Like Canada, the U.S. should be helped by the NHL-sized ice surface in Vancouver, but it won\u2019t be enough to put them over the top. The good news is the tournament is a short one, so the Americans need only to get hot at the right time. Team USA certainly has the right man in nets to do the trick: Ryan Miller has been arguably the NHL\u2019s best goaltender this season.<\/p>\n
Group B<\/strong> is headlined by 2009 World Champion Russia, which hasn\u2019t had this much firepower at its disposal since the Cold War. A quick look at the forwards tells bettors all they need to know about Russia\u2019s chances: Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk, and Alex Semin highlight the list.<\/p>\n The Russians also have excellent goaltending with Ilya Bryzgalov and Evgeni Nabokov between the pipes, and they\u2019ll need it with the defense lacking in, well, defensive ability. Andrei Markov and Sergei Gonchar are talented, but Anton Volchenkov is the only true shutdown defenseman on the roster. That could spell trouble if Russia faces a team like Canada or Sweden later on in the tournament. Politics might play a role \u2013 and not in a good way \u2013 for the Russians, who chose to include nine players from the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) at the expense of some proven NHLers. It might have the guns to overcome the decision, but Russia is certainly skating on thin ice. Considering they haven\u2019t won the gold since 1992 \u2013 or a true best-on-best hockey tournament since 1981 \u2013 the Russians might be left holding the bag in Vancouver.<\/p>\n The Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Latvia round out Group B, and only the Czechs and Slovaks have a realistic chance of making noise at the Games. Winners of the gold in 1998 in Nagano and bronze four years ago, the Czech Republic has the talent to get back the podium.<\/p>\n To do that, the Czechs need to get off a good start in group play against the Slovaks, who are priced as 1-goal underdogs (-125) on the puckline for their showdown on Wednesday at Canada Hockey Place. We\u2019d handicap Slovakia to be a sharp play all tournament long, but it could be in trouble with Marian Hossa and Marian Gaborik both banged up.<\/p>\n Reigning Olympic champion Sweden figures to be favored in all three of its games in Group C<\/strong>, and it should be with rival Finland, Germany, and Belarus waiting in the wings. The Swedes aren\u2019t stacked like they were in \u201906, but they\u2019re still capable of winning the gold behind the Sedin brothers.<\/p>\n The Finns might have something to say about Sweden\u2019s expected supremacy in Group C, even if they fell to the Swedes in the gold medal game in Turin. Finland has an aging team with Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne still on the roster, but it should benefit from the small ice: The Finns were runner-up to Canada in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey \u2013 the last best-on-best tourney played on an NHL ice surface. Betus sportsbook weighs in with a Men’s Olympic Hockey Gambling Preview for this year’s hockey tournament, with Canada set as the odds on favorite to walk away with the gold medal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[24238,3213,184,24234,2276,24228,24236,24235,24231,1957,24229,24237,24230,24233,24232],"class_list":["post-19214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-olympics","tag-bet-on-olympic-hockey","tag-bet-us","tag-betus","tag-betus-hockey","tag-hockey-betting","tag-hockey-betting-bet-us","tag-hockey-olympic-gambling","tag-mens-olympic-hockey-gambling","tag-nhl-bet-us","tag-nhl-betting","tag-olympic-hockey-tournament","tag-olympics-hockey-betting","tag-ryan-miller","tag-winter-olympic-games-in-vancouver","tag-winter-olympics-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19214"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19216,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19214\/revisions\/19216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/media.partners.betus.com\/BANNERS\/hockey\/sportsbook_HOCKEY_250x250_mybanner1.gif\")
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