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08/20/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2010 NHL Research, Development and Orientation Camp took place on August 18-19 at Toronto's MasterCard Centre, drawing many of hockey's most critical thinkers.
Grouped together at the Toronto Maple Leafs practice facility, they watched demonstrations and tests of 21 potential new rules aimed at improving the game. While some of the rules were considered too radical, there was one that was greeted with almost unanimous approval; the hybrid icing rule.
Under the hybrid icing rule, which is already being used in the United States Hockey League, the linesman determines whether a play will be called icing based on which player reaches the faceoff dot first. If he believes the attacking player will be the first to the puck, icing is waved off. If he believes the defending player will eventually win the race to the puck, the whistle is blown and the play stops dead at the faceoff dot, instead of inches from the end boards.
"The race for a loose puck is an exciting play for our fans and we have to keep that play in, but we have to figure out a way to eliminate the injuries to the defensemen," Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke told NHL.com. "This is something I've put on the GMs agenda now for five years, and the injuries these defensemen get on those plays are often catastrophic. I think we have to change that.
"I like the hybrid rule. They have used it in the USHL for a couple of years with success. I've studied some video of that, and I think that will work."
The NHL's touch icing rule has been a hot button topic for years because of its potentially dangerous nature, just ask Edmonton Oilers defenseman Kurtis Foster. Foster made headlines after breaking his femur in 2008 trying to beat out an icing call, an injury that sidelined him for more than a year.
"Anything we can do with icing to protect our players we should do," said Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray. "If the linesman can make the call earlier, then obviously it will benefit the good players in our league."
The catastrophic nature of Foster's injury didn't go unnoticed by NHL officials as a new rule was implemented in 2009 to reduce nasty collisions. The rule states there should be no unnecessary or dangerous contact between opposing players who together are pursuing the puck on an icing. If they hit each other it must be for the sole purpose of playing the puck and not eliminating the opponent from playing the puck.
Definitely a step in the right direction, but is it enough? San Jose Sharks forward Jamie McGinn seems to think so.
"I don't really like the new hybrid rule, I think the league has done a good job of protecting players with the new penalty rule on making a check on an icing. I don't think they need to change anything if they keep that rule intact," said McGinn, via text message.
Surely there will be players on both sides of the fence, some supporting a push for hybrid icing and others toeing the line in favor of the status quo. But even with the NHL's existing rule in place, the accidental injuries will continue to happen.
What about the accidental trip or off-balance head-first fall into the boards? With the size and strength of players these days and the speed they can generate on the ice, looking at hybrid icing as a further precaution may be in the best interest of the league and its players.
In the end, if it can be proven that the new rule maintains the excitement of the current touch icing rule while eliminating the dangers, there is no reason why it shouldn't make its way into the game as soon as possible.
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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