Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward made 22 saves to help defending champion Canada reach the world hockey championship semifinals with an 8-2 victory over Norway in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A few hours later, the United States was sent home after Sami Lepisto's goal at 3:59 of overtime gave Finland a 3-2 victory.

In Wednesday's quarterfinal games in Quebec City, Sweden beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in overtime on Mattias Weinhandl's goal at 3:15 of the extra period, and Russia blanked Switzerland 6-0 behind Maxim Afinogenov's two goals.

In Friday's semifinals in Quebec City, Russia will face Finland, followed by Canada and Sweden.

Derek Roy scored three goals and added an assist for Canada, which beat Sweden last year in the semifinals in Moscow.

"Once again, they held on tough," Ward said. "Up until the middle of the second period, they gave us a little bit of a scare."

Another Carolina Hurricanes player, Tuomo Ruutu, scored for Finland, which held a 2-0 lead with less than five minutes left in regulation against the U.S.

But the Americans rallied with goals by Phil Kessel and Drew Stafford 37 seconds apart to force overtime, setting up Lepisto's heroics.

The loss marked the seventh time in the past nine years the U.S. team failed to advance past the quarterfinals.

"It's a disappointment," U.S. forward Zach Parise said. "We didn't quit. Then, all of a sudden, you're packing your bags. It's a tough one for us right now."

In Sweden's victory, the Czechs had just killed off a penalty when Weinhandl slipped a backhanded shot in heavy traffic toward the net that slid inside the goal post.

"It hit some skates and sticks and probably hit everything and just went in," Weinhandl said. "It was a really lucky goal, and that's what we needed."

Russia, seeking its first world hockey championship title since 1993, didn't need any luck in its easy win. The Russians' game against Finland in the semifinals is a rematch of last year when they lost and settled for a bronze medal.