Ice Hockey World Championships Betting 2018 Winner Odds & Predictions

Russians can land World title in Denmark

Sports Betting

While the thrills and spills and intensity of the NHL Play-Offs are going on, some of the attention in the world of Ice Hockey will shift over the international scene with the arrival of the 2018 Ice Hockey World Championships. This year’s edition is being hosted by Denmark and 16 nations will be battling it out at two venues for the tournament which starts on May 4th and concludes on May 20th. There is no British interest in the tournament for which Sweden are the reigning champions after beating Canada in last year’s final.

Naturally with the timing of this tournament, with it clashing with the NHL post-season, nations are going to be missing some of their star players. You aren’t going to see Alex Ovechkin turning up for Russia for example because of his Stanley Cup campaign with the Washington Capitals. In some ways that is a good thing as it does level the playing field a bit because the major players are not going to be at as full strength as they would otherwise have been.

Format

It is a straightforward set up for the tournament. The sixteen competition nations are split into two groups on a round robin format. The top four of each group then go through to the quarter-final stage and the winner of Group A will play the fourth-placed team from Group B and vice versa. The second place finishers from each group will play the third-place finish from the other group. It’s a straight knockout shot to the final and there is a third place play off.

Since 2017, the World championships are split into four different divisions, based on IIHF Rankings. Top of the chain is Group A where the top nations reside and those are the sixteen teams who make their way to the World Championships. There is promotion and relegation between the divisions the sides who finish bottom of Group A and bottom of Group B at the 2018 Ice Hockey World Championships, will get relegated to the second tier (which is Division 1). Great Britain won Division 1 this year so they will be promoted to take part in the 2019 IIHF World Championships along with Italy.

Top Seeds

1 – Canada
2 – Russia
3 – Sweden
4 – Finland
5 – USA
6 – Czech Republic
7 – Switzerland
8 – Germany

Qualification

The top fourteen at the 2017 IIHF World Championships automatically get their spot in his year’s tournament while, after earning promotion from the 2017 Division 1 Championships, Austria and South Korea take part in the festivities. This will be the debut for South Korea at the event.

2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships Odds*

TBA

1 – Canada

Surprisingly Canada’s winnings streak at the tournament came to an end last year as Sweden knocked them off their perch. The Canadians had won the previous two editions of the World Championships and you can expect them to be back around in the mix of things at the business end. They have won this event 26 times before, more than anyone else (unless you count Russia and the Soviet Union combined then they have one more than the Canucks). The depth of talent in Canada is immense. Their initial roster contained plenty of NHL experience from captain Connor McDavid to veterans Jordan Eberle, Aaron Ekblad and, Brayden Schenn. They have also added defenseman Ryan Murray. There is certainly no shortage of talent once again for the Canadians. Basically, anything less than a silver medal is going to be a huge disappointment for them. They get a tasty opener against old foes the USA.

2 – Russia

Russia skated under the neutral title “Olympic Athletes from Russia” at the Olympics which didn’t have any NHL stars. They are back to being Russia and do have them plus their domestic-based elite. The KHL, Russian’s version of the NHL is a highly competitive and talented and you are never going to find the Russians too far from competing for a medal at the World Championships because of that. They have taken bronze in the last two editions and they have taken four gold medals in the last ten World Championship tournaments. The thing about them is that because of the bulk of their squad being based in Russia, there isn’t the familiarity of them when compared to seeing Canadian and USA stars week in and week out in the NHL. They will push pretty close to the title and are always worth serious consideration in 2018 Ice Hockey World Championships betting at bet365.

3 – Sweden

The Swedes sprung a big surprise last year as they made it through to the final and won it. They only finished third behind the USA and Russia in their group and that meant that they were heading to the knockout stages as nothing more than an outside shot. But perhaps in hindsight, the potential could have been seen. They lost in a shootout against Russia in their opener and lost by just a goal against the USA. But no-one would have expected them to step it up all the way. Granted they were helped with an easy draw in the knockouts, getting past Switzerland and then Finland with easy wins. They took Canada to the wire then in the Final, netting a win with a shootout in the end. That was their first title since 2013 and have a good NHL continent and good goaltending to call on. Their rode their luck but were pretty brave and battle-hardy.

4 – Finland

The Finns are always one of the more appealing underdogs in Ice Hockey World Championships betting at bet365, despite only having won the event twice from 69 previous attempts. Just back in 2011, they showed what they could do as they beat Sweden to the title in the final. The closest that they have been since then is a silver medal in the 2014 edition. There is a decent enough core running through the potential squad that they could be taking with them, but it’s going to be highly surprising if it is good enough to go and win the title. Probably not and a top-four finish would be hard earned as well.

5 – USA

Maybe it is just proof of how much the NHL is bolstered by the Canadian influence, but the USA have always struggled to make up on their neighbours from the Great White North on the world stage. They have had their moments of course, but the USA have won the World Championships twice only. One of the advantages is that they can call from a wide berth of players but overall the quality that they can pull together in a squad isn’t going to be there to match up to the strengths of the Canadians and the Russians. That having been said they did beat Russia in last year’s group stage before losing to Finland in the quarter finals. They are not strong enough to win the tournament outright butte have added Johnny Gaudreau, Dylan Larkin and Cam Atkinson all NHL All-Stars to their squad and they have put in superstar Patrick Kane, arguably the best player that they have suited up for the World Championships in the last ten years.

The Best of the Rest

The Czech Republic have won the World Championships more times than Sweden, the USA and Finland. They haven’t gotten their hands on the gold medal since 2010 which is their only title in the last dozen editions. They haven’t really looked like getting close to winning another title since. Switzerland are always plucky competitors but don’t have the depth while it will be massively interesting to see what Germany, who stunned everyone by reaching the final of the 2018 Olympics (where they lost to the Olympic Athletes from Russia in overtime). The level of competition though here, going up against NHL stars is going to be a different kettle of fish for them.

Predictions

Maybe we will optimistically have to wait until this time next year when Great Britain participate to be talking about underdogs having their day. It’s hard to see anyone other than Russia or Canada getting their hands on the title and going into the event, the Russians are always going to have appeal. They are quick, they carry that edge of being an unknown quantity but they are massively talented and remember the Canucks don’t have all of their aces. Look for Russia to win for your 2018 Ice Hockey World Championships betting at bet365.