Here’s a posting on Winter Olympics betting submitted by the team at Bodog Sportsbook.
Need a cure for that Super Bowl hangover? The 2010 Winter Olympics will help you get right back into the sports gambling swing. It might not look like winter in Vancouver, but, by hook or by crook, there will be snow in the right places once the Games begin. Athletes from over 80 nations are expected to gather at Friday’s opening ceremonies; billions will be watching on television, and more than a few dollars will exchange hands.
Of the 15 sports involved, most of the action will be on men’s hockey. This is the first time the Games will feature a standard NHL rink (200-by-85 feet) instead of the international 200-by-98 surface, which should play right into the hands of the host Canadians. They’re the favorites at 11-10, followed by Russia at 21-10 and Sweden a distant third at 11-2. Team USA, who should also benefit from the smaller dimensions at GM Place (de-branded as “Canada Hockey Place” for the Olympics), is next at 7-1.
Canada may be the consensus birthplace of hockey, but they went 50 years without winning the gold medal thanks to the rise of the Soviet team and the exclusion of NHL players. Neither of those obstacles exists anymore; however, that’s no guarantee the Canadian version of the Dream Team will come out ahead. They didn’t even reach the podium in 1998 or 2006. Canada’s one shining moment was in 2002 at Salt Lake City, when Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros, Joe Sakic, and Steve Yzerman were on board.
Canada’s team for 2010 doesn’t have quite the same jaw-dropping collection of talent. Martin Brodeur (.917 save percentage this year) is back in goal, and he’ll see some familiar faces behind the blueline in Scott Niedermayer (32 points in 59 games, but a minus-17) and Chris Pronger (40 points in 57 games, plus-20). Up front, it’s none other than Sidney Crosby (39 goals, 35 assists in 58 games) picking up the torch for the retired Lemieux. But does the roster as a whole possess enough skill as well as that elusive team chemistry to merit such short Olympic odds?
The Russians might have the solution. In addition to familiar NHL names like superstars Alexander Ovechkin (42 goals in 51 games), Evgeni Malkin (61 points in 52 games) and Ilya Kovalchuk (31 goals in 52 games), Team Russia has included several players from its very own Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Four of those players are from the same Salavat Yulaev Ufa team; another three are from Ak Bars Kazan. Put those skaters in front of Evgeni Nabokov (.927 SV%), and you have a serious gold medal contender with nearly twice the potential payout as Canada.
You’ll hear a lot of talk about the expectation level Canada has for its hockey team at these Games. This is the third time the Great White North has hosted the Olympics (following the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary), and Canada has yet to strike gold of any kind on home soil. That’s very likely to change this year, according to these Olympic betting odds:
How many gold medals will Canada win?
0-5 37-20
6-9 5-6
10 or more 19-10
Canada’s gold-medal viability got a major boost in 1992 when short track speed skating was made a full Olympic sport. South Korea has won 17 gold since then, followed by Canada with five and the United States with four. This can be a tricky sport to handicap because of the high frequency of disqualifications for making improper contact with other skaters – it’s like NASCAR out there. But with eight different events involved (four for the men, four for the women), Canada should wrangle some gold from the short track. Charles Hamelin has some value at 8-1 to take the men’s 1500m; Hamelin is also +110 in a head-to-head matchup with Team USA star Apolo Anton Ohno (-150).
The chances of Canada grabbing at least six gold look even better when you look at the rest of the Olympic futures market. Germany is a heavy 1-1 favorite to take home the most gold medals from Vancouver, followed by Canada at 5-2 and Team USA at 7-2. There are 86 events in total. Canada won six gold in Nagano and seven each in Salt Lake City and Turin. They could win even more this year as the host country – for a change.
Check out the latest Winter Olympics betting markets and prices at Bodog Sportsbook. (US bettors welcome too).
