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 more data, the lines on every game are more accurate on paper. You’re not seeing a team that should be around -180 or -200 listed at -140. You’re not seeing a 5.5 over/under when two teams are each averaging 3.5 goals per game. If you dig into the data yourself, you’ll find these lines are getting incredibly accurate and over/unders are more on spot than they were in early October.
As for the good news, it seems that some books, because they now have the data, are willing to post lines on more games, giving you more betting options. In week one of the season, there were only four games total listed by DraftKings Sports Book. This week, that number has doubled to eight. By the time we get into January, expect in excess of a dozen games per night.
Let’s look at some of the places where there might be a bit of an edge for bettors:
Minnesota -110 (at Michigan): The fact that Minnesota is 1-2-1 in its last four and on the road against Michigan seems to be lowering the Gophers odds tonight. If you’re looking for Minnesota at an attractive price, it may not get much better than this (Michigan is -120, for the record).
UMass Lowell +140 (home vs. Boston University): Yes, UMass Lowell has lost three of its last four games, but the River Hawks have been in every one of those games, including two last weekend against No. 1 Boston College. The River Hawks have had some struggles scoring goals, but they’ll face a BU team that 3.25 goals per game thus far. If this is the night the River Hawks offense breaks out, +140 is an attractive price.
North Dakota -140 (at Minnesota Duluth): Okay, -140 isn’t that great of a price, but given the recent injuries to Minnesota Duluth, this feels like great price. The book makers might be depending a little too much on statistics and A.I. and not digging into who is in and who is out of the lineup when setting the line. I also really like the over if you can get it at 5.5 or 6 (DraftKings had 6 as of Thursday).
Game to avoid this week: Boston College (-175) at Maine (+135)
Team to consider strongest: North Dakota (-140)
