Morrison stars as Canucks edge Avs

Hockey Betting Lines

02/19/2007 - Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brendan Morrison scored two goals and picked up an assist to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche at General Motors Place.

Matt Cooke added a goal and two assists for the Canucks, who have won four straight. Henrik Sedin had a goal and an assist while Roberto Luongo ended with 32 saves.

Andrew Brunette tallied twice for the Avalanche, who have lost two in a row.

Jose Theodore started between the pipes for Colorado and allowed five goals on 20 shots.

With the game tied at 3-3 after two periods, Vancouver opened up a two-goal lead striking twice in the first four minutes of the final frame.

Sedin scored 1:31 into the third to put the Canucks in front at 4-3. Sedin stripped Colorado's Ken Klee in front and fired the puck into the net.

Shortly after Sedin's tally, Morrison netted his second goal of the game to make it 5-3. Markus Naslund controlled the puck in the high slot and slid a pass down in front to Morrison, who slammed the disc home.

Colorado pulled to within a goal at 6:04 after Ian Laperriere unleashed a wrister into the top right corner of the net.

The Avs failed to net the equalizer as they could not get the puck past Luongo down the stretch.

The Avalanche struck first and grabbed a 1-0 lead just 2:49 after the game's opening faceoff. From the right point, Karlis Skrastins ripped a slap shot that Brunette tipped past a screened Luongo.

Vancouver tied things at 1-1 after Daniel Sedin rammed home a loose puck in the crease at 6:14 of the first period.

A short-handed tally by Brad Richardson at 10:51 of the first put the Avs in front at 2-1. Ben Guite intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and raced into Vancouver zone up the left wing. From down low, Guite centered a pass to a streaking Richardson, who backhanded the disc through the legs of Luongo.

Cooke's sixth goal of the campaign evened the score at 2-2 at the 17:36 mark of the first.

The Canucks took a 3-2 lead 8:17 into the second stanza. Morrison battled for a loose puck in the crease and after two swipes, managed to push the disc over the goal line.

Brunette's second goal of the contest made it 3-3 at 13:36 of the second.

Game Notes

The Canucks are now two points ahead of Calgary for the top spot in the Northwest Division...Colorado's Paul Stastny picked up an assist to extend his point-scoring streak to eight games...Vancouver went 1-for-4 on the power play while the Avs went 1-for-2 with the man advantage.

Sothebus Hockey Betting News

<< Bryant leads West to easy All-Star game win
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kobe Bryant scored 31 points, dished out six assists and had six steals to lead the West to an easy 153-132 win over the East in the 56th annual All-Star Game at the Thomas & Mack Center. Bryant was nam

<< Kings top Ducks in shootout
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lubomir Visnovsky scored in the sixth round of the shootout, to lift the Los Angeles Kings to a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center. Visnovsky added a goal and an assist in regulation and

<< Sun Devils stun USC
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Pendergraph scored 14 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and the longest losing streak in Division I basketball came to an end, as Arizona State recorded its first Pac-10 win of the season, 68-58, over 22nd-ra

<< Murray wins SAP Open for second straight year
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andy Murray defeated Ivo Karlovic in an exciting final at the SAP Open on Sunday to successfully defend his title in San Jose. In their first-ever meeting, Murray battled back to down the big-se

<< Blues skate past Wild
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Backes' pair of scores lifted the Blues to a 5-3 win over the Wild at Scottrade Center. Jamal Mayers, Jay McClement, and Keith Tkachuk also lit the lamp for St. Louis, which has won three in a

Mets ink Sandy Alomar Jr. to minor league deal >>
Port St. Lucie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets have signed catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. The 40-year-old Alomar played in 27 games last season with the Los An

Powerful Penguins put streak on the line against Isles >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins look to continue their best run since the franchise's glory days when the NHL's hottest team visits the New York Islanders this afternoon in a President's Day matinee from Nassau Coliseu

Predators try to end recent woes against struggling Coyotes >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Nashville Predators will try to regain possession of first place in the Central Division as they continue a homestand this evening with a matchup against the slumping Phoenix Coyotes. Nashville lost its grasp on

Flyers, Bruins look to continue good play of late >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of teams that have shown improved play in recent weeks will get together this evening at the Wachovia Center, where the Boston Bruins resume a long road trip with a showdown against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Jayhawks and Wildcats square off in pivotal Big 12 clash >>
Manhattan, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas hopes to extend its winning streak to five games as it battles long-time rival Kansas State in Big 12 Conference action from Manhattan. The fourth consecutive win for KU came on

Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship

(September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

One of the largest sportsbook sites on the Internet, MySportsbook.com currently lists the top two drivers in the point standings as the early favorites to win the Nextel Cup. Entering the Chase for the Cup with a slim five-point lead in the point standings, 2003 NASCAR champ Matt Kenseth has been made a slight favorite to win his second Cup at 7/2 betting odds. 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick has betting odds listed at 5/2 and four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon is listed at 6/1 to capture the Nextel Cup this year.

Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father who won six NASCAR titles, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands at 8/1 to breakthrough with his first Cup victory. Staying with the family theme, MySportsbook.com lists 2005 Rookie of the Year Kyle Busch at 14/1 to succeed big brother Kurt’s 2004 NASCAR title. While Kasey Kahne was the final driver to qualify for the Chase with a third place finish last week, the oddsmakers give him a fighting chance at 10/1 mainly due to several mile-and-a-half tracks remaining on the schedule. Despite going winless on the NASCAR circuit this season, Jeff Burton enters the Chase at 5/1 to capture the Cup title. Meanwhile, rookie Denny Hamlin is 4/1 to win the championship, while veteran driver Mark Martin enters the Chase for the Cup as a 15/1 long shot to win his first NASCAR title in his 24th and final season.

MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts US credit cards needs.

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.