Boyle lends a face to Sharks' misfortunes

Hockey Betting Lines

04/19/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Sharks had suffered their share of heartache before Dan Boyle arrived in San Jose, but Sunday night in Denver, Boyle gave the hockey world a face to equate with the franchise's anguish.

The fact that the San Jose Sharks have never won the Stanley Cup, or even reached the Finals, is nothing to be ashamed of for a club that has still yet to reach its 20th year of existence. There are several other organizations that have been around longer and have failed to win a title.

But the Sharks are a victim of their own success in many ways. The club has excelled during the regular season and even won the Presidents' Trophy in 2009.

The presence of stars like Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau, Rob Blake and Evgeni Nabokov, also make San Jose a perennial Cup favorite for hockey fans and media everywhere. But, when the club falls well short of its championship goals, it then becomes easy for those same people who picked them to win it all to pile on the Sharks and their inability to come through in the playoffs.

So, when Boyle accidentally scored the game-winning goal on his own goaltender Sunday night in Denver, it all seemed to make sense.

The Sharks thought they hit an all-time low last year, when they had the best record in the NHL and still lost in the opening round to eighth-seeded Anaheim. But if they get ousted this time around by the No. 8 Avalanche it could hurt even worse, because of the way they've lost the games so far.

On top of losing Sunday on the hockey equivalent of an own-goal, San Jose also dropped the opener in OT when Colorado's Chris Stewart was credited with the game-winner when his centering pass caromed off Blake's skate and into the goal. If there are such things as "the hockey gods", they clearly do not like the Sharks.

Boyle isn't really a star in the Thornton or Blake mold, but he is an underrated player and one of the best offensive defensemen in the game. He also happens to have a Stanley Cup title (with Tampa Bay, 2004) and an Olympic Gold medal (Team Canada, 2010) to his credit.

The Sharks traded for Boyle in the summer of 2008, handing over two players (Matt Carle and Ty Wishart) and two draft picks (1st in 2009, 4th in 2010) to land the then-Tampa Bay blueliner, who signed a six-year, $40 million contract with the Lightning just months before the franchise's ownership changed hands. The Sharks were, and presumably still are, delighted to pay Boyle's salary because he is a proven and reliable weapon on the blue line that they would love to have in their employ through the 2013-14 season.

The 33-year-old Boyle began his professional career by signing with the Florida Panthers as an undrafted free agent after playing four years at Miami-Ohio. Boyle has since compiled 107 goals and 300 assists in 676 career games, and he has recorded both double-digit goals and 50 points or more in five separate seasons.

He also led San Jose in time on ice per game this season, a clear sign of how much faith Sharks head coach Todd McLellan has in the veteran defenseman.

That's what made Sunday's moment so odd. Just 51 seconds into overtime, the usually steady and dependable D-man committed a blunder of monumental proportions. While deep in his own zone near the bottom of the left circle, Boyle tried to backhand the puck around the end boards, a routine play for an NHL defenseman. But on this occasion, the puck didn't bounce harmlessly off the boards because Boyle instead fired a shot on his own goaltender. And it went in.

Some folks feel that Colorado's Ryan O'Reilly's stick deflected the puck and caused it to change directions and head into the net. That could be true - O'Reilly did get his stick in there just before Boyle released the puck - but it still seemed to come off the stick of the San Jose player. And it won't make much difference to Boyle if O'Reilly altered the puck's trajectory. He still had a play to make and when he didn't, that was it. Game over. Avs win, 1-0.

And about that 1-0 score, in Boyle's defense, it's not like his teammates didn't have chance after chance to put the game away before his miscue. The Sharks ended the game with 51 shots on net, including one in the brief overtime period, and Craig Anderson stopped every single one.

Anderson was the best player in this game, but Boyle's accidental goal was so unusual and unfortunate that it unfairly draws the focus away from the Colorado goaltender's superb play in this series. We should be talking about Anderson, who deserves the credit, but it's impossible not to notice Boyle's mistake.

As for Nabokov, the San Jose goaltender made 16 saves before Boyle snuck one just inside the near post.

While the crowd erupted at the Pepsi Center, Boyle skated in front of the crease and swung his stick through the air in disgust. Sure, it was a fluke, but it was a costly one, nonetheless.

"That's pretty much the worst thing that can happen to a player, you know, to put it in your own net," said a dejected Boyle.

It robbed San Jose the chance of firing more shots Anderson's way on Sunday night, when who knows, maybe Boyle would have scored a fluky goal on Colorado's goaltender to give his team the win. If Boyle's backhand clearing attempt goes as planned, as it always had before, the Sharks would still have had a shot to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, but instead the Avalanche now hold that advantage.

