Canada vs. USA Hockey Proves a Hit for Bruised Bookies
Sure the online bookmakers got clobbered Sunday with the Winter Olympics Canada vs. USA hockey gold medal championship ending in an overtime defeat for Team USA. Nevertheless, the amount of volume and - hopefully a fresh contingency of customers - helped boost business over the weekend.
Gambling911.com alone registered several thousand searches for Canada vs. USA Hockey betting odds on Sunday leading into the mid-afternoon event. Typically this period represents a lull in betting activity between the Super Bowl and Oscars followed immediately by March Madness.
Canada was listed around a -180 favorite to win and most of the backing from gamblers went towards the Canadians. Another USA upset would have resulted in massive profits for the bookies.
"I'll probably never really appreciate it, coming out on this end of it," said U.S. captain Jamie Langenbrunner following the loss. "You remember the games you win. You try to forget the ones you lose. In saying that, we're all pretty proud of everybody in our room and what we did do. We did a lot of great things all tournament."
With a flick of the wrist from The Next One, Sidney Crosby, Canadians found Olympic redemption Sunday after their earlier upset loss to the US.
Canada survived one of the greatest games in Olympic history to beat the Americans 3-2 in overtime and cap the host country's record gold rush in Vancouver.
Crosby -- hockey heir to Canada's own Great One, Wayne Gretzky -- won it when he whipped a shot past U.S. goalie Ryan Miller 7:40 into overtime after the U.S. had tied it with 24.4 seconds left in regulation.
"It's a pretty unbelievable thing. You know what? Every kid dreams of that opportunity," Crosby said. "Being in Canada, that's the opportunity of a lifetime. You dream of that a thousand times growing up. For it to come true is amazing.
"Our team worked so unbelievably hard," Crosby said. "Today was really tough, especially when they got a goal late in regulation. But we came back and got it in overtime. ... To win it in overtime, here in Canada, it doesn't get any better than that."
Even US President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper got in on the USA vs. Canada Winter Olympics Hockey betting action. Obama's loss means he must ship a case of Molson beer up to Canada.
Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
