Fans across the country were shocked on Tuesday by Canada’s quarter-final elimination in the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship, ending their quest for a third consecutive gold medal much earlier than expected. While the team wasn’t ranked as the favourites going into the tournament, few expected them to struggle the way they did.
With that, some interest in the tournament has faded, but true fans of the game are still excited to see how the rest of the festivities unfold. Play resumes on Thursday with a relegation game between Norway and Germany, and following that, two semi-final games will decide how the medal rounds shake out.
Czechia vs. Sweden odds
| Czechia Moneyline Odds | +185 |
| Sweden Moneyline Odds | -264 |
| Puck Line odds | Czechia +1.5 (-134), Sweden -1.5 (-106) |
| Total Goals line | 5.5 goals (over -134, under -106) |
| Time/Date | Jan. 4, 9:00 a.m. ET |
| TV | Broadcast: TSN Stream: TSN+ (How to watch the NHL in Canada?) |
All odds courtesy of 
Kicking us off are the team that ended Canada’s hopes, and the team that beat them in the Round Robins.
The Czechs have been snowballing since the start of the tournament, opening with an embarrassing 6-2 loss to Slovakia but only getting better along the way, blowing out Norway, forcing a shootout against the United States, beating the Swiss and then having their stunner against Canada, which saw them take a lead early, slowly give it up, and then take it right back with eleven seconds to go in regulation.
On the Swedish end, they finished the round robin as the team with the best record in Group A, thanks to their 2-0 win against Canada. Their lone loss was an overtime defeat to rival Finland. Until that last game, though, they didn’t let in a single goal, beating Latvia 5-0 and Germany 6-0. Their quarter-final game was tense, following a similar pattern to Czechia’s but from the perspective of the favourite. Sweden went up 2-0, coughed the lead-up, and then won in overtime.
Fans of the Vancouver Canucks will be watching Sweden for Tom Willander, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, and Elias Pettersson (the other one). Fans of the Winnipeg Jets will be watching them for Fabian Wagner and Elias Salomonsson. Senators Fans have a win-win situation, with Tomas Hamara on Team Czechia and Oskar Pettersson on Team Sweden.
Early Lean: Take Sweden on the moneyline, but look at Czechia on the puck line. The Czechs have been impressive in recent games, though I’d still take the hosts to move on.
United States vs. Finland odds
| United States Moneyline Odds | -358 |
| Finland Moneyline Odds | +230 |
| Puck Line odds | United States -1.5 (-134), Finland +1.5 (+106) |
| Total Goals line | 5.5 goals (over -143, under +110) |
| Time/Date | Jan. 4, 1:30 p.m. ET |
| TV | Broadcast: TSN Stream: TSN+ (How to watch the NHL in Canada?) |
All odds courtesy of
The other semi-final in Group B features the favourites to win the tournament, and a team that’s had a wild journey throughout it thus far.
The United States have been the team to beat since opening night, and they’ve by and large delivered on that hype, sweeping the group stage with three regulation wins and a shootout win, mixing in a tournament-leading +20 goal difference along the way. An opening 4-1 result against Norway felt a bit light, but was quickly followed up with an 11-3 thumping of Switzerland. When the Czechs brought them to a shootout, they responded by blowing Slovakia out by a 10-2 result. In the quarterfinals, they had no trouble handling Latvia, with their 7-2 victory being the only multi-goal win of the round.
The Finns opened up the tournament by getting comfortably defeated by the Canadians, and then to make matters worse, lost to Germany for the first time ever, having won the first 25 games between the two nations in this tournament. They seemed dead in the water but kept themselves in the running with a shutout against Latvia and stuck the comeback with a 5-4 shootout win against Sweden. On Tuesday, after blowing two leads, they sneaked past Slovakia thanks to Jere Lassila’s overtime winner.
Finland has thirteen NHL prospects, but none of them are affiliated with Canadian teams. Montreal Canadiens fans will find themselves cheering for Jacob Fowler and Lane Hutson on the United States, while Winnipeg Jets fans also have a stake in this game with Rutger McGroarty also playing with the Americans.
Early Lean: United States on both the moneyline and the puck line. Finland has pulled some close games out but hasn’t controlled against anyone meaningful, and the USA have rolled through every game other than Czechia.
Today’s 2024 World Juniors Gold Medal Odds
Here are the odds to win the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship, heading into January 4th:
