Ice Hockey: Late winner takes Russia into semis

Grigori Zheldakov scored in overtime to lead Russia to a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals of the world junior hockey championships.

By The Newsroom

Published 4th Jan 2012, 03:37 BST

Zheldakov took a pass from Nikita Kucherov and sent a slap shot past Czech goalie Petr Mrazek to a berth against Canada in the semi-finals. Finland defeated Slovakia 8-5 and will face Sweden in the second semi-final.

After starting the tournament with three wins – 3-0 over Switzerland, 3-1 over Slovakia and 14-0 over Latvia – Russia gave up a three-goal lead and lost 4-3 in overtime to Sweden on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Czechs began with a 7-0 win over Denmark before losing 5-0 to Canada. They then stunned the United States 5-2 before losing 4-0 to Finland in their final preliminary round game.