Nick Parsons
NHL Money Line
double-dime bet4 COL (-134)Bodog vs 3 BOS
Colorado The Avalanche were expected to exhibit more of a wide open style with the return of head coach Tony Granato. However, while the offense should be impressive, especially with ?all hands on deck? and healthy, the defense looks like it could also impress this season. With a top six featuring Adam Foote, Brett Clark, Jordan Leopold, Scott Hannan, John Michael-Liles, and Ruslan Salei, the Avs defense should enjoy success in shutting down a Bruins offense that is the club?s Achilles heel. Boston just can?t seem to score enough goals to enjoy success. Yes, Patrice Bergeron is back but don?t underestimate the loss of center Glen Metropolit as he?s the kind of gritty forward that makes things happen in the offensive zone. Also, Bergeron and goalie Manny Fernandez are both back and healthy for this season but it could take awhile for Bergeron to return to form and the question regarding Fernandez is how his return will impact the play of Tim Thomas who was solid during the time Fernandez was out. Now with Fernandez coming back for this season, could this get into the head of Thomas? As for the Avs, they bring a lot of firepower to the ice as usual and with Granato back we expect some solid offensive performances for this club as that will be his emphasis. Keep in mind that part of last season?s struggles for Colorado had to do with injury issues and being, for the most part, healthy coming into the season is a step in the right direction for this club. The injuries last season forced this Avs team to play under it?s potential. That is offering some line value to the Avalanche in this spot because, on home ice, and facing a weaker Eastern foe, the Avs should roll at home in this one! Colorado was 27-12-2 at the Pepsi Center last season while the Bruins won just 21 of their 41 road games last season. Also, the Avalanche did get off to a quick start last season as they went 7-4 in October. With Granato, 72-44-17 in his career, back coaching the Avs we see renewed enthusiasm with this club and that spills onto the ice right away in their home opener. The Avs in a home rout!
Greg Shaker
CFB Side
double-dime bet103 Clemson 2.5 (-110) BetUS vs 104 Wake Forest
Analysis: NCAAB: Clemson Tigers at Wake Forest Demon Deacons - Clemson +2.5 -110 | Unit Value: 2 UNIT "Destroyer"
Game Date: 10/9/2008
Note: This game was supposed to be a Big Game for both of these two teams winning the ACC's Atlantic Division. That may still be the case when it is all said and done, but the fact is, both squads have struggled this year and both most recently. We no know that the Tigers loss to Alabama was not as bad as first expected but losing at home to Maryland is a bad spot on their record. Wake's home setback to Navy was a shocker by anyone's imagination. So what gives in this game? I am sure that both squads have been hearing it from their coaching staffs over the last 10 days. They both will be ready to play. The Tigers have more to play with though and the key to this game is the Tigers to ability to run the ball, Wake's inability to stop it. Conversely, Wake has not shown us much via the run game, and Clemson has not allowed their opponents much leeway in this department. We saw some of that last year with Clemson having their way with the Deacons in a 44-10 romp. That game saw Wake manage just 2.2 yards per carry and they did try to make it work 37 times for just 87 yards. The Clemson D matches up very well with Wake. They are bigger but they also are just as quick as the Wake's offense is. It would not surprise me to see the Demon Deacons come up strong on D to open this game and we could easily see a low scoring affair because of that. But over 60 minutes of play, our team has the much better chance of wearing down their opponent, and I do think that is exactly what we will see. The Tigers have been a very good Dog Proposition under Bowden, and this one should be no different than the past.
