Bourque notches hat trick as Flames burn Ottawa
Hockey Betting Lines
12/28/2008 - Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rene Bourque registered his first career hat trick in Calgary's 6-3 win over the Senators, as Ottawa was dealt its 11th consecutive road loss.
Todd Bertuzzi had a goal and an assist for the Flames, who won for the fourth time in five contests. Andre Roy and Adrian Aucoin also lit the lamp, while Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 27 shots.
The Flames, who turned a 2-0 deficit into a lead by scoring three times in a 2:07 span of the second period, beat the Senators for a fourth straight time.
"It's a good feeling," said Bourque. "The puck was going in for me tonight. Once I got that first one we got a lot of turnovers, odd-man rushes and we got the ball rolling."
Chris Phillips, Jason Spezza and Alexandre Picard had the goals for Ottawa, which has dropped seven of nine overall. Alex Auld gave up five goals on 41 shots.
"Every time we seemed to make mistakes they seemed to be in the back of the net," said Spezza. "When you're losing games it's hard to get out of it. Obviously, we're not happy where we are right now, but we played pretty hard. We have to find a way to start getting some wins and get above .500 on this trip."
The Senators, who played the second of eight straight on the road, haven't won an away game since October 30 against the Florida Panthers. They won't return to Scotiabank Place until January 10 to play the New York Rangers.
Despite this being a nine-goal contest, neither team scored in the first period but Phillips and Spezza netted goals 7:20 apart in the second.
The game then changed in favor of the Flames thanks to Bourque, who had two goals in a span of 58 seconds. His first of the night came at 10:05 on a wraparound, and he scored again on a shot from above the left circle.
It became 3-2 Calgary when Adam Pardy directed a cross-ice pass to Roy, who was alone at the right side of the net for the tap-in.
Ottawa tied the game on Picard's power play tally 8:15 into the third when he lifted the puck from the high slot past a screened Kiprusoff, but the Flames responded 44 seconds later. Mike Cammalleri faked a shot from the right circle and passed to the lower left circle for a successful one-timer from Aucoin.
Bourque completed his hat trick with 5:35 remaining on a give-and-go with Daymond Langkow. Bourque had the disc along the left boards and passed to Langkow behind the net, and Bourque then scored from in front for his 14th marker of the season.
Bertuzzi scored into an empty net with 1:16 left.
Game Notes
Ottawa was 1-for-4 on the power play, while Calgary was 0-for-4...The Senators continue their swing at Vancouver Sunday...The Flames host Minnesota Monday.
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida's Urban Meyer promoted offensive line coach Steve Addazio to be the Gators' next offensive coordinator on Saturday, succeeding Dan Mullen in the position. The coordinator job was left open
<< Wolski, Budaj help Avs to shootout win over Red Wings
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wojtek Wolski scored the only goal of the
shootout, and Colorado goaltender Peter Budaj made 41 saves to help the
Avalanche log a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
The Avs have won both matchup
<< Roy's late surge leads Blazers over Raptors
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Roy erupted for 18 points in the
fourth quarter and the Portland Trail Blazers overcame an eight-point halftime
deficit in a 102-89 decision against the Toronto Raptors.
Roy finished with 32 poi
<< Parker leads Spurs to double-overtime win over Grizzlies
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Parker posted 32 points and five
assists and the San Antonio Spurs outlasted the Memphis Grizzlies, 106-103, in
a double-overtime thriller at AT&T Center.
Tim Duncan added 29 points before
<< Artest's late heroics help Rockets silence Jazz
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ron Artest scored 10 of his game-high 28 points
in the second overtime, leading Houston to a 120-115 win over the Utah Jazz.
Yao Ming added 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who won for the
fifth
Shreveport, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs play close to home on Sunday night as they suit up against the Northern Illinois Huskies in the 33rd annual Independence Bowl in Shreveport. LaTech finished the season with a reco
23rd-ranked Minnesota hosts High Point >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 23rd-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers
are off to their best start in over three decades, and they will put that fast
start on the line this evening, as they play host to the High Point Panthers
in non-confe
Bruins battle Bulldogs in City of Angels >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 13th-ranked UCLA Bruins of the Pac-10
Conference welcome the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs of the WAC to Pauley Pavilion
this afternoon.
Tech is a respectable 6-6 overall, but the team is just 2-6 away from i
Top-ranked Tar Heels set to vanquish Scarlet Knights >>
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Rutgers Scarlet Knights have never
defeated a top-ranked team in program history, and they will be fighting an
uphill battle tonight, as they will be heavy underdogs in their clash with the
North Carolina
10th-ranked Boilermakers clash with Crusaders >>
West Lafayette, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 10th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers host
an in-state opponent, the Valparaiso Crusaders, in a non-conference clash this
afternoon from Mackey Arena.
Valparaiso is desperate for a victory, as the team has
Credit Card Betting: Sportsbook accepts U.S. credit cards
Online Sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard
MySportsbook.com is the best at processing US credit cards for deposits. Welcome to the most player friendly online sportsbook on the planet!
The principals behind MySportsbook are obviously a management group that understands the players needs as evidenced by their commitment to provide easy depositing with their high credit card acceptance rate and free weekly $10 bets they offer to clients with active betting accounts.
The perks don't end there! MySportsbook offers casino, poker and horses as well. Twice named Best Sportsbook by eGaming Review, this place is rock solid financially so you don't ever have to sweat the payout as you may with some other online bookies operating with less betting volume and client base.
Sign up today and grab your share of a 10% bonus that is added instantly to your betting account. Enjoy 52 risk free bets throughout the year as well!
Reasons to Play There: You have to see their no hitter, cycle hitter and slaughter rule promos for baseball. Worth a laugh and probably a few bucks throughout the MLB season. They offer supersized bonuses of 15% if you up your minimum deposit to $500 or more. Lay -105 on Friday NBA! Contests during the NFL football season!
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.