Basketball Betting








 

Basketball Betting


NFL Football
NCAA Football
NCAA Basketball
MLB Baseball
NHL Hockey
Soccer
Auto
Horse Racing
Golf
Tennis
 

NBA Basketball Betting

Canucks try to stay alive in Game 6 vs. Blackhawks

Hockey Betting Lines

05/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Vancouver Canucks will try to stave off elimination for a second time when they host the Chicago Blackhawks tonight in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals at General Motors Place.

The Canucks picked up a 4-1 road victory in Game 5, marking the third-seeded club's first win since a 5-1 blowout in the series opener. Tonight, Vancouver will try to earn its first home victory of this best-of-seven set and force a decisive Game 7 in Chicago on Thursday.

Vancouver is 2-3 at GM Place in the playoffs after posting the best home record in the Western Conference during the regular season with a 30-8-3 mark.

Chicago, which is trying to reach the conference finals for a second straight spring, is 4-1 on the road in the postseason and had a solid 23-14-4 record as the visiting team prior to the start of the playoffs. The second-seeded Blackhawks last made it to the conference finals in back-to-back years in 1989 and '90.

Kevin Bieksa paced Vancouver's offense with a pair of goals and an assist in Sunday's Game 5 matchup, while Roberto Luongo made 29 saves to help the Canucks record the 4-1 decision at United Center.

Christian Ehrhoff and Alexandre Burrows also lit the lamp for the Canucks.

"We still got a road ahead of us," Bieksa said. "If we play the same way we did tonight will be fine."

The third-seeded Canucks are 0-4 in the second round of the playoffs since last reaching the conference finals in 1994, when they eventually lost to the New York Rangers in a seven-game battle for the Stanley Cup.

However, Vancouver is 3-4 all-time in best-of-seven series when trailing three games to one. The last time the Canucks overcame a 3-1 deficit to win a series was against St. Louis in the opening round of the 2003 playoffs.

The Canucks won Sunday despite losing defenseman Sami Salo at the end of the first period. Salo was hit by a shot near his groin section and was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation. He is not expected to play tonight.

Jonathan Toews, coming off a hat trick during a 7-4 victory in Game 4, had the lone goal for Chicago on Sunday, while Antti Niemi turned aside 20-of-23 shots in defeat.

"I'll give them credit because they played the way they had to," Toews said. "We weren't good enough tonight."

With Salo likely out for tonight, the Canucks may turn to Nolan Baumgartner or Aaron Rome to fill in on the blue line. Baumgartner has been a healthy scratch this whole series and hasn't played since Game 4 of the club's opening-round matchup with Los Angeles. Rome has been sidelined with an undisclosed injury and hasn't played since Game 3 against the Kings. If Rome is healthy enough to play tonight, he would likely get the call over Baumgartner.

This marks the fourth time the Canucks and Blackhawks have battled in the postseason. Vancouver's only series victory over Chicago was in the 1982 conference finals, when the Canucks ousted the Blackhawks in five games before getting swept by the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Finals.


<< Tampa's Trueblood signs tender
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive tackle Jeremy Trueblood has signed his one-year tender offer. Trueblood has appeared in 63 games, with 61 starts, in his four NFL seasons. He was selected by the Buccaneers i

<< Royals host Indians in clash of AL Central cellar-dwellers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals try to avoid their sixth straight loss this evening, when they open a three-game series with the Cleveland Indians at Kauffman Stadium. Kansas City closed its 11-game road trip in disappointing fashi

<< White Sox to pay first visit to Minnesota's Target Field
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox hope a change of venue makes a difference in their matchup with the Minnesota Twins, as the two American League Central foes begin a brief two-game set tonight at Target Field. Chicago had struggled m

<< Yanks take another chance on Vazquez in Detroit
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Although Javier Vazquez hasn't shown to be very reliable during his second tour of duty with the New York Yankees, the struggling starter will be asked to play the role of stopper when the defending world champions continue

<< Lee goes for Mariners in Baltimore
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of present basement-dwellers start up a three-game series tonight at Camden Yards, where the Baltimore Orioles return home to battle the slumping Seattle Mariners. Seattle heads across the country seeking to put a d

Red Sox, Blue Jays resume series at Fenway >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While this season has been a struggle at times for the Boston Red Sox, they've had little problem handling the Toronto Blue Jays thus far in 2010. Boston will take aim at a fifth consecutive victory over the Blue Jays whe

Grizzlies announce contract extension for Hollins >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Memphis Grizzlies finally made it official Tuesday and announced a multi-year contract extension for head coach Lionel Hollins. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Hollins had indicated last mo

Jags sign LB Lehman >>
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Jacksonville Jaguars signed veteran linebacker Teddy Lehman to an undisclosed contract on Tuesday. Lehman last saw action in the NFL in 2008, when he played four games on special teams for th

U.S. will face Colombia in Davis Cup playoff >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States will face Colombia in a Davis Cup playoff from September 17-19. The Americans were relegated to the World Group playoffs after losing to Serbia 3-2 in the opening round of the

The Preakness - Horse Racings Middle Child >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Most casual horse racing fans hold the Kentucky Derby in high regard. They also get revved up for the Belmont Stakes if a horse is in line for a possible Triple Crown. On the other hand, the Preakne

NFL Football Office Pool Printable Sheets

NFL Office Pool Sheets

MySportsbook.com is considered one of the finest online sportsbook according to several surveys performed by independent industry analysts considering such factors as payout accuracy and timeliness, overall quality of website, and bettor satisfaction.

MySportsbook is offering a free printable NFL football office pool sheets. Run your own NFL Football Office Pool. Create your own pool, invite your friends to join. Compete with your with co-workers, friends or family for bragging rights every week. Exchange some hard hits without risk of injury. Trash Talk with your fellow co-workers.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your nfl football pool sheets needs.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com