Have Another Doughnut!

As mundane as it may seem, there are some outstanding early season NHL betting trends coming from a place you might least expect: the whistle-blowing losers in the striped shirts.

As hockey fans we do our best in trying to ignore the referees, their inflated egos and their terrible calls, but when throwing down on the NHL, it’s imperative that you check who’s officiating any game in which you may have betting interest.

Over / Under bets can go from a hunch with some statistical backup to a near sure thing when looking at that night’s refereeing crew. Some refs call more penalties than others which leads to more power play opportunities, which leads to more goals. Pretty simple actually. If we know that a certain official likes to call a tight game, then we know that both teams are going to have a fistful of man advantage situations throughout the game. Conversely, refs who “let ‘em play” will not yield such power play chances and are prone to low scoring affairs.

Don’t take it from me. The following is a list of refs who have inordinate records on the Over / Under (Over is the number at left).

Mike Leggo                                        8-1

Steve Kozari                                       7-3

Francois St. Laurent                        7-3

Kevin Pollock                                    7-3

Dan O’Halloran                                7-3

Gord Dwyer                                        2-6

Brad Meier                                          1-7

Mike Leggo! 8-1 on the over so far this year. Those are some very nice odds. He’s sending players to the box like Don Koharski smashes fritters to his grill. Amazing. The games he officiates average 7.44 goals per game. Seems simple. Find Leggo. Bet Over. Win cash money.

On the flip side, Brad Meier’s games are averaging only 4.88 goals per game. That is an astonishing discrepancy. Over 2.5 goals per game difference, based simply on referees.

After watching game upon game where referees screw up the sport we love with terrible and blatantly missed calls, why not hit up the men in stripes for some cash. It’s the least they can do for us.