The Olympic men’s hockey gold-medal game is set, and as many predicted, it’ll be a rematch of Vancouver 2010 and the 4 Nations Face-Off Final, with revenge on the mind for the Red, White, and Blue.
Key Takeaways
- Canada enters Sunday’s Olympic men’s hockey final as a slight betting favorite over the United States.
- Canada and the United States enter the gold-medal game after surviving dramatic quarterfinal tests before securing semifinal wins over Finland and Slovakia, respectively.
- The game marks the latest chapter in hockey’s biggest rivalry.
The USA's 6-2 drubbing of Slovakia on Friday, alongside Canada’s thrilling last-minute 3-2 win over Finland thanks to Nathan MacKinnon, has set the stage for the best rivalry in hockey to take on its latest rendition.
Connor McDavid and the Canadians are once again aiming to upstage their southern neighbors, while Auston Matthews and the Americans have their own plans to bust a drought almost 50 years in the making, even if the Olympic hockey odds lean in the Canucks' favor.
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Who’s got the edge heading in?
Ahead of Sunday morning's game, Team Canada is slightly favored over the United States at most major books, with most seeing the game as little more than a weighted coin flip for hockey supremacy.
At DraftKings Sportsbook, Canada’s fearsome Mach3 line of McDavid, MacKinnon, and teenage phenom Macklin Celebrini helps make them -125 favorites, with the best and brightest of the United States the underdogs at +105. Elsewhere, BET99 similarly views Canada as the pick to take home the gold medal at -130, compared to the USA at an even +100.
Meanwhile, other books such as BetMGM and FanDuel Sportsbook see the game as a potentially much tighter contest, with BetMGM pricing Canada as -117 favorites to the United States’ -102 price.
Men’s Olympic Hockey Gold Medal odds at @BetMGM @HockeyCanada -118@usahockey -102
— John Ewing (@johnewing) February 20, 2026
Total 5.5
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It’s even tighter at FanDuel Sportsbook, where Canada’s a mere -113 favorite compared to a -106 price for the United States.
| BetMGM | DraftKings | FanDuel | BET99 | bet365 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | -117 | -125 | -113 | -130 | -125 |
| United States | -102 | +105 | -106 | +100 | +105 |
How did we get here
Even though this final was largely the expected outcome heading into Milan Cortina 2026, it’s hard to say that it’s been a straight line to get here, even if both teams went undefeated through their respective qualifying and knockout rounds.
Entering the tournament, Canada and the United States both appeared heavy favorites according to most books, with BetMGM opening with Canada as the tournament favorite at +230, and DraftKings at an even more aggressive +120. The USA wasn’t far behind either, priced as the clear second-best team at +280 and +175 at each book, respectively.
As the games got underway, the United States stormed through their group stage, handily dispatching Latvia, Denmark, and Germany to win Group C with a +11 goal differential. Canada, similarly, made light work of their preliminary round opponents, winning all three of their games, punctuated by a decisive 10-2 win over France that included plenty of rough stuff throughout.
Both squads earning byes directly into the quarterfinals, though the drama to come would ultimately provide plenty of adversity and intrigue for both teams en route to Sunday’s final.
Despite Canada’s 5-0 preliminary domination of Czechia, a quarter-final rematch required a heart-racing, late-game comeback and overtime heroics from Vegas Golden Knights’ star Mitch Marner to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2018.
The same was the case for the United States, facing a Swedish team that had struggled to gel throughout the tournament and finished third in their group. Despite their qualification round struggles, the Swedes gave the USA quite the scare, as a late goal by Mika Zibanejad pushed the game to overtime before Quinn Hughes put a dagger through the heart of the Tre Kronor.
QUINN HUGHES! USA WINS! 🦅 pic.twitter.com/WxbCRKxPiO
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 18, 2026
The semifinal wins marked the final step – thanks in no small part to a goal by MacKinnon with 32 seconds remaining – required to ensure that the greatest rivalry in hockey would see another chapter, and potentially set the stage for another magical moment in hockey history.
