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Olympic Hockey Gold (and Silver and Bronze) Odds

Langenbrunner looks worried
Langenbrunner looks worried

People were betting on four outcomes yesterday: 1) USA over Switzerland handily; 2) Canada to beat Russia in a tight game; 3) Czechs over Finland in a tight game; and 4) Sweden over Slovakia.  The pre-game odds:

Round Favorite Win % Underdog
QF CAN 54 RUS
QF SWE 63 SVK
QF CZE 56 FIN
QF USA 83 SUI

 

But the vagaries of one-game series gave us:

1) A one-goal USA win over Switzerland after two tied periods

2) A Canadian blowout of the Russians

3) The Finns squeaking by the Czechs

4) The Slovaks upsetting the Swedes

Which makes a Canada-USA final all the more likely.  Working from Gold medal odds and a couple of money lines for individual games, here are the odds for all possible games going forward:

 

CAN 85% SVK
USA 60% FIN
CAN 70% USA
CAN 75% FIN
USA 70% SVK
FIN 55% SVK

 

This gives us the following odds for the final placements:

 

CAN USA FIN SVK
Gold 62% 21% 12% 5%
Silver 24% 39% 28% 10%
Bronze 11% 26% 30% 33%
Sadness 4% 14% 30% 52%

 

Even if the bookies are still hedging against a Canadian win, Jamie Langenbrunner has reason to look worried.