Canada vs. Finland Prediction: IIHF Women’s World Championship Odds

This year, the Women’s World Championships will be played at WinSport Arena in Calgary, without spectators. It’s the eighth time that Canada has played host at the tournament, and it is the first time that Alberta has held the honours.

The scheduled 2020 tournament was shuttered because of the pandemic, and this year’s was pushed from spring to late August. Officially starting on Friday, August 20th and ending on August 31st, the tournament will see two groups of five teams vying for the gold medal. The United States, Finland, Canada, Russia and Switzerland will make up the first group, and the Czech Republic, Japan, Germany, Hungary and Denmark make up the second group.

2021 Women’s World Championship Hockey Odds

Canada hasn’t won gold at this tournament since 2012. The U.S. has truly dominated in the last decade, winning the last five consecutive tournaments, including a controversial win over Finland in 2019.

On Wednesday, the Canadians defeated Finland 4-1 in an exhibition game.

Team Canada

Veteran captain Marie-Philip Poulin will return to the ice to lead Canada’s team at these Women’s World Championships. 25 players will make up the roster, and when this tournament is over, the team will stay in Alberta to start training for the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year.  Team Canada is a solid mix of veterans and youngsters, with eight of the new players making their World Championship debuts.

Poulin will be trying to add another medal to her collection – she has two Olympic golds, as well as World Championship gold. She’s played in 129 games for Canada, scoring 67 goals and earning 140 points, making her one of the best female players of all time, if not the greatest.

In the net for Canada, expect to see plenty of Ann-Renée Desbiens and Emerance Maschmeyer as they compete for the starter job.

Team Finland

Finland comes into this tournament having won the silver medal after dispatching the Canadians in the 2019 iteration. A huge part of why they were able to get that far was the play of their phenomenal goaltender, Noora Räty, who is not playing this year. Räty made a whopping 43 saves in the 4-2 win over Canada in 2019.

Team captain Jenni Hiirikoski will have to make up for Räty’s absence with a stellar showing. Hiirikoski has been awarded the Top Defenceman title at the last six IIHF Women’s World Championships.

Team Finland hasn’t played since Feb. 8, 2020 on the Euro Hockey Tour, where they beat Sweden 4-0. Michelle Karvinen, Hiirikoski and Ronja Savolainen all got on the scoreboard in that game.

Canada vs. Finland Score Prediction

Canada 3, Finland 1