A wide variety of sports are available as betting options on all the websites. Although soccer, football, tennis, and basketball are the premier sports on the list, winter sports have also been among the top ten for some time now. Ice hockey is one of those sports that have garnered legions of bettors in the past few years. It doesn’t require snow or even winter features to be set up as a tournament because the games are organized within enclosures forming massive stadiums. Ice hockey is a great sport to watch for its exciting elements on the rink and the betting options. Europe and North America are the two main regions where ice hockey is practiced with immense passion. If you are new to ice hockey betting, here are the steps to follow in order to do it right.
Understanding the Team Setup
Learning the working of sports is the first step to understanding the ice hockey bets. Outscoring the opposite team is the object of the sport, like in soccer and basketball. Each team has to score by hitting a goal by going past the goalkeeper. Both teams will contain six players each, of which five are skaters and one goaltender. An ice hockey squad’s typical roster size is 20 players. Since ice hockey involves a lot of physical activity, it requires multiple substitute players during injuries or other emergencies. The five skaters will include three forwards and two defensemen, holding positions both on the right and left. Centre, left-wing, and right-wing are the three forwards positions.
Available Ice Hockey Competitions and Betting Markets
Knowing all the competitions being hosted in a year is as important as learning how to bet. Without any information about the tournaments or individual matches, you can easily miss out on the events. NHL and KHL are the two major ice hockey competitions; the National Hockey League is based in Canada and the US, whereas the Kontinental Hockey League is hosted in Russia, China, Finland, Belarus, Slovakia, Latvia, and Russia. The international IIHF Championships are held every year, and the Winter Olympics every four years, offering the bettors with massive annual betting markets. The NHL and KHL begin in the second half of a year. AHL and SHL are also other prominent ice hockey leagues.
The money line, handicap, total goals, and overtime betting are the various betting options available in the market. Puck line bets are also used in many games these days, and it is also referred to as the spread. With the money line bet, you simply bet on a team likely to win the match. In a handicap, you have to bet according to the handicap weighed by the bookmaker. A winning margin will be set by the bookmaker based on some data, and you can bet on the most likely result. The ‘total goals’ is another betting option, which is a straightforward concept. You can also go with a different number of goals if the match progresses into overtime.