(Utica) Renata Fast scored two goals in Canada’s 5-1 win over Sweden in the quarterfinals of the women’s world hockey championship on Thursday.
The Canadians will face the Czech Republic in the semi-final on Saturday.
The Czechs won bronze in the last two editions of the championship.
Thursday’s final quarterfinal match pitted the defending champion Americans against the Japanese.
Finland also booked their ticket to the semi-finals, beating Switzerland 3-1. The Czech Republic defeated Germany 1-0.
Laura Stacey, Natalie Spooner and Jaime Bourbonnais also scored for Canada, which has seen 11 players hit the target so far in the tournament.
Defender Jocelyne Larocque collected two assists.
Hilda Svensson scored Sweden’s goal.
Last year, Sarah Nurse scored in overtime to give the Canadians a 3-2 victory against the same Swedes, also in the quarter-final.
Emerance Maschmeyer stopped 17 shots for Canada, while Emma Soderberg, who blocked 51 pucks against the Canadians last year, stopped 39.
The Canadians led 2-1 after 20 minutes of play. They added a third goal in the second period.
Canada was scoreless on four power plays in the game and found the back of the net just once in 14 with an extra player in the tournament.
On the other side, the Canadians conceded a first goal shorthanded, this one at 11:46 of the first period.
In the group stage, Canada defeated the Czech Republic 5-0 to go 3-0-1-0 and take second place in Group A, behind the undefeated United States.
Switzerland and Germany will face each other in a relegation match on Saturday. The winners will be from next year’s Group A.