Olympic Men’s Hockey Preview – Czech Republic vs. Latvia
Hey folks, looking for the best place on the web to get your Czech Republic vs. Latvia Olympic hockey picks, and betting analysis? You’ve found it. Dave B will weigh in with his daily hockey predictions thru to the end of the 2010 olympic hockey tournament.
The 2010 Winter Olympics Ice Hockey schedule started on Tuesday February 16th. Next up is today’s action for Feb 19th at 9:00pm Pacific time we get Latvia vs. Czech Republic. We encourage you to check out Sportsbook.com and bet on the 2010 Winter Olympics Ice Hockey games and hockey lines online.
Tournament Preview: Group A features Canada, the United States, Switzerland and Norway. Group B features Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Latvia. Group C features Sweden, Finland, Belarus and Germany. After round 1 all teams are ranked. The winners of the four quarter final games will proceed to the medal round. The rest will duke it out for a playoff spot according to seeds.
Czech Republic vs. Latvia Live Odds
Moneyline: Czech Republic -3000, Latvia +1000
Spread: Czech Republic -3 (-140), Latvia +3 (EVEN)
Over/under: 6
The Czech Republic (1-0) enters Wednesday night’s Round Robin game against Latvia tied with the Russian Federation for first place in Group B and needs a win to set up a showdown on Sunday for the Top Seed in the Group and an automatic berth in the Quarterfinals. Latvia (0-1) is coming off an 8-2 defeat at the hands of the powerful Russians in a game that they were totally outclassed until the very end when they were able to score a couple of late goals to make the game look more respectable than it really was.
The Czech Republic (1-0) played OK in their first game of the Olympic Men’s Hockey tournament on their way to a 3-1 win, although some might argue that they were lucky to emerge the victor in that contest. Jaromir Jagr recorded a goal and an assist and Tomas Vokoun made 34 huge saves to steal the game from their cross-border rivals Slovakia.
The Czechs should not have any trouble with the Latvians, and they will be looking to make a statement with a huge win.
You can bet that they will want to equal or even exceed the performance of the Russians against this same Latvian team.
The underwhelming Czech Republic, like Sweden needs goals to make up some ground in the goal differential category that will decide tie breakers and determine playoff seeds. The Czechs will be flying on Friday and should win easily – SHOULD.
Team Latvia (0-1) was totally outclassed in their inaugural game if the Olympic Men’s Hockey tournament. They fell victim to Russia, a team that was clearly three or four notches above them. The seventh seed in the Olympic tournament, Latvia will be lucky to win one game in Group B. With only one NHLer on the team, the Latvians will have to count on the 16, yes 16 members of Dinamo Riga of the Russian Kontinental Hockey League. Not exactly confidence inspiring stuff!
The Czech Republic will win this game no doubt but expect Latvia to play them tough.
Because the bulk of the Latvian players are familiar with each other, they will ride their chemistry and the wee bit of confidence they gained with their two goals scored against Russia into Friday’s game thus giving the Czech Republic a small run for their money.
Latvia vs Czech Republic Free Gambling Pick
The Czech Republic wins, but not as convincingly as they and their fans would think.
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