US beats Austria to set up a quarterfinal against Canada at ice hockey world championship

ZURICH (AP) — The United States set up a quarterfinal showdown with fierce rival Canada at the ice hockey world championship by beating Austria 4-1 on Tuesday.

The U.S. and Canada met in the final at the Milan Cortina Olympics in February, when the Americans prevailed 2-1 in overtime to take the gold medal.

Connor Clifton, Ryan Ufko, Paul Cotter and Matthew Tkachuk scored against Austria, and Will Borgen registered two assists. Devin Cooley made 25 saves in net.

The victory lifted the defending champion to fourth place in Group A. That means it next faces Canada, which had already clinched the top spot in Group B before facing Czechia later Tuesday.

The top four teams in each group qualify for the next stage. The remaining quarterfinal pairings will be determined by the late games.

Clifton found the top corner of the net 5:34 into the game and fellow defenseman Ufko doubled the advantage by one-timing a slap shot from the point 45 seconds later.

Cotter made it 3-0 just 67 seconds into the middle period before Tkachuk buried a rebound on power play at 31:52. It was Tkachuk’s fourth goal in four games since he joined the team last week.

Simeon Schwinger scored for Austria, which finished sixth.

Sweden, Latvia advance

Sweden, the bronze medalist from the last two editions, beat Slovakia 4-2 in Group B in Fribourg to advance to the quarterfinals.

Ivar Stenberg, a top prospect for next month’s NHL draft, scored the winning goal, Anton Frondell and Jakob Silfverberg had goal apiece and Oliver Ekman-Larsson sealed the win with an empty-net score.

Sweden clinched fourth place and will next face either Switzerland or Finland — those two square off later Tuesday to determine the Group A winner.

Slovakia finished fifth and didn’t advance.

Latvia reached the quarterfinals by routing Hungary 8-1, moving to third place in Group A. Germany dropped to fifth and is eliminated.

Norway, which has already qualified for the last eight for the first time since 2012, needed overtime to down Denmark 4-3 in Group B action in Fribourg.

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The Associated Press