U.S. hoping for improved play at hockey world championships

BERN, Switzerland (AP) -- The United States has shown its inexperience during the second round of the ice hockey world championships.

After losing once in the opening round -- in overtime to Sweden -- the Americans lost two of their last three games. First came a 4-1 loss to Russia on Saturday, and then the U.S. closed the second round with a 4-3 loss in overtime to host Switzerland on Monday.

"We're doing a good job getting leads, but our play late in games has not been good enough," said Atlanta Thrashers defenseman Ron Hainsey, who scored twice against Switzerland. "We have backed off. When teams play in your end for long periods of time bad stuff usually happens."

Still, with an average age below 25, the U.S. advanced to the quarterfinals by finishing third behind Russia and Sweden in Group E, and will face Finland, which finished second in Group F, on Wednesday.

"We don't know much about Finland," Hainsey said. "I've heard (Pekka) Rinne is playing real well so they have a hot goalie and that's a big challenge."

After a long and sometimes sloppy round-robin stage, the remaining teams know there's no more room for mistakes.

"The discipline part of the game has really got to get cleaned up now," said Canada coach Lindy Ruff, whose team won five of the six group games over 11 days and is the top seed in the quarterfinals.

Defending champion Russia opens the quarterfinal round against Belarus, with the winner advancing to play Finland or the United States. Canada gets Latvia in the early game Thursday, and seems likely to reach a semifinal against Olympic champion Sweden or the Czech Republic.

Canada defenseman Dan Hamhuis has been in this position before, helping the team win gold in 2007 and silver last year, after losing the final in overtime to Russia.

"All you really need to do is throw together three really good games, and have a really good goalie, and any of the teams can win it," Hamhuis said.

Canada has the tournament's top offense with 35 goals in six matches -- five wins in regulation before a shootout loss to Finland on Monday -- and will now have to overcome Latvia goaltender Edgars Masalskis.

Masalskis' shootout saves keyed upsets over Sweden and Switzerland, and says his confidence was not shaken by a 6-1 loss to Russia on Sunday.

"It's Russia," he said. "It's not the worst that could happen."

Russia is coached by Slava Bykov, a five-time world champion as a player between 1983-93, who is preaching a team-first style of play.

"The guys are playing very creative and they have fun. They try to play for the team," Bykov said. "We are expecting a bit more from some players."

Russia has trailed in games against Sweden, Switzerland and the United States, but rallied to beat the Americans on Saturday.

"Against the U.S. we played a really solid game and that gave us a lot of confidence," Thrashers captain Ilya Kovalchuk said. "If we are going to play 100 percent, a team game first of all and really good defense then we have a really good chance."

Kovalchuk said a higher standard of play in the domestic Continental Hockey League has helped the national team.

"There are so many great players there and lots of them can play in the NHL, no question," Kovalchuk said.

Sweden and the Czech Republic also have players from the KHL. Swedish forward Mattias Weinhandl, who has four goals and three assists, plays for Dynamo Moscow, while the Czech Republic has former NHL star Jaromir Jagr, who is with Avangard Omsk.

Sweden improved mid-tournament by adding Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kristian Huselius and New Jersey Devils defenseman Johnny Oduya to the roster.

"We had a couple of so-so games in the beginning but we talked a lot and it's getting better and better," Weinhandl said.

Against the U.S., Sweden trailed 5-2 with under 12 minutes left before winning.

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