Brodeur sets record on championship night for Devils

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04/06/2007 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin Brodeur used 34 saves to break the all-time mark for wins in a single season and Jim Dowd scored the short-handed game-winner midway through the third period, as the New Jersey Devils clinched the Atlantic Division title with a 3-2 win over Philadelphia.

Brodeur secured his 48th win of 2006-07 and in the process broke the record that was formerly held by longtime Flyers goaltender Bernie Parent.

The Devils, who are now division champions for the seventh time in the last 10 seasons, won their second consecutive game under the guidance of new head coach Lou Lamoriello. The Devils' general manager and face of the organization also coached 50 games last season and led the team on an amazing run in the second half of the campaign. On Monday, head coach Claude Julien was unexpectedly fired.

Jamie Langenbrunner and Sergei Brylin also scored for the Devils, who will finish their regular season on Sunday afternoon at home against the Islanders before they host the first two postseason games versus a yet-to-be-determined opponent. If victorious in the first round, New Jersey would also host any opponent in the next round as well.

The Devils attained their 49th win of the season Thursday, eclipsing the franchise-record from 1997-98 and 2000-01.

Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne scored for the Flyers, who with 54 points are dangerously close to finishing this season with the worst mark in franchise history (58 points in 1969-70). With two weekend home games remaining in the regular season, Philly would need to win both games just to tie the franchise- worst mark.

With the score tied 2-2 midway through the third period, Dowd's short-handed tally gave the Devils the lead for good. The Flyers skated with the man advantage due to a hooking penalty to forward Scott Gomez, but a turnover led to a 2-on-1 rush. Brylin carried the disc down the right-wing side and sent a saucer pass over the stick of Alexandre Picard before a one-timer from the left circle by Dowd beat Martin Biron with 11:14 remaining in regulation.

Brodeur stopped all 13 shots he faced in the final stanza and the Devils defense thwarted most of the potential Philadelphia scoring chances the rest of the way, as the Devils surrounded Brodeur and celebrated both his new record and another division crown.

The Flyers opened the scoring on Carter's 14th goal of the season, 1:05 after the opening faceoff. The puck sat in the crease after a wraparound attempt by Scottie Upshall at the left post and Carter poked in home from the top of the crease during a scramble in front of the net.

In the latter stages of the first stanza, the visitors tied the contest with a power-play goal. With Sami Kapanen in the penalty box for holding, the Devils worked the puck around the perimeter before Langenbrunner held control at the right point. The veteran forward then inched in from the blue line and released a slap shot that made its way through traffic and into the back of the cage.

With 13:23 to go in second period, it appeared Philadelphia had possibly taken the lead. Upshall skated in alone on a clear breakaway and lifted a backhander that sailed into the pads of Brodeur, who fell back into the net. The referee lost sight of the puck and it was not clear if it had crossed the goal line while Brodeur covered it. A review of the play confirmed the no-goal call that was originally made on the ice.

However several minutes later, Gagne's 39th goal midway through the period did in fact put the Flyers in front. Picard spun around at the centerpoint and released a slap shot that was deflected by Gagne atop the left circle and it flew past Brodeur at the 9:27 mark.

A very similar deflection goal brought New Jersey even at 2-2 with over five minutes remaining before the second intermission. Skating 5-on-4, the Devils converted on the power play again via Brylin's 16th goal. Geoff Sanderson was whistled for hooking and blueliner Andy Greene's shot from the right side beneath the blue line was redirected home beautifully by Brylin from the slot.

Game Notes

Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo currently has 46 wins with three games remaining...Biron ended with 30 saves...For Gagne, it was his 199th career goal and the 500th game of his career...Parent's mark of 47 victories occurred during the Flyers' Stanley Cup title season of 1973-74...The Devils won the season series 7-1 and have captured 10 of their last 11 games overall against the rival Flyers...NJ finished 2-for-6 on the power play and held the Flyers scoreless on their four chances with the extra skater...Attendance was 19,177.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.

2007 online football betting Preview

My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."

The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.

To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.

However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.

Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.

Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.

Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.

2007 College Football Betting Preview

There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.

The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.

So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.

USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.

USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.

Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.

That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.

The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"

The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.

Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.

Las Vegas Sports Lines

The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.

It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."

The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.

The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.

Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.

After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.

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