Following Tuesday morning’s announcement that the UMass hockey team would be without four players, including starting goaltender Filip Lindberg and postseason leading scorer Carson Gicewicz, due to COVID-19 protocols for Thursday night’s Frozen Four semifinal against defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth, betting lines in Las Vegas have shifted against the Minutemen.
UMass opened last week as a -145 betting favorite against the Bulldogs (bet $145 to win $100), and that line held steadily for a full week, settling at -140 entering Tuesday.
The announcement that the Minutemen will be without several key players has shifted that betting line throughout the day. UMass was soon lowered to a -120 favorite, but as of 2:15 p.m., Duluth is now the betting favorite for Thursday night’s semifinal. The Bulldogs are -130 favorites according to Sportsbook.com, leaving the Minutemen as underdogs for the first time at +110 (bet $100 to win $110).
UMass was favored in both of their NCAA Regional contests against Lake Superior State and Bemidji State.
Line movement is not a reflection of confidence shown by oddsmakers, but rather a reaction to money bet from the public on a particular side. With Tuesday’s player news, it appears bettors are putting their money behind Duluth, forcing sportsbooks to install the two-time defending champions as the new favored team on Thursday.
The over/under for Thursday’s game remained at five goals, with the over paying -135.
Minnesota State is the favorite in Thursday’s early semifinal game, with the Mavericks sitting as slight -120 favorites (bet $120 to win $100) over St. Cloud State, which is paying even money. The over/under in that game is 5½.