Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash Today is Day 2 of the 2026 Winter Olympics, with some alpine skiing practice runs and the first day of mixed curling already in the books. One of the premier events of Milano Cortina 2026, women’s hockey, begins today. More mixed curling, as well as ski jumping practice, is in store on Day 2 as well.
Women’s hockey features four games, with two coming from each group. After Sweden and Germany kick things off, the quadrupleheader continues with Italy-France, USA-Czechia, and Finland-Canada.
As usual, the USA and Canada are overwhelming favorites to meet in the gold-medal match for the eighth time in nine total Winter Games. While Canada are slight favorites, it’s all up for grabs.
For Group A, the round-robin group stage is merely for seeding purposes only, as all five Group A teams automatically qualify for the quarterfinals. The other half of the bracket is a bit more competitive, as only three of the five teams will go through.
Today, we’re previewing the opening clash between USA and Czechia. Team USA are looking for revenge after they fell 3-2 in the gold medal match against Canada at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. Captain and five-time Olympian Hilary Knight, who many consider the greatest of all time, announced it’s her final Olympics. She wants to go out on a high.
“Another gold medal would be awesome. I would like to go out from my Olympic career on a high note, sort of that storybook ending.”
Last Olympics, Czechia made their debut and finished in seventh place. They were eliminated by Team USA 4-1 in the quarterfinals.
Including the 2022 Olympic quarterfinal, Czechia and the USA have met seven times in major international competition since 2022, with the USA winning all seven matchups.
USA vs Czechia Recent Games
- Feb 10, 2022 | Winter Olympics Quarterfinal (Beijing): USA 4–1 Czech Republic
- Sep 3, 2022 | IIHF Women’s World Championship Semifinal (Denmark): USA 10–1 Czechia
- Apr 9, 2023 | IIHF Women’s World Championship Prelims (Brampton, Canada): USA 6–2 Czechia
- Apr 15, 2023 | IIHF Women’s World Championship Semifinal (Brampton, Canada): USA 9–1 Czechia
- Apr 5, 2024 | IIHF Women’s World Championship Prelims (Utica, USA): USA 6–0 Czechia
- Apr 11, 2025 | IIHF Women’s World Championship Prelims (České Budějovice, Czechia): USA 4–0 Czechia
- Apr 19, 2025 | IIHF Women’s World Championship Semifinal (České Budějovice, Czechia): USA 2–1 Czechia
Without further ado, we’ll go take a look at all the best bets for this game, as well as some key betting trends that could help you score a big win tonight.
All Odds as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Feb. 5
USA vs Czechia Odds
🏒 Odds via FanDuel 🥅
- Puck Line: USA -1.5 (-650) | Czechia +1.5 (+440)
- Moneyline: USA -3000 | Czechia +1200
- Over/Under: Over 5.5 (-130) | Under 5.5 (+108)
USA vs Czechia Best BetsUnder 5.5 Goals (+108)
🏒 Odds via FanDuel 🥅
The Olympic hockey ice rink is significantly smaller than a normal hockey rink, which is going to lead to some congestion on the ice. Czechia also has some of the best goalkeepers in the Olympics in Klára Peslarová and Michaela Hesová, who each came up with magnificent 40+ save performances in last year’s IIHF Women’s World Championship.
While Team USA will almost certainly enjoy a four or five-to-one shots on goal advantage, both the rink size and the great goalkeeping should keep Czechia relatively close.
Abbey Murphy Anytime Goal Scorer (+150)
🏒 Odds via FanDuel 🥅
Team USA does a great job of sharing the goals amongst them, and Murphy has always been contributing a goal just about every other game. In a game where Team USA should pummel the goal with shots, we love just about any of their goal scorers at plus-money. We’ll take the consistency over the star power.
Both Teams to Score 2+ Goals NO (-265)
🏒 Odds via FanDuel 🥅
While Czechia are improving, they’ve only scored more than a single goal once against the USA in their last seven matchups. They’ll likely be held to 10-15 shots on goal, perhaps even single digits for the game. At -265, this seems like our favorite “free money bet” of the day.