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Thursday May 15, 12:22 PM Canada and Russia take unbeaten ice hockey records into semis Photo: AFP Click to enlarge HALIFAX, Canada (AFP) - Russia and Canada have cruised into the semi-finals while Sweden and Finland needed overtime to advance as the World Ice Hockey Championships now converge on Quebec City for Friday's semi-finals. Defending champion Canada and Sweden both kept streaks alive Wednesday, with Sweden advancing to their eighth and Canada reaching their sixth consecutive semi-finals at the Worlds. Canada, who will face Sweden on Friday, are trying to capture their 25th title and become the first country to win on home ice in 22 years. Derek Roy scored a hat trick as Canada crushed Norway 8-2 and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 22 shots as unbeaten Russia blanked Switzerland 6-0 in their quarter-finals on Wednesday. Russia will face Finland in the other semi. Both Sweden and Finland had to work overtime to get past their opponents. Mattias Weinhandl scored the game winner in overtime as Sweden beat the Czech Republic 3-2 and Finland needed an extra-time goal from defenceman Sami Lepisto to beat the USA 3-2. For the first time in the 100-year history of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Canada is hosting team for the men's championships. Canada and Finland now travel from Halifax to Quebec City to join the two other teams for the semi-finals, bronze medal and gold medal games. With Wednesday's victory, defending champion Canada extended its win streak at the tournament to 16 games, including a perfect 9-0 record in 2007 at the Moscow Worlds. "They are a very disciplined, quick team with great mobility up front and they have one of the best goaltenders in the world," Canada coach Ken Hitchcock said of Sweden. Rick Nash, with two, Jonathan Toews, Dany Heatley and Ryan Getzlaf also scored Wednesday for Canada, who won gold in 2003, 2004 and 2007. "It was one of those games," Roy said. "On the first goal I knew where I wanted to shoot it, but I didn't know where the goalie was. But on the second and third goal I looked up and saw a huge gap. "That's when you just have to shoot and trust your shot." Morten Ask and Mathis Olimb scored for Norway, who were making their first appearance in the quarter-finals since 2000 when the current playoff format was introduced. With no Eric Staal in the lineup, Canada's second line was not clicking, so the third line of Roy, Toews and Shane Doan stepped up against Norway in front of a crowd of 9,192 at the Metro Centre arena. Finnish defenceman Sami Lepisto scored the winner 3:59 into overtime, wristing a long shot from the blueline through the legs of American goaltender Robert Esche. "God it was good to see that puck go in," Finnish forward Teemu Selanne said. The US threw a scare into the Finns as Phil Kessel and Drew Stafford scored just 37 seconds apart to rally from a 2-0 deficit in the third. "We didn't quit," Selanne said. "On those goals we didn't make any mistakes, the puck just went in against us." The Americans were one of the top scoring teams in the tournament with 15 powerplay goals, but it took them more than 55 minutes to get untracked Wednesday. Forward Zach Parise did his best to sum up the roller-coaster of emotions they went through in the third period and overtime. "A lot of disappointment right now," said Parise, of the Americans who lost for the fourth consecutive time in the quarter-finals. "It was a great comeback for us. We didn't quit. Then all of sudden you are packing your bags and going home." Maxim Afinogenov scored twice and Nabokov made 22 saves as Russia rolled over Switzerland. Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Danis Zaripov also scored for the Russians, who have one of the longest gold medal droughts of the traditional hockey giants going back to 1993. Russia has now reached four semi-finals since the current playoff format was implemented in 2000. In their previous three they've come away with a medal each time, just not the shade they hoped for.