IIHF World Juniors Gold Medal Game Odds

The stage is set for the gold-medal game at the 2021 World Junior Hockey Championship, as a classic rivalry between North American hockey heavyweights Canada and the United States will be renewed in Edmonton, Alberta, on January 5.

Team Canada vs Team U.S.A.

Date/Time: January 5, 9:30 p.m. ET
Arena: Rogers Place
TV Coverage: TSN (Canada), NHL Network (U.S.A.)
Sportsbook Odds: Canada -390, U.S.A. +285 | O/U 6

World Juniors Gold-Medal Game Sportsbook Odds Analysis

Online sportsbook [Sportsbook not available for your region] initially opened Canada as a -390 moneyline favorite in the world juniors gold-medal game, but that number had moved slightly to -400 as of Tuesday afternoon. The total has held steady at 6 since Sportsbook, with the juice on the UNDER at -120 and the OVER priced at EVEN.

World Juniors Gold-Medal Game Odds

Odds	Canada	U.S.A.
Moneyline	-400	+300
Puckline	-1.5 (-140)	+1.5 (+115)
OVER	6 (EVEN)	6 (EVEN)
UNDER	6 (-120)	6 (-120)

To find the sportsbook that’s right for you to get some action on the ice, check out our Sportsbook Review Page. For the latest futures odds on the tournament, visit our 2021 IIHF World Juniors odds article.

Team Canada News & Notes

Canada is returning to the world juniors gold-medal game looking to go back to back after winning a year ago. Canada blanked the 2020 silver medalists from Russia 5-0 in the first semifinal on Monday in a game where the ending was never in doubt from puck drop.

Connor McMichael, Cole Perfetti, Braden Schneider, Alex Newhook and Dylan Cozens scored against the Russians. Cozens also had two assists in the game to push his point total to 16 (eight goals, eight assists), tying him for the tournament lead in scoring.

Goaltender Devon Levi made 28 saves to notch his third shutout of the tournament, tying a record set by Canada’s Justin Pogge in 2006.

This is the first time these teams have met in the world juniors gold-medal game since 2017, when the United States won 5-4 in a shootout on a goal by Troy Terry against Carter Hart. Canada was the last country to win back-to-back golds at the tournament, taking first place from 2005 to 2009.

Team U.S.A. News & Notes

Things didn’t come quite as easy for the Americans in the semifinals, but a dramatic 4-3 victory over Finland in the other Monday semifinal has Team U.S.A. back in the final in search of its first tournament win since beating Canada in the 2017 world juniors gold-medal game.

Arthur Kaliyev snapped a 3-3 deadlock with 1:16 to go in the third period to get the Americans past Finland. Alex Turcotte, John Farinacci and Matthew Boldy also scored for Team U.S.A., which will be looking to win the country’s fifth world juniors gold medal.

Team U.S.A. has eight returning players from last year’s squad that placed sixth, including starting goaltender Spencer Knight. Knight stopped 33 of 36 shots against Finland.

Trevor Zegras has been fantastic in leading the charge for the Americans, as the Anaheim Ducks prospect has 16 points in six games, tying him with Jeremy Roenick (1989) for the second-highest single-tournament point total by an American. Doug Weight owns the record of 19 points in 1991.

World Juniors Gold-Medal Game Pick: Canada Puckline -1.5

You won’t find any value in betting Canada on the moneyline, so take the Canucks on the puckline here. Canada is firing on all cylinders right now and the easy win over the Russians in the semifinals proves it’s the team to beat in this tournament.

There’s always the possibility of a late empty-netter ruining things for puckline bettors, yet it’s worth the risk. Expect Canada to jump out to an early start and not look back.