Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
04/06/2007 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Mueller had a goal and an assist to help the Michigan State Spartans advance to their first championship game since 1987 with a 4-2 win over the Maine Black Bears in the Frozen Four.
Nick Sucharski, Chris Snavely and Kim McKenzie all lit the lamp for the Spartans (25-14-3), who will play the winner of the North Dakota/Boston College game later on Thursday.
"The biggest thing today was the penalty kill," said Mueller. "We knew Maine had the top power play, but we played with patience and stayed out of the box, which was the key to winning the game."
Jeff Lerg finished with 29 saves for Michigan State, which last won a national title in 1986.
"We expected Maine to come out flying," said Lerg. "We didn't match them for the first two period, but we got our game going and the late goal in the second period gave us momentum for the third to carry on for the win."
Josh Soares and Keith Johnson each had a goal and an assist and Ben Bishop finished with 29 saves for the Black Bears (23-15-2), who defeated Michigan State in last season's East Regional final, 5-4.
"We played a great game," said Bishop. "But their goalie got off to a tough start, giving up a goal on the first shot, but he played well at the end and made some key saves in the third period."
The championship game will be played on Saturday.
Maine initially grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first when Johnson scored just 23 seconds in and a little over three minutes later Soares scored on a shot from the slot through traffic.
However, the Spartans scored four unanswered goals to win the game.
Mueller got his team on the board when he banged the puck out of mid-air into the net to make it a 2-1 game at the 7:25 mark of the first.
Michigan State tied the game with the only goal of the second period when Snavely scored to make it a 2-2 game.
The Spartans grabbed their first lead of the game as Sucharski jammed the puck into the net during a jam in front for a 3-2 advantage 5:11 into the third.
"There was traffic in front and the rebound popped out in front and I went to dive on it but somehow they slipped it underneath me into the net," said Bishop.
McKenzie sealed the win for the Spartans when he snapped a wrister on the fly from the left circle that Bishop stopped, but the rebound went right back to McKenzie and he buried it in the back of the net with 10:14 to play.
It is the fifth time in school history that Michigan State will appear in the championship game.
<< Rose and Wetterich lead Masters; Woods four back
Augusta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Rose and Brett Wetterich are tied atop
the leaderboard at three-under-par 69 Thursday after the first round of the
Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
Tiger Woods, the winner of the last two m
<< Washington's Hawes experiments jumping to NBA
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Washington announced freshman
center Spencer Hawes will experiment with making the jump to the NBA.
The 7-foot Hawes, who led the Huskies with 14.9 points per game this past
season, anno
<< Phillies acquire Rosario from Toronto
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies acquired right-
handed pitcher Francisco Rosario from the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday, in
exchange for cash considerations.
The 26-year-old Rosario went 1-2 with a 6.65 ER
<< Eustachy gets extension at Southern Miss
Hattiesburg, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Southern Mississippi has given men's
basketball coach Larry Eustachy a two-year contract extension that will run
through the 2010-2011 season.
The extension, which will include a substantial raise
Blueshirts lock up playoff spot >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist and
Henrik Lundqvist made 25 saves as the New York Rangers clinched a playoff
berth with a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden.
Petr Pr
Sabres rally to top Bruins >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thomas Vanek scored twice and also notched an
assist as the Sabres doubled up the Boston Bruins, 4-2, in Buffalo's home
finale at HSBC Arena.
Derek Roy had a goal and one assist and Ales Kotalik als
Brodeur sets record on championship night for Devils >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin Brodeur used 34 saves to break the
all-time mark for wins in a single season and Jim Dowd scored the short-handed
game-winner midway through the third period, as the New Jersey Devils clinched
the Atl
Islanders stay alive with win over Leafs >>
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Blake scored the go-ahead goal 3:46
into the third period and the New York Islanders kept their slim playoff hopes
alive with a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Nassau Coliseum.
Aaron Asham and M
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook betting credit cards
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting