The Russian national ice hockey team has beaten the German team, reaching the semifinals of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship taking place in Edmonton, Canada.
The quarterfinal meeting, which took place on Saturday, ended with a score of 2: 1 (1: 0, 1: 0, 0: 1). Russian team members Vasily Ponomarev (10th minute) and Danil Bashkirov (29) scored the goals. Florian Elias scored for the Germans (44).
The Russian Ice Hockey Federation tweeted its congratulations to the Russian hockey players, and expressed respect for the German team.
"This is victory! The Russian national team is in the semifinals of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship! Respect for the Germans. Thanks to our guys for the game. To us - for our support. Wow!" the post reads.
In other quarterfinal matches, the Finnish team will later play against Sweden, Canada against Czech, and the US against Slovakia. The teams that reach the semifinals will be distributed in line with the results in the group stage, depending on final place, points scored, difference between goals scored and goals conceded, and the overall number of goals scored.
At the moment, group round ranking is as follows (from first team to last): Canada, USA, Finland, Russia, Sweden, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia. In the semifinals, the first team in the ranking will play against the last, the second against the third.
Thus, Russia can play with Canada in the semifinals if all four best teams in the preliminary stage win in the quarterfinals. In any other scenario, the Russians would meet the hosts of the tournament only in the finals or in the match for third place.
The semi-finals of the World Cup will be held on the night of January 5 while the final and third place match will take place on the night of January 6. The tournament is being held in Edmonton, Canada.