Top Ice Hockey Betting Sites
Ice Hockey is a sport particularly enjoyed in Europe and North America where nearly all the international tournaments are held. It is considered one of the fastest games in the world ahead of GAA hurling and Football, delivering more speed, skill, and power in serious competitions. As you’d imagine, tournaments are organized during winter seasons with a majority of them happening in Canada, the US, and Eastern and Northern Europe. It’s therefore not surprising that the majority of this sport’s fans are residents of those regions.
When it comes to betting or betting tips, ice hockey features leagues, championship cup formats, and markets that take a close resemblance to those offered in soccer. In fact, the two sports share most rules of gameplay which further explains the close semblance in features. During an ice hockey game, two teams each comprising of six members rival one another on an ice rink. The objective is to take possession of a rubberized ball referred to as a puck using a stick and score it through the opposing team’s goalpost. A full game is played for one hour and consists of three play periods with each lasting for 20 minutes.
If you’re looking for a web resource to help you better understand ice hockey betting, you’re at the right place. Here, we introduce you to ice hockey betting markets, popular gambling platforms, as well as an overview of the main events of this sport. You can consider this as a stepping stone to understanding the basics of ice hockey betting.
Best Ice Hockey Betting websites
Ice hockey is a full-contact sport played by teams of skaters on an ice rink. The winner is the team that shoots the most pucks into the opposing team’s goal. It was first played in Canada and is now popular throughout North American as well as in Northern and Eastern Europe. The game offers numerous betting opportunities, especially in the North American National Hockey League games, Olympics, and World Championships. In international competitions, the winner is almost always one of the “big six” which are Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. In women’s ice hockey international championships the only winners have been the teams from Canada or the United States.
In order to succeed in wagers on ice hockey games, a punter should be familiar with the game, the teams, and the players. And, he or she needs to know the best wagers to make, the best betting platforms to use when making them, and the best betting sites with the best odds. This is best accomplished by consulting Betopin for information about the types of betting platforms and the Betopin top list for the best betting sites themselves.
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Understanding the Game and Betting on Ice Hockey
The Game of Ice Hockey
Teams win in ice hockey when their players score goals. As in football, there are (smaller) goals at opposite ends of the playing area (called a rink or ice rink). Each goal is defended by a goalie but in the case of the goalie in ice hockey, he (or she) wears a mask, helmet, and protective padding on the torso and legs. This is because the puck in ice hockey is a very hard vulcanized rubber flattened cylinder and can travel at speeds in excess of 150 kilometers per hour.
Whereas players in football receive yellow cards or red cards for physical contact with other players, skating at full speed into another player who is skating with the puck (checking) is legal in ice hockey. The combination of agility in skating on ice, passing the puck back and forth using a hockey stick, and impressive speed is combined with bone-breaking collisions to create a unique sport. Knowing the sports, the teams, and the players are how punters win wagers in ice hockey.
Long Ice Hockey Seasons and Tournaments
Thirty National Hockey League professional teams play a regular season of eighty-one games from October to April every year. Punters can wager on any of these games, standings at the end of the regular season, and things like most goals scored by a player. The tournament for these teams starts in April and runs to months until a champion takes home the “Stanley Cup” in June. The prolonged tournament allows even teams with mediocre season records to become champions if they perform well during the playoffs. Thus, a team that was plagued with injuries in the regular season could do much better if their star players are healthy from April to June. This is the sort of thing that great ice hockey wagers are made of.
In contrast to the long National Hockey League season and rather long playoffs, wagers can be placed on the Olympic Games when the best players from each country go back home and play on the national team instead of their professional team. The wagering in these tournaments is often affected by “home team” bias in that a Canadian might feel like a traitor betting for the Czech or Russian team, much less for the upstart yanks who have so many NHL teams. The advantage for a smart punter is that this sort of “home team” bias affects the odds and can make for profitable wagers.
