WHL Finals Preview - Battle for the Ed Chynoweth Cup

Hockey Betting Lines

04/29/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Giants fell and Wheat Kings were overthrown, Tigers tamed as Blades dulled. Winterhawks and Rockets were grounded and Bruins and Silvertips declawed. Ice melted, Warriors and Chiefs were defeated and Broncos and Blazers stopped in their tracks.

The playoff battle was fierce and the stakes were high, but only the Calgary Hitmen and the Tri-City Americans would escape unscathed.

When the Western Hockey League finals start this Friday the Hitmen will take on the Americans for a chance to hoist the Ed Chynoweth Cup, securing a berth to the 2010 Memorial Cup. The winner will join the hosting Brandon Wheat Kings, along with the QMJHL and OHL champions in Manitoba, when the tournament starts on May 14th.

These WHL finals will mark the first time since the 2002-2003 championship series the number one seeds from both the Eastern and Western Conference will fight for the top spot.

While the teams have traveled different roads, their end goal is the same. With a trip to the prairies and a chance at junior hockey glory awaiting the victor, it will be a fight worth watching.

For the Hitmen, the story is one of resiliency.

With 11 returning players who felt the sting of a six-game series loss in the 2009 WHL finals, Calgary was out for redemption. But as fast as their quest for salvation started it almost ended in the first round against the eighth- seed Moose Jaw Warriors.

Calgary, favored to win the East, got off to a slow start in its first round matchup, falling behind three games to none. But instead of handing the series to the Warriors, the Hitmen dug deep, rallying to win four straight contests to take the best-of-seven series.

It was a close call for a group of young men who may have taken their competition too lightly. After finding their stride in round two, the Hitmen would get past the scrappy Medicine Hat Tigers in six games.

The second round victory set the stage for the Eastern Conference Championship against the Wheat Kings. Holding the distinction of being the league's top ranked offense in the regular season, Brandon should have posed more of a threat to the Hitmen.

Instead, Calgary rolled through the Wheat Kings in five games, showing the poise and maturity that led them to a 52-17 regular season record.

Coming into the championship series against the Americans, it is clear that the first round scare is safely in Calgary's rear view mirror.

Sniper Brandon Kozun, who leads all playoff scorers with 26 points, will lead a Calgary team that has scored a playoff-leading 75 goals through 18 postseason contests thus far.

The Americans better be ready.

The boys from Tri-City will be making their first-ever appearance in the WHL Championship series after winning the Western Conference Championship for the first time in the organization's 22-year history.

The Americans' road to the finals opened with a six-game series win in round one versus the seventh seed Chilliwack Bruins. They followed that up with a relatively easy five-game series win over the four seed Kelowna Rockets in round two, setting the stage for their Western Conference Championship clash against the Vancouver Giants.

Americans goaltender Drew Owsley was outstanding in the final series, allowing just five Giants goals on 105 shots over the last three games. The inspiring performance earned him first star honors in all three contests and the CHL player of the week award for the week ending April 25th.

The story during the entire playoff drive has been one of exceptional goaltending, with Owsley being the major reason the Americans find themselves challenging for WHL supremacy.

The sophomore backstop, who leads all WHL goaltenders with a 2.14 GAA and a stellar .931 save percentage through 17 playoff games, has arguably been the best player in the league during the post season.

The Americans' defense has also been a revelation, posting a combined plus-30 rating in the playoffs thus far.

During the first three rounds, Tri-City's remarkable goaltending and stifling defense has shut down some of the league's marquee scorers. Should they sustain the trend against the Hitmen, they could find themselves on a bus to Brandon in just two short weeks.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

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