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Blackhawks' early blitz provides cushion in win over BluesHockey Betting Lines04/07/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kris Versteeg had a goal and three assists as Chicago raced out to a five-goal lead and held on late to edge St. Louis, 6-5, at United Center. The win moved Chicago into a tie with idle San Jose for the top spot in the Western Conference. Chicago, though, holds the tiebreaker as it has two more wins than San Jose. Both teams have 109 points and two games to play. Duncan Keith, Jordan Hendry and Andrew Ladd each had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks, who have won five straight. Antti Niemi made 26 saves in the win. T.J. Oshie had a goal and an assist while Brad Boyes, David Perron, Roman Polak and Erik Johnson each lit the lamp for the Blues, who had won five of six coming into the game. Chris Mason gave up three goals on four shots in less than eight minutes before being pulled for Ty Conklin, who finished the game with 19 saves. St. Louis was eliminated from postseason play on Tuesday due to Colorado's victory over Vancouver. Down by four entering the final 20 minutes, the visitors made a charge beginning with Johnson's score 3:43 into the third before Oshie tallied to make it a 6-4 contest with 6:16 to play. Boyes was awarded a penalty shot with 31 seconds to play after Hawks forward Dustin Byfuglien was given a major for slashing and a game misconduct. He beat Niemi to make it a one-goal game, but St. Louis was unable to net the equalizer. St. Louis opened up the scoring in the game as Perron's backhander off an Andy McDonald rebound made it a 1-0 game 4:22 in, but the Blackhawks scored the next six goals to take control. Keith got things started as his slap shot from the right circle found the back of the net at 6:17 then goals from Ben Eager and Bryan Bickell separated by 30 seconds a bit later made it a 3-1 game and chased Mason from the net. Versteeg scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway at the 9:25 mark of the first to give Chicago a 4-1 lead. Ladd got a feed from Versteeg on the fly and from the left circle lasered a wrister into the right corner of the net 5:54 into the second. Hendry's slap shot at the 10:56 mark made it a 6-1 game and Polak stopped the bleeding for St. Louis less than five minutes later with his fourth goal of the season. Game Notes Before the game, Blues forward Keith Tkachuk, who sat out the game with a lower body injury, announced that he plans to retire at the conclusion of the season. The 38-year-old, who was the 19th overall pick of the 1990 draft by Winnipeg, has played 19 NHL seasons and 1,200 regular season games. A native of the Boston suburbs, Tkachuk has racked up 538 goals and 525 assists and an additional 56 points in 89 playoff games. He has also been a part of four U.S. Olympic teams and collected a silver medal in 2002...Chicago plays its last road game of the regular season in Colorado on Friday...St. Louis plays its final home game of the season on Friday versus Anaheim...Chicago took four of the six games against St. Louis this season.
<< Report: BC Lions to name Canwest CEO new team president
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The BC Lions have called a news conference for noon (et) on Thursday, when it's expected that Dennis Skulsky, currently president and CEO of Canwest Limited Partnership, will be named president of the foo
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Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vernon Wells went 2-for-3 with two home runs, three RBI and four runs scored as the Toronto Blue Jays took a 7-4 decision over the Texas Rangers in the second of a three-game set. Alex Gonzalez added a s
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Sportsbooks to bet on footballRecently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it. He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games. "Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote. He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games. Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk. Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible. Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines. Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy. With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season. Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas). And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.) The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors. While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger. Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under. One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it. Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami. What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5. That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well. MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple. "The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money. "At the end of the day, we liked the home team." So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams. In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish. MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover. The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing. Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed. MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash. To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana Should be in: Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it? Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel. Work left to do: Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third. Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim. Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either. Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim. For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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