The 2019 IIHF World Championship is fast approaching, with Slovakia hosting this prestigious international ice hockey tournament between 10 May and 26 May.There are sixteen teams who will be competing, with Russia currently trading as the outright favourites and they can be backed at 5/2 to win the tournament, although they’re likely to face some stiff competition from the other leading nations.
Canada are a proud ice hockey-playing nation and they are currently available at 11/4 with bet365, while Sweden are another country to be respected and they are 7/2 to get the job done and win the final on 26 May.
There are many other countries in with a lively chance of winning the 2019 IIHF World Championship, with the United States of America trading as 5/1 fourth favourites to win and they have many excellent players fresh from playing in the National Hockey League.
The Czech Republic and Finland can also play their part in the Ice Hockey World Championship and the home Slovakian supporters will hope that their team can go well as the tournament hosts although their odds of 33/1 suggest that they are the outsiders.
Sixteen Teams Divided Into Groups A and B
There is a seeding process for the 2019 IIHF World Championship which means that the supposedly best teams are largely kept apart from each other until the latter rounds of the competition.
Group A teams will play their respective matches in Kosice, with Canada being the top seeds and that means that they are grouped with United States (4), Finland (5), Germany (8), Slovakia (10), Denmark (12), France (13) and Great Britain (22).
Group B is arguably the strongest group and that will be based in Bratislava. Sweden are the highest-ranked seed (2), with tournament favourites Russia seeded at 3. Czech Republic (6), Switzerland (7), Norway (9), Latvia (11), Austria (17) and Italy (19) are the other teams involved in this section.
The top four teams in each group will go through to the quarter finals stage of the tournament. Each of the teams play the seven other teams in their group and so there’s a chance to go through to the latter stages of the competition even if a couple of defeats are suffered.
Sweden Bidding to Retain World Crown
It was Sweden who were successful in 2018 when triumphing in Copenhagen, with the Scandinavian side beating Switzerland in the final and it was something of a shock that the Swiss made it so far in the competition.
The United States finished in third place and Canada were fourth, with both of these teams expected to make the last four again by the bookies, while Russia went out at the last eight stage thanks to an overtime defeat against the Canadians.
Sweden also won in 2017 and are therefore bidding to land a consecutive hat-trick of ice hockey world championship titles, with the proud nation having won eleven world championships in total and that makes them one of the most successful countries in this competition.
Russia leading the winners table
Russia are the favourites to win the 2019 IIHF World Championship title and they’ve achieved twenty-seven titles as either the Soviet Union or Russia. Canada are one behind with twenty-six on the board, while the Czech Republic have twelve and that puts them one success ahead of Sweden.
There haven’t been too many winners outside of these four nations, with United States and Finland both boasting two triumphs, while Great Britain have a solitary success and the same applies to Slovakia who will host the latest tournament.
Finland won in 2011 and the competition has since been dominated by Russia, Canada and Sweden who have collectively won the past eight competitions. The Russians were successful in 2012 and 2014, while Sweden won in 2013. Canada then notched back-to-back successes in 2015 and 2016, while they were runner-up in 2017.