Football Betting

Sliding Blackhawks make a stop in Calgary

Hockey Betting Lines

02/03/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago has not gotten its club record-tying road trip off to the best of starts and a trip to Calgary may not be the remedy it is looking for.

The Blackhawks try to avoid a season-high fifth straight loss overall and seventh on the road as they visit a Flames club that continues to struggle scoring at home.

Chicago is playing the third of nine in a row on the road, losing an overtime test in Vancouver on Tuesday prior to last night's 8-4 defeat in Edmonton. The Blackhawks are 0-4-2 in their past six away from Chicago overall and haven't won as the guest since Dec. 14.

It was a one-man show in Edmonton last night, with the Oilers' Sam Gagner matching an Oiler record with eight points off four goals and four assists. He tied a mark held by greats Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey.

"What can you say about a game like that," said Chicago forward Patrick Sharp. "That guy (Gagner) had the magic touch tonight."

Sharp's touch wasn't too bad either as he logged a pair of goals, one shorthanded, while Jamal Mayers and Dave Bolland also scored in defeat. Chicago has dropped nine of its past 14 overall to slip six points behind Detroit for first place in the Central Division.

The Blackhawks will hope to avoid posting their first five-game slide since March 13-20, 2009 and will look for better goaltending this evening. Starter Corey Crawford was pulled in the third after allowing five goals on 28 shots, while Ray Emery yielded three tallies on 13 shots.

Chicago also lost forward Andrew Brunette with an upper-body injury.

Calgary will be looking to salvage the finale of a three-game homestand following losses to San Jose and Detroit. After getting shut out by the Sharks prior to the All-Star break, the Flames were dealt a 3-1 loss by the Red Wings on Tuesday.

Michael Cammalleri had the lone goal for Calgary, which has lost four of six overall and sits five points out of a playoff spot.

"We had some darn good opportunities and we didn't capitalize," said Calgary head coach Brent Sutter. "It's not like we're not getting opportunities and we had three or four quality scoring chances where we missed the net and didn't even get a rebound out of it."

Miikka Kiprusoff matched Mike Vernon's club record for games played by a goaltender with 526, a mark he will likely break this evening. He gave up three goals on 25 shots in Tuesday's loss.

Calgary also lost a key forward on Tuesday, with Lee Stempniak suffering a high ankle sprain that will keep him out of action for approximately six weeks.

The Flames have been held to just 55 goals at home this year, tied with Columbus for the fewest in the league, but did log a 5-2 home win over the Blackhawks back on Nov. 18.

Chicago, though, has a pair of home victories over the Flames this season as well and has won 12 of the past 15 encounters overall despite a three-game slide in Calgary.

Marian Hossa has logged a pair of goals and three assists versus the Flames this year, with teammates Sharp and Jonathan Toews adding four assists each.

Curtis Glencross and Olli Jokinen have logged five points each for Calgary versus Chicago this season, but Glencross has missed the past four games with a left MCL ailment.


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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.