Ice Hockey World Championship semi-final, Saturday, 25.05.2024
The “Nati” have only suffered one setback so far at this Ice Hockey World Cup 2024 and on Saturday they will have the opportunity to take revenge for this defeat against the defending champions themselves.
Whether they will succeed, however, is another matter. For my part, I would venture a Canada Switzerland prediction that would have proved successful in each of the past five World Cup duels with a success rate of 100%
3 teams from Group A are through to the semi-finals, including Switzerland! However, they made it exciting in yesterday’s duel against the DEB selection.
After scoring twice early in the first period, the Swiss were unable to make any further headway and overtime seemed to be just around the corner.
Germany went all-in in the final minute, taking their own goalie off the ice, but were not rewarded for their courage. The ice comrades took advantage of the opportunity to score an empty-netter to make the final score 3:1.
All in all, the “Nati” are further ahead, but far less confidently than the Maple Leafs managed in the game against the Slovaks.
In comparison to the other semi-final match, we already have a direct comparison at this World Cup that we can use as a guide.
After all, the two nations met in the group stage less than a week ago.
The outcome? A 3:2 victory for the Maple Leafs, with an equal chance ratio of 23:22 shots on goal.
However, the ice comrades were surprisingly competitive, as there were certainly opportunities to go into overtime.
Andrighetto, for example, missed a penalty. And if Fiala had avoided his “5+10 penalty” for kneeing, the Canadiens probably wouldn’t have gotten the benefit of their easy power play goal.
What’s the saying though: coulda, woulda, bike chain. But this group game still showed me that the fast and technically skilled Swiss can cause problems for the defending champions on a good day.
If they are a little more disciplined this time and let themselves be infected by the euphoria in their home country about their performance so far, then they could once again deliver a duel at eye level.
However, they will need to improve on their performance against Germany. Because the Canadians marched over the Slovaks. The 6:3 final score does not quite reflect the dominance with which the Canadians dominated this quarter-final
The last game against the Slovaks put an end to Dylan Cozens’ scoring streak.
Before the game against the Eastern Europeans, the man from the Buffalo Sabres had scored between one and two goals per game in six consecutive World Championship appearances, which is quite an achievement.
Consequently, with a goal rate of around 2.87 traded via any sports betting app, I clearly have to put him on my list of potential goalscorers.
The Canada Switzerland odds of the bookmakers read in 1X2 format from left to right with average values from 1.85 to 4.33 to 3.50 for a Swiss victory in regular time.
I don’t think that a bet on the Canadians will yield much value in view of these odds; the 4.33 for a potential overtime inspire me much more. Especially if the game is as close as it was in the preliminary round.
From a purely mathematical point of view, this bet would definitely make sense, as the probability of a possible overtime is higher than the bookmakers are trying to express with their Canada-Switzerland betting odds.
Since the 2018 World Cup, these two nations have clashed a total of 5 times at this tournament and 5 times both sides have scored at least two goals per game.
The record is surprising, as it is pro-Switzerland and reads as follows from the Maple Leafs’ point of view: 2 wins, 3 defeats.
At bookmaker Betano, I book the option “Both teams to score at least twice”, which is currently trading at odds of 1.78, because it simply fits this pairing like a glove.
Conclusion: It should be a close game, even if I liked the Canadians a little better in the quarter-finals.
But even if they were to prevail in the end, the fast and technically gifted Swiss team is capable of scoring several goals at any time.
The bottom line is that an identical outcome to the preliminary round, in which the defending champions were narrowly 3:2 ahead, is not only realistic, but would also help my Canada Switzerland betting tip to succeed.
My tip: Both sides score at least twice.
