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2025 IIHF World Junior Championship: Canada vs. Latvia Odds, Prediction

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The Canadians drew a tough opponent in their tournament opener, but impressed with a 4-0 win over Finland. Latvia will be the rested team as this is their first preliminary round game.

Canada is favoured to win by 6.5 goals on the World Junior odds’ puckline, while Latvia is a +3000 underdog on the moneyline and the total is pegged at 8.0 goals.

2025 IIHF World Junior Championship Betting Odds

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These teams met in the preliminary round last year in Sweden, with Canada routing Latvia 10-0. Macklin Celebrini starred in the game, recording a goal and four assists, while Mathis Rousseau pitched a 22-save shutout.

Overall, there’s not much history between these teams, with just four all-time meetings at the World Juniors. Canada has won all four games, hitting double-digit goals in three of them while outscoring Latvia a combined 41-4.

After the first day of the tournament, Canada improved from +125 to +115 favourites to win gold on the World Juniors futures board. Latvia easily has the longest odds at +25,000, while the United States is Canada’s biggest threat at +150. Canada and the U.S. will end the preliminary round against each other on New Year’s Eve, in a game that will likely decide the winner of Group A.

Team Canada

There’s always huge pressure on Canada to perform on home soil, so there has to be a little weight of the team’s shoulder with a shutout win over a good Finland team to open the tournament. The 17-year-old phenom Gavin McKenna opened the scoring, while Easton Cowan and Luca Pinelli also beat the Finnish netminder. Matthew Schaeffer sealed the game with an empty-net goal and Carter George looked rock solid with a 31-save shutout. Schaeffer, the first 17-year-old defenceman to make Team Canada since Jamie Drysdale in 2020, also set up McKenna’s opening goal.

Head coach Dave Cameron has said he’ll stick with the same lineup outside of giving George a break in net. Jack Ivankovic will get the start against Latvia. The 17-year-old Ivankovic plays for the Brampton Steelheads of the OHL. In 21 games this season, Ivankovic has an .898 save percentage and 3.49 goals-against average. It’s a dip from last year when he posted a 2.72 GAA and .915 SV in 25 outings.

Team Latvia

Latvia hasn’t played yet, so there obviously isn’t much tape to go off. Their last game pre-tournament game was on Monday in a 5-1 loss to Switzerland. Olivers Murnieks scored the lone Latvian goal, while Linards Feldbergs did all he could with 38 saves. If you’re looking for some sort of comparison, the Swiss team that dominated Latvia was beaten pretty handedly, 5-1, against Czechia on Thursday.

There’s been a lot made (including by me) of the amount of 17-year-olds playing for Canada at this year’s tournament, but Latvia is leaning even heavier into the youth movement. The Latvians have four 16-year-old players on their roster, who are all playing in North America this year. Murnieks, who has 15 points (9G, 6A) in 25 games with Sioux City of the USHL, is the most notable. The other three 16-year-olds are Rudolfs Berkalns (Muskegon, USHL), Martins Klaucans (St. Cloud, NAHL) and Robert Naudins (U-18 Prep team, Shattuck-St. Mary’s School).

Canada vs. Latvia WJC Prediction

Canada 8, Latvia 1