Ice Hockey World Championship, Quarter-finals on Thursday, 28/05/2026, 16:20
The Finns have lost a battle, but not the war. If they run into the host again in the final, then the much more important rematch could be completely different.
Meanwhile, in my Finland Czech Republic tip, I don’t assume that the quarter-final appearance against the 2014 world champions will be their undoing. The performances so far have been far too convincing for that.
Victory Finland with a handicap of -1.5 at odds of 1.82 at good bookmakers is therefore only the logical choice if nothing unforeseeable happens here.
The Eastern Europeans are missing important personnel and the absence of NHL goalie Lukas Dostal in particular prevents them from being considered favorites for the overall victory.
I have to say that I am a bit surprised that the Finland Czech Republic odds were so one-sided. The Eastern Europeans always bite into it! However, it cannot be denied that the respective preliminary round performances differed very much.
The 2024 world champions concede far too many goals – and especially against a team like Finland, which can create pressure for over 60 minutes via Barkov and Helenius, their own defense could wobble quite a bit.
Finland over 3.5 goals at odds of around 1.98 in the Betano app is therefore inevitably a betting option with positive expected value. After all, the Sakndinavier have already scored quite a lot of pucks against two other quarter-finalists such as Latvia (7) and the USA (6).
2nd period – Draw-No-Bet: Finland is an interesting betting option that you are only used to in football betting, but Betano also has ice hockey matches in its portfolio.
At odds of about 1.47, I would make this bet in any case, as this is the part of the game in which I see the Finns breaking through decisively.
In the first 20 minutes, the Czechs will throw everything into the balance and still keep up to some extent, but after the third break the mistakes creep in, which allowed them to end the preliminary round with two back-to-back defeats.
Barkov 2+ goals at odds of around 12.00 would lead to a monumental payout and would not be a novelty at this World Cup. Because the long-injured NHL professional has already achieved this feat on Tuesday against the incomparably stronger Swiss (!).
A look at the direct comparison is of course always of interest with these two heavyweights of international ice hockey – especially with such unusually one-sided Finland Czech Republic odds as they are currently traded on the betting markets.
Historically, this imbalance does not exist. Because of the last 12 competitive duels, half went to the Czech Republic, while the other half went to the Scandinavians.
Interesting: With one exception, a victory of one team was always followed by a success of the other …
Conclusion: I have to admit that I have a hard time with the one-sided Finland Czech Republic odds. Nevertheless, I can’t completely ignore the preliminary round performances – because the Finns were indeed much better.
In addition, the Scandinavians bring more quality to the ice, while the Eastern Europeans have left some NHL professionals at home who prevent them from beating top nations. Consequently, I expect the Finns, who have been strong so far, to reach the semi-finals convincingly.
