At least one Chicago Blackhawks player will be on the winning team for the World Cup of Hockey.
Team Russia defeated Team Finland, 3-0, on Thursday to earn its spot in the semifinals against Group A winners Team Canada, while Group B winners Team Sweden face off against Team Europe.
There will be seven Blackhawks players in the semifinals: Corey Crawford and Jonathan Toews (Canada), Marian Hossa (Europe), Niklas Hjalmarsson and Marcus Kruger (Sweden) and Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin (Russia).
Team Canada clinched the top spot in Group A behind Toews’ two-goal performance in a 4-1 victory over Team Europe on Wednesday night. The Hawks captain has three goals, an assist and 10 shots on goal in three games. Crawford stopped 19-of-20 shots in the win for his first major international tournament victory.
Anisimov and Panarin each have one assist for Russia.
Hjalmarsson has played a key role on Sweden’s blue line. He has a positive Corsi percentage in two of the three games and is a minus-1 Corsi overall (46 Corsi for and 47 Corsi against). He’s also chipped in 6 minutes, 54 seconds of ice time on the penalty kill. Kruger posted a positive Corsi percentage in two of three games so far, and overall has a minus-5 Corsi. He’s also been a factor on the penalty kill with 7:55 of ice time.
Hossa’s success for Europe has been all over the stat sheet. He scored the team’s lone goal against Canada and has six shots in the tournament. He’s averaged about 20 minutes per contest with a minus-8 Corsi.
Semifinal schedule
Saturday, Sept. 24
Canada vs. Russia
Time: 6 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN2
Sunday, Sept. 25
Europe vs. Sweden
Time: Noon CT
TV: ESPN