Vancouver - Brian Rafalski scored two goals and Ryan Miller made 42 saves as the
United States reached the men's ice hockey quarter-finals on Sunday with a stunning 5-3 victory over hosts and gold medal favourites Canada.
Canada outshot the US 45-22 but must now go through an extra round to make the quarters where
Russia would wait.
Rafalski scored the first of his two goals just 41 seconds into the game and Ryan Kesler hit an empty net goal with 44.7 seconds to play in shocking the crowd at Vancouver's Canada Hockey Place on a day billed in Canada as "Super Sunday."
"We got goal support from the guys, and we held in there and battled for each other. In the second period we answered the call. And really got a big power play goal in the third," said Miller.
"I'm just trying to build my CV. I'm just trying to chip away and get us to that medal round."
The victory means the United States advance to the quarter-finals by winning the Group A with a 3-0 record. The win came one day shy of the 30th anniversary of the Americans' "Miracle on Ice" 4-3 victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics.
Canada dropped to 2-1 and will next face Germany in the qualification round for a spot in the final eight, where Sidney Crosby and company would then take on two-time reigning world champions Russia.
The US jumped ahead after just 41 seconds on a long distance shot by Rafalski after a Canadian turnover in their own zone. Eric Staal knotted the game at 1-1 for the hosts 8:53 into the first period. But Rafalski struck again just 22 seconds later for a 2-1 advantage.
Dany Heatly evened the game again 2-2 early in the second period only to see Chris Drury take advantage of a poor poke-away attempt by Canada net-minder Martin Brodeur to give the US the lead again 3-2 with less than four minutes left in the second.
The Canadians gave up three power plays early in the third and Jamie Langenbrunner capitalised on the last of them to give Team USA a 4-2 advantage with just over 13 minutes to play.
Sidney Crosby made things interesting with a power play goal to cut the
deficit to 4-3 with just over three minutes remaining. But Kesler scored a superb empty-net goal, swatting at the puck around a defender on a breakaway for the final 5-3 scoreline.
"We expected a tough game. They got a few bounces early. But we had our chances as well. We had some penalties in the third that slowed our comeback," said Crosby.
"(Miller) was solid. He made some big saves. It's one game, and you can run into tough goalies."
The great day of hockey started with Russia beating the
Czech Republic 4-2 thanks to two goals by Evgeni Malkin.
Russia won Group B with seven points from two victories and an overtime loss to advance to the quarter-finals. The Czechs are second with six points and need to advance to the next round via a play-off.
In the final day Sweden made sure of winning Group C with a 3-0 victory against Finland - a result that sees them through to the quarter-finals.
2006 silver medallists Finland, who finished as best runner-up of the three groups, also qualified directly for the round of the last eight.
