Year after year NHL players whose teams did not make the playoffs, return to their home countries and continue playing hockey as part of their home country's national roster. For the last three years betting on sports tournaments such as the World Hockey Championship, has been dull for online betting fanatics as Canada has always faced Russia. However this year there has been a changing of the guard as Canada and fellow hockey power house Finland have failed to make it past the quarter final round. Canada was defeated by Russia in the quarterfinals which saw a stacked Russian squad face an inexperienced Canadian squad while easily defeating them five to two. Finland on the other hand lost to arch rival the Czech Republic, as they were defeated two to one in a shootout.

In the tournament's biggest surprise, this year's host nation Germany was able to defeat nemesis Switzerland to advance to their first semi-final ever in the team's history. Unfortunately however, with Canada's loss to Russia, the Germans will face the Russians in the semis. Although this is an unfair match, the good news for German hockey fans is that for the first time in tournament history, the German's can finish no lower than fourth place. The German team making it to the semi-finals, will be sports fans typical David versus Goliath matchup, as this year's German squad only has one NHL player Marcel Goc from the Nashville Predators, while the Russians have 12 NHL Players. The Russians are led by three of the best scorer's in the world, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgenie Malkin, and Ilya Kovalchuk.