By Chewy And Lewy
We gotta talk about the Masters last week! Not to diminish what Tiger was able to accomplish but I personally think that playing golf in Texas, with a blackeye (don’t ask and it didn’t have to do with hockey), in 100 degrees and 100% humidity with a hangover might be more of a challenge. Ok, let’s be real….what Tiger was able to do last weekend was pretty amazing, this coming from someone who doesn’t hold the man in the highest regard, but who am I to judge. He just played four rounds on a leg that he considered amputating almost a year ago. As I watched Tiger walk through the crowd to sign his card, he looked exhausted. I wondered what it would be like to have to measure your performance based upon adulation. After fans congratulated him he looked longingly for acceptance, for adoration, for something. On the course, I’m lucky if I get a “Good shot” from my caddie and I’m paying the guy $250. So God only knows what motivates someone who has millions of dollars, has accomplished incredible milestones in the game of golf, and has one of the sickest pads in Florida to go and grind out four rounds of golf at one of the hardest courses on the Tour.
Not only have we been blessed with being able to bet on the Masters last week but the months of March and April may be two of the best 61 days of sports. Let’s take a look at what else we have been privy to these past couple of weeks. College Sports: Men’s Basketball – March Madness, Men’s Ice Hockey – The Frozen Four, Lacrosse, Baseball; Professional Sports: Stanley Cup Playoffs, NBA Playoffs, MLB – Opening Day, NASCAR – Talladega 500, Formula 1 – Australian Grand Prix. MMA – UFC 273, English Premier League, Champions League Semi-Finals. Lots of entertaining events to find angles and leans to take advantage of so enjoy these days of Spring.
HEY, how about those young guns in golf and hockey! Let’s recognize not only our 2022 Master’s winner Scottie Scheffler but how about Cam Smith, Will Zalatoris, Cameron Champ, Min Woo Lee, Harry Higgs (his name sounds like something you might need medicine for), and Tyler Gooch to name a few top 20s. The future of golf is bright! As well as the NHL. This week saw a handful of college finalists go from the Frozen Four straight to the starting lineup in the NHL. Michigan’s roster was a who’s-who of Round 1 draft picks. 13 players on the Wolverines are headed to the NHL! Kent Johnson, Nick Blankenburgh, Owen Power, and Matty Beniers have already suited up this week. Luke Hughes, baby brother to Jack and Quinn, looked great in the semi-finals against the eventual National Champs – Denver. And let’s not forget Denver’s Bobby Brink getting meaningful minutes for the Flyers. And what we’ve seen from the current rookies: Trevor Zegras’ creativity behind the net, Red Wings duo Lucas Raymond and hard-hitting Moritz Seider, Toronto 1st liner Michael Bunting, Nashville’s Tanner Jeannot who possesses a great balance between toughness and being a scoring threat who reminds me of Cam Nealy and speaking of Boston, let’s no forget the Bruins’ man between the pipes Jeremy Swayman. Ice hockey has some exciting young players who will add a lot of flair to the show.
With the completion of Saturday’s games, there will be only 108 games left before the playoffs. The regular season at this point ends on May 1st when the Kraken play the Jets (not the J-E-T-S…Jets….Jets, the Canadian one). So now would be a great time to evaluate the playoff landscape.
Eastern Conference
Carolina and NY Rangers have secured their place in the Metropolitan Division. Florida and Toronto respectively have for the Atlantic Division. Washington will try to jump Pittsburgh for that 3rd position and Boston will also jockey for a spot. All however will make the playoffs but they still need to win to get the most advantageous spots. Magic numbers: Boston (2), and Washington (3). A lot of things have to go right and wrong for the Isles or Columbus to sneak in but there’s always a chance!
