HAMEENLINNA, Finland — Natalie Darwitz and Hilary Knight each scored hat tricks to lead the defending champion United States past Finland 7-0 Thursday to reach the world championship final.

The Americans will face Canada in Sunday's final. Finland was eliminated in the three-team round-robin.

It will be the 12th consecutive final featuring the North American hockey powers. Canada leads 9-2 overall.

The Finns were overwhelmed by the U.S. attack. Gigi Marvin scored the other U.S. goal. Julie Chu had three assists and goalie Jessie Vetter earned the shutout with 16 stops.

Finland will play in the bronze-medal game against the winner of the Sweden-Russia game on Friday. Russia kept alive its hopes by routing Kazakhstan 9-2.

Switzerland earned its spot in the 2011 worlds with a 3-2 win against Japan, earning the Swiss first place in the relegation round group.

The U.S., which has yet to allow a goal in the tournament, will close out second-round play Friday against Canada in a preview of the gold-medal game.

"It was a great victory," said U.S. head coach Mark Johnson, who coaches at Wisconsin. "I'm excited for the team and the opportunity to play Canada tomorrow and again on Sunday for a world championship. We talked about what we wanted to do and the players went out and executed."