The World Cup of Hockey’s version of the Last four goes this weekend with Canada set to take on Russia on Saturday evening, and Sweden playing Team Europe on Sunday afternoon.
Canada is now a -250 favorite to win the championship after originally starting at -110 back in July. Sweden gets the next-best odds at +400.
The Canada-Russia match is filled with storylines revolving mainly around Sidney Crosby’s competition together — and domination of — Alex Ovechkin, in addition to the head-to-head battle along with his Penguins teammate Evgeni Malkin. These teams last faced off in a best-on-best format in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Winter Olympics when Canada defeated Russia 7-3. Canada has won gold in the last 2 Olympics, while Russia failed to make the podium in both championships. Canada has lit up the scoreboard with a World Cup-leading 14 goals while allowing only three. Russia has maintained it a lot nearer, scoring eight goals and permitting five.
Sweden vs Europe seems like a bit tighter matchup, but Sweden seems to be the cohesive unit. Sweden’s best have been great in international play over the previous ten years, shooting an Olympic silver in 2014 and a gold in 2006. Each team has scored seven goals in their three championship games up to now. Team Europe has been the biggest long shot when odds for the World Cup were first released at +3300.
Here is the tournament odds going into the weekend and keep an eye out for more detailed match previews this weekend:
Odds Of Hockey World Cup To Win 2016 Team Odds
Canada -250
Sweden +400
Russia +600
Team Europe +1000
Curious as of September 23 Archived Articles
There has been hardly any line movement since I last wrote about the World Cup of Hockey futures, but using preliminary matches beginning now, I thought it might be beneficial to update you on a few more reasons why this is Canada’s championship to lose.
Mike Babcock just named Carey Price Canada’s No. 1 goalie and their lineup to win is currently -105 at BetOnline. The last time Price was fully beneficial to a best-against-best global contest was for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics where he directed the Canadians into a golden medal with his .971 save percentage and 0.59 goals-against average.
Price’s wellbeing may still be in question despite his statement stating his knee is 100 percent. Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien has stated that Price’s games will be limited this season but that could simply mean he’s not likely to play with 66 games like he did in his 2014-15 MVP effort.
While all groups in the competition have some notable line combinations, all four of Canada’s lines have been stacked with upper-echelon NHL stars. Potential line combos right are now Couture-O’Reilly-Toews, Marchand-Crosby-Bergeron, Stamkos-Getzlaf-Tavares, Duchene-Thornton-Giroux. Fantastic lord.
The Russians have the next-best odds at +500 however their lack of recent success in best-on-best tournaments such as the Olympics is astounding as they have not medaled since they got bronze in 2002. The Russian hockey program has obtained a lot of criticism for not adapting their style of play to match their competition and for the lack of creativity exemplified by their coaching staff.
The single significant line moves we’ve seen because July is Finland going from +1400 into +1100 and Team North America moving from +2000 into +1200. I’m going to make a point of watching every Team North America game as they promise to become some of the most exciting. The youngsters are going to fly around the ice and produce a few top-shelf highlights if you really feel like buying a wild ride, throw a little money on the under-23s.
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