Bern, Switzerland (My Sportsbook) - Sweden rallied late and scored the game- winner at the 1:59 mark of overtime from Kristian Huselius to take a 6-5 win over the United Sates at the 2009 World Hockey Championship.
Mattias Weinhandl finished the game with two goals and an assist while Magnus Johansson had a goal and two assists for the Swedes, who finished atop the Group C standings.
Jack Johnson and John Michael Liles each had a goal and two assists for the Americans, who held a three-goal lead in the third period, but coughed it up to finish second in Group C.
In other Group C action, Latvia notched a 2-0 win over Austria to claim the final spot from the Group.
The other big game of the day saw Finland take a 4-3 win over the Czech Republic to claim first place in the Group D standings.
Niko Kapanen had two goals and two assists while Niklas Hagman scored the game-winner with 8:01 to play in the third period for the Finns, who got 18 saves from Pekka Rinne.
Miroslav Blatak, Tomas Rolinek and Ales Kotalik each had a goal for the Czechs, who finished second in Group D.
Norway captured a 5-4 overtime win against Denmark on Wednesday to gain the final qualifying spot from Group D.
Only the top three finishers from each of the four groups advance to the qualification round.
Canada, Belarus and Slovakia advanced from Group A, while defending champion Russia, Switzerland and France moved on from Group B.
The qualification round, which starts Thursday, consists of two groups with six teams each playing a round robin. Group A and Group D will make up one of the qualification groups, while Group B and Group C will account for the other.
Teams carry the points from the preliminary round with the teams that they played and advance with. For example, Canada won all three of its games in Group A, but only carries the six points from the two victories against Belarus and Slovakia.
Also, teams that have already met in the preliminary round do not square off again in the qualification round, meaning Canada will next play Finland, the Czech Republic and Norway.
The top four teams from each qualification group then advance to the single- elimination quarterfinals.
