World Cup Of Hockey Betting Picks – Saturday, Sept 17

The 2016 World Cup of Hockey begins Saturday in Toronto with a pair of games.

Canada will face the Czech Republic at 8 p.m. Earlier in the day, the USA will take on Team Europe.

Canada and the U.S. are the two big favourites in Group A, with Czech Republic (12:1) and Team Europe (16:1) longshots to win the group.

The Canadians and Americans are also big favourites in their opening games.

World Cup of Hockey Odds And Pick: Canada vs. Czech Republic

Canada is listed at -880 odds on the moneyline at Sports Interaction, meaning you’d have to risk $880 in order to win $100 on a Canadian victory.

As dominant as we all believe Canada can be in this tournament, there’s no way we’re laying that in their opening game. A different angle you might want to consider is the -1.5 puck line, which allows you to risk $205 per $100 you want to win, but also requires Canada to win by 2 goals or more.

The last time we saw Team Canada in meaningful action, they outscored their opponents 17-3 on their way to gold at the 2014 Olympics. Czech Republic went 1-2 in that tournament, scoring 6 goals and allowing 7.

We also can’t forget that the last time Canada hosted an international men’s hockey tournament, they struggled at first. They lost to the U.S. and needed a shootout to beat Switzerland during the preliminary round at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, but eventually won gold on Sidney Crosby’s OT goal.

World Cup of Hockey betting picks: We lean Under 5.5, but understand that isn’t a fun bet to cheer for. Instead, Sports Interaction has a prop for Czech Republic to score 2 goals or less, though there no odds posted as of Friday morning. With how dominant Canada has been defensively under Mike Babcock in the past, it’s hard to imagine the Czechs getting 3+ past Carey Price Saturday night.

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World Cup of Hockey Odds And Pick: USA vs. Team Europe


After going 2-1 in exhibition play (including a 4-2 win over Canada), the U.S. is a -555 favourite at Sports Interaction to defeat Team Europe in its opening game.

Again, that’s a huge price to lay in the first game of a tournament. And Europe showed us something in its final game of pre-tournament play, whipping Sweden 6-2.

There were 23 goals scored in Europe’s three exhibition games, an average of nearly 8 per contest. U.S. games saw 18 goals scored, or 6 per game.

Scoring depth is a concern for both teams in this tournament, and Europe also has to worry about the potential for chemistry issues early in the competition as players from several different countries band together.

World Cup of Hockey betting picks: We expect the U.S. to jump out to a strong start at this tournament against a Team Europe squad that doesn’t have any patriotic pride to play for. We’ll lay the -1.5 goals with the U.S. at -165 odds (you’ll probably find better odds at Pinnacle, but they hadn’t yet posted World Cup of Hockey odds for Saturday when we wrote this.)

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