2022 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship: Canada vs. Czechia Semifinal Odds, Prediction

It’s down to the final four at the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton as host country Canada faces Czechia in the semifinal on Friday.  Team Canada punched their ticket to the semis with a 6-3 win over Switzerland in the quarterfinals, while Czechia earned their spot with a 4-2 upset win over the United States.

Canada is a 2.5-goal favourite to win on the WJC odds.

2022 WJC Semifinal Canada vs. Czechia Betting Odds

This will be a rematch as these teams previously met in the preliminary round.  Canada peppered Czechia with 57 shots and cruised to a 5-1 victory.  Mason McTavish led the Canadians with a two-goal performance, while Martin Rysavy scored the lone goal for the Czechs.

The total for this game is set at 7.0 goals, with the Under a slight -122 favourite.  Canada is -556 to win in regulation, while Czechia is +840.  The game needing either overtime or a shootout is +700.

Team Canada

Canada started things quick in their quarterfinal victory over Switzerland, with Tyler Foerster scoring just over a minute into the game.  Logan Stankoven had two goals, while Jack Thompson, Nathan Gaucher and Will Cuylle had singles.  McTavish recorded an assist and continues to lead the tournament in points (14), goals (7) and plus/minus (plus-14).  Connor Bedard was held pointless for the first time in the tournament.  In net, Dylan Garand made 23 saves on 26 shots faced.

One concern is the status of forward Ridly Greig, who suffered an undisclosed injury in the first period and did not return to the game.  There’s been no update on Greig, who has three goals and three assists in five games.

Team Czechia

After giving up the game’s first goal, the Czechs surprised the previously unbeaten Americans in the quarters on Wednesday, scoring three straight goals in a 4-2 victory.  Jan Mysak, Petr Hauser, Matyas Sapovaliv and Jiri Kulich scored for Czechia.  Kulich also added a pair of assists.  It was a fairly significant upset win as not only had the U.S. gone undefeated in the preliminary, they never trailed at any point in the tournament before Wednesday.  Tomas Suchanek made 28 saves in the win.  Suchanek stopped 52 of 57 shots against Canada in the preliminary round.

Canada vs. Czechia WJC Semifinal Score Prediction

Canada 4, Czechia 1