The two-time gold medalist USA is early in the quarterfinals of the Ice Hockey World Championships in Finland. With Latvia losing 1-0 (0-0, 0-1, 0-0) to Sweden on Tuesday, the Americans finish fourth in Group B and meet Switzerland, winners of Germany’s Group A, in the round of eight .
William Nylander (35th) scored Sweden’s only goal on the power play. The USA then won their meaningless last game against Norway 4:2 (2:0, 1:1, 1:1).
In Group A, Slovakia secured the last quarterfinal ticket of the 85th title fights. The Olympic bronze medalist defeated Denmark 7:1 (2:0, 3:0, 2:1) in the “final” for the place in the round of eight in Helsinki and pushed the world number tenth out of fourth place.
In Group B, Sweden (18 points) leads ahead of hosts Finland (16), who can secure first place in the evening by beating the twelve-time world champion Czech Republic (7.20 p.m.). The Czechs (13) can still finish second with a win, while third-placed meets the German team in the quarter-finals.