ice hockey. world Championship. quarter finals
canada vs finland
Nokia Arena (Tampier, Finland)
On May 25, 2023, the quarter-final match of the 2023 Hockey World Championship will take place at the Nokia Arena, where Canada will face Finland. We have prepared a forecast for the game.
Canada has fielded one of the most humble teams in recent years at the 2023 World Championship. Yes, they had a victorious 2021 World Championship when they started without exceptional players, suffered three consecutive defeats at the start of the tournament, and then went on to win the World Cup medal, gold, but at that point they made their mark with specialist players. Strengthened the team, which had recently been knocked out of the Stanley Cup. Those were the key ingredients to the ultimate success. However, this time there were no reinforcements for the roster. In contrast, in a losing fight against the Swiss, Joe Velano received a five-match disqualification. Despite this, Canada finished second in Pool B.
On the other hand, Finland has assembled a very solid squad for the 2023 World Championship. We can’t overlook the presence of Mikko Rantanen, who scored 115 NHL points last season with the Colorado Avalanche. By the way, at the World Championships, the outstanding striker has not yet scored a single goal, but he has provided eight assists. Despite a disappointing start to the tournament with three consecutive defeats – first 4–1 to the Americans and then 2–1 to the Swedes on penalty kicks – Jukka Jalonen’s charges slowly found their game but finished last third in the Group A standings. Failed to climb.
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take data into account
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bets and predictions
The national teams of Canada and Finland performed separately in the group stage of the 2023 World Championships. While they started well, they suffered two losses in their last three games, while Finland had a rough start to the tournament but managed to pick up four wins in the last four games with a total score of 22–6. All this indicates that the defending champions will be better placed to enter the quarter-finals and also play in front of a packed Nokia Arena. Besides this, the head-to-head stats also favor the locals as they have won six of the last seven matches between them. As a result, betting on the victory of Finland with odds of 1.80 looks like a good option.
Canada and Finland have met in the finals of the last three World Championships, so they know each other well, reducing the chances of a fun, goal-filled matchup. Furthermore, they previously met in deciders, and now their duel will be in the quarterfinals, so if they fail, their performance at the 2023 World Championships will be considered a failure. For this reason no one would like to take unnecessary risks and defense will play an important role. Based on this, the optimal bet seems to be Total minus 4.5 with a coefficient of 2.05, and it is also worth considering a bet on Mikko Lehton’s Total plus 0.5 points with a coefficient of 1.85.
Our forecast: Finland’s victory with a coefficient of 1.80.