Canada Favorites in Olympic Hockey Betting in Sochi

Having won two out of the past three gold medals awarded in men's hockey at the Winter Olympics, Canada is favored to repeat the feat in 2014 at Sochi.

With undeniable strength down the middle in the form of star centers Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Ryan Getzlaf, Team Canada opens the Olympic tournament as the 2-1 favorite on the Olympic hockey betting odds menu at most sportsbooks, as per OddsShark.

Unlike Vancouver in 2010, when Crosby scored in overtime to lift the host Canadians past Ryan Miller and the Americans 3-2 in the gold-medal game, the Canadians won't have home-ice advantage this time around.

Team Russia will have the staunch support of thousands of cheering fans in their bid to win a gold medal in men's hockey for the first time since NHL players joined the Olympic fray in 1998.

The motivated Russians will feature a mix of NHL stars including Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk along with players such as Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Radulov from their own domestic Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). They are the second betting choice to win gold at 9-4 odds.

Action begins Wednesday with the Slovaks facing Sweden and Switzerland facing Latvia.

Team Sweden, rated third by the sportsbooks at 9-2 odds, will also ice a squad with considerable star power in the form of high-scoring forwards Daniel Sedin, Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Backstrom, as well as Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson.

While Sedin's twin brother Henrik will miss the tournament due to injury, the Swedes also boast a strong track record in recent Olympic hockey history with gold medals going to Tre Kronor in both 1994 and 2006.

The Americans, meanwhile, offer tremendous value at 6-1 odds to win gold for the first time since the Miracle on Ice back in 1980. Captain Zach Parise, speedy Patrick Kane and sniper Phil Kessel will provide plenty of firepower upfront for Team USA.

They had to settle for silver in Vancouver and also dropped the gold-medal game against Team Canada back in 2002 in Salt Lake City.

Goalie-rich Finland has medaled at four of the past five Olympic tournaments, and the always-tough Czech Republic squad (winners in 1998) is certainly capable of squeezing into the medal mix at Sochi as well.

Those countries round out the top six contending teams respectively at 11-1 and 12-1 odds to win gold.

Among the longshots are Switzerland (33-1), Slovakia (40-1), Norway (200-1), Latvia (400-1), Austria and Slovenia (both at 1000-1).

Group play in the Olympic men's hockey tournament begins on February 12 with Sweden taking on the Czech Republic. Team USA opens on February 13 against Slovakia, while the host Russians square off against underdog Slovenia. Team Canada faces its first test against Norway later the same day.

Russia is listed as the 1-2 favorite to win Group A, ahead of Team USA (7-4), Slovakia (9-1) and Slovenia (100-1).

Canada is huge chalk at 1-7 odds to win Group B, with Finland (7-2), Norway (50-1) and Austria (100-1) rounding out that group.

And Sweden is favored at 1-2 odds to finish atop Group C, with the Czech Republic (2-1), Switzerland (7-1) and Latvia (80-1) also in the mix.

Ovechkin, who currently leads the NHL in scoring with 40 goals, is the 6-1 favorite to lead the Olympic tournament in goals, with Crosby (9-1), Kane (10-1) and New York Islanders star John Tavares of Team Canada (11-1) also rated highly.

Kovalchuk and Malkin are both at 12-1 odds to score the most goals.

And Ovechkin and Crosby are co-favorites to win the honors as Tournament MVP at 7-1 odds, with Kane (10-1) and Malkin (12-1) also considered top contenders. Zetterberg and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist are the leading Swedes at 15-1 to win MVP, with Miller and Finnish goalie Tuukka Rask both at 18-1.