Hockey WC, Apr 18

[Scythe]

Event	Slovenia - Great Britain
Selection	Slovenia -3.5 (Asian Handicap)
Strength	10/10
Date	18/04/2007
Bookmaker/Price	Pinnacle Sports @ 1.93 (Back)
Reasoning	World Championship Division 1, Group B After two rounds standings look like this: 1. Slovenia W2-D0-L0 14:2 6 pts 2. Hungary W1-D0-L1 7:5 3 pts 3. Lithuania W1-D0-L1 4:8 3 pts 4. Great Britain W1-D0-L1 6:6 3 pts 5. Japan W0-D1-L1 9:9 2 pts 6. Romania W0-D1-L1 6:16 1 pt This is realistic standings and i dont't belive it will change much until the end of tournament. Slovenia easily beaten outsiders Romania 10:1, it could be even more without an effort. Then in only important match they've easily handled Hungary 4:1, result could look small but Slovenia was controlling match from the very begining scoring three in a row. Their today opponent, G. Britain, made a small surprise beating Japan, they took an early lead and kept it until the end. Against Lithuania they were a bit unlucky losing 2:3 after 2:0 lead and were better team on the ice but couldn't turn out their chances. I think they lack concentration. Against Slovenia i see one way match, Slovenia is at least one class above every team in this group and if they've beaten Hungary, the only team that could threaten them i don't see anyone who will stop them and it should be a walk in the park for them until the end. If Kopitar doesn't score early goal (like he didn't in Romania game) he will put every effort in it and Britain could get well hurt. Slovenians are hosts, they still aren't secure on the first place so they should have motivation and as quality is also on their side i see their high win, probably over 5 goals difference...

Event	Romania - Hungary
Selection	Hungary -3.5 (Asian Handicap)
Strength	10/10
Date	18/04/2007
Bookmaker/Price	BetandWin @ 1.75 (Back)
Reasoning	World Championship Division 1, Group B 1. Slovenia W2-D0-L0 14:2 6 pts 2. Hungary W1-D0-L1 7:5 3 pts 3. Lithuania W1-D0-L1 4:8 3 pts 4. Great Britain W1-D0-L1 6:6 3 pts 5. Japan W0-D1-L1 9:9 2 pts 6. Romania W0-D1-L1 6:16 1 pt I wrote about Slovenia - Hungary match in Slovenia - Britain pick explanation so i won't repeat myself. Despite their loss 1:4, Hungary is only team besides Slovenia who is able to beat every other team in this group. In opening game they've easily beaten Lithuania (much easier then i expected), it was 6:1, already 4:0 before the half of the game. And Romania is weaker team then Lithuania, i don't expect a bloodbath but i don't think that Romania is good enough to make somthing today, and also their moral shouldn't be high after their OT loss against Japan two days ago. Hungarian players also shouldn't have high moral after loss against Slovenia, but it was expected, and they still have to fight for second place (that doesn't mean nothing) and still aren't secured from relegation so i don't see them relaxing today. Romania had a great game against Japan, three times Japan was in the lead with two goals difference and Romania was coming back, managed totally turnover, but Japan equalised almost immediately. In OT Romania started with a double penalty and Japan knew how to score in PP2. Most of Japan goals came from PP and Romania took too many penalites trough the whole game. Same was against Slovenia aswell and five of ten Slovenian goals came from PP. If Romania continues that trend i see an easy Hungarian win. I don't see Romania score more then one, max two, but Hungarians should score at least seven and cover this handicap with ease.

[Comic Book Guy]

Re: Hockey WC, Apr 18 I agree withy you on Romania - Hungary. I'll add: Over 7.5 (1.90 @ Bet365) Hungary lost to Slovenia and Romania went to the OT with Japan, but Hungary is still one class above the Romanian team. There's not much for Hungary to play for in this tournament, but to hope for Slovenian's mistake. That's their only chance for reaching first position. They will create a lot of pressure on Romania today, after the Romanian good (well, not 'good', but 'better than expected') performance against Japan. I don't think that Romania can take much pressure. They did play 5:5 against Japan, but Japan isn't playing good at all. In the first match, Slovenia had a shooting training against Romania. I expect this result to be closer to 1:10 (Romania - Slovenia score), than to 5:5 (Romania - Japan score). In either case, i expect it to go ocer 7.5. As far as the other match is conserned, I'll leave it alone. Slovenian top scorer Ivo Jan is out for this tournament. This won't be a big blow, but could endanger the hcp line. British forward Clarke is also out, but he didn't play against Lithuania either. UK played 2 matches so far and had 3 really good periods (2 against Japan and 1 against Lithania). If they gather the strenghts, they could avoid beeing demolished. I'm tempted by odds at Bet365 (UK +4.0 @ 1.90), but I have already lost too much money on them.