IIHF World Championship Betting Guide (2024)

The Ice Hockey World Championship is an annual international men’s ice hockey tournament. It is the highest-profile tournament of its kind.

The championships are organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) whose headquarters are in Zurich, Switzerland.

Founded in 1908, the federation maintains the IIHF world rankings as well as administrating yearly ice hockey tournaments. While the European Championships were first held back in 1910, it was during the 1920 Summer Olympics in which the first internationally recognized Ice Hockey World Championships took place. From that time up until the year 1968, the victor of the Olympic hockey tournament was considered that year’s world champion in hockey.

Originally the tournament consisted of only amateur players. That is until a ruling in 1977 allowing professional athletes to take part in the tournament was passed. Players are required to play for the country that they are citizens of, although they are granted the ability to switch national teams if they’ve participated in at least two consecutive hockey seasons and 16 consecutive months for that given country.

The current IIHF World Championship format consists of 16 teams divided into two groups of the preliminary round. The seeding is based on IIHF world rankings. The eight winners of the preliminary round face-off in the playoff medal round, where the victor is crowned world champion.

IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Predictions

Who is the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Favourite?

Current IIHF World Championship Odds have Finland at +220 favourites to win the tournament, with Canada and Sweden close behind.
This shouldn’t come as much surprise, as Sweden (2013, 2017, 2018) and Canada (2015, 2016) have captured gold in five of the past seven IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships.
Canada has received gold 26 times during its time participating in the IIHF World Championship, just one fewer than Russia/Soviet Union.

Who Will Play in the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Finals?

Finland vs. Canada – Current favourites entering this tournament, Canada and Finland are the projected winners of their respective groups. With Finland sending NHL talent plus additions from their own professional league, Finland is coming well equipped as the host country. Canada are also well prepared and continue to get stronger ahead of the tournament.
What Team is a Bust? – United States – The US has an awful record in the World Championships despite being a famous ice hockey nation. They finished first in their group last tournament, before being dumped out of the competition by rival Canada at the semi-final stage. They are currently fifth in the betting to win gold, but their odds look far too short given their recent record in the tournament.

Betting on the IIHF - How to Get Started

Choose an Operator

When betting on the IIHF World Championship, you want to make sure you are putting your money in the hands of a reliable and honorable operator. Selecting any of the aforementioned operators above will guarantee your safety, while also providing an effective and simplistic platform that is easy to maneuver.

To place a bet through any operator you will need an account. Don’t have an account yet? No worries, simply create one by clicking on the table above, and start converting your bets into cash.

Choose the Market

Outright Markets– Outright Markets are when you place a bet on the winner of an entire league or competition instead of a single matchup. In terms of the IIHF World Championships, these bets can be placed before the tournament begins (May 13th, 2022) and remain open through the completion of the Ice Hockey World Championship.
Prop Bets – Prop Bets or Proposition Bets are bets placed on an individual player or event. Prop Bets can be placed on anything from how many goals a specific player will score, to a simple yes/no proposition.

Example: Yes/No – Will Canada score a goal within the first minute of regulation?
Other Markets – Other betting markets such as over/under, point spread, outright winners, and more, will be available the closer we get to the start of the tournament.

Do Your Research

Always be prepared. That’s the name of the game when it comes to the world of sports betting. You want to consume the most amount of knowledge possible on a given subject before placing a bet. The sports world is ever-changing. Lines, odds, and predictions are constantly on the move.

Make sure to constantly check the odds, markets, and bookmakers. Have a good understanding of what you are betting on. For instance, visiting sites with IIHF World Champion predictions and Ice Hockey tips will help further your knowledge on a specific IIHF World Championship betting lines or prop bets to elevate your chances at a more likely and lucrative payout.

Popular Betting Markets

Outright Winner– The winner of an entire competition rather than a single event. In this case you would place your bet for who you predict to win the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.
Point Spread– The point spread is an amount set by oddsmakers to provide an advantage/disadvantage based on a margin of victory/defeat for a given team.

The team pegged as the “favorite” (likely to win), will be given a negative point spread. This means they would have to win the game by the given points to earn you a payout. The “underdog” (projected to lose) is given a positive point spread.

Meaning the team can lose a game, but as long as it is within the given positive point spread, they would still be considered victorious against the spread.

Example: Canada (-1.5) vs. USA (+1.5)

Canada enters the game as 1.5-point favorites, meaning they would have to win the game by 2 points or more to win the bet. USA, on the other hand, enters the game as a 1.5-point underdog. USA could either win the game outright or lose the game, but by no more than 1.5 points to win the bet.

Example: Canada defeats USA 2-1. Canada wins the game, but USA wins the bet by “covering the spread”, as it did not lose by more than 1.5 points.
Total (Over/Under) - The total is a marker set by oddsmakers to determine the combination of points scored by both teams. You can place your bet on whether you believe the total will be over or under the set total.

Example: Canada vs. USA (Over/Under 4 points) | Canada wins 2-1, giving a total of just 3 points scored between the two teams. Since 3 is less than 4, the game went UNDER.

IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Schedule

The 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship starts on May 23rd tand concludes on May 29th.
The IIHF passed a rule in 1970 allowing professional athletes to participate in the Ice Hockey World Championships. However, due to the timing of the tournament, many of the best players are either partaking in the NHL play-offs or rehabbing from a gruelling season.
The preliminary round kicks off on May 13th and runs through to May 24th. This round will consist of between four and six games per day. Group A teams face-off with fellow Group A teams, while Group B follows the same format

The schedule is as follows:

Preliminary round – May 13th – May 24th
Quarter-finals – May 26th
Semi-finals – May 28th
Third place play-off – May 29th
Final – May 29th
At the conclusion of the preliminary round, the top four teams from each group will advance to the first round of the play-offs, better known as the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals will consist of four games, all taking place on May 26th.
The top-seeded country from each group will face-off with the lowest-seeded country from the opposite group (E.G: Group A/Seed 1 vs. Group B/Seed 4). While seeds two and three will faceoff with each other, following the same format.
The four winners of the quarter-finals round advance to the semi-finals, which take place on May 28th. Two games will take place that day, between the highest-seeded team from one group vs. the lowest seed team from the opposite group.
It all concludes on May 29th when the two final teams – one from group A and one from group B – meet up to determine the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Champions.

IIHF World Championship Betting Guide (2024)

Best IIHF Betting Sites