Green Street Hooligans (-105)
The Sexy Ducks (-135)
Over 7.5 (-135)
Under 7.5 (-105)
Notes: A grudge match of two teams that made a massive pre-draft deal opens championship week tonight as the Hooligans face the Ducks in their fourth meeting of the season, with the Ducks winning 2 of the 3 and the Hooligans ironically winning the game where they were outshot by the widest margin as Corey came up with an absolutely wild performance to steal a contentious 4-3 victory a month ago. The trade, made before the draft, saw the Ducks trade a 2nd, 13th and 14th for a 3rd, 8th and 12th; this ended up turning into a trade of AK, Nestor and Eric Bravo for Meg, McCauley and Nicki. The trade has been a rare one which has worked out well for both teams: AK and Meg both finished top 10 in scoring, Bravo had a great first month of the season before getting injured, Nicki finished top 10 in scoring by a lady and by a defender, McCauley is one of the smartest players in the league and Nestor occasionally knocks the net off when he feels an opposing goal is imminent. Both teams go into this matchup with a full roster (except Bravo and anyone Probert has neglected to mention to me), meaning this game will be a true test of depth as neither team is likely to cut the bench until the 3rd period at the earliest. The Hooligans’ top line of Probie/AK/Jess went nuts against the Hippos on Friday, accounting for four of the team’s five goals and consistently generating chances. The Ducks will be rocking a full lineup for the first time all season and it will be interesting to see if that helps or hurts them. Extra legs for a cold night with (potentially) two games can be a positive but could also hurt if it precludes players from getting in a groove. The public is on the Ducks with 77.3% picking them to advance to the championship but then again the public is basically always fickle in always picking the higher seed to advance. This game is close to a coinflip but with the games between these teams this season finishing 6-3, 4-3, and 6-2 the over looks like a decent bet to hit in this one. Sit back and enjoy the show.
The Goaldiggers (-105)
The Barrel (-135)
Over 7.5 (-120)
Under 7.5 (-120)
Notes: The 2/3 matchup drops at 7:45 tonight and it is as tight as it gets. The Barrel were cruising for the first month or two of the season with a comfortable double digit lead in the standings before some late season stumbles caused them to finish 2nd. They lost 2 of their last 3 games, one of those coming against this very Goaldiggers squad, as Annie is on the IR while Chris B, their original goalie, left midway through the season and was replaced by Cam who has been solid in relief. Adding to that their roster for tonight is in flux with Fullam out while Amit, Carly and Davis are trending towards playing but still listed as GTDs. The Goaldiggers on the other hand will be rocking a full roster except possibly Sam who is a GTD depending on work commitments. While Guido/Tarnow deservedly garner all the headlines for white with some elite #s during the season, the backbone of this team has been the defense anchored by Andrea/Izzy and with Casca submitting his best season ever in net. Derek and Jack have been elite all season (well, mostly Derek) but they will need to get secondary scoring from Wes, Krueger and Sanchick tonight if they’re going to advance past a motivated and scrappy Goaldiggers squad. This was a tough game to handicap as momentum is with the white team but advanced stats (not that advanced – mostly goal differential) go with purple. Even with the lineup completely up in the air, I kinda think Barrel’s speed is going to prove to be too much for white to handle. Taking Barrel to pull out a tight win and give Jack his first finals appearance since his rookie year with the Hippos.
Goaldiggers/Barrel (-110)
Hooligans/Ducks (-130)
Over 8.0 (-120)
Under 8.0 (-120)
Notes: If this final ends up being Barrel/Ducks, as most predict, this over is basically a lock. The all time league record for goals in a game is 13. These teams played two games this season and they ended 8-5 and 7-6, both in favor of Barrel. On the other hand if this final ends up being Goaldiggers/Hooligans the under looks like the pick with the Goaldiggers likely to employ a tight checking defensive system to shut down the Hooligans speed and firepower. The other two matchups are right on the borderline which is why 8 seems like a solid number for the total with four different teams possibly in play here. As to who will win…tough to say without knowing who the hell is in the game. The public is evenly split between Ducks and Barrel with Goaldiggers garnering more votes than the Hooligans, although that may also be because more Goaldiggers players than Hooligans players filled out the survey and they all picked their own team to win except Andrea who called me a slut for exposing her. In fact, all the votes for Goaldiggers and Hooligans came from players on those teams so if one of them makes it, they will be the underdogs even though both teams have notched victories against the Ducks and Barrel. All in all this looks like the tightest final four in recent memory. Buckle up folks: should be quite a night. End of season party at Dorrian’s starting around 10:15-10:30 and probably going til well past 2 AM. Get ready to get sexy tonight.
BONUS LINES
Most Points On The Night
Sam (+150)
Derek (+150)
Guido (+150)
Probert (+200)
Field (+200)
Most Points On The Night
Sam + Probert (-120)
Derek + Guido (-120)
Most Points On The Night
Probert + AK (EVEN)
Derek + Jack (-140)
Most Points On The Night
Sam + Meg + Alex (-145)
Guido + Tarnow + Jack (+105)
Most Points On The Night
Sully (-145)
Pags (+105)
Most Points On The Night
Ariel (-110)
Mike Tarnow (-130)
Most Points On The Night
Guido (-110)
Derek (-130)
Most Points On The Night By A Lady
Meg (-130)
Field (-110)
Lowest GAA On The Night
Casca (+150)
Waldman (+150)
Corey (+200)
Cam (+200)
Grand Salami (total goals on the night)
Over 22.5 (-105)
Under 22.5 (-135)
Will Any Game Go To OT?
Yes (+200)
No (-275)
Will Anyone Notch A Shutout?
Yes (+400)
No (-700)