Ice Hockey Fixture Schedules and Events
Generally, Ice hockey competitions are held at both professional and amateur levels in several parts of the world that experience winter. However, in the recent past, Africa and the Middle East have come onboard holding playoffs on man-made surfaces. Each year sees a round of tournaments from teams that are registered at the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Join us as we explore some of the top ice hockey events you should be watching and following especially if you’re interested in trying your hand in ice hockey betting.
Winter Olympics
Perhaps the oldest event in the history of ice hockey, Winter Olympics has been happening since the 1920’s. Participants are mostly professional teams drawn from the National Hockey League and other respected platforms of the sport. Many view the Olympics competitions as the biggest stage for this sport which explains why the event is so competitive.
Winter Olympics take place every four years hosting players from qualified countries across the world. The most successful country in the event for the past several decades has been Canada. Most betting sites feature Ice Hockey teams participating in the event on their platforms right from preliminary stages to the final rounds.
World Championships
This event takes place once every year and features 16 of the best national ice hockey teams in the world. It is a male-only event that’s revered for its intensity, vigor, and style coming from star players who characterize it. Like the Olympics, the Ice Hockey World Championships have been happening since the 20th century, notably from the 1930s. It is a precursor occasion that prepares professional players looking to take part in Winter Olympics. So far, the most successful teams in the fixture have been from Russia.
National Hockey League
Staged in North America, the National Hockey League is a huge event that attracts up to 30 teams coming from the United States and Canada. The fixture is characterized by two notable splits commonly known as the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. The former consists of 16 teams while the latter 14 teams.
In a regular season, the event commences from early October and runs all the way to mid-April before the 16-team Stanley Cup Final playoff takes place. Among the top teams ideal for backing in the National Hockey League bets include New York Rangers, Montreal Canadians, Boston Bruins, and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Swedish Hockey League
Just as its name suggests, the Swedish Hockey League takes place every year in Sweden with massive support coming from fans residing in Western Europe. The country is respected for its exemplary records in the Olympic and World Championships and this can be seen in the competition that exists in its local league. 14 teams participate in the Swedish Hockey League with a goal to take home the Le Mat Trophy. Some of the teams which you can take a close look at while betting in SHL include Modo Hockey, Malmo Redhawks, and the Vaxjo Lakers.
Kontinental Hockey League
Considered an international professional ice hockey competition, Kontinental Hockey League has existed since 2008. It summons on rink about 28 teams majorly from Eastern Europe and ranks second after the National Hockey League. Among the teams that have shone in the event include Jokerit Helsinki, Dynamo Moscow, and SKA Saint Petersburg.
NCAA Ice Hockey Championship
Known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association Ice Hockey Championship in full, this event is part of the American college system which also features other sports such as basketball, football, and baseball. The competitions are widely aired on TV stations often drawing huge live audiences especially during the final tourneys. The past decade has been marked by an increase in attention by bookmakers on this event who are now offering betting odds in the exact same way as in NHL and other popular tournaments.
American Hockey League
Although not so popular like most of the fixtures we’ve described above, the AHL features talented young players that are mostly affiliated with local American clubs. It consists of 30 teams and the split conference setup just like the National Hockey League but now contesting for the Calder Cup. The AHL is a great ground for identifying and supporting players who are mostly likely to shine in future world ice hockey championships. Some of the teams featured on betting platforms include Manchester Monarchs, Grand Rapid Griffins, and the Hershey Bears.
Ice Hockey Betting Platforms
If you’re wondering where you can take part in ice hockey betting for the events mentioned above, this section is your guiding light. Here we explain the different betting platforms you’ll probably come across in search of great odds.
Betting Exchanges
A betting exchange is simply a platform where bettors themselves are the bookmakers. These sites facilitate punters looking to back or lay bets with fellow bettors; the hosting platform then charges a commission for the service. With ice hockey offering so many betting opportunities, a betting exchange is truly a lucrative place to do your odds shopping and marketing.
Sportsbooks
Sportsbooks are the traditional bookmakers that specialize in offering bets on sporting events and paying out winnings to successful participants. They identify an event, publish its matches on their platforms, and invite bettors to try and predict the outcomes/happenings at the end or while its ongoing. Ice hockey sportsbooks have a vast variety of markets with simple steps to get started.
