Norway earned a date with Canada and sent Slovakia to the relegation round at the IIHF world championship last night with a 3-2 victory over Germany at the Metro Centre.
Morten Ask score the winner on a two-man power play with just 4:07 remaining to help Norway earn the final spot in the qualification round, which starts today.
Canada plays Norway at 4:30 p.m., while the United States will face off against Germany at 8:15 p.m.
Mats Zuccarello Aasen and Marius Holtet scored Norway’s other goals, and defenceman Mats Trygg added three assists. Goaltender Pal Grotnes needed only 19 saves for the win.
Attendance was 7,414.
Slovakia missed a chance at the qualification round earlier in the day when it lost 3-2 to Finland. Up next for the Slovakians is a three-game relegation series with Slovenia.
Canada is now set up to face Germany on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and Finland on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
Unbeaten Finland earned the win over Slovakia before a crowd of 7,262 with goals from Teemu Selanne, Tuomo Ruutu and Niko Kapanen. Nicklas Backstrom stopped 37 shots.
Finland, which won silver last year, has been squeaking past opponents so far, but will get a boost with Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu set to join the team.
At Quebec City, Switzerland stunned Sweden with a 4-2 victory, while Belarus beat France 3-1.
Switzerland and Russia finished unbeaten in Quebec City, while France and Italy are headed to the relegation round.
>> The IIHF rejected a request from the World Anti-Doping Agency to suspend German forward Florian Busch.
