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QUEBEC CITY -- Miracle upsets are on the minds of Norway and Switzerland going into the quarterfinals of the ice hockey World Championship on Wednesday.
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In Quebec City, the Swiss face Alexander Ovechkin and the powerful Russians while the Czech Republic meets Sweden. In Halifax, Norway faces Canada and the United States plays Finland in the first knockout round of the tournament.
The unbeaten Russians dominated Switzerland in the final group robin game for both teams on Monday, taking a 4-0 lead before letting up in the third period and settling for a 5-3 win.
Swiss coach Ralph Krueger said getting a feel for the high pace at which the Russians played in that game will help his side cope with the onslaught they expect to see again.
"We can only hope that they take that confidence and that feeling of having the Ovechkins and the (Ilya) Kovalchuks coming down at you -- something they never see all year -- and learn how to deal with it," Krueger said.
But the Russians learned a lesson of their own. For two periods, they allowed very little skating in their zone, holding Switzerland to eight shots, but then let them into the game in the third.
It is that sort of letdown that has sunk many talent-laden teams from Russia, which has not won a World Championship since 1993.
Sweden enters its game as the defending Olympic champion, but an underdog at the World Championship without Mats Sundin, Peter Forsberg or Detroit Red Wings teammates Nik Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom, not to mention Johan Franzen.
But Sweden beat the Czechs 5-3 in their final round-robin game, wasting three one-goal leads before Patric Hornqvist scored the winner with five minutes left to play.
The Swedish advantage is in goal. Henrik Lundqvist has shone while the Czechs' Milan Hnilicka has been only average.
"We've been playing better and better," said coach Bengt Gustafsson, whose attack has been led by Mattias Weinhandl, who has 10 points, and linemate Tony Martensson, who has nine.
The Finland-United States game comes only three days after their last encounter, which had more than 200 minutes in penalties and ended in a melee.
And there was controversy. Trailing 2-0 going into the third period, Finland's first goal credited to Ville Koistinen was shot through a hole in the side of Robert Esche's net. The goal stood up after video replay, prompting the IIHF to apologize and fire the video judge.
That started a three-goal third period that ended with a 3-2 win for Finland, which outshot the Americans 45-22.
The game also saw Olli Jokinen ejected for a hit from behind on Tim Gleason and a vicious hit by Dustin Brown on Jussi Jokinen. Olli Jokinen was suspended for Finland's 6-3 loss to Canada on Monday, but will be back for the quarterfinals.
For Canada, their game against Norway could be nervy.
In the round robin, Canada's margin of victory over lowly Norway was only 2-1 as little-known Pal Grotnes made 50 saves against Dany Heatley, Daniel Briere, Shane Doan and company.
A Rick Nash goal with four minutes left to play gave Canada the victory.
Goalies can steal games against even the best teams, although Grotnes was thrashed in a 9-1 loss to the United States on Monday in which he faced 48 shots.
Heatley leads the tournament with nine goals and 13 points while Nash has 10 points.
