Welcome back to another season of USCHO Edge, a column that looks at college hockey through the light of the oddsmakers.
Not surprisingly, as sports wagering becomes legalized in more and more portions of the country, there are more and more college hockey games that can be wagered upon in areas that allow sports betting.
Thus, if you live in states like Michigan, Colorado, New Hampshire, New York, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, among others, you’re able to make legal wagers on as many as 13 games this Friday on sports wagering apps like DraftKings.
This column will look at five games per week, usually those involving either nationally-ranked teams or well-known rivalries, and give some input on each.
First a quick education on hockey wagering. For each game, there are typically a minimum of three bets you can make: the money line, the puck line and the over/under. For this column we’ll only talk about the money line and puck line to simplify things.
The money line is a number set but the book that if you bet on that team and said team wins, you’re paid. For example, a money line of -160 indicates that if you bet $160, you’d be paid $100 to win, which is actually the original $160 bet plus $100. Thus your “cash” on that bet is $260. A “minus” amount indicates the favorite.
On the other side, the underdog is typically indicated by a “plus” money line. Thus a +190 money line indicates that a $100 money line bet would yield a payout of $190. So the total cash on that bet would be $290.
The over/under bet is a pre-determined number, usually between 5 and 7, for the total number of goals to be scored in the game. Thus a 6.5 over under would cash for the “under” of the final score were, say, 4-2 (total 6) but would cash for the over if the final score was 4-3 (total 7).
There are many complexities to gambling thus we encourage you to familiarize yourself with how to bet on sports before placing any wager. And most importantly, take everything we say here with a grain of salt. We’re no experts. We’re simply giving our thoughts and are not responsible for any loses.
Here are this week’s games:
(All lines reflect Friday games and all odds are taken from the DraftKings sports book app).
No. 11 Notre Dame (+130) at No. 1 Denver (-160), o/u 6
As you read down this column, you’ll see me talk about another game as one to steer clear of. Notre Dame and Denver is the opposite. The defending national champions, at home on banner raising night against a Notre Dame team that is young and somewhat inexperienced seems like a steal at -160.
That’s not to say that Notre Dame arrives dead in the water. We saw a year ago when Minnesota State went into UMass and swept the defending national champion that banner-raising weekends can be a bit distracting. But let’s just say that there is a bit of a different between last year’s Minnesota State team and this year’s Notre Dame club.
But that’s why they play the games.
No. 5 Minnesota State (-105) at No. 2 Minnesota (-125), o/u 5.5
This game is the first of two early-season quagmires for sports books. It’s difficult to set lines, thus both teams are negative to the money line which means no matter which way you bet, the book is going to make some profit. Technically, Minnesota State is the underdog here, which it should be given the loss of goaltender Dryden McKay. Minnesota returns a loaded team and should be the top team in the nation in this handicappers view.
What strikes me as strange is the over/under on this game. Minnesota can score goals and without McKay, Minnesota State should be considered liable to give up more goals than a year ago. Thus the over seems like a clear play here.
No. 6 Quinnipiac (-120) at Boston College (-110), o/u 5.5
Another of this quagmire situations of a game without a solid favorite is Quinnipiac traveling to Boston College. The Bobcats are thought by some to be the best team in the nation, and that may well be true but Friday will tell that story.
Boston College under first year head coach Greg Brown is one large question mark, though Brown’s success at the Heights as an assistant certainly gives credibility.
This feels like one of those games to stay away from as a bettor as there are too many variables without a good price.
Miami (+120) at No. 15 UMass Lowell (-150), o/u 6.5
UMass Lowell looked strong in its opener against St. Lawrence on Saturday, answering a question many had about goaltending. Gustavs Gringals, a transfer from Alaska, posted a shutout in his first start for the River Hawks and the lineup provided balanced scoring on the evening.
But this weekend’s opponent is a bit different. Miami, from the NCHC, should prove a decent two-game test for the River Hawks. The RedHawks began with a 2-2 tie and a 4-1 win last weekend at home against the CCHA’s Ferris State.
Given the lack of schedule and the difficulty of knowing much about either team, this is a pretty well-set line on this game. The only question is the high over-under of 6.5, a mark neither team has reached in a combined three games thus far.
Wisconsin (+165) at No. 14 Ohio State (-205), o/u 6
Wisconsin was not great last year. We get it.
But making them the heaviest underdog on this card seems a little suspect. The Badgers were actually picked ahead of the Buckeyes in the Big Ten preseason poll (which some may point out as mute as Ohio State was dead-last a season ago and nearly won the regular-season title).
But making Ohio State a -205 favorite is crazy to this handicapper. I have no issue with the over/under of 6 as I could see this game being 5-3 or 4-3 (or 4-2 and a dreaded push). But if you want to take an underdog, there’s no doubt this is the highest value you will see on this sheet.
