2024 World Junior Championship Odds, Prediction: Canada vs. Finland
Canada opens the tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden with a chance to become the first nation to win three straight gold medals at the World Juniors since they won five straight between 2005 and 2009. Finland will look to take the gold for the first time since 2019.
Canada is a -185 favourite to win on the WJC betting odds, with the game total set at 5.5.
2024 World Junior Championship betting odds
No nation has had more World Junior success than Canada. They’ve medalled in 35 of 47 tournaments since 1977 and they have a record 20 gold medals. The only other nation to win more than 10 gold medals is Russia, who won 13 golds (four as Russia, eight as the Soviet Union and one as the Commonwealth of Independent States). Listed at +250 to win the tournament, Canada trails only the United States at +200.
It took a while for Finland to establish themselves as a dominant hockey nation, but they’ve been one of the more successful teams over the last decade or so. The Finns have medalled 17 times at the World Juniors, including three of the last five tournaments. They’ve won gold three times in the last 10 years (2014, 2016, 2019) and five times in tournament history. Finland is +550 to win gold in 2024.
These teams didn’t meet in last year’s tournament, but they faced off twice in 2022. Canada beat the Finns 6-3 in the preliminary round and 3-2 in overtime in a highly entertaining gold medal game. Kent Johnson scored the golden goal after Mason McTavish knocked a Finnish shot out of the air just above Canada’s goal line at the other end of the ice. The two nations have played nine times over the last 10 years, with Canada wining six.
Team Canada
Owen Beck, an injury replacement last year, is Canada’s only returning player, but there’s still plenty of high-end talent to be excited about. Macklin Celebrini is expected to be taken first overall in next spring’s draft and he has been one of Canada’s top performers in exhibition games. Celebrini leads Boston University in goals (10), assists (15) and points (25). There are nine 2022 and 2023 first round draft picks and three players with NHL experience this season. Matthew Poitras has 13 points (5G, 8A) in 27 games with the Boston Bruins, while captain Fraser Minten has seen action with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Matt Savoie played a game with the Buffalo Sabres.
Canada should also receive some offensive contributions from the back end. Denton Mateychuk started the season with points in 23 straight games (6G, 29A) for Moose Jaw of the WHL and Ty Nelson has 12 goals in 28 games for North Bay of the WHL. It’s an open competition in net between Scott Ratzlaff (Seattle, WHL), Samuel St-Hilaire (Sherbrooke, QMJHL) and Mathis Rousseau (Halifax, QMJHL).
Team Finland
Finland isn’t expected to be an overly powerful team this year, but there’s still some names to keep an eye on. Kasper Halttunen, who has 20 goals in 28 games for London of the OHL, was riding a 14-game point streak (11G, 8A) when he left for Sweden. Konsta Helenius has 20 points (8G, 12A) in 28 games for Jukurit in Liiga and his average of 0.71 points per game is the most in Liiga by an under-18 player since Kaapo Kakko (0.84) in 2018-19.
The Finnish power play will be led by Arttu Karki (Sault Ste. Marie), who leads all OHL defencemen with 16 goals in 30 games. Niklas Kokko is expected to start in net after serving as Finland’s third goalie last year. In 10 Liiga games with Karpat, Kokko has a 2.36 goals-against average and .906 save percentage.
Canada vs. Finaland WJC score prediction
Canada 4, Finland 2