Team Canada finished the preliminary round with a perfect 4-0 record and gets to face Group B’s fourth-place team, the Czech Republic, as quarterfinal action kicks off in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.
The Canadians finished the round-robin with the tournament's most goals scored and least allowed (33:4). The Czechs managed just 14 goals in their four prelim games but collected two shutouts and beat Team Russia 2-0 on Sunday.
Hockey odds have Team Canada as a 4.5-goal favorite with the total set at 7, shaded heavily to the Under.
Here are our World Junior U20 Championship free picks and predictions for Team Czech Republic vs. Team Canada for Saturday, January 2 (6:00 p.m. ET).
Team Czech Republic vs Team Canada Betting Preview
Key Injuries
Czech Republic: None to report.
Canada: Kirby Dach C (Out).
Betting Trend to Know
Canada has dominated the last four matchups, having outscored the Czech Republic 24-8 and scoring at least five goals in each of those matches.
Puck Line Pick
Facing their most difficult challenge of the tournament in Team Finland on Friday, Canada put on an absolute clinic in a 4-1 win that could have easily been 8-1. The Canadians dominated time in the attacking zone and wore down the Finnish team, creating chance after chance against an opponent that had no answer for their skill that goes four lines deep.
There are no worries on the backend of the Canadian roster as this may be the most defensive responsible team in the tournament—headlined by goalie Devon Levi.
The 19-year-old netminder, a seventh-round pick by the Florida Panthers in the 2020 NHL Draft, leads all goaltenders with a 0.82 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage. Through four games, Team Canada has yet to allow a goal at even strength as Levi and a collection of first-round defensemen have shut down all opponents.
Team Czech Republic will struggle to match Canada’s offense. The Czech’s looked bad in a pair of losses to Team Sweden and the USA—losing by a combined score of 14-1.
The fourth-place team will have to keep things tight if it wants to advance but with the Canadians gaining chemistry and experience, this game could be very one-sided if Team Canada continues to control the game and start to finish. Canada can dominate on the cycle and on the rush and tilt the ice on its opponents.
Winning by five goals is no easy task in the elimination round, but if Canada leads by three or four goals late, it wouldn’t surprise us if the Czech Republic pulled its goalie with everything on the line.
PREDICTION: Team Canada -4.5 (-103)
Over/Under Pick
With Team Canada’s 4-1 win, it moved to 2-2 O/U in the tourney. It could have been a more lopsided win as Canada had more than six expected goals as it spent 33 minutes in the Finnish defensive zone. If you are betting the Under with this team, it’s going to be a stressful 60 minutes.
Team Czech Republic is 3-1 O/U but its offense can’t take credit for most of it. Two of the Overs hit as the Czechs were beaten 7-0 and 7-1. Their 10 goals are the second-fewest scored of the advancing eight teams and they scored more than two goals just once.
Once again, if we’re riding with the Over, we’re going to need Team Canada to do the heavy lifting. In the Czech’s three games against talented opponents (USA, Sweden and Russia), it was outshot 103-76 and outscored 14-3.
Team Czech Republic also has struggled to stay out of the penalty box and has subsequently gotten burned on the penalty kill, allowing six powerplay goals on 20 penalties versus that same trio of teams.
This is a squad that has shown it can get lit up and facing a Canadian offense that is the best in the tournament, a blowout is a possibility. If The Canucks can start producing with the man-advantage, it could take the Czechs out of their defensive-minded game and open themselves up to Canadian counter attacks. A 7-2 Canada win is where our thoughts are.
PREDICTION: Over 7 (-110)
Team Czech Republic vs Team Canada Betting Card
- Team Canada -4.5 (-103)
- Over 7 (-110)
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Where Can I Bet on the 2021 WJHC?
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