OTTAWA - The Russians are looking to spoil the party at the world junior championships.
Russia poured in four goals in the final period to defeat the Czech Republic 5-1 in the quarter-finals on Friday night to advance to a semifinal meeting against unbeaten Canada on Saturday night (coverage starts on TSN, TSN HD and TSN.ca at 7pm et/4pm pt).
In the other quarter-final, Slovakia used 44 saves from Jaroslav Janus to beat the United States 5-3 in the first big upset of the tournament. The Slovaks will face Sweden in the other semifinal (on TSN, TSN HD and TSN.ca at 3:30pm et/12:30pm pt).
But most of the attention will be on the Canada-Russia game, a classic match-up of the world's two top hockey powers.
"Juniors in Canada is like the NHL playoffs," said Russian forward Evgeni Grachev of the Brampton Battalion. "People are crazy about it here, so it will be a great place to play."
Sergei Andronov, Nikita Filatov, Evgeni Dadonov and Pavel Chernov also scored for Russia, but it was Grachev's goal for a 3-0 lead at 7:26 of the third period with his team shorthanded by two men that was the backbreaker. He stole the puck at centre, went in alone and beat goalie Dominik Furch between the pads.
The Russians have not beaten Canada at the world juniors since a 3-2 victory in the gold medal game in 2003. Canada has won three in a row over Russia since then and will be favoured again playing at home at the Scotiabank Place.
Grachev only recalls losing 8-0 to Canada at last year's world under-18 tournament.
"The last game was 8-0 - not for us - so we really want revenge. It will be a great battle," he said.
The Russians didn't show much until the third period against the Czechs, whom Canada beat 8-1 in round robin play, and will go into the semifinal as underdogs based on their play thus far.
"Like always, it will depend on how the game starts, who will score first," said Filatov, a Columbus Blue Jackets prospect. "But for us it will be very important not to make a lot of mistakes."
Russia also beat the Czechs 4-1 in last year's quarter-finals in the Czech Republic.
Russia got an early goal and pumped in four more in the third to win a game lacking in action for long stretches for the announced crowd of 18,753.
"We finally started to skate again in the third and we scored some goals," said Russian coach Sergei Nemchinov. "It's a great rivalry, Czech-Russia. They're always good games."
Andronov snapped a rebound past Dominik Furch on a power play 11:53 into the game.
Vadim Zhelobnyuk made a handful of smart saves in the second frame and Filatov broke it open when he converted Grachev's pass 1:25 into the third.
Russia was two men short when Grachev caused a turnover at centre ice and went in alone to score at 7:26 before the Czechs got on the board with Radko Gudas' power play goal at 8:01. Dadonov added another at 14:02 on a shot from the slot and Chernov had a power play goal with 30 seconds left to play.
In the night's relegation round game, Latvia trounced Germany 7-1.
After going winless in the preliminary round, Latvia stayed alive with a critical win over Germany.
Latvia scored five goals in the second period, four of them coming in a span of 4:05. Roberts Bukarts provided most of the firepower, netting a hat trick.
Latvian backup goalie Raimonds Ermics tossed his baseball cap onto the ice in celebration of Bukarts' third goal, but was assessed a two-minute penalty and a game misconduct.
It was anticlimax to Slovakia's shocking upset of a powerhouse U.S. squad.
Janus called it "the best game of my life."
The 19-year-old goaltender who went unselected in the NHL draft last June gave Slovakia a shot only a second medal in their history at the tournament, after a bronze in 1999.
"It's one of the biggest moments in Slovakia's history - it's unbelievable," said Janus, who plays in the United States with the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League and joked that he may not be welcomed back to Pennsylvania after putting the U.S out of medal contention.
The Americans will play the Czechs in a battle for fifth place on Sunday.
Tomas Tatar scored twice while Adam Bezak, Jozef Molnar and Richard Panik also scored for Slovakia, which had not beaten the U.S. in their previous eight meetings at the tournament since 1998.
The Americans, beaten 7-4 by Canada on Wednesday in their final round robin game, got power-play goals from defencemen Ian Cole and Jonathan Blum and a late goal from James van Riemsdyk with goalie Thomas McCollum pulled for an extra attacker.
"It was a game of bounces," said U.S. forward Jordan Schroeder, whose team now must play a consolation game. "It was just an unbelievable performance by their goalie - probably one of the best I've seen."
The Americans were considered gold medal contenders going into the tournament, but have a history of falling short of expectations. Since beating Canada for gold in 2004, they have only one medal, a bronze in 2007.
This time, they outshot the Slovaks 47-19 and had a huge advantage in puck possession and scoring chances, but Janus stood his ground.
"We just kept trying to throw pucks at him," said American forward Jim O'Brien. "The dam just wouldn't break. We kept piling it on."
Janus set the tone early when he stopped Schroeder on a penalty shot only 55 seconds into the game after Colin Wilson was hooked on a breakaway.
Bezak went end to end down the right side and beat a shaky McCollum with a shot from the top of the faceoff circle 11:05 into the game.
Less than a minute later, a tic-tac-toe play with Wilson and Schroeder was capped by Cole sliding a puck under Janus on a power play. With the assist, Schroeder passed Doug Weight's team record for assists at the world junior championship with 15.
Panik stole a puck in the U.S. zone and sent Tatar in to score on a backhand shot at 13:41 and Molnar scored after Cole's clearing attempt hit one of the referees and stayed in the zone.
The Slovaks were outshot 16-2 in the second frame, but Janus held the lead, making a blocker save on Eric Tangradi on a backhander from the doorstep 12 minutes in and robbing Tyler Johnson with a glove grab at the side of the net at 16:55.
Janus made two more saves before the puck trickled behind him and Blum poked it in 5:31 into the third.
The mostly pro-Slovakia crowd announced at 18,042 cheered as video review upheld Panik's goal at 11:38 after he blew past Cole and put a shot off the post that went in off a body in front.
McCollum was pulled with about 2:30 left in the game, but a turnover at centre ice gave Tatar his second of the game and fourth of the tournament.
Van Riemsdyk swept in a goal while sliding in the slot with 1:18 left to play.