PRAGUE, 30 April 2004 — The reigning champions Canada went to the top of preliminary Group D in the World Ice Hockey Championships with a 3-1 win over Switzerland here on Wednesday.

Hosts the Czech Republic and Slovakia also finished as group table-toppers, beating Germany 5-1 and Finland 5-2 respectively.

Canada and Switzerland both needed to win to head their group. They were trading threats right from the start but to no avail by the first interval. Atlanta Thrashers forward Dany Heatley put Canada 1-0 up just 44sec into the second, sending the puck home over the Swiss goalie Martin Gerber’s right pad despite tough physical opposition.

Vancouver Canucks’ Brendan Morisson added a goal halfway into the second after he picked up the puck behind the net and skated to the crease to sweep it between Gerber’s pads. Heatley scored his second of the match 3:19 into the third with a sharp-angled close-range shot 10 minutes before Robert Luongo lost a shutout when Marcel Jenni netted a consolation for Switzerland. The Czechs were on song in their Group A showdown with Germany in front of a capacity 18,000-crowd at Prague Sazka Arena.

However, Germany defended well, stifling the hosts’ attacking efforts until Vaclav Prospal, who is playing with the NHL side Anaheim Mighty Ducks, scored the hosts’ first on powerplay 1:30 before the first break.

In the second they still dominated the play, keeping Germany’s defence under pressure, but failed to increase their lead, while Klaus Kathan stunned Czechs with a slap shot through the traffic to level at 37:08.

The hosts picked up steam during the second break and their strikers Jaromir Jagr and Jan Hlavac netted one apiece within 35sec early in the third to lift Czech Republic 3-1 up.

Minnesota Wild forward Marian Gaborik gave Slovakia a 1-0 lead against Finland 6:50 in the match at Ostrava, where the two teams battled for the top spot in Group B. Finland’s Jukka Hentunen leveled less than three minutes later, beating Slovakia’s goalie Jan Lasak with a precise mid-range shot, but Lubos Bartecko put Slovaks into the lead again at 11:18.

Gaborik put Slovakia 4-2 up with his second of the match at 56:48.

The United States clinched their ticket to the qualifying round of the tournament when they outclassed Ukraine 7-1, while Russia also experienced few problems ousting Japan to the relegation group with a 6-1 win.