VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A dominating Canada ended 50 years of Olympic hockey frustration against Russia.

The Canadians got a goal and two assists from Dan Boyle during a take-charge first period to beat the world champions 7-3 Wednesday and surge into the Olympic semifinals.

A superpower showdown – one that may have been better suited for the gold-medal game than the quarterfinals – quickly became a super letdown.

The physical, focused Canadians took advantage of terrible goaltending by Evgeni Nabokov and superior depth and size to open leads of 3-0 and 4-1 in the first period and 6-1 early in the second period, and the unexpected rout was on.