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Canada vs. Finland: 2026 Olympic Hockey Women’s Odds, Prediction

UPDATE: Canada’s women’s hockey opener against Finland has been postponed after a Norovirus outbreak impacted the Finnish team. Thirteen of Finland’s 23 players are currently in quarantine due to illness or exposure. The game, originally scheduled for February 5, has been rescheduled for February 12 at 2:30 p.m. at the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena.

Team Canada gets its start in the women’s ice hockey portion of the Winter Olympics from Italy on Thursday afternoon Eastern time from Milan by taking on Finland from Group A with the Canadians -10000 on the Olympic hockey odds and the Finns +1750 with an over-under of 6.5 goals.

Canada vs. Finland Betting Analysis

While the opening ceremonies for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics aren’t until Friday, some events start prior and that includes women’s ice hockey kick off Thursday; the men don’t start until next week. The women start with a preliminary round 10 teams split into two groups.

Group A among the women features the top-ranked countries by the IIHF — No. 1 United States, No. 2 Canada, No. 3 Finland, No. 4 Czech Republic and No. 5 Switzerland. All are guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals. Group B consists of Germany, Sweden, Japan, Italy and France, with the top three teams qualifying for the quarters.

This will mark the last major women’s international hockey event with these tiered groups. Starting this November with the World Championships, the groups will be balanced as other countries are starting to catch up at least a little with the Americans and Canadians.

Finishing first in Group B is important as the team that does will face the third-place team from Group A in the quarterfinals, likely avoiding the USA or Canada. Sweden is the -250 favourite in Group B and probably should be as it has won two women’s medals in hockey: silver in 2006 when the Swedes lost in the final to Canada and bronze in 2022.

Canada

Canada is the +110 second-favourite in Group A behind the United States (-145) and also a +125 second-favourite for gold behind the USA (-140). If they don’t meet in the gold-medal match just like the men, it’s an upset as they have in all but one: 2006 when Canada beat Sweden.

The past two gold-medal matches have been split between Canada and the USA by 3-2 scores. While the Canadians are reigning gold medalists in the Games, they also lost twice to Team USA at the 2025 World Championships.

This roster is led Marie-Philip Poulin, who scored the game winning goal at the 2010, 2014, and 2022 Olympics. The 34-year-old has scored seven goals with 14 points in 15 games this PWHL season with Montreal.

Among Canada’s forwards, nine of 13 won gold at the 2022 Olympics, with Julia Gosling, Daryl Watts, Jenn Gardiner and Kristin O’Neill set to make their Olympic debuts. Five blueliners return who won gold in Beijing with Sophie Jaques and Kati Tabin as the rookies.

Veteran Ann-Renee Desbiens should be the primary in net, and she is second in the PWHL this season with a 1.15 GAA for Montreal. Desbiens was the starter in the 2022 Games, winning all five starts with only nine goals allowed.

There are 13 forwards, seven on defence and three goaltenders on the roster. A total of 20 of those earned a silver medal at the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship.

Finland

The Finns are +4000 to win Group A, which obviously isn’t going to happen, but again all five teams advance from it. They have won bronze at the past two games, beating Switzerland, 4-0, in that match at Bejing 2022 and beating the Olympic Athletes from Russia, 3-2 in 2018 in Pyeongchang. Overall, Finland has four Olympic bronzes.

This year’s roster features a mix of PWHL, NCAA and European players. That group includes Michelle Karvinen of the Vancouver Goldeneyes, and Rona Savolainen and goalie Sanni Ahola of the Ottawa Charge.

The future Hall of Famer Karvinen is a well-known women’s hockey star in Europe as the 35-year-old old is a three-time Olympic bronze medalist, a Russian league champion and a four-time Swedish Women’s Hockey League champion but a “rookie” in the PWHL. She was picked 7th overall by the Goldeneyes in the 2025 PWHL Draft.

The blueline looks strong led by veteran Jenni Hiirikoski, PWHL defender Ronja Savolainen, NCAA star Nelli Laitinen and Sanni Rantala.

Olympic Hockey Prediction: Who Will Win Canada vs. Finland?

Back Finland +4 at -130 on the puckline; expect Canada to win 5-2.