Ice hockey-Swiss beat Czech in OT thriller as men's group stage enters final day

MILAN, Feb 15 : Switzerland beat Czech Republic 4-3 in the first overtime win of the men's Olympic ice hockey tournament on Sunday, finishing second in Group A behind powerhouse Canada, as the final day of the preliminary stage kicked off at Santagiulia arena.

Canada have already clinched a place in the quarter-finals and will look to run up the score when they play underdogs France later on Sunday, with goal differential a potential determining factor in their pursuit for the top overall seed out of the group stage.

The United States hope to notch a third straight win when they wrap up Group C against Germany, after the winless Denmark meet Latvia, who are 1-1 through the first two games, in the final two fixtures of the men's preliminary stage on Sunday.

The winners of each of the three preliminary groups and the next best overall team automatically advance to the quarter-finals in Milan, while the remaining teams compete in a single-elimination qualification play-off.

Slovakia surged past Finland and Sweden in the standings to finish top of Group B on Saturday.

SWISS SEAL IT IN OT

Switzerland were playing without their injured forward Kevin Fiala, who suffered a tournament-ending injury during Friday's defeat by Canada, but showed their mettle in a terrific comeback win, as Dean Kukan fired one over the Czech goalie's shoulder to seal it.

Czech forward Filip Chlapik opened up the scoring late in the first period, off a precision pass from Martin Necas, but were unable to get the puck past the Swiss goalie Leonardo Genoni on a power play in the final moments before the first intermission.

The Swiss captain Roman Josi tapped one off the skate of the Czech defenceman Radko Gudas and into the net to level it late in the second