Michigan State moves into final

Chockey Betting Lines

04/06/2007 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Mueller had a goal and an assist to help the Michigan State Spartans advance to their first championship game since 1987 with a 4-2 win over the Maine Black Bears in the Frozen Four.

Nick Sucharski, Chris Snavely and Kim McKenzie all lit the lamp for the Spartans (25-14-3), who will play the winner of the North Dakota/Boston College game later on Thursday.

"The biggest thing today was the penalty kill," said Mueller. "We knew Maine had the top power play, but we played with patience and stayed out of the box, which was the key to winning the game."

Jeff Lerg finished with 29 saves for Michigan State, which last won a national title in 1986.

"We expected Maine to come out flying," said Lerg. "We didn't match them for the first two period, but we got our game going and the late goal in the second period gave us momentum for the third to carry on for the win."

Josh Soares and Keith Johnson each had a goal and an assist and Ben Bishop finished with 29 saves for the Black Bears (23-15-2), who defeated Michigan State in last season's East Regional final, 5-4.

"We played a great game," said Bishop. "But their goalie got off to a tough start, giving up a goal on the first shot, but he played well at the end and made some key saves in the third period."

The championship game will be played on Saturday.

Maine initially grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first when Johnson scored just 23 seconds in and a little over three minutes later Soares scored on a shot from the slot through traffic.

However, the Spartans scored four unanswered goals to win the game.

Mueller got his team on the board when he banged the puck out of mid-air into the net to make it a 2-1 game at the 7:25 mark of the first.

Michigan State tied the game with the only goal of the second period when Snavely scored to make it a 2-2 game.

The Spartans grabbed their first lead of the game as Sucharski jammed the puck into the net during a jam in front for a 3-2 advantage 5:11 into the third.

"There was traffic in front and the rebound popped out in front and I went to dive on it but somehow they slipped it underneath me into the net," said Bishop.

McKenzie sealed the win for the Spartans when he snapped a wrister on the fly from the left circle that Bishop stopped, but the rebound went right back to McKenzie and he buried it in the back of the net with 10:14 to play.

It is the fifth time in school history that Michigan State will appear in the championship game.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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