World Ice Hockey Championship quarter-finals, Thursday, 23.05.2024
One game of this Ice Hockey World Championship 2024 that many did not expect to be in the quarter-finals is the Scandinavian classic on ice between SWE and FIN, which has as much significance for both countries as the soccer match between Germany and Holland.
But the “Suomi” had a terrible preliminary round, which is why they could only finish fourth in their group.
Consequently, in my Sweden Finland betting tip for you, I can’t help but think that the team that has convinced me the most in this tournament will win outright
The Finns can thank the British for allowing them to win their last group game against Austria. This allowed the Scandinavians to take a step back before the “Battle of the Nordics” against their eternal rivals.
Otherwise, the match against Switzerland would have turned into the final game for them, as the ÖEHV team could still have challenged them for fourth place. The impending consequence? Finland’s first preliminary round exit since the introduction of this tournament format.
But even if this horror scenario was successfully averted in the end, “Suomi” are definitely not in a good position. Especially not when we compare their performances with those of the previously flawless Swedes. By far the best team at this tournament
The Swedes have won all of their first six group games without the need for extra time. When they were briefly under pressure against Latvia, they even scored three goals in just 25 seconds in a 7-2 win.
There’s no question that the quality of their NHL players alone, of which the Swedes have taken plenty with them to the Czech Republic in order to perform significantly better than at the last World Championship, makes them the favorites for gold.
A total of 16 players from North America are taking part – including the best of the best. Finland, on the other hand, has only called up four NHL pros this year, which many thought was a mistake in advance
The Finns’ decision to rely on a homogeneous squad made up primarily of players from the domestic league has not even been enough to qualify for the knockout phase.
How is that supposed to work against the strong Swedes? Especially as the three-crown team have already made short work of their two closest rivals in the battle for group victory.
Admittedly, the USA were still able to keep up with them to some extent in their 5-2 defeat, but the DEB team were no match for them at any point just a few days later. SWE gave GER an impressive lead in their 6:1 victory
Whenever Sweden’s first forward line is on the ice, the opposing team is on red alert.
And indeed, the Finns should also have problems against this outstanding NHL offense, even if they were one of the nations that conceded relatively few goals in the group stage.
But even in this category, the neighboring country is more than a nose ahead of them.
Watch out: Until their final group game against Slovakia, Sweden were the only team at this World Cup to have conceded goals in single figures (8).
As a result, I expect a rather tough game on Thursday, in which goals won’t necessarily be scored every minute. Nevertheless, I see the Swedes going forward from the very first minute.
In addition to classic bets like the ones I have in mind, there are also so-called third bets, according to which the Swedes are already ahead after the first 20 minutes, for example.
This option is available on almost every tested sports betting app and currently promises odds of around 2.10.
The two nations have already faced each other 6 times this calendar year alone and, surprisingly, Finland have always won in the end with only one exception.
However, in the spring and even at the Czech Hockey Games, a large number of the “Tre Kronor”, who are overflowing with NHL stars, were still overseas with their respective franchises.
With these world-class players on the ice, the bookmakers have now also understood in their Sweden Finland odds that this duel should be relatively one-sided.
The SWE win odds of 1.65 compared to the Finns’ odds of around 4.33 expresses great confidence that my favorite for gold will indeed come out on top.
Conclusion: The upcoming ice hockey match between Sweden and Finland promises to be an exciting duel.
Sweden goes into this encounter as the clear favorite, as they have four times more NHL players in their ranks and have played a dominant preliminary round. They seem to be clearly superior to the Finns in all areas.
Finland, on the other hand, have already embarrassed themselves against Austria in the preliminary round and now face a major challenge in the Nordic classic.
Although they are considered the underdogs, surprises are always to be expected in ice hockey. Nevertheless, my Sweden Finland prediction assumes that SWE will advance to the semi-finals with aplomb.
My tip is therefore: Sweden win
