12/02/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto head coach Ron Wilson makes his return to San Jose tonight, as the Maple Leafs visit the Sharks at HP Pavilion.
Wilson took over as head coach of San Jose during the 2002-03 season and then helped engineer a quick turnaround. After finishing that season in last place in the Pacific Division, Wilson's Sharks never finished lower than second place over the next four seasons and he is the club's all-time leader in wins with 206.
Wilson, who guided the Sharks to three 100-point seasons over his four-plus campaigns there, failed to get San Jose past the second round in each of the last three playoffs. That led to his firing in May, and he joined Toronto months later.
San Jose, meanwhile, replaced Wilson with Todd McLellan.
The Maple Leafs weren't done reshaping, as they hired Brian Burke as their new general manager on Saturday. Toronto has won both games since the hiring to halt a five-game losing streak, winning Monday's test versus the Los Angeles Kings, 3-1.
Matt Stajan, playing despite flu-like symptoms, and Mikhail Grabovski scored power-play goals 81 seconds apart in the third frame and Jeff Finger iced things with an empty-net goal. Vesa Toskala came up huge by stopping 32 shots, including all 26 he faced over the final two periods.
The win came in the opener of a three-game road trip that wraps in Phoenix on Thursday. The Maple Leafs are 5-5-2 as the road team this year.
Toskala will play the Sharks for just the second time since the club traded him to Toronto prior to last season. Originally a fourth-round pick by the Sharks in the 1995 draft, Toskala went 65-28-5 with five ties and a 2.35 goals against average in 115 games with San Jose.
However, he lost his first start against them last year, allowing three goals.
The loss was Toronto's second straight to the Sharks, and it hasn't won in San Jose since March 26, 1997. The Leafs are 0-2 with two ties in four meetings out west since.
The Sharks continue to play red hot, as their 3-2 win over Phoenix was their season-high tying seventh in a row. They also won seven straight from October 25-Novemver 8.
The Sharks have also still yet to lose in regulation at home, going 12-0-1 at HP Pavilion.
Joe Pavelski scored twice and Rob Blake added a goal of his own to run his points streak to five games. He has three goals and five helpers in that span. Milan Michalek tallied two assists for the Sharks, who lead the NHL with 41 points.
Evgeni Nabokov stopped 18-of-20 shots to get the win and he is 1-0-1 with a 2.40 GAA in two career starts versus the Maple Leafs.
<< Coyotes welcome Kings to the desert
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It didn't take too long for the Coyotes to find their way
back into the loss column. Phoenix will try to rebound tonight against a club
it enjoyed success against last year, as it hosts the Los Angeles Kings at
Jobing.com Are
<< Stars visit Calgary in search of season's first win streak
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off yet another milestone, Mike Modano will try to
lead the Dallas Stars to consecutive wins for the first time this season, as
they visit the Calgary Flames tonight at Pengrowth Saddledome.
Dallas has yet to put tog
<< Thrashers hope to get in the win column versus Canadiens
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers will try for just their second win in
eight games when they visit the Montreal Canadiens for tonight's battle at the
Bell Centre.
The Thrashers have lost six of seven games since tying a franchise rec
<< Lightning recall Szczechura, Smolenak
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled center Paul
Szczechura and left wing Radek Smolenak from Norfolk of the American Hockey
League.
Szczechura, 23, leads Norfolk in scoring this season, racking up 11 goals
United's Ronaldo named Europe's best >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned European
Footballer of the Year on Tuesday after winning the 2008 Ballon d'Or.
The 23-year-old Portugal winger won the prestigious accolade after leading
Manchester
Jays owner Rogers dead at 75 >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto Blue Jays owner Ted Rogers died at his
home at the age of 75.
The founder of Rogers Communications Inc., Canada's largest cable television
and mobile phone company, suffered from congestive heart f
Astros decline arbitration to four players >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros have declined to offer
salary arbitration to pitchers Doug Brocail and Randy Wolf, as well as
infielder Mark Loretta and catcher Brad Ausmus.
The Astros are not precluded from
Oilers recall Schremp >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Oilers have recalled center Rob
Schremp from Springfield of the American Hockey League.
The 22-year-old has scored one goal and leads the Falcons with 17 assists and
18 points in 18 games this
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.
As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.
Despite a poor showing in last season's playoffs and the loss of Steve Yzerman to retirement, the Detroit Red Wings are early favourites at this online sportsbook with wagering odds of 6-1. The Wings will look to offensive powerhouse Pavel Datsyuk and newly appointed captain Nicklas Lidstrom to lead one of the league's most prominent franchises.
Always a threat are the Ottawa Senators, with newly acquired goaltender Martin Gerber from the Stanley Cup champion ,Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens are second best in the rankings at a 7-1 bet, and odds makers at this sportsbook are optimistic that the Ottawa squad will fare better than last season's Eastern Conference semi-final upset to the Buffalo Sabres.
Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your hockey betting needs.
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