Sorry for the simple and relatively bland post but times they are changing a bit here on The Program. At least my role personally in it is anyway. Like we mentioned last week, the Fantasy Hockey ONE is being moved over to The Hockey Writers. That does not mean the end of the blog, certainly by a long shot. It is more of a new beginning as we approach or reapproach new avenues to entertain our readers.
Like we said before, we will be working with GetRealOdds starting in November, doing mostly KHL until the NHL gets it together and comes back. If there was the AHL, we might even consider doing that too. Betting the KHL is quite a different beast than say the NHL because of the international ice surface, for starters. When watching the product, most of the games do look like a game of chess and I understand that. Howveer, there are enough teams that fall in the entertaining category to make this league a good bet err fit for your spotrs gambling habits.
Naturally, in the coming weeks and months, there will be more on styles of betting, what to look for, and that sort of thing. However, for now, let’s keep it simple, shall we?
Here are the standings just as an introduction.
West
| Team | GP | W | OT | SW | SL | OL | L | G | P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SKA | 16 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 67-43 | 37 |
| 2 | Lokomotiv | 17 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 47-37 | 34 |
| 3 | Dynamo Msk | 17 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 53-34 | 36 |
| 4 | CSKA | 18 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 47-38 | 31 |
| 5 | Torpedo | 17 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 59-52 | 28 |
| 6 | Severstal | 16 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 36-33 | 25 |
| 7 | Slovan | 17 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 44-45 | 25 |
| 8 | Lev | 18 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 39-45 | 24 |
| 9 | Atlant | 18 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 45-49 | 24 |
| 10 | Vityaz | 18 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 38-43 | 22 |
| 11 | Dinamo Mn | 17 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 37-53 | 21 |
| 12 | Spartak | 18 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 38-53 | 19 |
| 13 | Donbass | 18 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 39-47 | 19 |
| 14 | Dinamo R | 18 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 34-47 | 17 |
East
| Team | GP | W | OT | SW | SL | OL | L | G | P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Traktor | 16 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 52-30 | 34 |
| 2 | Sibir | 18 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 44-40 | 31 |
| 3 | Ak Bars | 17 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 52-36 | 32 |
| 4 | Metallurg Mg | 16 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 42-32 | 31 |
| 5 | Barys | 18 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 53-50 | 29 |
| 6 | Avangard | 18 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 47-49 | 29 |
| 7 | Salavat Yulaev | 18 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 49-52 | 27 |
| 8 | Metallurg Nk | 19 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 56-61 | 26 |
| 9 | Neftekhimik | 17 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 52-55 | 25 |
| 10 | Yugra | 18 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 53-63 | 23 |
| 11 | Amur | 19 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 40-54 | 19 |
| 12 | Avtomobilist | 17 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 35-57 | 13 |
It really looks like a list jammed with a whole bunch of numbers that you have no clue what it means. Let’s break it down. A win is three points and a loss is zero points. That much is obvious. An overtime win is two points along with the shootout win. Overtime losses and shootout losses are worth one point each. For the sake of betting strength, you are looking for teams that either match up well or teams that generally do not play a lot in the realm of “one goal blues”. Any favroite that plays in the land plays with fire and your biggest number of upsets usually comes from there.
From your underdogs, you usually look for goal differential, bad luck losses, and that sort of thing. Upsets often occur when teams are coming off long streches, etc. Remembe you are looking for opportunities either way. Home ice advantage does mean something in the KHL and we are going to break that down somewhere down the road. Also, do not be afraid to take a risk. No one ever gets anywhere in life without taking a few risks. The key is not making a habt of them. Certain habits lead to betting doom. Do not fall into the trap. The key with underdogs is knowing when to bet more than how much to bet (sounds surprising I know).
In subsequent posts, we are going to preview some matchups and look at some of the philospohies these teams play to give you an idea of their tendencies so you can make the best decision. Some of our findings are really going to surprise people. Until then, good luck and enjoy the hockey.
