USCHO Edge: Looking at intriguing lines this weekend in B1G, NCHC games, and attempting to handicap the upcoming Beanpot

After last week, when just about every game was a pick ’em, the books are finding some games where you’re seeing lines that have some better-than-average value. We’ll get to that shortly, but first I want to look at two games that lines are yet to have been set and that’s Monday’s Beanpot semifinals in … Read more

USCHO Edge: Finding new sports book resources as major books pull back on college lines

This is only the second full week back from the college hockey exam break, but already we’re seeing a disturbing trend in major sports books. The number of available games on DraftKings for the second straight weekend were extremely low – three nationally. As someone who lives in Massachusetts and thus can’t bet on teams … Read more

USCHO Edge: With fantastic games on tap, you really need to find the right team in your college hockey wagers

If you keep reading this column every week, we’ll probably seem like a broken record. As the season progresses, the sports books are doing a better job each and every weekend setting lines. If you believe that you can simply pick up an app on your cell phone and begin laying wagers without doing your … Read more

USCHO Edge: Nonconference play presents some lopsided lines but also opportunities to cash in on Black Friday

If you’ve had your fill of turkey and woken up from a long slumber, it’s now time to turn your attention to college hockey. Friday presents 25 college hockey games, 19 of which are non-conference matchups. Because of that, you’ll see some lopsided lines (Penn State, a -475 favorite over Lindenwood +325, is the largest … Read more

Women’s Division I College Hockey: Selfless defender Squires shines off the ice, in the net for Stonehill

First-year Stonehill coach Lee-J Mirasolo knew she was playing with fire when she decided to roster only two goalies this season. The program’s second coach in as many seasons, she said she was really conscious of wanting to bring in not just the right players, but the right people. She was secure in both Hanna … Read more

USCHO Edge: As the season progresses and more data is available, look for more accurate lines from sports books

We’re more than a month into the college hockey season, thus there is plenty of data available from most of the Division I men’s teams. With that, if you’re a sports bettor who favors college hockey, there’s good news and bad. Let’s start with the bad: As these books get more information on teams and … Read more

USCHO Edge: As a bettor, what is the right time to wager on the eventual national champion? And what other considerations are there for futures?

We’re going to vary from the normal USCHO Edge column this week and echo the USCHO Edge podcast in discussing Team Futures in this week’s column. For those who aren’t familiar with the terminology, a “future bet” is one that you place that is graded on how a team finishes. In major sports like MLB … Read more

USCHO Edge: Can a team’s popularity, regardless of its performance, influence the betting lines?

We opened last week’s column talking about skewed lines. Sports books simply don’t have the time and resources to pay attention to every single game in every single sport. And while I don’t know it for certain, one has to assume that artificial intelligence is being used to set some betting lines. Sometimes fan bases … Read more

‘Tears of joy’ coming this weekend as Robert Morris hockey reboot taking center stage with Bowling Green home-and-home

By Mike Prisuta/Special to USCHO.com As the days dwindled down this week toward the triumphant return of Robert Morris men’s hockey, coach Derek Schooley found himself wrestling with perhaps the only emotion that had escaped him since the men’s and women’s programs had been abruptly terminated in May 2021. “I wonder if I remember how … Read more

With college hockey transfer portal here for long haul, coaches debate pros, cons of utilizing ‘other guys’ players’

When the transfer portal was conceived, it was never supposed to be a landing place for college hockey free agents. But years later, that is what is has become. “I didn’t like my power-play time,” or “I didn’t get enough first-line reps.” That’s the reason so many players, above-average student-athletes, are making quick moves to … Read more

As college hockey commissioners get on same page regarding philosophy of game, ‘it’s better for college hockey in general’

When Joe Bertagna stepped down after 23 years as Hockey East commissioner at the end of the 2019-20 season, he had no idea that he was setting a trend. Two years after Bertagna’s departure, Josh Fenton left the NCHC after serving as that league’s only commissioner since its inception in 2013. At the end of … Read more

College Hockey Realignment, Part 2: With men’s CHA, WCHA long gone, NCAA D-I hockey moving full-steam ahead with ‘opportunity for growth’

College hockey’s tides are changing. The emergence of new programs and their alignment into new conferences are inserting new conversation pieces into the overall landscape, and the rising profiles of Arizona State and Augustana are two examples in a world that looks nothing like its historical decades. The transformation is sometimes hard to swallow, but … Read more