There is some top ice hockey action running through to May 21st at the Ice Hockey World Championships 2017. This is an annual event which somewhat annoyingly coincides with the Stanley Cup Play Offs in the NHL, which can rob this World Championships of some of the best players in the world. This year’s edition is being jointly hosted By Cologne, Germany and Paris, France.
Back in 2015, the Championship were split up into four different divisions. You have the elite Championship and that determines who gets to battle it out at the Ice Hockey World Championships and you have Italy and Slovenia as the newly promoted countries from Division I joining the big ranks. So that is sixteen nations scrapping it out and the seedings are all based on the IIHF World Ranking from last year (at the end of the 2016 World Championships). You have Canada then going as top seeds, with Russia as second seeds, them being the heavyweights in the sport.
Group A is being contested in Cologne and it houses
Russia (2)
United States (4)
Sweden (5)
Slovakia (8)
Germany (10)
Latvia (12)
Denmark (13)
Italy (16)
While Group B which is being played in Paris houses
Canada (1)
Finland (3)
Czech Republic (6)
Switzerland (7)
Belarus (9)
Norway (11)
France (14)
Slovenia (15)
Each team plays the other seven in their round robin group and the top four from the two groups go through to a quarter-final stage. So this is a long contest for the eventual finalists. It is one of those sports, where the real elites just continue to shine year after year and the chances of an upset are pretty slim. It’s hard to see anyone other than Russia or Canada walking off with the title but as a positive that at least cuts down the betting field a bit.
Canada are the reigning champions and are looking for their third title on the bounce at the tournament. Russia’s most recent successes came in 2012 and 2014 so Sweden, with their victory in the 2014 Ice Hockey World Championships is the only one to have stopped the dominance of Canada and Russia combined in the last five years. Throughout the history of the Ice Hockey World Championships, Russia (also as the Soviet Union) have won 27 gold medals, with Canada bringing home 26.
The next most successful nation at the tournament is the Czech Republic with six gold medals and their last win came in 2010 in Germany. Again, going back to the NHL play-offs, any players left in that are obviously not going to be ditching their team to try and win a gold medal with their country. Still, you look down Canada’s roster and each and every team member is part of an NHL side, with Philadelphia Flyers’ Claude Giroux as captain. Similarly, the USA team is stacked with NL talent and Connor Murphy from the Arizona Coyotes is captain.
But you see big-name stars like Sidney Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf, Duncan Keith and Shea Weber, not competing for Canada, it takes something away from the tournament. Just a little shine is taken off because everyone wants to see those competing on the world stage. This is actually a different game to that is played in the NHL, the ice is bigger and the hitting/fighting is less. Sides get two extra players to an NHL team and little differences to the Icing and Face-Off rules differ. It’s worth noting that even though Russia don’t carry a lot of NHL stars, their own domestic league is hugely talented, rich and competitive and that doesn’t take away from their threat.
So let’s talk favourites for the Ice Hockey World Championships Betting 2017 at Betfair. Canada are obviously running right at the head of the market at a price of 5/4 with Betfair and they are value to back at that price before the field gets cut and they see their odds trimmed. It is highly unlikely that they are going to get out-scored at any point of the tournament. Having made a powerful start to the tournament their extra scoring power is likely going to carry them pretty close to their third consecutive title.
The same can be said of Russia, who have more than enough firepower in their ranks to go the distance. However, when it comes down to defence, the Canadians look a little stronger, resilient and more versatile in their depth to carry this off. The United States, who lost their opening match against hosts Germany, are not going to be matching up in power either in the offence or defence in this tournament to really stand up tot the might of either of those should they bump into either. A key date in Group A will come on May 16th, the final round of group stage matches, while Russia v USA is on the cards. Canada really doesn’t have a tough game on their hands in their group and should win it.
Looking down the field, Sweden are just struggling defensively by the looks of things, while the same can be said of the Czech Republic, who were hammered by Canada in their opener. But those are the two strongest contenders beyond the Canucks and the Russians. It will be interesting to see which of them may go further and for our money, it would be the Czech Republic who just carry a slight edge there. But once the knockout stage is here, if Russia and Canada are kept apart that is likely going to be a showdown in the final between the two of them and again, for our money, Canada has an edge and are justifiable favourites at Betfair.
Ice Hockey World Championships Betting 2017 Odds
| Team | Betting Odds |
|---|---|
| Canada | 5/4 |
| Russia | 3/1 |
| Sweden | 11/2 |
| Czech republic | 7/1 |
| USA | 15/2 |
| Finland | 14/1 |
| Germany | 50/1 |
| Switzerland | 60/1 |
| bar | 125/1 |
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