MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/. Russia has won a landslide victory over Slovakia 6-0 in a preliminary round at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and will go through to quarterfinals.

Yevgeni Dadonov scored twice in the second and 14th minutes, Andrei Mironov scored a goal (in the 20th minute), Nikita Kucherov (23rd), Ivan Telegin (33rd) and Vladislav Gavrikov in the 56th minute.

Russia is again on top of the Group A rankings, with 14 points. Therefore, the squad headed by Coach Oleg Znarok has gone through to the quarterfinals. Slovakia is ranked seventh, with 4 points.

On May 15, Russia will face Latvia. On Sunday, May 14, the United States will play Slovakia.

The 2017 IIHF tournament is held in Germany’s Cologne at its 18,500-seat Lanxess Arena and in the French capital at the Bercy 14,500-seat venue from May 5 through May 21, 2017.

Cologne is hosting 34 games, including Group A, two quarter-finals and all semi-final and medal games. Paris is hosting 30 games, including all games of Group B and two quarter-final games.

Group A in Cologne includes last year’s IIHF championship host and bronze medalist Russia, which was ranked second in the 2016 IIHF Men’s World Ranking, as well as Team USA, Sweden, Slovakia, Germany, Latvia, Denmark and Italy.

Defending champion Canada is playing in Group B in Paris, where they had been squared off against last year’s silver-medal winners Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belarus, Norway, France and Slovenia.