BUFFALO, N.Y. — Kristian Reichel and Martin Necas scored shootout goals and the Czech Republic defeated Finland 4-3 in a world junior quarterfinal on Tuesday.
The Czechs will play Canada in the semifinals on Thursday night.
Drake Batherson scored twice as Canada earned an 8-2 quarterfinal win over Switzerland.
The Canadians beat the Czech Republic 9-0 on Dec. 20 in a pre-tournament exhibition game in London, Ontario. However, the Czechs didn’t put out their full roster and had just arrived in North America.
Brett Howden added a goal and two assists for Canada, which won Group A with three wins and a shootout loss. Cale Makar, Jordan Kyrou, Conor Timmins, Dillon Dube and Maxime Comtois also scored.
Canadian goalie Carter Hart stopped 12 shots for the win.
Filip Zadina scored twice in regulation for the Czech Republic, including the tying goal with 2:26 remaining in the third period. Reichel scored the other goal. Josef Korenar made 51 saves.
Aapeli Rasanen, Olli Juolevi and Kristian Vesalainen had goals for Finland. Vesalainen also had the only Finnish goal in the shootout. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 26 saves.
The defending champion United States plays Russia in a quarterfinal Tuesday night.
In the opener of a three-game relegation series, Andreas Grundtvig scored with 15 seconds left in the third period to lead Denmark to a 5-4 comeback victory over Belarus.