Ice Hockey Betting

What to look out for with the best Ice Hockey bookies

 What should you look out for when you search for the best bookmakers for ice hockey betting? Take a look at our checklist below: 

• Popularity among regular punters  
• Attractive odds for ice hockey betting  
• Consistent promotions for both new & existing customers  
• Attractive sign-up offer  
• Easy to use website  
• In-play betting options  
• Huge offers  

Types of Ice bets

There are several ways to participate in ice hockey betting. There are easy ones that can yield only a small potential profit, and there are also more complex bets. Usually, more complex types of bets are the more rewarding ones.  

Find out the most common types of ice hockey bets and see which ones suit your taste and style the most.  

Ice hockey betting: League bets  

League bets are bets that involve a result for the entire league/tournament season. These are usually high-risk wagers and thus, if you win it, the rewards it can yield can be high, too.  

Example - This type of bet can be the season’s champion team, the MVP, and other outcomes that would take the entire season to determine. Think you know who’s taking home the Stanley Cup this year?  

Ice hockey betting: Moneyline bets  

Moneyline bets are the simplest and most straightforward bet you can make. You just predict who will win the game.   

Example - In a match between the Maple Leafs and the Golden Knights, the odds are in favour of the Maple Leafs.   

Ice hockey betting: Puck line bets  

Puck line bets are similar to a point spread bet in other sports. Usually, the spread value for puckline odds does not go beyond +/- 1.5, or up to 2 in some rare cases. To win, the winning team should win by a score difference greater than the odds dictated.  

Example - In a match between the Washington Capitals and NY Rangers with a puckline of +-/2.5, the winning team should win by at least three goals for you to win your bet.  

Ice hockey betting: Totals bets  

A totals bet is a type of bet where you predict the total number of goals from both teams to be either over or under the odds given by the bookies. The winner of the match is irrelevant, only the total score counts.  

Example - In a game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Columbus Blue Jackets, you bet on the Blue Jackets with a total value of Under 7. The Blue Jackets don’t have to win, but the total scores of both teams at the end of the game should be six or lower.  

Ice hockey betting: Parlay bets  

A parlay bet is a combination of two or more bets for more than one team, or also an accumulator. It can be a bit complicated and also riskier than a straightforward moneyline bet, but higher the risk, higher the reward.  

Example - A parlay bet can be like this: you need all of Toronto, Florida, and Tampa Bay to win if you have selected them as legs in your parlay.  

Ice hockey betting: Future bets  

A futures bet is a type of bet where the outcome is not determined by just one game. Usually, it is a series winner, a league season winner, or some receiving a title or award at the end of the season.  

Example - A few examples of a futures bet would be the Season Champion, the season MVP, the best defence in the division or top scorer. Stanley Cup champion is a popular futures market.  

Ice hockey betting: Proposition bets  

Often also called prop bets, these are wagers that do not rely on the final outcome of the game. It is usually about something happening or not, or something first in the game or something last. It can be a fun thing to bet on and keeps watching the game interesting.  

Example - Some examples of prop bets include: the first team to score, the player to score the last goal, total shots taken in the game, and even over/under score for an individual player.  

Ice hockey betting: Live bets  

Live bets are in-play bets that you can place after the puck has been dropped. These are similar to outright bets, but the odds fluctuate throughout the game to make it different.  

Ice hockey betting: The “Grand Salami”  

The “grand Salami” is a unique bet in the ice hockey world. In this, you get to bet on the totals of the scores of all games that will be played for the day. The bookies will give the over and under odds, and you will bet on your preferred over or under.  

Example - If there are five games scheduled for the day, then the bookies might give an odds of over/under 38. To win an over bet, the total score for the day should be at least 39. To win an under bet, the score for the day for all games should be no more than 3.  

Ice Hockey Competitions

Just like in most sports, you with ice hockey betting you can bet more than one league/competition in ice hockey. Other leagues have a huge following and thereof also have a huge ice hockey betting community, but some are smaller and with fewer people betting for it, too.  

