NHL's best get together for annual Skills Competition

Hockey Betting Lines

01/27/2012 - Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Ovechkin has owned the Breakaway Challenge since the event's inception a few years ago, but with the Washington Capitals star pulling out of the league's All-Star Game, some new faces will get a chance at the title.

There are still plenty of other former winners set to participate in the Skills Competition on Saturday at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place, including All- Star team captain Zdeno Chara, snipers Daniel Sedin and Evgeni Malkin and speedster Marian Gaborik.

This will be the second skills event under the league's current All-Star format of selecting team captains and having the rosters chosen by a fantasy draft, which took place this past Thursday. Boston's Chara is the head of one team, opposed by hometown favorite Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators.

Last year, a team captained by Carolina's Eric Staal defeated a group of players led by Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom in the Skills Competition on the Hurricanes' home ice. Neither Staal nor Lidstrom are back for this year's exhibition.

The Breakaway Challenge is one of the six events on tap for Saturday's battle and has been won by Ovechkin all three times since it debuted at the 2008 event. The phase involves one player mixing skill and creativity on a breakaway attempt on a goaltender. The event differs from a penalty shot in that a skater can start from anywhere in the offensive zone.

The three shooters will be made up of two All-Stars and one rookie, while each team will also select one netminder. The winner of the challenge will be selected by fan voting via text messaging and earn his team one point.

Ovechkin would have likely been the favorite to repeat in the event, but he pulled out of the All-Star festivities after getting suspended for three games for leaving his feet to deliver a high, hard check versus Pittsburgh on Jan. 22. Ovechkin was still eligible to participate in the events, but opted out.

One event that could see a repeat champion is the Hardest Shot competition. Chara has won the event in each of the past four editions, unleashing a record 105.9 miles per hour blast in last year's get together. That broke his own record of 105.4 mph set the previous season. Nashville's Shea Weber, a member of Team Alfredsson, gave Chara a run for his money last year when he uncorked a 104.8 mph blast in the preliminary round.

Four players -- one rookie and three All-Stars -- will take their turns for each team in this event, with a point being awarded to the winner of each of the four preliminary rounds and another to the victor in the finale.

The Scotiabank Place's ice will be put to the test in the Fastest Skater event, which was won last year by Michael Grabner of the New York Islanders with a time of 14.238 seconds. Grabner is not in the competition this year, though 2003 winner Gaborik, who had a time of 13.713 seconds, is a member of Chara's team.

Four All-Stars and one rookie will take turns doing one lap around the ice. There will be five preliminary races under a new format of one skater from each team racing side-by-side towards the same end zone before turning outward, skating to the opposite end, turning back and skating past center ice to the finish line. The players from each team posting the fastest time will meet in a sixth and final race, with the winner of each of the individual six rounds getting a point for his squad.

The Accuracy Shooting bout is a simple one in which four players from each team -- three All-Stars and one rookie -- will take turns standing 25 feet in front of the net while taking passes and aiming at four foam targets in the corners of the goal. The player with the fastest time from each team will then go head-to-head in a fifth round for the title.

Each round awards one point to the winner and a few former champions could get the call. Sedin, last year's victor, is on Team Alfredsson, while Chara has three former champs on his roster in Malkin (2008), Marian Hossa (2007 co- winner) and Jarome Iginla (2002 co-winner). Sedin won last year's event by hitting all four targets in 8.9 seconds.

Back for its second year is the Skills Challenge Relay, won last year by Team Lidstrom with a time of 2:09. The event puts 14 All-Stars and two rookies from each team together.

The competition meshes together a host of skills into five successive events. A one-timer event starts it off with three shooters and one passer needing to score three goals over an eight-inch barrier. Once completed, a different player must complete a pass into six nets placed around the rink to keep things going.

Skill with the skate and stick follow. First, a player must make his way through a series of cones will keeping control of the puck before another skater stick handles the disc through a series of obstacles.

The heat then comes to a close with an accuracy portion in which a shooter takes aim at four targets. Two groups from each team go through the entire relay, with the fastest squad in each heat getting a point and the fastest combined time getting a bonus point.

Things then come to a head for Team Alfredsson and Chara in the Elimination Shootout. This competition sees 15 skaters consisting of one rookie, 11 All- Stars and three goaltenders, battle in a game of survival. Shooters take their aim at the goaltenders and need to score to move on to the next round. Netminders rotate after every third shooter and the event goes until one player scores and the others do not in a single round.

This event is sort of like the bonus round of a game show; each goal scored by a player counts for one point for his team.

Team Chara member Dion Phaneuf won the inaugural event in 2008, followed by Shane Doan in 2009. Corey Perry, also a member of Chara's team this year, was the last-man standing a season ago.

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Will Ohio State continue to run the table in College Football betting odds?
MySportsbook.com favors Buckeyes, Fighting Irish and Golden Bears in this weekend's big games.

NEW YORK, NY, Sept. 21 - My Sportsbook NCAA football fans: things are beginning to get really interesting on college football's national stage. Following last weekend's "Separation Saturday", which included five teams ranked in the top 15 dropping games, the BCS Championship picture is beginning to take shape - with Ohio State leading the charge. And, according to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, the number-one-ranked Buckeyes will continue their winning ways this weekend.

