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Finland win fiesty contest against USA

Mikko Koivu scored with less than four minutes remaining as Finland came from behind to defeat the United States 3-2 at the World Championship.

However, a feisty encounter was marred by a post-match brawl which flared up after Adam Burish was ejected for butt-ending a Finland player.

The game was ultimately decided by Koivu's strike with 3:50 left as the Scandanavian outfit impressively completed their fightback.

The United States took a two-goal lead to the third quarter after scoring twice in the second. But Finland (4-0) scored three times on 25 shots in the final frame.

Teemu Selanne equalised on a cross-ice pass from Saku Koivu after Ville Koistinen put Finland on the board during thier two-man advantage.

Just as time was running out USA forward Dustin Brown checked a Finnish defenseman into the boards with a hit to the head, touching off a melee that featured a fight between David Backes of the United States and Amsso Salmela of Finland.

Swiss on a role

Koivu's winning goal came on a power-play and ensured that the United States (2-2) can finish no better than third in the group, though America have already qualified for the quarter-final stage.

Finland now face Canada as the top two from the group battle it out to decide who progresses to the next stage as the top seed.

Earlier in Quebec City, Andres Ambuhl and Sandy Jeannin started the scoring as Switzerland went on to record a comfortable 7-2 win over Denmark - Sweden progressing into the quarter-finals as a result.

Marc Reichert, Thierry Paterlini, Paul DiPietro, Philippe Furrer and Beat Forster also scored for the Swiss, who outshot the Danes 54-20, including 23-2 in the second period.

The win moves Switzerland into second place in their qualifying round group with nine points.

Latvia joy

Latvia recorded their second win in five games as they overcame Norway 4-1 to keep alive their play-off hopes.

Herberts Vasiljevs' goal late in the first period proved decisive as the Latvians climbed within a point in the race with Norway for fourth place in their qualifying round group.

Martins Cipulis, Mikelis Redlihs and Lauris Darzins also found the target to leave Latvia needing a win over Germany on Monday to advance.

Lars Erik Spets replied for Norway, who must beat the United States and hope for a German win over Latvia to advance.

Sweden beat the Czech Republic 5-3 to avoid a quarter-final showdown against a top seed.

Swedish success

The win for Sweden moved them past the Czech Republic into third place in their qualifying group, getting a tie-breaking goal from Patric Hornqvist with 4:53 left.

After a scoreless first period, the Swedes took a one-goal lead in the second period courtesy of tallies by Anton Stralman and Marcus Nilson only to see the Czechs level the scores each time on power-play goals by Patrick Elias and Ales Kotalik.

Mattias Weinhandl restored Sweden's lead 1:14 into the third period, but Tomas Fleischman, playing on the top line after Patrick Elias suffered an unknown injury, got it back at 9:41 as he beat Henrik Lundqvist with a wrist shot.

But Hornqvist's fifth goal of the tournament on a rebound from the slot at 15:07 gave Sweden the decisive lead and Nilson got his second of the game into an empty net with 26 seconds left to play.

The Swedes cannot be overtaken by Belarus or Denmark meaning they have now secured a place in the final eight.