Music: {allcanada} Canada's Nash cleared to play vs. Russia

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

{allcanada} Canada's Nash cleared to play vs. Russia

Canada will have its captain in the lineup when it faces Russia in the quarter-finals at the IIHF World Hockey Championship.

Rick Nash won't receive any further punishment for a big hit on Mikael Backlund late in the second period of Canada's 3-2 victory over Sweden on Monday night, according to IIHF spokesman Szymon Szemberg.

Nash was assessed a two-minute charging penalty on the play, but Swedish coach Par Marts felt it deserved more and called for a review from the IIHF's discipline committee.

The incident also led to a terse exchange between Canadian coach Ken Hitchcock and a Swedish columnist during the post-game press conference.

Canada won its first five games at the event and faces Russia in the quarter-finals on Thursday.