Team Canada begins the do-or-die stage of the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship on Tuesday, getting a day’s rest for New Year’s before getting right back at it against Czechia (or, as listed on bet365 and formerly known, the Czech Republic). After a couple of worse-than-expected games to close out the round-robin, the Canadian team is being looked at with some skepticism, but the bar is still sky high and there is still lots of hope for them to bring home a third consecutive gold medal. That journey truly begins with this game, against the nation that Canada beat in the final a year ago.
Bet on Canada vs. Czechia
CAN -770
CZE +425
Canada are heavy moneyline favourites, entering Monday at -770 to win the game and advance.
Canada vs. Czechia odds
| Canada Moneyline Odds | -770 |
| Czechia Moneyline Odds | +425 |
| Puckline odds | Canada -2.5 (-143), Czechia +2.5 (+110) |
| Total | 6.5 goals (over -134, under -106) |
| Time/Date | Jan. 2, 8:30 a.m. ET |
| TV | Broadcast: TSN Stream: TSN+ (How to watch the NHL in Canada?) |
All odds courtesy of 
About Team Canada (3-1, +14 GD)
Canada comes in with a bit of nerves, but still plenty of reason to be seen as the heavier hand. Fans were hoping for a hard and heavy response to their loss against Sweden when they took on the Germans on New Year’s Eve but instead took some time to get themselves settled. Connor Geekie was ejected seconds into the game for a hit to the head, leading to Canada conceding the first goal on the ensuing five-minute penalty kill. Macklin Celebrini continued his excellent tournament with a response shortly after. Still, it wasn’t until the third period that the Canadians were able to pull away, going up by two for the first time with four minutes to go and adding an empty netter shortly after for the 6-3 win.
With that said, Canada was still the better team through and through in this one. The Germans had a chip on their shoulders as well after losing badly to Latvia and it showed early, but Canada still took nearly two-thirds of the shots and were only truly left chasing after the confusion created by the quick ejection for Geekie. It wasn’t the blowout that Canadian fans wanted (especially if you took them on the puck line), but it was still a response win nonetheless.
Canada also hopes to get slightly healthier for Monday, with coach Alan Latang hinting that Matthew Savoie could return after missing the Germany game with an undisclosed injury.
About Team Czechia (2-1-1, +4 GD)
Czechia has slow-burned their way into some momentum going into the elimination rounds, at least as far as play relative to their opponents is concerned. After a 6-2 pounding by rival Slovakia on opening day, the team was quick to respond with an 8-1 fleecing of Norway. While a blowout against a minnow can be easily dismissed as a fish-in-a-barrel scenario, Czechia then followed it up with a very close game against tournament favourites USA on Friday, twice taking leads before ultimately losing in a shootout. The US did outshoot them 33-23 in this game, but the perseverance was easy to note.
The Czechs followed this up with a fantastic effort against Switzerland on Sunday, likely wishing they could get back the two late-second period goals they conceded but also not too worried, as they sandwiched them with four of their own tallies. Jiri Kulich had a goal and an assist and Ondrej Belcher picked up a pair of helpers to ease them into a second victory in the preliminary stage.
Projected Lineups
| Team Canada WJC Lines | Team OPPONENT WJC Lines |
|---|---|
| Forwards Connor Geekie – Matthew Poitras – Brayden Yager Fraser Minten – Macklin Celebrini – Jordan Dumais Easton Cowan – Owen Beck – Nate Danielson Carson Rehkopf – Owen Allard – Matthew Wood Defence Denton Mateychuk – Maveric Lamoureaux Jake Furlong – Noah Warren Jorian Donovan – Oliver Bonk Ty Nelson Starting In Goal Mathis Rousseau 3-1-0, 1.85 GAA, 0.924 SV% | Forwards Adam Bares – Matyas Sapovaliv – Jiri Kulich Eduard Sale – Matyas Melovsky – Robin Sapousek Dominik Rymon – Ondrej Belcher – Jakub Stancl Sebastian Redlich – Jakub Hujer – Adam Zidlicky Matej Pribyl Defence Tomas Hamara – Marek Alscher Tomas Cibulka – Ales Cech Matej Prcik – Tomas Galvas Matteo Koci Starting In Goal Michael Hrabal 2-1-1, 3.18 GAA, 0.888 SV% |
- Canadian team NHL Prospects on Canada: Fraser Minten (TOR), Easton Cowan (TOR), Owen Beck (MTL)
- 2024 Draft Eligible prospects on Canada: Macklin Celebrini, Owen Allard, Mathis Rousseau, Samuel St. Hilaire
- Canadian team NHL Prospects on Czechia: Tomas Hamara (OTT)
- 2024: Draft Eligible prospects on Finland: Michael Schnattinger, Ales Cech, Tomas Cibulka, Tomas Galvas, Matteo Koci, Matej Prcik, Adam Bares, Ondrej Becher, Jakub Hujer, Matej Mastalirsky, Matyas Melovsky, Matej Pribyl, Sebastian Redlich, Dominik Rymon, Adam Zidlicky
Total goals over 6.5
-134
Today’s 2024 World Juniors Gold Medal Odds
Here are the odds to win the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship, heading into January 2nd:
| Country | Odds | Country | Odds | Country | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | +140 | Sweden | +250 | Canada | +320 |
| Finland | +1000 | Slovakia | +2400 | Czechia | +3000 |
| Switzerland | +10000 | Latvia | +30000 | Germany | Eliminated |
| Norway | Eliminated |
Top Scorers
Canada’s Top Scorers
| Player | GP | G | A | PTS | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macklin Celebrini | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 17 |
| Carson Rehkopf | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Brayden Yager | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Denton Mateychuk | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Owen Allard | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
Czechia’s Top Scorers
| Player | GP | G | A | PTS | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jiri Kulich | 4 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 20 |
| Matyas Melovsky | 4 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 9 |
| Eduard Sale | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 14 |
| Matyas Sapovaliv | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| Tomas Hamara | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
Wagers To Consider
- The big focuses here will, for the third time in five games, be the puck line and the total goals over. The odds aren’t anywhere near as lopsided today on the money line as they were against Germany, but -770 isn’t a massive return for a win either, even if they’re somehow the second-shortest favourite of the four playing today.
- I’d be a little nervous about going to the Canada puck line here. The fact that it sits at 2.5 combined with the Czechs not being outright minnows is a little concerning. A typical spread of 1.5 can often get help from an empty-net goal late in the third if you’re up by one, here you’d still have that possibility, but it’ll be just a bit tougher. Given how Czechia has played since the Slovakia loss, I could see a Canadian pathway to victory still being a narrow one, making a Czechia +2.5 bet interesting.
- I’d probably lean over on total goals, with Canada’s offence delivering 6+ in all but one game so far, with Hrabel’s goaltending being good but not great, and an expectation that Czechia will be playing to win until the buzzer regardless of how things go. Unless they get an early goal or two and decide to trap, this should beat the 6.5 total.
- If you feel the lines aren’t quite as sharp as you’d love them to be, it might be worth adding one of the other more stacked matchups to a parlay. For example, the USA are -10000 (!!) against Latvia and it would take an all-time miracle for that game to go the other way, so you could turn Canada’s -770 moneyline into -715 by adding it, or you could combine Sweden’s -1250 moneyline against Switzerland (not as lopsided, still very likely) to bring it to -455, or go Canada/USA/Sweden for the Big 3 at -435.
