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MINSK, Belarus -- Finland blanked the Czech Republic 3-0 in the semifinals of the ice hockey world championship on Saturday to set up a final against Russia. Wholesale Jerseys . Earlier Saturday, Russia beat defending champion Sweden 3-1 in a matchup of the last two title holders to advance to the title game. Finlands Jori Lehtera netted a backhand in the first period before Jarkko Immonen scored on a power play in the second and Lehtera added his second into the empty net in the third. Goaltender Pekka Rinne stopped 20 shots for the shutout. Finland struggled in the group stage, losing three games, and needed a help from Switzerland to advance before eliminated Canada in the quarter-finals. "We had a tough time in the group stage and almost every game was a must win for. Now, weve been able to enjoy the game, nothing to lose" Rinne said. "As a team weve come together and its been great fun. Im really excited about this opportunity." Russia meanwhile, has won all nine of its games at the tournament, and is now one win away from its second title in three years and has a chance to avenge a disappointing loss to Finland in the quarter-finals in the Sochi Olympics. Finland last won the worlds in 2011. "Our team has a character," Russia coach Oleg Znarok said. Showing off its attacking power, Russia rebounded from an opening goal by Oscar Moller just 19 seconds into the game as Sergei Plotnikov and Sergei Shirokov both scored later in the first period. Defenceman Anton Belov drove a slap shot into the net on a rebound to make it 3-1 in the second in front of roaring Russian fans. Russia outshot Sweden 34-23, while goaltender Sergei Bobrovski made big saves to deny Moller and Joakim Lindstrom in the middle period. Danis Zaripov and defenceman Evgeni Medvedev had two assists each and star forward Alex Ovechkin got one assist in his second straight game after recovering from a right leg injury. "I had a new knee brace and felt much better," Ovechkin said. "I cant say I am 100 per cent fit but the situation is that one must be ready for anything. We have one game left and we must do everything to make sure we win." Plotnikov scored from the right circle on a rebound after 13:25 and Shirokov wristed a shot past goaltender Anders Nilsson to put Russia 2-1 ahead with two minutes left in the period. "I dont think we came up to our best level," Nilsson said. "I think they were better than us today, they had more chances and we didnt create enough chances to win." Sweden pulled Nilsson with more than two minutes to play in the third and their advantage increased to six-on-four when Denis Denisov was penalized for interference with 1:40 remaining. But all Swedish hopes ended when Mikael Backlund was ejected for a hit on Plotnikov. That incident prompted angry exchanges between Znarok and a Swedish team official. Sweden and the Czechs now have to recover for Sundays bronze medal game. "Its not the medal we wanted to play for the last game but we dont want to go home empty handed," Sweden forward Gustav Nyquist said. Cheap Jerseys . Kyrie Irving scored 22 points and the Cavaliers won their sixth straight game, 101-93 over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. Cheap NFL Jerseys .Y. -- The NFL says the number of concussions in practices and games in the preseason and regular season dropped 13 per cent from 2012 to 2013.CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Say goodbye to the NASCAR era when a driver, fresh off a satisfying, top-10 finish, climbs from the car and raves about what a good points day it was. Winning is all that matters under the latest and most radical change to the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. NASCARs overhauled championship format announced Thursday is a 16-driver, winner-take-all elimination system designed to reward "the most worthy, battle-tested" driver at the end of the season. "Riding around and being pleased because the (previous) format rewards consistency, those days are going to be pretty much over," NASCAR Chairman Brian France said. The field, expanded from 12 to 16 drivers, will be whittled down to a final four through eliminations after every three races of the 10-race Chase. The remaining four drivers will go into the season finale with an equal chance to win the championship: The first of the four to cross the finish line will be crowned Sprint Cup champion. "No math. No bonus points. Its as simple as it gets," France said. Its the fourth change to either the points or championship format since France created the Chase in 2004. For 28 years prior to the Chase, consistency reigned as the champion was the driver with the most points at the end of the