WC: Quarter finals today

17 May 2012 | Fredrik Pålsson

The four World Championship quarter finals are played today in Helsinki and Stockholm

After a long preliminary round it's finally time for the elimination round of the World Championship with the quarter finals played today.

In Helsinki group winners Canada plays fourth placed Slovakia in the early game at 13:00 local time (12:00 CET). Canada is favourites in this game but has to play without suspended Marc Methot. The teams played each other on the opening day with Canada winning a close game 3-2.

The early game in Stockholm starts at 14:45 (CET) and is played between group winners Russia and fourth placed Norway. Russia is still unbeaten and should be huge favourites in this game now also with Ovechkin and Semin joining the the team. Norway however has shown great form lately and perhaps they can shock Russia on the Norwegian national day.

The late game in Helsinki (18:30 local time, 17:30 CET) is played between hosts Finland and USA. The teams played each other four days ago and USA won that game easily 5-0. Can Finland recover from that game or will it be a disappointing championship for the main hosts?

The final quarter final is played in Stockholm between the home team Sweden and Czech Republic. This quarter final could be a close game between two classical teams. At the group stage Sweden won easily 4-1 in the group stage but this should be a closer game as the Czechs looked strong at the end of the group stage. Sweden has some injury problem and might only have five defenders.