Ice Hockey World Championship group stage, Sunday, 12.05.2024
In Group A of the Ice Hockey World Championship 2024, the “Alpine Derby on Ice” will take place on Sunday evening at prime time.
In keeping with this, I’m putting a promising Austria-Switzerland tip in front of you, which you can try to nail under the bookmakers’ crossbar if you like.
For my part, even before the events of the first two days of the competition, I had already noticed a clear difference in class between the two nations
The “ice comrades” suddenly mutated into the “sufferers” in the first period of the opening game, as the Norwegians were initially able to keep them in check quite well with their physical style.
At the start of the second period, however, the Swiss managed to seize control, primarily thanks to their players from the domestic league, who scored four of the five goals (5:2). Only the last goal was scored by an NHL legionnaire (Nino Niederreiter).
Nevertheless, the forces from overseas were decisive in keeping the puck moving quickly and dominating the Norwegians, especially at the boards. With a shot ratio of 40:15, there is no question that the better team deserved to prevail anyway
Winning the Alpine derby is of course also a question of prestige. After all, ice hockey may not enjoy the same status as King Football in both neighboring countries, but it still enjoys a fairly high status.
However, the two teams are not on an equal footing, as the Swiss have significantly more NHL professionals. And the rest of the squad is active in the Swiss National League, which is superior to the Austrian league in terms of quality.
Incidentally, the sports betting providers have come to a similar conclusion, as they have announced Austria-Switzerland odds that are to my liking and read as follows on average in 1X2 format from left to right: 10.0, 7.0, 1.22.
I agree wholeheartedly with this assessment, especially as Switzerland should have far fewer problems with the ÖEHV selection than with the nimble Norwegians last Friday.
Speed and technical skills in handling the puck are the two aspects that could cause the Austrians the greatest difficulties in the duel against their western neighbors.
However, a look at the direct comparison makes it clear that there is probably a reason why “Team Austria” has not won a competitive game against the Nati since 1995
As we all know, the Ice Hockey World Cup is held every year, so it’s been a while since the two Alpine republics crossed paths. This is also due to the fact that the Austrians have only just rejoined the A group.
In any case, the last joint showdown in this competition took place in 2019 and the 4:0 victory celebrated by the ice comrades at the time should be easily repeatable.
At least my Austria-Switzerland prediction is based on this assumption, especially as the ÖEHV team had already lost their opening game against Denmark by a clear margin of 1:5
The Austrians were delighted to welcome their first NHL player in five years who is a regular in North America to their ranks at this World Championship.
However, Marco Rossi’s World Championship debut broke the team’s back! The player from the Minnesota Wild landed in the penalty box twice in the first period alone and also made a colossal blunder that led to an embarrassing shorthanded goal for the Danes.
In the end, Team Austria fought back courageously, but the Danes, who were more agile and more skillful with the puck, did not allow themselves to be distracted from the winning path until the end. Of all the things DEN brings to the table, SUI definitely has more to offer
With a view to the wide range of sports bets offered by Happybet, you really have no choice but to take the route of a handicap bet.
Switzerland are far too superior to their opponents to be satisfied with the meagre SUI win odds. The respective results on matchday 1 only confirm this assumption even more!
A “Tip 2 wins HC with -1” as an additional condition should therefore be the final outcome. Another HC goal would be conceivable, which would give you odds of around 2.45 and also have a good chance of success
Conclusion: What I would like to point out to you is that the ÖEHV team’s physical condition deteriorated massively towards the end of the second period against Denmark. You should take advantage of that.
Because a team rich in NHL players like the Swiss should take the lead towards the end of the game at the latest, if they haven’t already done so.
The Austrians lack the necessary quality across the board to pose a serious scoring threat and Marco Rossi’s performance in the first period against Denmark was unfortunately not what was needed to avoid relegation.
My Austria Switzerland tip: Win SUI with handicap -1
