Men’s Olympic Hockey Odds: USA Betting Favorites Over Finland

The United States will try and advance to the gold medal game of the 2010 Winter Olympics on Friday at 12:00 PST (3:00pm EST) as they play Finland in a semifinal game. Team USA has six wins and two ties in hockey odds for 11 previous Olympic games against Finland with the biggest victory coming in 1980 when the Americans won the gold after beating the Soviet Union team in the semifinals. Four years ago the U.S. lost to Finland in the quarterfinals as the Finns went on to win a silver medal. The United States is a -200 betting favorite against Finland +170 in Olympic hockey odds at online sportsbooks.

The United States must avoid looking ahead to a potential rematch with Canada on Sunday. Finland is capable of beating the U.S. if they are not at their best. "I don't think we got this far by looking ahead," said goaltender Ryan Miller, "We've always focused on that one game we needed. This will be a bigger test for our locker room to see if we can keep our heads in the right spot." This match-up in hockey odds on Friday could be very low scoring considering Finland plays a very slow, patient game. They have scored only two goals in their last two games. Niklas Hagman leads the Finns with three goals. The other big names for Finland are Teemu Selanne, Mikko Koivu and Olli Jokinen.

The Finns also have Miikka Kiprusoff in goal and he is one of the best for hockey betting. Kiprusoff has a 1.33 goals against average in the Olympics and a .947 save percentage. "We've really got to be ready to play. It's going to be a tough team, it's going to be a tough game.” United States forward Zach Parise said, “We have to make sure that we're ready to go. We're expecting another really tight, low-scoring game," he said. The United States is led by goaltender Ryan Miller who has a 1.25 goals against average and a .944 save percentage.

The U.S. can score more goals than Finland as they have more offensive firepower. The top line of Paul Stastny, Jamie Langenbrunner and Parise has played well and will need to continue to do so. Another key in this game will be the special teams. The U.S. needs to stay out of the penalty box as seven of Finland’s 12 goals in this tournament have been scored on the power play. Penalty killing will be important and the United States has two excellent defensemen in Brian Rafalski (four goals, two assists) and Ryan Suter (four assists). Watch the 2010 Winter Olympics ice hockey semifinal game between the USA and Finland at 12:00pm PST (3:00pm EST).