season. That ended a year after Matt Kenseth won the 2003 title with a single victory, and France began his pursuit of creating "Game 7 moments." Along the way, he has pushed his agenda of wanting aggressive drivers chasing wins. Hell get that under the new format, which makes settling for points pretty much pointless. Why? Because a win in the 26-race regular season virtually guarantees a berth in the Chase. Then, eliminations begin, and a driver can guarantee a trip to the next round with a victory. Last August, Brad Keselowski chased Kyle Busch around Watkins Glen and declined to aggressively move his rival out of the way. Keselowski settled for second, racing for a good points day and declining to inflame his touchy relationship with Busch. But in doing so, he failed to win a regular-season race and missed the Chase, making him ineligible to defend his title. Under the new format, a winless Keselowski would have no choice in that same situation but to bang fenders with Busch and go after the win. Thats exactly what France wants to see on the track each week. "This is pretty clear: You have to win, you have to compete at a higher level, you have to take more chances," France said. France said he expects contact among cars. "Obviously there are some limits, but thats always part of NASCAR, to have some version of contact late in the race," he said. "Will this bring more of that? Im sure it will." The changes were lauded by Julie Sobieski, vice-president of league sports programming for ESPN, which will broadcast all 10 Chase races this year. "We have long felt that there was a greater opportunity within the Chase and are in favour of an elimination format, which has been most effecctive in American sports," she said. Wholesale NFL Jerseys. Teams and drivers were briefed by NASCAR on the changes, and reaction was mostly positive. "This took guts, this is a big deal," said team owner Joe Gibbs, who saw his three Cup drivers combine for a series-best 12 wins last season. Busch, who won four races and finished fourth in the standings, wasnt as effusive. "I dont like to always be the Debbie Downer ... but some of the things they are doing, Im not in agreement with," Busch said, declining to be specific because he spoke before NASCAR unveiled the format. He noted that Keselowski would have had incentive to wreck Busch at Watkins Glen, and said there are other scenarios NASCAR must now consider. He referred to last season, when, Kenseth opened the Chase with a win at Chicago, where Busch followed his teammate across the finish line for a 1-2 finish for Gibbs. They again went 1-2 at New Hampshire the next week. But in the new format, thats not necessarily good enough. Busch would instead be looking to win in such a scenario to ensure a trip to the next round. "Im chasing him down to try to get to him, and if I got to him, I could have moved his (butt) out of the way to get a win and knock me into the next round of playoffs. Matt didnt need it," Busch said. "Those situations are what NASCAR is looking at. They are not wanting, Lets just race to the checkered and not cause any drama and have a good points day." Another twist: In the Kenseth-Busch scenario, it would have been in the best interest of Joe Gibbs Racing for Busch to win and, because the points reset after each round, meaning multiple victories by a driver in the Chase has no benefit -- the team would have incentive to orchestrate a Busch victory over Kenseth. "That would be a NASCAR grey area that theyd have to make a judgment call on," Busch said. NASCAR last year issued severe sanctions against Michael Waltrip Racing for trying to manipulate the finish of the last race of the regular season. The scandal led France to angrily warn teams they must all give 100 per cent at all times, and laying down to help a teammate or technical partner would not be tolerated. NASCAR President Mike Helton said nothing will change in race control and how officials enforce the rules. "Well officiate the sport the same way," Helton said. "We get the fact that this puts pressure on us officiating, and we feel like were capable of stepping up to it." France said extensive research done by NASCAR showed the new format appealed to fans because it eliminates points racing. "The avid fans like it because they dont particularly care for points racing, even though they understand it," France said. "The casual fans dont understand points racing ... often, with all the mathematicals, youve got to have a computer next to you to figure out who is in and who is out at a given moment. (This) clears all that off and then emphasizes winning, which everybody understands." cheap jerseys from china cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
