MOSCOW, May 8 (RIA Novosti) - With six wins out of six matches played, Russia's national team is set to continue its winning streak in a quarterfinal encounter in the 2007 Ice Hockey World Championship in Russia against the Czech Republic on May 9.
The undefeated Russian team finished the qualifying round of the championship Monday on top of Group E with a maximum of 15 points after squeezing out a 4-2 win over reigning World Champions Sweden.
Although Russia missed its superstar forward Alexander Ovechkin, due to his one-game suspension, and two of their goals were disallowed, the team still managed to come out victorious against the Swedes, with forward Alexei Morozov scoring twice, while forward Yevgeny Malkin, who also plays for NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, and defender Denis Grebeshkov, 23, each scored a goal. Sweden's forwards Martin Thornberg and Alexander Steen were the goal scorers for their team.
Sweden will now meet Slovakia in the quarterfinals Wednesday, while Russia, just like in the 2006 World Championship quarterfinals in Riga, Latvia, will meet the Czech Republic, who edged the Russians out 4-3 in overtime last year.
Morozov said after Monday's match, which was not a decider for either team as they were already through to the next round, that the issue of whether it would be better to play against the Slovaks or the Czechs in the quarterfinals was not even mentioned.
"We are not in the habit of guessing and we will play any opponent we get," the 30-year-old forward of the Russian team said. "Now we know we will play the Czechs. We will try to press on them our hockey and will definitely do everything to win."
Morozov, who at the moment leads the tournament top goal scorers with 13 goals, said the game against Sweden was nervous for both teams, but was also good practice before the knockout stage as Sweden is one of the strongest teams.
"Playoff matches are always aggressive and the match with the Czechs will be no exception," he said.
Although the Russian team is currently ranked 5th in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), Russian hockey fans are pinning great hopes on their national team, which has not won the championship for 13 years. However, Russians consider Moscow a lucky venue bringing gold to the Soviet Union team in 1973, 1979 and 1986 - the last three times the Russian capital hosted the World Championship.
In the other two quarterfinals matches Group F leader Canada, which also has not lost a single game, will meet with the team from Switzerland, while the United States will face Finland; both games are scheduled for Thursday, May 10.
