Switzerland, Finland advance at Worlds

Posted: Mon May 5 6:12 PM

Quebec City, QC (Sports Network) - Switzerland and Finland were afternoon winners Monday in preliminary round play at the 2008 World Hockey Championship.

Julien Sprunger scored a pair of goals to lift Switzerland to a 2-1 victory over Belarus, while Tuomo Ruutu netted the overtime winner to give Finland a 3-2 triumph over Norway.

Martin Gerber stopped 22 shots for the Swiss, who improved to 2-0 in Group A and clinched a spot in the qualifying round of the tournament. The Finns also earned a spot in the next round and would finish atop Group C with a victory in its round-robin finale against Slovakia.

Belarus has dropped its first two games and needs to beat France to avoid the relegation round. Norway picked up one point for the overtime loss and will need to beat Germany to advance to the qualifying round.