The damage has been done, but there is still a series to be played. The people who need to pick up Boyle now are his teammates. Especially the offensive players like Thornton and Marleau. Heatley would be in that group as well, but he was a late scratch for Sunday's game and his status is questionable going forward.

The Sharks need to win this series if they want to ease their teammate's pain. If they move onto the next round, they could give Boyle a chance at redemption.

After all, a player of his stature doesn't deserve to be remembered for such an unlucky series of events.

But, if the Sharks lose this series, that's exactly what will happen. Boyle's career, one of a highly-skilled NHL defenseman, will be remembered for one slip of the stick.

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March Madness odds and printable March Madness brackets

With the field of 64/65 set, MySportsbook.com has the Florida Gators as the 4-1 favorite to successfully defend their National Championship.  Men’s Division-1 College Basketball has not seen a team repeat as National Champions since Duke won back to back championships in ’91 & ‘92.  After losing three out of four late in the season, the Gators are full of momentum as they won their last four games by an average of 18 points.  Not surprisingly, right behind the Gators are the other three top seeds: Kansas 5-1, UNC 6-1, and Ohio State 7-1.  Many consider Kansas to be the hottest team in the country, having won 11 straight. With Kansas, it is hard to ignore all of the early exits from the “dance” in recent years.  With an impressive ACC Tournament, UNC ensured themselves the other top seed.  UNC has about as much talent as any other team in the tournament but with a team that’s best players are primarily freshman and sophomores, could youth be a concern.  Behind freshman sensation, Greg Oden, OSU will look to do what their football team failed to do just a few months earlier.  OSU seems to have peeked at the right time, as they currently have a 17 game winning streak.  Since the tournament field was expanded in 1985, there has never been an instance where all four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Four.  It is obvious that each of the top seeds have the talent to make it through to Atlanta.  But as everyone knows, when makes the NCAA Tournament so special are all of the spoilers and “Cinderella” stories that knock off the favorites on a daily basis.

Be sure to logon to MySportsbook.com to see check out all of the early lines and “March Madness” props.  Also be sure to enter the “$10,000,000 Perfect Bracket Contest”. If someone has the skills to predict every winner, they will be set for life and walk away with $10,000,000.  Even if no one can cash in on the Grand Prize, with a $35,000 guaranteed prize pool and a Mazda RX-8 to the first prize winner, Sportsbook.com’s bracket is a must for all “March Madness” fans.

MySportsbook.com’s odds to win the Championship and Regions:

EAST National Championship Region
Arkansas 300-1 50-1
Belmont 1000-1
Boston College 100-1 40-1
Eastern KY 1000-1
George Washington 75-1
Georgetown 10-1 3-2
Marquette 100-1 40-1
Michigan State 100-1 25-1
New Mexico St. 500-1 200-1
UNC 6-1 6-5
Oral Roberts  500-1
Texas 15-1 5-1
Texas Tech 200-1 5-1
USC 75-1 20-1
Vanderbilt 100-1 30-1
Washington State 40-1 15-1
WEST
Duke 50-1 10-1
Florida A&M 1000-1
Gonzaga 200-1  40-1
Holy Cross 300-1
Illinois 300-1 60-1
Indiana 75-1 40-1
Kansas 5-1 13-10
Kentucky 100-1 40-1
Niagara 1000-1
Pittsburgh 40-1 8-1
Southern Ill. 50-1 12-1
UCLA 10-1 3-2
VCU 500-1 100-1
Villanova 100-1 40-1
VA Tech 50-1 15-1
Weber St 1000-1
Wright St 1000-1 300-1
MIDWEST
Arizona 50-1 30-1
Butler 40-1 30-1
Davidson 300-1
Florida 4-1 4-5
Georgia Tech 75-1 25-1
Jackson State 1000-1
Maryland 30-1 6-1
Miami-OH 300-1
Notre Dame 100-1 20-1
ODU 500-1 100-1
Oregon 40-1 6-1
Purdue 300-1 60-1
Texas A&M CC 1000-1
UNLV 100-1 30-1
Winthrop 500-1 100-1
Wisconsin 15-1 7-2
SOUTH
Albany 200-1
BYU 200-1 40-1
Central CT St. 1000-1
Creighton 100-1 35-1
Long Beach St. 500-1 200-1
Louisville 40-1 10-1
Memphis 30-1 4-1
Nevada 75-1 35-1
North Texas 500-1
Ohio State 7-1 6-5
Penn 500-1
Stanford 200-1 50-1
Tennessee 100-1 20-1
Texas A&M 12-1 11-5
Virginia 75-1 18-1
Xavier 100-1 40-1

Field                                              100-1

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

For more March Madness odds go to MySportsbook.com

For more College Basketball betting lines go to BettingExpress.com

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