its steady progress towards the knock-out rounds as Sergei Tolchinsky inspired a 4-1 win over Switzerland.

It would take a brave man to predict the quarter finalists from Group B of the IIHF World Championship after Friday’s play. Just five points separate group leader Finland (10 points from four games) and seventh-placed Norway (five points from five games). As it stands, Latvia is holding on to fourth place, just ahead of Kazakhstan and Canada. In Group A, though, things are clearer after defeats for Great Britain and Belarus pushed those nations to the brink of elimination. However, both the Czechs and Swedes have work to do to get over the line.

It wasn’t quite ‘winner takes all’, but when Sweden met the Czechs in Group A both teams knew that defeat would push them to the brink of elimination. And it was the Czech Republic that got the verdict, battling back from 0-2 to give its playoff hopes a big boost thanks to a game-winner from Lukas Klok. In Group B, a Miks Indrasis goal was not enough to save Latvia from defeat against the USA, while former Dinamo Riga man Tony Sund scored twice as Finland beat Italy 3-0.

Russia eased past Denmark as it recovered from a defeat against Slovakia, while Kazakhstan’s dreams of making the playoffs are enhanced by victory over Germany. However, there was a big shock in Group A as Great Britain defeated Belarus. Also in the evening, Canada recorded its first win of the tournament, downing Norway 4-2.

Sweden, expected to be one of Russia’s big rivals in Group A, finally got a win at the World Championship. After losing to Denmark and Belarus, the Tre Kronor overpowered Switzerland. In Group B, Kazakhstan suffered its first defeat, going down 0-3 against the USA before Finland defeated Norway.

Day four of the IIHF World Championship saw an uncharacteristically sluggish Russian performance end in a 1-3 loss against Slovakia. That’s a first loss of the tournament for Valery Bragin’s team and sees the Slovaks move clear at the top of Group A. The Czech Republic got its first win of the championship in the evening game, edging Belarus in overtime. Latvia briefly went to the summit in Group B after a 3-0 win over Italy but was overtaken by Germany as Canada lost again.

The 2021 IIHF World Championship continues, and so do the surprises. Belarus defeated Sweden for the first time in World Championship play while Kazakhstan stunned defending champion Finland in a shoot-out. It all adds up to Kazakhstan with two wins from two in Group B, while Canada has two losses from two games, and fewer goals than Great Britain.

Day two of the IIHF World Championship saw Russia pick up its second victory with a convincing 7-1 verdict over Great Britain in a rare clash between the two nations on the ice. The other KHL-heavy day saw Kazakhstan produce a big surprise by defeating Latvia in a shoot-out just 24 hours after the host nation beat Canada.

The 2021 IIHF World Championship started with a bang. The opening game saw Russia snatch a dramatic last-minute winner against the Czech Republic, then the evening action brought a sensational result as host nation Latvia stunned Canada with a 2-0 verdict in Riga. Belarus, though, struggled in its game against Slovakia and went down 2-5.

The 2021 IIHF World Championship will start on May 21 in Riga, Latvia. Nine national teams will feature KHL players, while almost all teams in the league will have at least a representative at the tournament. Five teams, however, will be mostly made up of KHL players: Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Latvia, and Finland.