NHL's best clash at All-Star Game in Ottawa

Hockey Betting Lines

01/29/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 59th edition of the NHL All-Star Game is on tap for today, as Team Alfredsson's hometown favorites take on Team Chara at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place.

This marks the second straight year that the NHL has forgone the Eastern Conference versus Western Conference format and instead employed the fantasy draft process for selecting teams.

The two competing sides were picked Thursday evening at the Casino du Lac- Leamy in Gatineau, Quebec. Longtime Ottawa star Daniel Alfredsson was the captain of one team and fellow Swede and New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was named as his assistant. Boston's Zdeno Chara was chosen to lead the opposition and Toronto's Joffrey Lupul was his assistant captain.

Alfredsson did not disappoint his hometown fans, as the Sens captain made sure to select all three of his All-Star teammates. He and Lundqvist chose Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson with their first pick. Alfredsson then took Senators forwards Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek in the second and 12th rounds, respectively.

"I'm obviously very happy to get all the Senators," Alfredsson said. "I wanted to make sure I got Erik and Jason, and unfortunately I had to bump (Milan) down a few spots, but I'm happy to have him, too."

Last year's All-Star Game was in Carolina and the hometown club was captained by Hurricanes forward Eric Staal. That team, which also featured Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward and forward Jeff Skinner, wound up losing an 11-10 decision to the side selected by Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom. Neither Staal nor Lidstrom are back for this year's exhibition.

This time around, Alfredsson is hoping the hometown flavor will help lead his team to victory.

"I love my team, and if the coaches can't produce a winner, they should get fired," Alfredsson said jokingly.

Team Alfredsson is led by co-head coaches John Tortorella of the New York Rangers and Todd McLellan of the San Jose Sharks. Chara's team has Boston head coach Claude Julien behind the bench as well as Bruins assistants Doug Houda, Doug Jarvis and Geoff Ward.

Chara, who is captain of the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins, also claimed his two Boston teammates. After Chara and Lupul took Detroit forward Pavel Datsyuk with the first overall selection, they picked Boston goaltender Tim Thomas in Round 2. Chara then made sophomore sensation Tyler Seguin wait before selecting the young Bruins forward in the 18th round.

"They're well respected, great players [and] everybody's an All-Star," Chara said of his selections.

One change from last year is that the Sedin twins will be on the same side at this year's midseason showcase after Vancouver's inseparable duo were split up at the 2011 All-Star Game. Daniel Sedin was taken by his countryman Alfredsson in the ninth round and Henrik was taken four rounds later.

Team Chara boasts Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin -- the NHL's leading scorer -- and Alfredsson's squad has Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos, who is pacing the league with 32 goals.

Other forwards selected by Chara were Marian Hossa (Chicago), Corey Perry (Anaheim), Phil Kessel (Toronto), Patrick Kane (Chicago), Jarome Iginla (Calgary), Marian Gaborik (NY Rangers), Jordan Eberle (Edmonton) and Jamie Benn (Dallas). Hossa and Gaborik are both Chara's countrymen from Slovakia.

Joining Chara on the blue line are defensemen Brian Campbell (Florida), Dion Phaneuf (Toronto), Ryan Suter (Nashville), Kimmo Timonen (Philadelphia) and Dennis Wideman (Washington). In addition to Thomas, Jimmy Howard of Detroit and Montreal's Carey Price were also picked as goaltenders for Team Chara.

The rest of Alfredsson's forwards for today's game will be Claude Giroux (Philadelphia), James Neal (Pittsburgh), Scott Hartnell (Philadelphia), Jason Pominville (Buffalo) and Logan Couture (San Jose).

Couture was the last player picked by either team, but he wasn't overly upset by his "Mr. Irrelevant" status. The Sharks sniper received a car for being taken last overall and $20,000 was also donated to charity in his name.

"I can't take that personally," Couture said. "I'm a young guy who plays on the West Coast. When I came in, I knew it was a possibility."

In addition to Karlsson, Team Alfredsson's defense consists of Pittsburgh's Kris Letang, Shea Weber of Nashville, Dan Girardi of the New York Rangers, Phoenix's Keith Yandle and Vancouver's Keith Yandle. Jonathan Quick of Los Angeles and Brian Elliott of St. Louis will also split time in the crease with Lundqvist.

The hometown team won Saturday's SuperSkills competition, as Team Alfredsson gained 21 points compared to Team Chara's 12. However, Chara himself was once again the center of attention as the mammoth Bruins defenseman broke his own record in the hardest shot event, uncorking a slap shot that registered 108.8 miles per hour. It marks the fifth straight time that Chara has won the event.

Ottawa is hosting the NHL All-Star Game for the first time. The only remaining NHL cities that have not staged this event are Anaheim, Phoenix, Nashville, Columbus and Winnipeg.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.