Canada opened up its bid to defend their 2022 Gold Medal with a fairly convincing 4-0 win over Switzerland in its Olympic opener and should expect a spirited effort from Czechia on Monday, a side that has already left some points on the table after entering the women’s hockey tournament as the third favourite.
Canada will have a rest advantage on Monday’s matchup, as Czechia will be playing the second leg of a back-to-back and for the fourth time in this tournament after battling Finland on Sunday.
My best bet for Olympic Women’s Hockey Canada vs. Czechia is backing Daryl Watts to score at +160.
Best Bet-Daryl Watts to Score: +160
Daryl Watts to score
Our best bet from Canada’s opener came in on Watts to score at +115. It took until the tail end of the third period, but she did finally break through for us in recording Canada’s fourth tally of the game.
Had Watts not ultimately broken through for us late in the game, I still would have felt comfortable with the process surrounding the bet, as she looked to be one of Canada’s more threatening forwards throughout the contest and the chances were there prior to the goal.
Luckily, Watts did break through, so we aren’t sitting here talking about the process being right. This is a more difficult matchup for Canada to break through offensively, but with the price for Watts to score back up to +160, I’m happy to ride with the same selection.
Watts played 19:37 in the opener, which ranked second among all Canadian forwards. She had three shots on goal and an assist to go alongside her goal, and was generating quality looks both at even strength and on the power play.
Canadian head coach Troy Ryan is also Watts’s head coach with the Toronto Sceptres, which is why it seemed logical to speculate that Watts would receive a hefty role, and she looked more than deserving of her lofty usage.
Per Dom Luszczyszyn of the Athletic, Watts holds the second-highest offensive rating among Canadian forwards this season in the PWHL.
Based on her performance in the opener and play in the PWHL this season, I’m counting on Watts to continue to receive a key role on the team and do not believe that she should be priced the same as other forwards on the team who may have lesser roles to score.
Sarah Fillier also looks tempting at +100, as she had six shots on goal in the opener and skated 22:36, the second-highest mark. If I were to bet one of the Canadian skaters with the shortest odds to score in this matchup, it would be her.
Canada vs. Czechia odds
| Canada Moneyline | -4000 |
| Czechia Moneyline | +1500 |
| Puck Line Odds | Canada -3.5 (-150), Czechia +3.5 (+120) |
| Game Total | Over 5.5 goals (-134), Under 5.5 goals (+105) |
Betting Team Canada
Canada managed just a one-goal lead through two periods of play, despite outshooting Switzerland 30-3. They finally broke through in the third period with some offence, including a trio of power-play markers, finishing with a 4-0 result.
It’s nitpicking, but perhaps Canada probably was not quite as entirely dominant as the boxscore suggested through two periods, simply because the quality of many of the shots was lacking.
Despite the significant lack of quantity, Switzerland did have some meaningful looks during the time that it was a one-goal game. Perhaps it had to do with Canada’s added layoff between games, as the third period was their best, and they were rightfully awarded with some insurance markers.
While Canada owned the vast majority of the possession, they did struggle to create truly threatening plays off of the rush at even strength in the opener and had a hard time truly opening the Swiss up.
While it’s great that Canada’s power play was highly effective, it may not be realistic to lean on the power play to power a win versus the U.S. when that matchup comes around, especially as it may not draw as many calls if it does not entirely own possession like we saw on Friday.
Ryan had a practice to work with between games, as well as some film to go through with his team. Hopefully there is an internal understanding that they need to find ways to be more dynamic off the rush, catching forwards off more well-timed routes in speed and offering a center lane drive to back off defenders on three-on-twos.
You can credit Switzerland for the way they defended at the blue line and the strong back-checking support from the forwards, but Canada did look fairly disjointed off the rush.
Defensively, the Canadians were not truly tested in the opener and did a good job of preventing sustained zone time from Switzerland, and the majority of the Swiss chances came against the run of play in transition.
Betting Team Czechia
Though Czechia had a disappointing collapse in the tournament opener before an expected loss to the U.S., they entered as the third favourite, and have a much stronger offensive core than Switzerland.
They will provide a different challenge for Canada, given that they should be capable of getting on the front foot and strive to create a little more offensive zone time.
Czechia’s program has shown strong progression in recent years and has been a benefactor of the professional game in North America. Kristýna Kaltounková is one of the best skaters in the PWHL, and will likely land Rookie of the Year honours this season.
The team will undoubtedly run through Kaltounková, and she will need to be fantastic for them to compete with Canada or the USA, but they do offer some other skaters that are on par with those on the Canadian and American rosters.
They have seven other PWHL skaters to go alongside Kaltounková, including Tereza Vanisova, who has elite offensive upside relative to even the best skaters in the tournament and who had some very impressive sequences in the first two games of the tournament.
They have won two of the last four bronze medals at the IIHF Women’s World Ice Hockey Championships and seem to be rightfully viewed as the third-best team in the tournament.
Natalie Mlynkova scored perhaps the goal of the tournament thus far in Sunday’s matchup and is another threatening offensive option up front for Czechia.
At even strength, Czechia had shown strong flashes of offensive play thus far in this tournament, which was to be expected given the offensive talent on the roster.
Defensive structure and overall discipline have been concerns at times thus far, but they will undoubtedly be capable of stressing Canada’s defensive core more effectively than Switzerland did in the opener.
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