Predictions and odds for Finland's performance at the 2022 Hockey World Championship

The Finnish team is the 2019 FIFA World Cup gold medallists, finalists at the 2021 World Cup, and the Beijing Olympics-2022 champions. Will Jukka Jalonen's men can perform well at their home World Cup-2022? We predict Suomi will reach at least the final again!

Finland is currently the strongest national team in the world. In all three of the last three major international tournaments, Suomi has reached at least the final. Particularly memorable is the 2019 World Cup, where the Finns played with a very modestly named squad, refusing to invite overseas players. All of their competitors have brought plenty of stars from the NHL, which has not prevented the Whites from passing Sweden, Russia, and Canada in the play-offs, winning the gold medals on their way.

At the 2021 World Cup in Riga, the team also performed well, finishing second in the group, and in the playoffs, they beat the Czechs and Germans but lost in overtime to Canada 2:3 in the final game. The Suomi players didn't feel bad about it for long because already in February 2022, they played the Beijing Olympics: three straight wins in the group stage sent the Finns straight into the quarterfinals, and in the knock-out rounds, they beat the Swiss, Slovaks, and Russians to win gold at the Games.

Finland has started its preparations for the 2022 World Cup by beating Denmark and Norway twice. Suomi also enjoyed a successful start to the third round of the European Tour, where they won the Czech Republic and Austria 2:1 and 4:2 respectively, but lost to Sweden 0:2 in their last game. On the other hand, they have failed the Beijer games in Sweden, losing all three games: 2:3 to the Swiss, 1:3 to the Czechs, and 3:4 to the Swedes, each game in regulation time.

Finland isn't in the best mood heading into the World Cup, having lost their last four friendlies in regulation time. Those local setbacks will probably have a significant impact on their confidence. Still, a lengthy group stage will allow them to forget those defeats. In the knock-out rounds, we'll again see the pragmatic Jukka Tolonen's usual team, capable of getting results against opponents of any level. As a result, we're betting on Finland reaching the 2022 World Cup final.

Group B, where Finland is playing, is much more competitive than Group A. Nevertheless, we can expect a good performance from Suomi already in the first round of the World Championship. After all, they will play on home ice, where they will try to please the local fans every time. At the last World Championships, the team scored 17 of a possible 21 points, and at the Beijing Olympics, they won all three games in the group stage of the tournament. With that in mind, it's worth looking at Finland's Total Over 16.5 for 1.85.

Finland is a team that is primarily renowned for its defense. Let's recall the quality of Suomi's play at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, where they conceded only eight goals (1.33 goals per game average) in six games, and three of those goals came against Sweden in a six-minute second period. Therefore, it is worth looking at a bet on the total under 10.5 conceded pucks for 1.85.

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