Revenge will be the name of the game in Columbus this Saturday, as Ohio State looks to even the score following last season's loss to Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions. Although Penn State are listed as 16.5 point underdogs, they are 11-10 all-time versus the Buckeyes. Paterno and the Lions, however, will have to shut down Heisman Trophy favorite Troy Smith who has thrown for 769 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

Speaking of revenge, Notre Dame will be out for some against Michigan State, following last year's 44 - 41 overtime loss to the Spartans in South Bend. The thirteenth-ranked Irish, listed as a 3-point favorite, will also be looking to avenge last Saturday's thrashing from the Michigan Wolverines. The Spartans, meanwhile, have won seven of the last nine match-ups against Notre Dame and are coming off an impressive 38-23 victory over Pittsburgh.

Out west, 22nd-ranked Arizona State will be battling for their first victory over 21st-ranked California since 2000. Although the Golden Bears are listed as 7.5-point favorites, the Sun Devils are 3-0, lead the nation in sacks with 18 and possess the Pac-10's leading passer in sophomore quarterback Rudy Carpenter.

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NCAA Football betting lines (home team in CAPS)
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Date Favorite Opponent Point Spread
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Sept 21 GEORGIA TECH Virginia 17
Sept 22 NEVADA Northwestern 6.5
Sept 23 MICHIGAN Wisconsin 14
Sept 23 Minnesota PURDUE 3
Sept 23 SYRACUSE Miami (Ohio) 6.5
Sept 23 MISSOURI Ohio 21.5
Sept 23 Louisville KANSAS STATE 14
Sept 23 TENNESSEE Marshall 22
Sept 23 CLEMSON North Carolina 16.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA Kentucky 24
Sept 23 Iowa ILLINOIS 20.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA STATE Rice 30.5
Sept 23 AUBURN Buffalo 41.5
Sept 23 BOWLING GREEN Kent 7
Sept 23 NAVY Tulsa 4.5
Sept 23 VIRGINIA TECH Cincinnati 27
Sept 23 BYU Utah State 29
Sept 23 OHIO STATE Penn State 16.5
Sept 23 TEXAS Iowa State 25
Sept 23 Washington State STANFORD 10
Sept 23 CALIFORNIA Arizona State 7.5
Sept 23 UCLA WASHINGTON 3
Sept 23 INDIANA Connecticut 1.5
Sept 23 Central Michigan EASTERN MICHIGAN 4
Sept 23 WYOMING Air Force 1
Sept 23 UTEP NEW MEXICO 9.5
Sept 23 West Virginia EAST CAROLINA 21
Sept 23 Boston College NORTH CAROLINA STATE 7
Sept 23 GEORGIA Colorado 27
Sept 23 ARKANSAS Alabama 1.5
Sept 23 BAYLOR Army 11
Sept 23 WESTERN MICHIGAN Temple 28
Sept 23 MISSISSIPPI Wake Forest 2.5
Sept 23 KANSAS South Florida 5.5
Sept 23 TEXAS A&amp;M Louisiana Tech 23.5
Sept 23 UAB Mississippi State 9.5
Sept 23 LSU Tulane 36
Sept 23 Utah SAN DIEGO STATE 6.5
Sept 23 BOISE STATE Hawaii 15
Sept 23 Notre Dame MICHIGAN STATE 3
Sept 23 USC ARIZONA U 22
Sept 23 Oklahoma State HOUSTON 1
Sept 23 OREGON STATE Idaho 23
Sept 23 OKLAHOMA Middle Tennessee State 29
Sept 23 MARYLAND Florida International 18.5
Sept 23 AKRON North Texas 17.5
Sept 23 SOUTH CAROLINA Florida Atlantic 29.5
Sept 23 NEBRASKA Troy 23
Sept 23 SMU Arkansas State 6

For complete NCAA football odds and World Series odds please visit MySportsbook.com

NFL Football Betting : Odds on NFL Division to Win the Super Bowl

NFL Super Bowl Betting

The AFC South and the NFC East are the favorite divisions to have the next Super Bowl champ among them in the NFL betting odds. But more down to the point, these football odds are in favor of the Indianapolis Colts, by far the strongest team in the AFC South, and the Dallas Cowboys of the NFC East.

Most sports fans would agree that these two teams top the list to win it all before the season even begins. In the BetUS Sportsbook football futures, the Colts are +800 in the odds to win the Super Bowl, while the Cowboys are sitting at +1000 and the Super Bowl XLIV champions New Orleans Saints at +900. In the AFC South, the Colts won the division for five straight years after the 2002 realignment, before the Tennessee Titans won it in 2008. But the Colts came back strong in 2009 to win the division again en route to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys are the favorite to win the NFC East, as well as to advance far into the post season. The Cowboys won the division last season before their horrendous loss in the NFC Divisional playoff to Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings. But the ‘Boys will take that loss humbly and be ready for the playoffs this time around.

The NFC South is also very strong, at +600 in the NFL futures, considering that it is home to the defending Super Bowl champions. However, some predictions have the Atlanta Falcons with possibilities of claiming the divisional title this season in place of the Saints, as no team has won back-to-back division championships since the division realignment took place. Let’s not overlook the AFC North at +500. As TO goes to Cincinnati to join Chad OchoCinco and Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, this team looks to claim the division title again. And it is likely they will do so. The Bengals lost in the AFC Wild Card spot in a hard-fought battle against the New York Jets last season. Lest not forget the Pittsburgh Steelers, the XLII Super Bowl Champions… All these teams present interesting odds and matchups for the upcoming season, but the safest and surest bet seems to be with the Colts in the AFC South and the Cowboys in the NFC East. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win.

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