The gold medal will be handed out in men’s hockey on Saturday night when Finland and ROC take the ice on Saturday night. Finland still hasn’t lost during the Olympics to this point as they’re 5-0 heading into the gold medal game. The Fins have won two silver medals and four bronze medals in Olympic history.
They will go up against ROC, which is coming off a shootout victory over Sweden in the semifinal round as they look to defend the gold medal from the 2018 Olympics. The ROC has played hockey under a variety of banners over the years, including the ROC, Russia, Olympic Athletes from Russia, Unified Team, and of course, the Soviet Union. Those combined teams have won nine gold medals, two silver medals, and two bronze medals.
This matchup will air at 11:10 p.m. ET for those on the east coast in the US and air via live stream on NBCOlympics.com and on Peacock.
Finland will go after its first gold medal in men’s hockey, but it will have to beat the reigning-champion ROC team Saturday night at The 2022 Beijing Olympics. The Finns have run through the Beijing 2022 men’s hockey tournament without a loss, the only team to do so. It outscored its two opponents in the knockout round 7-1 The ROC hasn’t been as dominant, but it has kept on winning and has more than enough experience on this stage. Finland goaltender Harri Sateri has been outstanding throughout the tournament, while the ROC has had some trouble scoring but has a solid netminder of its own in Ivan Fedotov.
Caesars Sportsbook is expecting a tight matchup when the puck drops at 11:10 p.m. ET, listing both teams -110 on the money-line (risk $110 to win $100) in its latest Finland vs. ROC odds, with the over-under for total goals set at 4.5. It has Finland as a slight +150 favorite on the 60-minute money-line, with ROC at +155 and a tie listed at +265. Before locking in any ROC vs. Finland picks or Beijing Olympics 2022 hockey predictions, you need to see what SportsLine’s Olympics expert, Mike Tierney, has to say.
A national sportswriter whose work appears in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, Tierney has covered nine Olympic Games in person. For Rio in 2016, Tierney profited big-time. He told readers to bet Over on Team USA’s gold medal count (41.5) and Over on Team USA’s overall medal count (102.5). The result? 46 golds, 121 medals and two easy cashes.
After 11 days and 30 games, the men’s Olympic hockey tournament is finally set to decide a winner in Beijing. With no NHLers, Finland and the Russian Olympic Committee secured spots in the championship game, set for 11:10 PM ET Saturday evening/12:10 Sunday local time.
Without the world’s top players, there never was a true clear-cut favorite. Russia, the defending champions, were the logical No. 1 choice, but struggled to score with just 13 goals in five games – five of them coming in the game against the Czechs.
Before the tournament, Finland and the ROC were two of the clear favorites for gold. Between the strong depth each nation has and the goaltending they’ve gotten from the get-go, it’s no surprise the champions from Group B and C are the ones going for gold in Beijing.
Finland won all three of its round robin games, including a come-from-behind overtime win over Sweden that saw the Finns erase a 3-0 deficit in the third period. Finland had a pair of big wins against Slovakia (6-2) and Switzerland (5-1), and their win against Sweden (4-3, OT) proved they can battle adversity. If Finland can stay out of the box, they’re tough to beat with a plus-13 goal-differential.
