Ilya Kovalchuk of Russia celebrates after scoring in his team's quarterfinal match against Belarus on Wednesday
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Russia eliminated Belarus and advanced to the semifinal of the Ice Hockey World Championship on Wednesday but not before underdog Belarus made it a close game.
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Ninth-ranked Belarus managed to keep Russia without any goals during the first period but fell by a score of 4-3. It was their second-best result ever at the world tournament.
Russia finished the game with 32 shots on goal versus 22 for Belarus but trailed twice. The game was held in Bern, the Swiss capital.
Captain Konstantin Koltsov scored first for Belarus, at 22:39. Vitali Proshkin followed less than three minutes later to even the score for Russia.
Oleg Antonenko put the former Soviet republic ahead at 33:52 but Vitali Atyushov of Russia followed at 36:39 to put the top-ranked side back in the game. Alexander Frolov scored again for Russia less than a minute later.
Ruslan Salei beat Russian goalie Ilya Bryzgalov in the final minute of the second period while Belarus were on a double power play.
Kovalchuk answered with the game-winning goal in the third period, at 47:22. He was awarded player of the game honours for Russia. Oleg Antonenko won for Belarus.
Russia will play in the semifinal, on Friday.
Justin Häne at the PostFinance Arena in Bern, swissinfo.ch
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