By Tomi Rantanen

Who'll capture the coveted gold in Russia?

The yearly Ice Hockey World Championship tournament starts on Friday in Russia, where games are played in St. Petersburg and the capital Moscow.

Both cities host a group of eight nations, who face-off against one another once in their respective groups, compiling a seven game preliminary round. Four of the best teams of both groups qualify for the knockout stage, where Group A no.1 faces Group B no.4 and so forth. Winners reach semifinals and eventually play for medals, as bronze game is also played in addition to the final. The medalists will have played 10 games in 17 days, so it takes quite a bit of strenght and endurance to pull off a championship run!

As usual, Accuscore is on top of the tournament from the get go until the gold medals are awarded on 22nd of May, with each game simulated for 10 000 times to predict the most likely outcomes and of course, the winner of it all.

With the NHL playoffs ongoing and the World Cup looming in a couple of months, a plethora of elite players have decided not to join the Champs this year. That being said, the hosts Russia boast an absolutely killer of a roster with Artemi Panarin and Pavel Datsyuk headlining the attacking force and Sergei Bobrovsky holding the fort at the back. And as always, team Canada has a roster filled with tons of talent and energy. With a knockout stage games being best of one, there’s always a high chance of an upset – and maybe this year could be the one for Sweden, USA, Finland, Czech Republic or even Slovakia or Swizerland to be crowned the champions.

Here’s how it’s all likely to go down, with the rosters announced on 5th May:



At the bottom of the pack, newcomers Hungary are not given much of mercy, as they're ruthlessly left pointless. Other promoted nation, Kazakhstan on the other hand seems to be saved from a French visit with plenty of quality players from KHL team Barys Astana, headlined by recent citizens Brandon Bochenski, Dustin Boyd and Nigel Dawes. In simulations Denmark is likely to take the Kazakhs place at the bottom of Group A, but it is all very close.

Higher up on the ranks, it is the usual assortment of nations progressing to the knockout stages: Finland, Czech Republic, Sweden and USA, who are challenged by Belarus, Switzerland and Slovakia. In the simulations joining the top-4 with Canada and Russia are Finland and Czech Republic, who faced each other on a heated quarter final game last year at Czechs home turf. Team Finland boasts a surprisingly high-quality attacking core led by NHLer's Mikael Granlund, Mikko Koivu, Aleksandr Barkov, Jussi Jokinen and Leo Komarov, while they're always solid in defense and impeccable between the goal posts. Czech Republic has put their faith mostly in players plying their trade in Europe, namely in the KHL and are likely to succeed in a familiar surroundings.

Accuscore supercomputer is not prone to go for the underdog and even if many of the games were closer than usual, in the end it seems to be the same eternal duo of ice hockey superpowers fighting for the throne. Canada beat Russia badly in last year’s final in Czech Republic and is deemed to do so this year as well. The depth of the Canadians roster is overwhelming even for the Russians, who end up playing the second fiddle as the reigning champions put on a show and win the final with 55.4% probability.

For expert analysis and forecasts to every game in the World Champs, check out www.accuscore.com!