Ice hockey is not a very popular sport in UK, but it is one of the most liked sports in North America and many European countries.
Almost every country has its own hockey championship, so practically every day there are enough games to pick some good bets. Undoubtedly, the National Hockey League (NHL), which includes teams from the United States and Canada, is the most famous and richest league in the world. It is also the league with the largest number of players worldwide.
However, this does not limit the championships in which interesting matches are held and which can be beneficial for bets. The Continental Hockey League (CHL) of Russia also gathers high quality hockey players. 21 of the CHL teams are from Russia, while 7 come from Belarus, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Slovakia. The top championships of Norway and Finland should not be overlooked either.
Check the program
Before you place a bet on a match, check the teams program and see if one of them has had to play in two consecutive nights, what distances the teams have traveled lately, whether there is a problem with the time difference and so on. Sometimes teams play two consecutive games and have to travel for a long time, which can automatically indicate that the chances of such a team winning are not very high. And you know from your own experience that the body does not feel well after a long journey - it is no different for hockey players, although they are well-trained athletes.
Consecutive wins or losses do not mean much
The shape is temporary, the class is eternal - you heard that expression, right? Shape is something very subjective in ice hockey because teams often come in and out of shape, which is true of even the best teams. If you think that one team has better players than their opponent and therefore a better chance of winning the match than the other, you do not necessarily have to hesitate because the better team lost their last match. Even sometimes it's a great idea to bet on teams that get higher odds because of their poor shape.
Leading in result doesn't mean much either
With live betting, keep in mind that top teams can easily make up for a short period of time, so if your team receives one or two early goals at the start of the match, it's not the end of the world, it is seen as a good live betting opportunity. You will regularly see top teams performing poorly, and if you bet on a team that is a few goals behind, you will enjoy a lot of attractive odds.
The game is fast!
The game is very dynamic. This is a positive thing because hockey bettors have a truly dynamic betting platform that smart players can take advantage of. If you see that someone will score a goal or a penalty, you may be able to place a bet before the market is blocked. The dynamics of the game not always allow bookmakers to be accurate right away and this is a chance for you to take advantage of their omissions.
Look who's the goalkeeper
An important tip is to always check who will start as a goalkeeper for both teams in the match. It's very disappointing for hockey bettors to sit down and see that the star goalkeeper their hopes were based on is not on the field.
The goalkeeper is the most important post in hockey and should be given special attention. During one match, dozens of shots are fired at the door of each team and even the small difference in the success of not allowing goals can then be the difference between winning and losing.
Watch Live
If you want to bet on hockey games, it's best to watch live games. It is clear that the possibilities of watching hockey matches are limited compared to North America, but some bookmakers such as Bet365 Live Streams offer their clients to watch hockey games (including NHL ones) directly from their platform. You can download the bet365 mobile app and watch real-time results. Live Streaming allows you to use your Next Goal goal markets very well once you feel the rhythm of the game, which will increase your chances of winning. You can also get bet365 bonus sports through hockey bets.
"Exact Score" markets
For those who want to pursue really high odds, a good approach (albeit a risky one) is to target the market for "Exact Score". In particular, this market may be interesting in predicting pre-match games where there is no value in winning bets. For example, at the last Sochi Olympics, Russia's bid to beat Slovenia was 1.02 at Sportingbet, but the odds of them winning with 6: 1, 5: 1 and 4: 1, for example, were around 13.00, so sometimes it's good the idea of splitting your bet into a few exact score bets so you can get a good return.
Under / Over strategy
Many people define the number of goals in a hockey game as "chaos". However, we would call it "predictable chaos".
The first time someone ties NHL betting can be intimidating because of the speed of the game, which seems like a chaotic movement of players and the difficulty of tracking the puck, given that its speed can exceed 100 km / h. But the game is extremely tactically demanding, like any other elite sport, and it has its effect on the number of goals.
The small margins between winning and losing in the NHL are reflected in the average number of goals scored per game. In recent seasons, the difference between the average number of goals scored per team at the top of the table and those at the bottom has been around 1.40. In terms of goals scored, the differences are even smaller.
However, the volume of free stats available on average per game makes Under / Over bets accessible to even rookie betting players. You have the opportunity to follow some recurring trends that can earn you good profits. For example, an interesting statistical anomaly from two seasons ago showed that the Los Angeles team was the best defensive team in the league - with only 2.05 goals per game - but still finished 26th in the rankings. This was because the team was struggling to score at the other end of the field, but was also able to defend themselves against opponents’ attacks. So, betting on low-scoring matches for this team would be a sensible strategy. Such anomalies are observed every season.
Timing and tactics
Players who rely on their senses and not their statistics will have to watch a lot of live hockey to get an idea of the rhythm of the game. Ice hockey is one of the few sports that uses a completely different set of players for different situations during the game. These line changes are a key part of predicting the probability of goals being scored. Lines are essentially groups of players that change at key moments in the game. The first and second lines are usually made up of the highest quality players who are most likely to score, and the third and fourth lines are there to disrupt the rhythm of the opposing team. Finding out when these lines go out is a great way to get ahead quickly in "Goal Time" and "Goals in Part" markets.
When you place your bets on goals, remember that not everything is bigger and better than in the US. NHL games are played on smaller courts than in the European Hockey Leagues, which affects the speed of the game and therefore the number of goals. So if you want to bet on the Finnish League or the Russian CHL, be sure to take into account the difference.
See also Horse Racing Betting for more opportunities at sport winnings.
