MOSCOW, May 14. (RIA Novosti)-Russia and Canada will face off against each other at the Vienna stadium of Stadthalle today in a bid to make it into the World Championship final.

 The Russian (Soviet) and Canadian hockey schools have been vying for domination of the ice for more than 50 years.

Since the first World Championship encounter between the USSR and Canada in 1954, the rivalry between the two nations has been particularly fierce, which legendary matches in various tournaments - the Super Series, the World Cups, Olympics, and championships in different age groups - have only intensified.

Canada has been the dominant hockey force since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The homeland of hockey currently holds the world junior hockey championship title, whereas the senior team won the crown in 2003 and 2004, Olympic gold in 2002 and the World Cup in 2004. Apart from the success at the junior level, second place at the 2002 World Championship has been the only highlight for the Russian team in recent years.

The Russian team has not enjoyed much success against Canada in World Championships. In 2001, the Canadians swept to a 5-1 victory in the group stage in Germany, while they won 5:2 in the 2003 qualifiers in Finland. Russia also lost 1:3 to Canada in the 2004 World Cup and the juniors lost in 1:6 in the final of the 2005 championship.

The Russian team's performances so far in Austria have given fans reason to hope that the sad experiences of recent years may be about to be consigned to history. New head coach Vladimir Krikunov's team remains the only one in the team championship that has not lost a single match out of seven outings. Canada lost 4:5 to Sweden in a qualifier.

The way the Russians are playing is also a cause for optimism, as the fans haven't seen anything so good in as long time. Sharp, goal scoring attacking play makes up for defensive deficiencies.

Canada plays in a similar manner. Three players particularly stand out when they are on the ice together: Simon Gagne, Joe Thorton and Rick Nash. This is undoubtedly the strongest attacking line in the tournament, as Nash and Thorton have already notched up 14 and 13 goals respectively. Krikunov said that Pavel Datsyuk, Russia's leading forward and his partners, would most likely try to counter the threat presented by the Thorton-led attacl.

Krikunov also said that his side was still not playing confidently in power-play situations and had converted just 13.2% of their opportunities in comparison with Canada's 33%.

The result of Saturday's match will largely depend on the goaltenders. The dependable Maxim Sokolov will play in Russian colors, while his opposite number will be Martin Brodeur, a three-time Stanley Cup winner and the best goalkeeper in the National Hockey League for the past two seasons.

The match will start at 6.15 pm Moscow time, and four hours later the Czech republic will take on Switzerland in the other semi-final.