Winter Olympics Day 13 best bets & top odds – February 17

The United States and Canada’s Women’s Ice Hockey team will meet in the gold medal game for the fourth-straight Winter Olympics on Thursday. We’ve got a play in that highly anticipated matchup along with picks in the Great Britain vs Canada Men’s Curling draw and the Women’s Alpine Skiing Combined gold medal event in our best bets for Day 13 of Beijing 2022.

Men’s Curling: Canada (+100) vs Great Britain (-140)

Before the Men’s Curling tournament began in Beijing, Great Britain and Canada were the two co-favorites to win gold. Bruce Mouat’s Great Britain squad has lived up to the hype with a 7-1 record and is first in points scored per game (7.25) and second best in points per game against (5.25). Brad Gushie’s Canadians have scored only two fewer points and allowed only three more, but their record is a full two games worse at 5-3.

Against the other top-five teams in the standings, Canada is 2-2 while Great Britain is 3-1. There’s a case to be made for both teams here; Great Britain has been the better team in this round robin, but Canada’s talent is undeniable and there may be value on them as an underdog in what should be a competitive match. It’s close, but Great Britain looks good enough to justify its price and should be able to lock up the top spot in the semifinals with a win here.

Women’s Ice Hockey: Canada (-1 at -105) vs United States (+1 at -115)

Since Women’s Ice Hockey joined the Winter Olympics in 1998, Canada and the United States have clashed for the gold medal in five of the six tournaments that have been held. The series currently sits at 3-2 in Canada’s favor, though the United States was the most recent winner in 2018. Canada has been the more dominant team in 2022 with stronger wins over similar opponents and a 4-2 head-to-head win during the group stage. However, the Canadians also won in the group stage 2-1 back in 2018 before the United States went on to win the gold medal game 3-2.

Canada deserves to be the favorite with the betting sites in this matchup, but the moneyline odds of -135 for Canada, +245 for the United States and +365 for the draw are skewed way too heavily in their favor. The USA is well worth a bet on the moneyline at that price, but we’ll gladly take the goal being offered on the two-way line instead. Prior to Canada’s 4-2 win in the group stage, the previous four games between these two teams were split 2-2 and three of those games were tied at the end of regulation. Look for an exciting and competitive game with gold on the line in this one.

Alpine Skiing: Women’s Combined

It’s honestly a bit shocking to see the United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin at the top of the betting board as a -160 favorite to win gold in Thursday’s combined event. Shiffrin is among the all-time greats in winter sports, but she has had an awful time in Beijing with two first-run crashes in the slalom and giant slalom, a ninth-place finish in the super-G and an 18th-place finish in the downhill. Perhaps everything comes together for her and she finds redemption with a gold medal run here, but at this price there is clearly better value elsewhere.

The only other skiers on the board going off at less than +2000 to win gold are Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin (+250) and Wendy Holdener (+550) and Italy’s Federica Brignone (+650). Gisin took gold in the combined event in 2018, but we’re going to take a shot on Holdener at this price. This has been her best event, with gold medals in the World Championships in 2017 and 2019 and a bronze medal in Pyoengchang. This could be her year.