2022 Winter Olympics predictions & best bets – February 16

One day before the United States and Canada clash in the Women’s Ice Hockey gold medal game at Beijing 2022, these two rival countries meet in Women’s Curling round-robin play on Wednesday. Here’s a look at that matchup as well as the United States vs Slovakia in Men’s Ice Hockey and Finland vs Switzerland in Women’s Ice Hockey in our best bets for Day 12 of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Women’s Curling: Canada (-180) vs United States (+140)

The United States Women’s Curling team has played fairly well in the 2022 Olympic Games. They hold a 4-3 record and their three losses have all come against the top three teams in this year’s tournament thus far in Switzerland (6-1), Sweden (5-2), and Great Britain (4-3). The total points went OVER 12.5 in all three of those losses, with at least 14 total points scored in each.

Canada has played below expectations to this point with a 3-3 record, but perhaps their talent edge will be enough to overcome the Americans in this one. Instead of taking a guess on the head-to-head, though, we like the OVER 12.5 points in this matchup. Four of Canada’s six games in this tournament have gone over the posted total, and a quick glance at the last four World Championships meetings between these two countries show 13-6 and 7-6 wins in the USA’s favour along with 9-7 and 8-5 wins in Canada’s favour. This one figures to be a high-scoring affair regardless of the outcome.

Men’s Ice Hockey: United States (-333.33) vs Slovakia (+210)

The United States were the most impressive team in the preliminary round of the Men’s Ice Hockey tournament, compiling a 3-0 record with 15 goals scored and four goals against for an impressive +11 goal differential. The squad will take on Slovakia on Thursday in the quarterfinals. Slovakia was underwhelming in the group stage with a 1-2 record that included a 6-2 loss to Finland and a 4-1 loss to Sweden, but the team advanced to the quarterfinals with a 4-0 win over Germany on Tuesday.

This is a clear mismatch in the United States’ favour. Slovakia’s strong performance against Germany probably influenced these odds a bit, but the USA has been the better team throughout these Olympics on both ends of the ice. The United States will have some tough games ahead to carry the momentum of the preliminary round into a medal, but this quarterfinal matchup shouldn’t pose any real threat to this group.

Women’s Ice Hockey: Finland -2.5 (+105) vs Switzerland +2.5 (-125)

It’s a bit surprising to see Finland listed as a 2.5-goal favourite in this matchup considering that Switzerland beat Finland 3-2 when these two teams last met in the group stage. Then again, Finland did come into this tournament as the higher-ranked team and has looked considerably better against similar opponents. And Finland did out-shoot Switzerland 40 to 24 and gave up two power-play goals; it’s easy to imagine a comfortable Finland win if the bounces go their way this time.

Still, 2.5 goals is a scary line, so we’re actually going to make a play on the UNDER 5.5 goals instead. Finland has been playing well on defence in the knockout round, allowing only four goals to the high-powered United States and one goal to Japan, and Switzerland also had a solid defensive effort in a 4-2 win over Russia in the quarterfinals. With the bronze medal on the line, both of these teams should be playing with an added focus on defence. Look for Finland to win in a low-scoring game.

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