VANCOUVER (AFP) The beast is out of the cage. It took a long-standing rivalry against the mighty Big Red Machine, but Canada finally stamped its authority on the 2010 Olympic hockey quarter-finals with a 7-3 thrashing of top seeded Russia on Wednesday. They were much faster than us, said Russian goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. They came out like gorillas out of a cage. Dan Boyle and Rick Nash scored 46 seconds apart in a blistering first period to lead gold medal favourite Canada over the two-time reigning World Champions in front of a raucous crowd of 17,740 at Canada Hockey Place arena. Corey Perry scored twice in the second period and linemate Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and two assists for Canada who avenged a heartbreaking loss to the Russians in the 2006 Turin Games. Canada, who had romped into a 4-1 lead in the opening frame, advances to the semi-finals on Friday where they will face Slovakia who upset reigning Olympic gold medallist Sweden 4-3. We always feel under pressure to play in Canada, that is the way it is, forward Sidney Crosby said of one of the most anticipated games of the tournament. Today we used it to energize us. It is just a quarter-final, and as good as it is, we have to turn the page quickly. With the defending champions being bounced it means there will be a new champion crowned on Sunday. In other quarter-finals on Wednesday, the USA blanked Switzerland 2-0 and Finland stopped the Czech Republics run by the same score. That sets up a blood feud between the Americans and Finns. Finland won the silver medal in Turin but they had to fight their way through the US to get to the final. Finland beat the Americans 4-3 in the quarter-finals and the game that included a brawl at the buzzer in which US forward David Backes pummelled defenceman Anssi Salmela, smashing the defencemans nose to a bloody pulp. Canada was out for their own measure of revenge on Wednesday as Russia beat the Canadians 2-0 in the quarters at Turin. The loss eliminated Canada and they finished seventh, their worst showing in an Olympics. Like Turin, Canada got off to a slow start in Vancouver, suffering a 5-3 loss in the preliminary round to the fifth-seeded USA. But Canadian fans can take solace from the fact that Canada also struggled in the preliminary round of the 2002 Salt Lake Games and went on to win the gold medal. Russian superstar Alex Ovechkin was a non-factor for much of the game. Canadas defence interrupted Ovechkins flow and when he wasnt being pounded into the boards by the defence he was skating back to the Russian bench to replace one of the three sticks he snapped in the first two periods. What do you think? Im disappointed, Ovechkin barked. In the only game played at the University of British Columbia arena, Mikka Kiprusoff outduelled fellow all-star goaltender Tomas Vokoun as 2006 silver medallists Finland shut out the Czechs. Kiprusoff, who plays for the Calgary Flames, made 31 saves to solidify his reputation as one of the stingiest goaltenders in the tournament having allowed just four goals in three games for Finland. He plays really well, Niklas Hagman said of Kiprusoff. We have a bunch of good goalies with Niklas Backstrom and Antero Nittymaki. I dont know what they put in the water in Finland. Czech star Jaromir Jagr did not play a regular shift but denied it was because he was injured and instead said it was the decision of the coach to limit his ice time. The coach was in a different place, Jagr said. In the other games, Ryan Miller made 19 saves and Zach Parise scored twice as the United States beat Switzerland and in the late match Pavol Demitra had a goal and two assists to lead Slovakia to a thrilling 4-3 win over the Swedes. We were ready for them. We knew we were going to war, Slovak forward Richard Zednick said.