Olympics Hockey Betting: United States vs. Finland
 United States of America |
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 Finland |
A spot in Sunday night’s gold medal game for ice hockey will be on the line on Friday afternoon in Vancouver, where the United States will tangle with the Torino runners-up from 2006, Finland. The Americans may have the #1 overall seed in this tournament, but they certainly didn’t look like a #1 seed until the third period in Wednesday’s game against Switzerland. They ultimately won 2-0 to advance. Meanwhile, Finland is seemingly getting the payoff now for losing to Sweden in the final game of the group stage. Instead of having to play in a bracket with Slovakia, Canada, and Russia, the Finnish took out the Czech Republic 2-0 on Wednesday and now get to face the USA as opposed to the hosts, Canada.
F Zach Parise was absolutely the hero for the USA on Wednesday. He tallied the game-winning goal and ultimately added an empty-netter to boot for the only two scores of the Switzerland game. The man of the hour under the most pressure on Friday will be G Ryan Miller. The Buffalo Sabres goalie has been absolutely fantastic between the pipes, as he already has a shutout, a .944 save percentage, and a 1.25 GAA to his credit. D Brian Rafalski leads the team in both goals (4) and points (6).
This is a Finnish side that is chalk full of veterans who know how to play Olympic hockey at this level. There aren’t many guys with gaudy numbers at this point, but F Niklas Hagman has three goals, including one in the game against the Czech Republic on Wednesday. F Teemu Selanne is always dangerous, as he has fired more shots for the Finns than any other player has (17). For his efforts though, he is still goalless on the tournament. G Miikka Kiprusoff has been just as solid in net as Miller has. The Kipper has only had one bad game, that coming in the 3-0 loss to Sweden on the final day of the group stage of this tournament. In total, he has stopped 71 of his 75 shots faced (.947 save percentage) and has a svelte 1.33 GAA.
It’s a little puzzling why the Americans are favored in this game. Yes, it does seem like Team USA has been the darlings of this tournament, but there isn’t an American hockey fan alive that shouldn’t be content with the efforts of this squad even if they are the one team left standing that doesn’t walk out of Vancouver with medals in tote. Finland has the experience and the manpower to get the job done, and if Kiprusoff is as good in net tonight as he was against the Czechs, the United States is finished.
Selection: Finland
You can find Finland at +145 on the moneyline right now at Bookmaker Sportsbook!
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