Spread Betting
While an ice hockey tourney is ongoing, many happenings and outcomes are expected. Spread betting platforms replace the simple win/lose prediction with a better, fine-tuned system. By fine-tuned we mean an obligation to the player to be more precise in prediction of the outcome. If operating on the match result market for example, the site will provide a spread of expected number of goals within which you’ll predict by how many goals the favorite team will score.
Sports Trading
Sports trading is based on the idea of making profits by identifying and acting on the existing differences in odds from various sportsbooks. Usually, the gambler will take note of ice hockey best competing odds simultaneously being offered by different bookmakers and wager on all the possible outcomes. The result is a cancelled/reduced loss due to the increased profit from the winning predictions.
Matched Betting
Working in a similar fashion as sports trading, ice hockey matched betting simply involves betting on all possible outcomes in an upcoming playoff. However, in this case the gambler shops for odds in a single sportsbook albeit depending on existing free/extra bets to make it possible. With this, it is almost impossible to make a loss since you’ll earn irrespective of the actual match results.
The Most Popular Ice Hockey Betting Markets
For a sport as widespread as ice hockey, there are lots of betting markets within which you can make your predictions. In this section, we explain the most popular markets you’re likely to find on the majority of betting platforms:
League Outright Bet
Ice hockey is quite a competitive sport with lots of teams involved in main events. The league outright bet market operates on this actuality allowing bettors to predict which ice hockey team beats its rivals at various levels. The predictions can target the winner on a group level or the overall champion of the tournament. For example, if you’re betting on the World Championships, you may choose to shop for odds on divisional titles, conference finals, or presidents’ trophy for points classification victory.
Match Result
Usually the simplest market to conquer, the match result market deals with individual matches. You only need to back the team which you believe will win within the 60-minute time frame that an ice hockey game lasts. However, this market comes with a caveat which you should be aware of. A draw will always result in a loss of your bet even if your favorite team beats the opponent during overtime. Good thing is that draws are very rare at the top leagues.
Handicap bet
Just like in soccer, it’s very common for one ice hockey team to be favored by bookies than the opponent. Ordinarily, this leads to increased bets in favor of the perceived stronger team. To create a balance, a bookmaker offers a handicap in the winning margin.
To understand this market clearly, consider this example: if X and Z are playing and X is more favored to emerge the winner, the bookmaker will offer a handicap of -1 for X and +1 for Z. This means that for the bettors backing X to win the wager, it will have to beat Z by one or more goals. Similarly, for Z supporters to win the wager, Z must win or the match ends up in a draw.
Total Goals
Ice hockey wins are decided by the number of goals each team scores during a playoff. The total goals market therefore simply requires gamblers to predict the number of these goals. Usually, a bookmaker will come up with a standard figure reflective of expected goals. You can then bet whether the amount of those goals is over or under the standard figure.
Overtime bet
There’s always a probability that an ice hockey game will proceed to overtime, albeit rare at the top level competitions, and this is where this bet comes in. Here, the bettor receives less-favorable odds to predict the winner for when the teams end up drawing in regulation time and proceed to overtime.
Match Result
This market involves bets on the victorious team at the end of the match irrespective of whether it ended in regular or overtime. It’s a very straightforward bet especially when you deeply understand each team.
Correct Score
This market offers a score-line whereby you need to forecast the correct score at the time the game concludes. For instance, if Blackhawks are playing against Bruins and you believe the final scores will be 8-5, this is the score-line that you’ll provide to the bookmaker.
Conclusion
Ice hockey betting is just as rewarding as other top sports we’ve covered at Betopin. It comes with lots of betting markets, wagering platforms, sports traders, and fanatics.
At Betopin, we provide you with detailed guides and tips on how you can beat bookies and win big betting on this game and many others. We also show you the best betting platforms on which you can put your skills to the test and also make money.
Have questions concerning any ice hockey betting concepts we’ve explained here? We’d love to hear and share more with you. We’re waiting!
