Ice Hockey World Championship Group Stage, Tuesday, 14.05.2024
I’m not going to recommend speculating on a resounding victory in any other game involving the Canadians at this Ice Hockey World Championship 2024. The only exception is this Canada Austria betting tip.
Not only because of the glaring difference in quality, but also because the North Americans have already received their “hello wake-up signal”. After their first two appearances looked a little lethargic, they should now manage to make a statement!
Canada has certainly not covered itself in glory so far. Despite all the enthusiasm about the strong squad that set off for the Czech Republic, this must be emphasized once again.
A meagre 4:2 against Great Britain? That cannot be the claim of the national team, which represents the motherland of ice hockey.
Especially as the sports betting providers were not even willing to offer odds of 1.01 for a victory for the “Maple Leafs” over the promoted team, as they took a resounding win for the defending champions for granted.
This was followed by a 5:1 victory over Denmark on Sunday, in which an improvement in performance was evident, but only in the final period, when three goals were added to the scoreboard.
On the other hand, the Austrians are – and I’m sorry to say this so clearly – the likely relegated team for me. Even Great Britain managed to convince me more in places than the skaters from the Alpine republic.
They started off with a clear 1:5 against Denmark. This was followed two days later by a 5:6 defeat in the Alpine derby against the Swiss “Nati”, which could not have been closer, but was not entirely fair.
The xG value of the ice comrades was considerably higher and the last goal of the Austrians was the product of a colossal mistake by the Swiss goalie.
I also noticed that Team Austria had fitness problems in both games. That was particularly noticeable against the Danes. They also lack the necessary physicality to hold their own on the boards against the North Americans in the long term!
I wouldn’t “normally” expect Canada to win by a landslide in the preliminary round. Historically, the Maple Leafs have usually only improved during the course of the tournament and with the addition of various superstars.
Furthermore, the German bookmakers are not exactly offering generous Canada Austria odds. With symbolic win odds of 1.01 or 1.02 after a Bet365 login at our test winner, you would have to accept several handicap goals to achieve an acceptable win amount.
Accordingly, I would not generally recommend such a bet for the Maple Leafs at this early stage of the tournament. But the difference in quality between them and their upcoming opponents is simply too great not to assume a lead of at least five goals.
The last time they met at a World Cup was in 2015 and ended in disaster for the Austrians, as they lost 10-1 to the North Americans in that clash.
Just one week before the start of the current World Championships, they then played a joint test match, which also went to the Canadians. The Maple Leafs prevailed 5:1 in an approximate order of magnitude, as I expect them to do on Tuesday
Austria lost all but one of its group games at the last World Championship and only managed to avoid relegation by a hair’s breadth.
Meanwhile, the current preparations for the 2024 Ice Hockey World Cup have been peppered with 10 defeats and just one win, which is also not very promising. In addition, Marco Rossi’s debut was certainly not what Austrian ice hockey fans had hoped for from their hopeful.
Against the Danes, the man from the Minnesota Wild landed in the penalty box twice in the first period alone and also made a colossal blunder, which promptly led to a rare goal against while short-handed.
Against the Swiss, however, the NHL star at least managed to get his first scoring point in an ÖEHV kit (1 assist).
Furthermore, the game against Switzerland took a lot of energy, and the disappointment of the last-minute goal against the opponents while short-handed will have taken its toll on the ÖEHV team.
Of course, it can be assumed that their strong performance at times could spur them on to improve further.
But for the time being, I expect another significant drop in performance against a strong Canada on Tuesday
Conclusion: Austria improved massively compared to the opening game. David Kickert in particular did an excellent job with his catching glove.
He even grabbed the puck with his bare hand once to prevent a goal against and made the undisputed save of the tournament in the second period when he was short-handed.
But after such an intense encounter with a bitter outcome, I strongly expect that we’ll see the Austria of the Denmark game again.
My Canada-Austria tip: CAN wins with HC -4.5.
