2025 IIHF Men’s World Championship Odds, Prediction: Canada vs. Austria

Jordan Ramsay
Last Updated: May 14, 2025

Canada has sent one of their most stacked rosters in years to the 2025 IIHF World Championship and it’s shown with dominating victories over Slovenia, Latvia and France to kickstart the tournament. The Austrians, who are fresh off a 3-2 shootout win against Slovakia on Monday, will be the toughest test yet for Canada as the teams prepare to meet at 2:20 p.m. ET on Thursday.

The puckline for this game has Canada favoured to win by four goals on the World Championship odds, while Austria is a +1600 underdog on the moneyline. The game total is set at 6.5.

2025 IIHF World Championship Betting Odds

After outscoring their first three opponents 16-1 in the preliminary round, it should be no surprise to see Canada perched as +115 favourites to win the tournament, on the World Championship futures board, with tournament co-host Sweden close behind at +320. The Canadians have a tournament-record 28 gold medals, last winning in 2023.

Austria is obviously further down the board at +50,000 to win the tournament, tied with the other co-host, Denmark, for the fifth-longest odds. Austria’s best tournament result is a pair of bronze medals won in 1931 and 1947. This is Austria’s fourth consecutive year in the top division after they were relegated in 2019.

If you’re looking for game props, it’s tempting to take ‘no’ on both teams scoring in regulation at +160 in the World Championships specials. Canada has shut out two of their first three opponents and Austria failed to score more than two regulation goals in any of their three games.

When it comes to player props, there’s great value on Travis Konecny to record a least one point against Austria at +105. Konecny, who has five points (2G, 3A) in the tournament, has a point in all three games.

Team Canada

Canada has cruised through the first three games of this tournament, winning 4-0 against Slovenia, 7-1 against Latvia and 5-0 against France. The Canadians have spent the first bit of this tournament playing around with line combinations before they face real threats like Finland and Sweden. All three goalies, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jordan Binnington and Dylan Garand, have played a game so it’s tough to say who will start on Thursday. For what it’s worth, the depth order likely goes Binnington, Fleury, Garand.

Team Canada has also done a nice job distributing the offence throughout the lineup. Nathan MacKinnon (2G, 3A), Bo Horvat (4G, 1A) and Konecny share the team lead in points, while 10 different players have recorded a goal through three games. Sidney Crosby’s (1G, 3A) mere presence on the team has done a lot to get the biggest stars to this tournament.

Team Austria

Austria began their tournament with close losses against Finland, 2-1, and Sweden, 4-2, before beating Slovakia 3-2 in a shootout. The results against top tier competition like Finland and Sweden are almost more impressive than the win against Slovakia and it could do a lot to help Austria avoid relegation. After the Canadian game, Austria will likely face their three easiest preliminary round opponents, so there’s a chance they challenge for a quarterfinal spot.

Team Austria has given two starts to David Kickert and one to Atte Tolvanen. You have to think Kickert, who plays for EC Salzburg in the top Austrian league, has the edge to start against Canada. He was in net against Austria’s toughest opponent to this point, Sweden, and he was also the starter in the win against Slovakia. When it comes to offence, you can circle Peter Schneider (3G, 2A) and Marco Kasper (2G, 1A).