ZURICH (AP) \u2014 The United States set up a quarterfinal showdown with fierce rival Canada at the ice hockey world championship by beating Austria 4-1 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The U.S. and Canada met in the final at the Milan Cortina Olympics in February, when the Americans prevailed 2-1 in overtime<\/a> to take the gold medal.<\/p>\n Connor Clifton, Ryan Ufko, Paul Cotter and Matthew Tkachuk scored against Austria, and Will Borgen registered two assists. Devin Cooley made 25 saves in net.<\/p>\n The victory lifted the defending champion<\/a> to fourth place in Group A. That means it next faces Canada, which had already clinched the top spot in Group B before facing Czechia later Tuesday.<\/p>\n The top four teams in each group qualify for the next stage. The remaining quarterfinal pairings will be determined by the late games.<\/p>\n Clifton found the top corner of the net 5:34 into the game and fellow defenseman Ufko doubled the advantage by one-timing a slap shot from the point 45 seconds later.<\/p>\n Cotter made it 3-0 just 67 seconds into the middle period before Tkachuk buried a rebound on power play at 31:52. It was Tkachuk’s fourth goal in four games since he joined the team last week.<\/p>\n Simeon Schwinger scored for Austria, which finished sixth.<\/p>\n Sweden, Latvia advance<\/p>\n Sweden, the bronze medalist from the last two editions, beat Slovakia 4-2 in Group B in Fribourg to advance to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n