Isles aim for unprecedented win over Blue Jackets
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12/23/2006 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders will try to end their string of futility against the Columbus Blue Jackets when the two teams face off tonight at the Nassau Coliseum.
Columbus has never lost in seven all-time meetings with the Islanders, having posted six wins and one tie over that span. In the only encounter between the clubs last season, the Jackets skated off with a 4-3 shootout victory in Columbus.
The Blue Jackets have also emerged victorious in their two previous trips to the Island, the most recent being a 4-2 triumph on November 29, 2002.
Lately Columbus has also been playing pretty well against the rest of the league. The Jackets are 7-2-1 over their last 10 games and are coming off Friday's 3-2 victory over Vancouver at Nationwide Arena.
Anson Carter paced Columbus with a goal and an assist, while Aaron Johnson and Rick Nash also lit the lamp for the hosts. Ron Hainsey contributed two assists to the winning effort.
Jackets goaltender Pascal Leclaire stopped all 10 shots he faced before aggravating a hamstring injury and leaving early in the second period. Fredrik Norrena came on and allowed a goal on the first shot he faced, but the substitute finished strong and compiled 21 saves.
The Islanders had won two in a row before being routed in Raleigh last night. Rod Brind'Amour had a goal and two assists to lead the streaking Carolina Hurricanes to an easy 5-1 decision.
Chris Simon posted the lone goal on the night for the Islanders and Rick DiPietro stopped 30 of 35 shots.
New York has won two straight at Nassau Coliseum and brings a 9-6-2 home record into this evening's tilt. Columbus is 6-10-1 on the road for the season.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams hoping to rebound from Friday losses will square off tonight at Toronto's Air Canada Centre, where the Maple Leafs entertain Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Toronto returns from last night's
<< Canadiens put streak on the line in Boston
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Heated Northeast Division rivals will face off against one
another this evening in Boston's TD Banknorth Garden, where the Bruins look to
stop the Montreal Canadiens' season-best five-game win streak.
Montreal now has
<< LSU tries to continue dominance of Pelican State foes
Baton Rouge, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 12th-ranked LSU Tigers kick off a five-
game homestand today, as they host the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in non-
conference action from the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers recently
<< Eagles and Jayhawks lock horns in Lawrence
Lawrence, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of teams meeting for the first time
since 1969 square off in Lawrence today, as the Boston College Eagles tangle
with the 11th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks in non-conference action from the Allen
Fiel
<< Pitt hopes to resume winning ways against Dayton
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The seventh-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers try
to get back on track tonight, when they host the Dayton Flyers in non-
conference play from the Petersen Events Center.
After opening the season with
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A battle of Eastern Conference division leaders takes place tonight at Atlanta's Philips Arena, where the Southeast-leading Thrashers host the Atlantic frontrunners, the New Jersey Devils. Atlanta has dominated the serie
Slumping Rangers head into Tampa >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers continue what has been an up-and-down
month of December tonight in Tampa Bay, where the Lightning host the
struggling Blueshirts at St. Pete Times Forum.
The Rangers had moved into the Atlan
Streaking 'Canes meet hot Panthers in Southeast battle >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Panthers attempt to extend a season-best three-
game win streak when they host the Carolina Hurricanes tonight in the opener
of a home-and-home series between the Southeast Division foes.
The Panthers still
Stars look to end home slide against Oilers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Oilers will shoot for back-to-back road wins
when the previously slumping club skates into the American Airlines Center to
take on the Dallas Stars.
Edmonton had dropped four of its last five games before
Red Wings shoot for sweep of Wild >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings aim for a sweep of their home-and-
home series with the Minnesota Wild when the clubs meet again this evening at
the XCel Energy Center.
The Red Wings took the opener of this set with Frid
2007 online football betting Preview
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
2007 College Football Betting Preview
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
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The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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