Kopat, who had not scored a point in his first five games of the tournament, skated through the neutral zone and ripped a rising shot from well outside the Swedish blue line. The puck veered right at the head of goaltender Tommy Salo, who tried to duck but got a piece of it with his glove and helmet. It trickled just across the goal line and Kopat celebrated by diving headfirst past Sweden's bench.

Behind goalie Andrei Mezin, Belarus was able to hang on for the most important victory in its history. The former Soviet republic finished seventh four years ago in Nagano in its Olympic debut and had lost four straight games heading into the quarterfinals.

Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 41 shots and Maxim Afinogenov scored the only goal as Russia avenged a loss in the 1998 gold medal game and advanced to the Olympic semifinals with a 1-0 blanking of the Czech Republic.

Khabibulin was not a member of the Russian team that lost to the Czechs by the same score four years ago in Nagano. But he made the difference this time, helping Russia move on to a meeting with the United States or Germany on Friday for a shot at the gold medal.

The United States will try to reach the men's hockey semifinals for the first time since winning a fabled gold medal in Lake Placid 22 years ago.

Awaiting coach Herb Brooks' team is Germany, which lost all three games in the final round. While Germany is coming off a 7-1 loss to Sweden, it showed it can play with hockey's big boys during a 3-2 defeat to Canada.

But the U.S. had two wins and a tie in the final round and has not lost an Olympic hockey game on its home turf since the 1932 Games, an 18-0-3 streak.

Canada faces surprising Finland in another quarterfinal.