Canada vs. China Prediction: 2022 Olympic Men’s Hockey Odds
Team Canada is back in action at the Beijing Olympic men’s hockey tournament as they close out the preliminary round against host country China on Sunday at 8:10 a.m. EST. Canada suffered their first setback of the tournament with a 4-2 loss to the rival United States. Team China scored the first two goals in their country’s Olympic history, but ultimately fell 3-2 to Germany on Saturday.
Canada is a massive -5291 favourite to win on the Olympic odds, with China listed as +3400 underdogs. The total is set at a whopping 7.5 goals.
Canada vs. China Olympic Odds and Betting
This game concludes the preliminary round for both teams. These teams have obviously never met before as China has never competed in the top division at a major men’s hockey tournament. With a lack of enough high level Chinese-born players, the team was forced to recruit players from abroad. China’s roster includes 11 Canadians, nine Chinese, three Americans and a Russian. China sits last in Group A and will be forced to play in the single elimination qualification playoffs to reach the quarterfinals.
Canada currently sits second in Group A and would lose the tiebreaker against the United States to win the group. The top team in each group and the best second-ranked team go straight to the quarters. All other teams head to the qualification playoffs. Canada is tied with Sweden and Denmark for that final spot. Denmark has already played three games, so Canada will finish ahead of them with a win. Sweden, who finishes the preliminary round against Finland, has a +2 better goal differential than Canada, so the Canadians can’t afford to go easy in this game.
Team Canada
Claude Julien made a surprising return to the bench against the Americans, but received a less-than-desired result. Julien was unexpectedly cleared by doctors to fly to China after suffering broken ribs and a punctured lung in Switzerland just before the tournament. Canada overpowered the Germans in the first game of the preliminary round physically, but they didn’t seem to be able to repeat the performance against the young, speedy and skilled Americans.
Mat Robinson opened the scoring just over a minute into the game. Canada only found the back of the net once more, with Corban Knight’s shorthanded goal in the second period. Edward Pasquale made 23 saves, but looked shaky. Julien wouldn’t say if Pasquale, the reigning KHL goalie of the year, would play against China, or if backup Matt Tomkins, or Devon Levi will get a shot. Tomkins plays for Frolunda HC in the Swedish Hockey League. The 20-year-old Levi plays for Northeastern University and is one of the biggest stars in NCAA Division I hockey.
Team China
Despite the loss, it was a historic game for China against the Germans. The Chinese scored their first two Olympic goals ever and kept the game competitive against the 2018 silver medalists. China was outshot 38-16 and was limited to just two shots in the third period. Parker Foo had the historic first goal in the last minute of the second period. One of China’s two third period shots also found the back of the net, with Tyler Wong scoring on the power-play.
Jeremy Smith performed as well as he could against Germany, making 35 saves in net. Smith is American and was drafted in the second round, 54th overall, by Nashville in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. He eventually played 10 career NHL games, all with Colorado in 2016-17, before spending the next two years exclusively in the AHL. Smith joined the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star in 2019 and is in the middle of his third season with the club.
Canada vs. China Score Prediction
Canada 9
China 0