Will we see a three-peat? 👀
— NHL (@NHL) April 15, 2022
The @TBLightning have clinched a spot in the #StanleyCup Playoffs! pic.twitter.com/ahyzb4lqTo
Western Conference
There’s a little more drama is in store for these teams. Colorado is the only club to lock up its position in the Central Division. Minnesota and St. Louis look likely to be the other two additions. Calgary has a stronghold as the favorite in the Pacific with Edmonton and the surprising LA Kings sitting precariously in the last two spots. Magic numbers: CGY (1), MIN (3), STL (3), EDM (5), NASH (6), DAL (7), and LA (7). Vegas, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and even the Sharks can make it interesting down the stretch.
ON THE HUNT 🏔️
— NHL (@NHL) April 6, 2022
The @Avalanche have punched their #StanleyCup Playoffs ticket! pic.twitter.com/jx8ulR5GWr
I took a look at some stats from the beginning of the season and came upon the list of Futures bets and who the bookies thought would be punching their ticket to the show. The New York Islanders are the big failure for the year, -350 to make the playoffs has to be extremely disappointing. Other sure things that aren’t so sure are Vegas at -1600 and Edmonton at -400 who now need to keep playing their star players as other teams consider resting theirs for the playoffs. Surprising additions to the playoffs are Calgary at -125, St. Louis -130 with Los Angeles +250, Vancouver +170, and Nashville +235 as maybes. Chicago, Philly, and Montreal all fell short of early favorite expectations. Heck, even Seattle was about even money to make the playoffs…yeah I don’t think so.
What do we likely have in store for the 1st Round of the Stanley Cup playoffs? Carolina vs Tampa Bay, two teams that typically meet up at the Conference Championship will now have to battle it out in the first round. Rangers v Penguins will require not only mouth guards (ehem, Evgeni Malkin) but a lot of ice baths after this brawl! Then there’s Toronto vs Boston in the battle of the Original Six. Both teams pretend to have the luxury of a starting goalie as well as a reliable backup but that is in question as of late, and we have to possibility of both BOS (Swayman) and TOR (Kallgren) starting rookie goalies for game 1. The final Eastern Conference match would be between Florida and Washington. How will the added pieces to Florida’s roster match up to an old and outdated Capitals team that will rely on Tom Wilson disrupting any rhythm and flow Florida tries to create?
Now on to the Western Conference which is a bit more speculative but still equally interesting in who we might see. Outside of Colorado, no team from the West has really dominated their season so however they match up any team has the ability to move on. Calgary v Nashville are two teams that look almost identical on paper. Strong #1 goaltender, solid defensive core, and seasoned goal scorers distributed throughout their lines. Edmonton vs LA Kings, you would assume that Edmonton would get their poop in gear but all season long they’ve struggled to be more than McDavid and Draisaitl, and don’t get me started with their inability to play 60 minutes of defense behind a revolving door in net. I live in LA and I have no idea about the Kings and I have no interest in having an idea about them either, I’m just surprised to see where they are in the standings. The most interesting match-up in the Western 1st round would be Minnesota vs St. Louis. Again two teams that match up on paper and both teams have had a Jekyll and Hyde season. Weeks of dominating opponents followed with the inability to at least win at home. This series will be high-scoring and physical and guess who they get to play next? Which leads us to the odds on favorites Colorado vs Dallas (or whoever drags their banged up, sleep-deprived team scraping into the last wild card spot). This will be a warm-up game for Colorado, they’ll be tightening up their backline, fine-tuning their Power Play, and hoping that Nazem Kadri will be healthy by the 2nd round. So sports fans BUCKLE UP there’s plenty in store and lots of great hockey still to play!
Click HERE for a detailed explanation on why we like our Picks of the Week.
Picks for Saturday, April 16th: Nashville PL, Edmonton ML, Colorado ML, Calgary PL
Last week’s Individual record = 3-1
Last week’s results = +$126 (Cgy PL +$108, Tor PL -$157, CBJ/Det Over +$100, NYR ML +$100, Costanza -$25)
Overall Record = 20-9
Season Total = +$566
