Defending champion Russia beat Belarus 3-1 to sweep all three of its group matches at the world ice hockey championship on Thursday.

Alex Ovechkin scored his third goal of the tournament, and Sergei Mozyakin and Artyom Anisimov also struck home as Russia jumped ahead 3-0 after 35 minutes.

Alexei Kalyuzhny scored in the final period for Belarus, which claimed third place in Group A and a spot in the second round.

Locking up second place in Group A was Slovakia after a convincing 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan.

Ivan Ciernik, playing in his Cologne Sharks home arena, scored twice for Slovakia.

In Group C action, Sweden lost 2-1 against the Czech Republic but captured first place in the group.

The Czechs opened the scoring after just 54 seconds on a short-handed goal by captain Tomas Rolinek.

Magnus Paarjarvi Svensson knotted the game four minutes into the second period before Petr Hubacek struck five minutes later for the Czechs to lead 2-1. Tomas Vokoun had 31 saves for the Czech Republic.

The result combined with Norway's 5-1 over France gave Sweden, the Czechs and Norway all berths in the second round.

Sweden took first place in the group with the best goal differential in head-to-head games, and the Czechs were second.

Norway fell behind 1-0 before scoring five unanswered goals for a 5-1 victory over France.

Stephane Da Costa's power play goal gave France a 1-0 lead in the first period. But Peter Lorentzen equalized and Patrick Thoresen added a goal and an assist in the Norway run.

【体坛英语资讯：Reigning champion Russia maintains perfect record in ice hockey worlds】相关文章：

★ 体坛英语资讯：Yao out for season with left foot injury

★ 体坛英语资讯：Harris says Yi will be all-star in NBA

★ 体坛英语资讯：Female Yao a head above the rest

★ 体坛英语资讯：Sprinter Gay, swimmer Hoff win top US honours

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Jennifer Aniston tops US magazine cover face list

★ 体坛英语资讯：World Cup champions beaten, runners-up held to draw in Group of Death

★ 体坛英语资讯：Yi debuts for Bucks in win

★ 体坛英语资讯：Zheng Jie knocks out top-seeded Ana Ivanovic at Wimbledon

★ 体坛英语资讯：Wang ready to bounce back in 2008

★ 体坛英语资讯：Li Na wins as Peng Shuai crashes