Boston College wins NCAA men's ice hockey title

Chockey Betting Lines

04/10/2010 - Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cam Atkinson's two goals and 20 saves from John Muse led Boston College to a 5-0 victory over Wisconsin in the 2010 NCAA men's ice hockey championship game from Ford Field.

Muse, who recorded his third shutout of the season, improved to 8-0 in NCAA Tournament games after unbeaten performances in the 2008 and 2010 national championship runs.

Chris Kreider and Matt Price also tallied for the Eagles (29-10-3), who won the fourth hockey title in school history and third in the last 10 seasons.

Ben Smith, voted the tourney's Most Outstanding Player, also added a goal for Boston College, which topped Alaska-Fairbanks, Yale and Miami-Ohio to reach the national final for the fourth time in five years.

Scott Gudmandson allowed four goals on 25 shots for the Badgers (28-11-4), who were bidding for their seventh national title and first since beating BC in 2006.

Wisconsin, which had bested Vermont, St. Cloud State and RIT, finished 0-for-3 on the man advantage and were shut out for the first time since a 2-0 setback to St. Cloud State in the WCHA playoffs on March 19.

The Eagles went up 2-0 at 1:38 of the third period when Atkinson's rush down the left side resulted in a backhander that slid through Gudmandson's legs.

Kreider's deft tip of a lead pass from Jimmy Hayes at 3:40 put BC ahead by three, then Atkinson's second of the period -- another backhander -- made it 4-0 for the Eagles at 7:20.

Wisconsin decided to pull its goaltender with 5 1/2 minutes to play, but the move backfired as Price tallied with 4:31 remaining.

Steven Whitney's slick cross-ice pass found Smith in the slot for a high wrister at 12:57 of the opening period and a 1-0 BC lead on the power play.

Muse made five saves in a defensively-oriented first 20 minutes, then stopped nine more pucks in the second period against a more opportunistic Wisconsin attack.

Game Notes

BC leads the all-time series with Wisconsin, 12-9-0, and has won three straight since losing in the 2006 title game...Wisconsin forward Derek Stepan left the game after suffering an injury during a collision on BC's third goal and did not return...Boston College head coach Jerry York won his fourth career national title (three with BC, one with Bowling Green)...This was the first men's hockey title game decided with a shutout since Denver beat Maine, 1-0, back in 2004...Attendance was 37,592, setting an all-time record for a college playoff contest.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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