Last season we pretty much owned the Queens all of the 07 season. I don’t see why we should stop, do you? I mean they didn’t get much better during the offseason so why not keep racking up points to help us get to the post season?

Well it may not be that simple as wanting it to be so. There’s a lil newbie named Ersberg hangin out in the royal net that will have other ideas for sure. The Kings play very well for Ersie, as well they should. The kid made the difference last season. He helped them take on teams like the Flames, the Nucks, the Hawks and give a good accounting and oftentimes a whippin that stunned some of their visitors. Sir Eric was also instrumental in keeping us from sweeping the 07 series with the purple wonders.

So we can’t go into this thing lightly. The Royals have a point on us, they have a step on us in the conference and division standings too. Its time to correct that lil statistic for sure. we’re both pretty stingy on GAA and pretty nasty on the PK… (LAK 10-10-3) (PHO 10-11-2) this should be close …

We both sit on healthy rosters w/ a couple of workhorses (Brown/Frolov) (Doan/Rhino) a couple of young snipers (Kopitar) (Mueller) and a steady if not spectacular blueline. It may once again come down to a goalie battle… so many of our games seem to do that. I can’t really drum up much hype for this one. I just want the points dammitt.

Since both Clune and Simmonds are not part of the roster, a lot of the pisstivity factor I would have expected to see affecting Carcillo, will also be missing. So I guess its just GO YOTES!!!! I’d like a chalupa please

Discussion from a Purple Point of View

Some reallly good stats from the magnificent JC of HFBooards see post entry #1

Yotie Preview

And don’t forget our friend Odie over at 5 FOR HOWLING

Goalie controversy? What controversy?

Wayne is just finally acknowledging that our #1 is still workin out how to be a #1. Ya’ll know I LOVE me some Breezy. I do! And the boy is just havin a rough patch right now for whatever reason so I’m not going to bag on him for the SJS game. He’ll get back to form, he’s got too  much pride not to. Mikael Tellqvist has always been one of my favorites, I’m not going to jinx him by doin any more rah rah though. Suffice to say stoppin 95 of 99 shots is damn good and I am happy for the boy and sincerely hope he’s on the road to consistency.

Speaking of the Sharks game…For the first time in a long time we started out like a real team. 2 goals in less than 5 minutes into the game. (granted Nabby was rusty after having been out of the net for awhile but still…) The boys actually looked like a unit instead of a collection of gangly parts. Dmo came in fast and deadly just like the game before (apparently the time off gave the demolition man back his offensive touch) and KT! got on the board again finally with an opportunistic lil sweeper that proves that while he may be quiet most games, he’s still got the will to get what he can, when he can. GO Kyle!

Big Marty Hanzal! can’t say enough about this kid right now…man he pissed Joe T off royally. Not only did Joe draw the hook, he went after Marty and drew an extra 2 minutes for the rough! You go Hanzal!

The Sharks got their shite together and answered both blasts within a minute of each other. Lil Joe and That Old Dude on the blue lit Bryz up like a bonfire. 2 shots/2 goals and it was all over but the shouting. Breezer headed to the bench and the crowd stood up and roared as the Wolf reclaimed his net. The rest of the game was a snoozefest for offense. Not to say there weren’t any chances cuz there were. Nabby got sharper and sharper as the game went on. Boedker, Doan, Lisin all had some pretty nice opportunities but that damn SJ-alien extruded extra arms, tentacles and a few sweet double pad stacks to keep us from taking back the lead.

It was lil Joe’s night and he was able to put away the GWG midway into the third. But the point is that even as disjointed as we often are, we were able to hang with the hottest team in the league. We’ve won 4 of the last 6 meet n greets with the fish folk. We’re still fine tuning and we aren’t any worse off than we were last season at this time. Since we finished just outside the playoffs last year we still have time to work this out and just maybe slide into a playoff berth… by the skin of our teeth.

We gotz issues. Well, yeah… we’re supposed to. We are a really young (yet talented) team. We so many new players (takes time to adjust). Our coach is still learning (he’s still learning to translate what’s in his vision into what the players need to do) Our first time #1 starter is having a confidence crisis (having the hopes and dreams of an entire fanbase riding on your glove has GOT to be intimidating for anyone). So just grab your patience, buckle in tight, we’ve got a lot of hockey and a lot of kinks to work out. But damn Coyotes hockey is still fun as hell!

PS – whichever Shark popped my baby boy in the eye is goin on my hit list! (gonna have to rewatch that whole game all over again to find the spot… and then its ON!)