This is primarily an NHL betting site with NHL predictions available every day, but with the 2012 World Junior Championships here over the Christmas holidays I’ve decided to try handicapping some games. I always follow the tournament very closely so I expect to earn a profit over this tournament. The record I get in the World Juniors will be separate from my NHL betting predictions record. There are 4 games today and from what I’ve seen the best sportsbooks for betting on the IIHF World Juniors are 5Dimes.com and SportsInteraction.com.
Sweden @ Latvia
The Swedes have the talent to run up the score against a Latvian team that is not in the same class as the top teams in this tournament. Mika Zibanejad scored two goals against the Canadians in a 5-3 pretournament win and I expect him and the other skilled players on Sweden to not let up in this first game of the tournament. The spread is set at 5.5 goals at 5Dimes and I expect the Swedes to score 8 or more against Latvia which should result in them covering the spread.
Play: Sweden (-5.5) -125 (5Dimes.com)
Canada @ Finland
The Canadians haven’t looked too sharp in pre-tournament play, especially in goal so this game may be more difficult than many anticipate. The Finns are expected to be the 5th most talented team in the tournament and they have Mikael Granlund who could easily be in the NHL as a skill player bearing down on them in this game. I expect the Canadians to pull out the win, but it should be a tighter game than many expect and the Finns should be in the game until the end.
Play: Finland (+3.5) -118 (SportsInteraction.com)
**5Dimes has the spread at only 2.5 with basically the same odds. So if you plan to bet on Finland you should definitely visit SportsInteraction.com, while if you plan to back the Canadians, 5Dimes.com is the best place to wager.
Written by: Niko de Jonge
Tagged with: Canada betting • Finland betting • Latvia betting • Sweden betting