Canada swept aside Sweden to reach the semi-finals ©IIHF

Canada maintained their pursuit of a successful International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) men’s World Championships title defence in style as they reached the semi-finals with a crushing 6-0 victory over Sweden at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in St Petersburg.

The 2015 champions showed no signs of the frailties exploited by Finland in their final group match as they dominated from start to finish to set up a meeting with the United States in the last four.

Mark Scheifele, Matt Dumba, Brad Marchand, Max Domi, Mark Stone and Derick Brassard all got their names on the scoresheet in a convincing in for the Canadians, who appear to have hit form at just the right time.

Their semi-final opponents progressed in contrasting fashion as the Americans needed a shootout to edge past the Czech Republic 2-1 at the Moscow Ice Palace.

In a repeat of last year’s bronze medal contest, Tomas Zohorna gave the Czechs, who came into the game as slight favourites, an early lead before Auston Matthews wiped out their advantage with a wonderful solo goal in the second period.

After the two sides couldn’t be separated in regulation time, the contest went to a shootout and Matthews was again the man of the moment, scoring the vital penalty to send his team through to the next round.

“They are well-oiled and they made sure we had a hard day,” US captain Nick Foligno said.

“But we just stuck with it, we got a goal at a good time and we had some great goaltending.”

Hosts Russia recovered from a goal down to beat Germany 4-1
Hosts Russia recovered from a goal down to beat Germany 4-1 ©IIHF

Elsewhere, home interest was kept alive by the host nation as they reached the last four by dispatching surprise package Germany 4-1.

The crowd inside the Ice Palace must have feared the worst early on as Yannic Seidenberg broke the deadlock to hand the Germans a shock lead.

But it proved to be a fleeting moment of success for the outsiders as a commanding second period from Russia turned the match on its head.

Goals from Vadim Shipachyov, either side of Yevgeni Dadanov’s effort, put Russia in the driving seat and victory was wrapped up in the third stanza  by Alexander Ovechkin.

The home side will go up against Finland, who swept aside Denmark 5-1 in their last eight clash in St Petersburg, for a place in the final as they bid to avenge the defeat in the 2015 showpiece game to Canada.

The semi-final matches take place on Saturday (May 21) at the Ice Palace.