Norway
The Norwegian national team is definitely not making progress in recent years, on the contrary, even their performance level is getting lower and lower. Is everything so bad with the Norwegians that they must have problems fighting the Kazakhs at all? Well, the Vikings are unlikely to reach such a criticality, and in a group that includes Kazakhstan, Slovenia, the Norwegians are unlikely to have to think about relegation. The Norwegians played poorly in the preparatory segment for the championship, but at least they were able to make up points in friendly matches, beating the French 4:1 on May 6. Moods on the eve of the championships among the Norwegians are rather good. Well, about the battle with the Kazakhs. Naturally, the Norwegians are committed to winning this game, otherwise it could be very bad for them. And yet, no matter how poor Norway looks now, compared to Kazakhstan it looks much better.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan last year avoided relegation at the last minute by beating Italy in the final round. And this is actually the only victory of the Asian team in this championship. Preparations for the upcoming Kazakh championships were very poor. Having defeated zero Koreans twice, they have already lost in May matches to the Russians Yu-25 0:3 and the Belarusians 0:6. Playing on their own ice, Kazakhstan failed to score in the two test matches. There are very few representatives of Barys in the team. And Kazakhs will rely heavily on representatives of HC Nomad. Well, let’s be honest, in the Kazakhstan championship, representatives of this league are unlikely to be able to show something worthy at the world level. It’s actually gathering clouds over Kazakhstan in this championship. They are probably even more modest than the Slovenians in this group, and the departure of the Asian team is quite dangerous for the lower league.
Forecast
The bookmakers here take their time to determine the favorite, and the odds are about the same. Yes, Norwegians definitely have problems and it’s stupid to deny it. But even more problems for the Kazakh team going to this championship, perhaps the main outsiders on a par with the Hungarians. At this point I will finish my selection of bets: Handicap (0) on the Norwegians. I will play it safe before extra time, but the Scandinavians will definitely be closer to victory.