United States goalscorer David Backes has stated that a match against Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games was an "inevitability" at some point in the tournament.

The rival nations faced each other in the final of the men's ice hockey competition four years ago in Vancouver, with the Canadians coming out on top.

This time, they will meet at the last-four stage after Backes's team overcame the Czech Republic and Canada beat Latvia.

Backes told ESPN: "I don't know if we're supposed to meet, but it seems like it was inevitable at some point that we would.

"It's the semi-finals in a foreign land. We've travelled 5,000 miles to play each other, and we share a long border with each other. There's great things about this tournament; in order to win it, you're going to have to beat great competition."

The semi-finals will take place on Friday, with Sweden and Finland contesting the other match.