Here are some of the most popular ice hockey betting competitions that you can wager on.  

NHL  

The National Hockey League, commonly referred to as “The NHL”, is the most popular professional ice hockey league in the United States and in Canada. The league is currently comprised 25 American teams and 7 Canadian teams – totalling 32 NHL teams.  

The NHL was founded on November 26, 1917, at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal, Canada. This came after the suspension of the then major professional ice hockey league, the National Hockey Association or NHA.   

The NHL is divided into two Conferences, and four Divisions. The Eastern Conference has the Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions under it, and the Western Conference has the Central and Pacific divisions under it.  

Stanley Cup  

The Stanley Cup is the championship cup that is awarded annually to the team that would win the NHL playoffs. It is the oldest trophy in North American sport, and it is considered as one of, if not the most important trophy in the sport.  

The trophy was made in 1892 and was first called the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup. It is now named after the ex-Governor General of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston who would donate the cup to the top amateur team.  

As popular as the NHL is for ice hockey fans, it is a given that bettors would clamour to wager for the league. If you are looking for an ice hockey league that is not that saturated with punters, smaller tournaments may be the thing for you.  

NCAA Ice Hockey Championship  

The NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament, or simply known as the NCAA ICo Hockey Championship, is the college ice hockey tournament under the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).  

It was first played in 1948, and it currently has a total of 16 teams from various states. The Michigan Wolverines currently hold the most number of championships won (a total of nine titles), and the latest is the Denver Pioneers.  

Most bookies also offer NCAA Ice Hockey betting, and since it is not as popular as the NHL, the odds and lines for the league are usually better and have more potential for profit.  

AHL (US)  

The American Hockey League, or AHL, is the professional hockey league from the United States and Canada. The AHL is considered to be a developmental league for the NHL.  

The NHL and AHL have an affiliate programme with one NHL team affiliated with one AHL team. Currently, there are 32 teams under the AHL. 26 American and 6 Canadian. The championship cup for the league is called the Calder Cup, which was named after Frank Calder, the first president of the NHL.  

KHL (Russia)  

The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is an international ice hockey league that has its roots in Russia. Formerly known as the Russian Superleague, the league was founded in 2008.  

Currently, it has 24 teams that hail from Belarus (1), China (1), Finland (1), Latvia (1), Kazakhstan (1), and Russia (19). Many consider it as the second biggest professional ice hockey league in the world, behind only the NHL.  

The championship cup for the league is called the Gagarin Cup, which is given to the winning team. Aside from that, the Russian team with the highest ranking for the season is given the title Champion of Russia.  

SM-Liiga (Finland)  

The SM-Liiga, also known as the Finnish Elite League in English, and simply as the Liiga since 2013. It is the professional ice hockey league of Finland. The “SM” means “Suomen mestaruus,” or “Finnish championship” in English.  

Currently, there are 15 teams in this league, all of which are of local origin. JYP Jyväskylä, TPS Turku and Tappara Tampere are amongst the best teams in the league.  

DEL (Germany)  

The PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga, or simply known as the DEL, is the professional ice hockey league of Germany. It was founded in 1994, and it served as a replacement for the then professional league, the Eishockey-Bundesliga.   

There are 14 teams in the league, all of which hail from Germany itself. EHC München, Adler Mannheim and ERC Ingolstadt are touted as the stronger teams in the division.  

NLA (Switzerland)  

In Switzerland The National League (NL), or formerly known as the National League A (NLA) is the professional ice hockey league. It was founded in 1938.  

The National League has a total of 13 teams that are all from Switzerland. The tournament is played with a qualifier first followed by the playoffs where the champions would be determined afterward in a best-of-seven series of games.  

World Championship  

The IIHF World Championship is the annual men’s ice hockey tournament that is organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation or the IIHF. There are 54 teams that are divided into five divisions. The teams playing in the tournament are countries that are members of the IIHF.  

The World Championship is a huge event in the sport of ice hockey and although interest in it is not as big as the NHL, betting options for it should be more available as that of local tournaments and leagues.