After opening as a slight underdog against Team Canada for Friday’s Olympic men’s hockey semifinal matchup, Team USA is currently listed at even money to knock off their North American rivals and advance to the gold-medal game in Sochi.
Led by Maple Leafs sniper Phil Kessel, who is sitting atop the Olympic scoring race with five goals and three assists in four games, the high-scoring Americans opened as minus-105 underdogs at prominent online sportsbooks tracked by OddsShark.com.
Meanwhile, Team Canada and its popgun offence opened as a slight favourite at minus-115 following their tight 2-1 victory over lightly-regarded Latvia on Wednesday.
As of midday Thursday, however, the line had moved to a PUSH, with both teams listed at minus-110 to win this much-anticipated rematch of the two finalists from the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.
Kessel and his American teammates have already beaten Slovakia, Russia (in a shootout), Slovenia and the Czech Republic on their way to Friday’s clash with Team Canada (Noon ET), while outscoring their opposition 19-6 along the way (excluding the “T.J. Oshie shootout show” versus Russia).
Kessel’s linemate and fellow Leaf forward James Van Riemsdyk can also be found among the Top 10 scorers in this Olympic tournament with five points so far, a total matched by Team USA pivot Joe Pavelski of the Sharks.
The betting total for this matchup is sitting at 5 1/2 goals, with the UNDER paying off for bettors at minus-120 and the OVER currently listed at even money. There are plenty of interesting Olympic betting props in place as of Thursday as the final four teams have been set.
Team Canada has relied on offence from its defencemen while also playing a strong shutdown style of hockey through its first four games. Blueliner Drew Doughty of the Kings leads the team in scoring with four goals and two assists while Shea Weber of the Predators has chipped in with three goals and one assist including the game-winner against Latvia.
The top-scoring forwards for Canada are Jeff Carter of the Kings, with three goals and one assist, and Patrick Marleau of the Sharks with four assists.
Canada has scored 13 goals while allowing just three goals against in their victories over Norway, Austria, Finland (in overtime) and the plucky Latvians.
On the updated futures odds heading into Friday’s semifinal matchups, Canada is listed at 8/5 odds to win the gold medal with the USA close behind at 9/5.
Team Sweden, which is favored at -155 odds to knock off Finland (plus-130) in the other semifinal, is listed on the futures betting board at 16/5 odds to win gold while Finland is the underdog at 13/2 odds despite knocking off the powerful host team from Russia in the quarterfinals.
Canada, of course, defeated the Americans 3-2 in overtime on a goal by current captain Sidney Crosby to win gold in Vancouver the last time these two teams clashed in the Olympics.
The final goes just prior to the closing ceremonies on Sunday.
