Wild stop surging Blues
Hockey Betting Lines
03/14/2010 -
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mikko Koivu netted a goal and two assists, and
the Minnesota Wild notched a 4-2 win over the streaking St. Louis Blues at
Xcel Energy Center.
Andrew Brunette and Antti Miettinen both had a goal and an assist for the
Wild, while Guillaume Latendresse tallied for the 25th time, extending a
career-best.
Josh Harding, playing again in place of the injured Niklas Backstrom (groin),
made 35 stops in Minnesota's second straight win following a four-game skid.
"We have to win the games coming up," Harding said. "We were ready to play,
and we got a big win. (The Blues are) a great hockey club -- you got to give
them all the credit in the world. Fortunately, we came out on top (Sunday)."
Paul Kariya and Patrik Berglund scored for the Blues, who had won seven of
their last eight to move within striking distance of a playoff berth. St.
Louis stands five points behind idle Detroit for the eighth and final spot in
the West.
"We're not gaining ground, everyone around us is winning," said Blues forward
Keith Tkachuk. "This really hurts, no question about it. Some of the teams won
today too, so it's frustrating. We have to go on a serious run to get into the
playoffs."
Chris Mason stopped only 4-of-7 shots in the first period before Ty Conklin
finished the game with 12 saves.
The Wild got started quickly, getting on the board at the 1:54 mark of the
first period. Koivu won a faceoff in the offensive zone, and the puck drifted
back to Cam Barker. Barker fired a one-timer, which Brunette redirected past
Mason for the goal.
St. Louis was unable to solve Harding in the early-going, and Koivu extended
Minnesota's advantage with a power play tally at the 13:12 mark of the opening
frame.
Then, with 1:10 left on the clock, Latendresse completed the dominating period
with his 25th goal of the year for a 3-0 Wild lead after 20 minutes.
Koivu helped turn the game into a rout with a nifty behind-the-back pass to
Miettinen, who was in position to easily flick the puck into the net with 5:12
remaining in the second.
Berglund's unassisted tally on a power play with 2:51 left in the second got
the Blues to within three entering the third, and Kariya made it a two-goal
game with his 15th at the 6:08 mark of the final period.
Harding, though, was able to stop the remaining 12 shots in the final 20
minutes, as the Wild skated off with the victory.
Game Notes
Backstrom has missed three consecutive games...Minnesota is six points behind
Detroit for the eighth spot in the conference...The Wild improved to 22-9-3 at
home, while St. Louis fell to 20-11-4 on the road...The season series is tied
2-2...Martin Havlat had a pair of assists for Minnesota...St. Louis finished
up a six-game road trip at 4-2-0.
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Donte
SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
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Bonds nearly hits HR 751, SF wins
4 and drove in
a pair of runs, and Barry Bonds nearly hit homer No. 751 as San Francisco beat
1, in the middle contest of three at AT&T Park.
6) allowed five hits and one run over 6 2/3 innings, fanning
eight and walking three.
game slide.
Bonds, who came within five homers of Hank Aaron's record on Friday, went
1 with three walks, an RBI double and scored twice. The double ...
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