by Dan Adkisson
Ice hockey is one of the most popular games in the United States and other countries, an exciting sport that often involves end-to-end action, plenty of physicalities and a lot of scoring.
When you watch a match for the first time on television, you may have a hard time trying to keep track of the game. The ice hockey puck is a little difficult to follow at times, as it moves very quickly, but you do eventually get used to spotting it from your TV screen.
People who place wagers on ice hockey games may not have that problem, but they do have a hard time predicting the results of close games. Odds for hockey games are often very tight between both teams, showcasing that the concept of a heavy favorite is not often present.
Below is a rundown of a few reasons why ice hockey is such a tough sport to predict.
Many Unpredictable Factors
The fast-paced nature of hockey means that it can be a very exhilarating sport to follow. Games such as baseball, American football, soccer and tennis often have peaks and troughs. There are moments when the game is frenetic, but then players slow down the pace and compose themselves to regroup.
Ice hockey does not have too many of those moments. For most of a contest, both teams are going at each other with everything they possess. Such intensity can result in altercations on the field, players being put in the sin bin or dismissed entirely from a match, and other contentious decisions by referees.
The intensity and end-to-end nature of hockey mean that it can be a little unpredictable. If a team gets on a hot streak, they may score a few goals in five or six minutes, even though the other team is also being aggressive and attacking at the other end.
Home Advantage Is Real
Like most sports, home advantage plays a significant role in ice hockey. Given the nature of the sport, where you are playing on ice in an enclosed arena full of fans, players are often pumped up and enthusiastic about playing in front of their home crowd.
There are many instances of a favored team having a matchup away from home against a “lesser” side. While they are the favorite to win on paper, they may not be able to overcome the intensity of the home crowd and the home team.
Such advantages do even themselves out over a season. Given that the playoffs and the Stanley Cup are best-of-seven matchups, the superior team eventually wins out. But when placing wagers on individual games, you may have a hard time keeping track of who will win on a given night. Upsets do happen very often in ice hockey.
Most Teams Are On Equal Footing
One of the reasons ice hockey teams have such devoted fan bases around the United States and Canada is because of the parity within the league. Teams are very much on equal footing, as they all must abide by a salary cap that ensures they are not spending two or three times as much as their rivals to secure the best players from around the league or other competitions.
Such parity means that most ice hockey franchises have very good rosters. While teams like the Boston Bruins have a history of going deep into the playoffs and competing for the Stanley Cup, ice hockey does have significant variance in who wins each year. The same few teams do not dominate, as nearly everyone has a chance to make a deep playoff run if they have a good season and stay injury free.
Games Are Often Decided By A Single Goal
Ice hockey games can be high scoring, with teams winning by margins of 6-2, 7-3, 8-4 or even 9-5. These scorelines, however, are not the norm. Most ice hockey games involve three or four goals, with the game being decided by a single strike.
When you have a sport where a single moment can take on such great importance to the overall result, you will experience some unpredictability in the final outcome.
A coach may come up with an innovative tactic during the game, a substitute may use their freshness to score a special solo goal, or a goaltender may make an awful mistake to cost their team a game they may otherwise have gone on to win.
Even though ice hockey is one of the toughest major sports to predict, many fans believe such unpredictability and variance make it a more exciting watch. The outcome is rarely set in stone, which makes every minute of the action nail-biting and an edge-of-your-seat thrill.