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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FOOTBALL BETTING
After all the trouble that’s ensued since Braylon Edwards allegedly punched one of LeBron James’ homeboys in the face at a club, the Cleveland Browns have sent away their last remaining player of worth to the New York Jets. This is a great move for Dirty Sanchez and all, but it’s even better for the Knicks. Now Donnie Walsh can say, “You get to haunt Braylon Edwards with your posse if you sign here!” next summer.
Putting that aside for a moment, the move is a clear indication that the new-look Jets are gunning for the Super Bowl this year. I don’t think that New York thought that Dirty Sanchez was going to be such a rock star. With a 75.2 passer rating that was killed against the Jets, Sanchez is doing an admirable job of managing games and putting the Jets in a position to win. The defense has been the major story in New York thus far, but the acquisition of Braylon Edwards makes this offense loaded with talent that can dent any defense…as long as Dirty Sanchez continues his meteoric rise.
Thus far, Edwards has been a non-factor in the NFL piling up just 139 receiving yards on 10 catches. He has yet to find the endzone, and with the Browns mired in the most unsexy quarterback controversy of all time (Anderson vs. Quinn...yawn), there going nowhere fast. Edwards is two seasons removed from a career year which saw him catch 80 passes for 1,289 yards and 16 touchdowns when the Browns were the spread killing monsters of 2007. In 2008, injuries slowed the receiver down to just 873 yards and three touchdowns though he played in all 16 games.
So that being said, we really don’t know if Braylon Edwards is just a flash in the pan, or a legit threat. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he is a prototypical receiver. But he’s also shown a strange, and unwarranted, talent for dropping passes. Lining up opposite Jericho Cotchery, a speed demon with 23 catches, 356 yards and a single touchdown, may give Braylon the open looks he needs. A change of scenery may also rejuvenate the star receiver.
In return, the Browns will receive Chansi Stuckey, online football betting a special teams player you’ve never heard of and a pair of draft picks. That’s a tall order for a guy whose only real value right now is in his name, and it shows no promise to the Browns that they can rebuild around those acquisitions. Braylon was the only reason to hope for the Browns to go 3-14 SU this year. Without him, they don’t have a single guy on offense that can scare any team.
For the Jets, it’s a response to the pounding that they took at the hand of the Saints. Thomas Jones and Leon Washington have averaged around 4.0 yards per carry each on the ground, but striking a fair balance between the passing and rushing attacks in New York has been a struggle. You have to believe that the trio of Dustin Keller, Jericho Cotchery and Braylon Edwards will give Sanchez the weapons he needs to unleash through the air. Theoretically, that would open up holes for the rushing game. But the proposed public option health care plan works in theory too. We need to see the proof in the pudding before we start loading up mega bucks on the New York Jets to take the AFC.
The one wrinkle in this whole thing is that Braylon could very well be suspended by the league for disciplinary action due to his “brawl” with LeBron’s friend. If that’s the case, the Jets may have to bench him for a few games leaving them with a somewhat depleted receiving corps for a few games. Also, this is a guy who gets in fights with people at clubs. New York may not be the best place for him. Just sayin’.
The Jets have a long week before they meet the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football Betting in a virtual pick ‘em game. Braylon’s excess baggage may be a distraction, and his curiously low production may be what we should be expecting of him overall, but for the Jets, taking a chance to strike gold is well worth it. At the end of the year, they can simply just blame it on their rookie quarterback.
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Horse Betting
(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).
The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
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