Whoa! WOW! Wolski! (okay sorry, I couldn’t resist) Wotjek Wolski and Lee Stempniak made Phoenix GM Don Maloney look like an evil genius…again. (there’s a reason that Coyotes fans have the mantra … In GMDM we trust. But I’ll get to that later) Poetic justice or not, this game couldn’t have worked out any better for the Coyotes. It had drama galore and back stories out the whazoo.

New boy Lee Stempniak (affectionately as of this moment called Stumps) started his tenure off on the right foot by drawing first blood. Stumps basically woke up in Toronto, hauled it off to the airport, made it to Phoenix in time to suit up for the game. That’s right, no acclimation for this boy, just jump right on in and start the party with his first Coyotes goal. Of course he had an advantage from working wit Fiddy and Winnie, they may not score that much but they sure generate a lot of chances, which can give a kid with a nose for the net plenty of opportunities. Look for a point gathering renaissance for Lee Stempniak in the coming weeks.

It is supposed to sting Petey my lad, if it hadn’t I would have given up on you as many of the Phoenix fans already have done. Peter Mueller said after the game ” It was really strange (playing against Phoenix) It happened so quickly, the last few days. It’s been surreal. This is one of the games where, not just me, but everyone, wanted to win. It stings a little right now.” The constant booing of a former Coyotes player was startling to me at first but I understand the vitriol of the fans after learning that the chronic underachiever…err lazy bum…sorry, I meant the kid asked for a trade months and months ago according to GMDM. Much like Blake ‘the flake’ Wheeler before him, it was a slap in the face to some of the loyal fans. Many felt like that answered their questions about his performance, that maybe Peter stopped giving his all in an effort to get traded and THAT is a very big no no in the eyes of any fanbase, not just Phoenix. But really people, let it go after this, its ugly and truthfully its waaay too much personalization (he didn’t abandon YOU, he had different needs and it wasn’t really that kind of relationship anyway). Think of it this way, his new team got trounced and the last give away that we scored on was directly on him, that should be enough just desserts, lets move on and wish the kid well in the future, the way we would for any former Coyotes player (just never against us thank you very much).

Speaking of poetic justice, what about Wolski with the GWG? Oh yeah, talk about having the last laugh. The big native of Zabrze, Poland sure got the knee slapper over on his former team mates on Thursday. Scoring off a beautiful feed from his new Captain and endearing himself to his new fanbase, his new team mates, his new coaching staff and giving hockey writers everywhere a cool angle to write about all day. After pissing in the skates of his old team I bet WWW went to bed smiling from ear to ear… I know I did.

We hit an empty net? Really? I rubbed my eyes twice before cheering, cuz seriously, these boys and empty nets just can’t ever seem to get together. Thank you Radim for proving 2 things… yes we can so hit an EN and we can also score more than 2 goals in a game after the break.

The return of BeastGalov was great to see, now maybe I can avoid the cost of going to Russia and beating the hell out of the Olympic goat,I meant coach, sorry. Saving 23 of 24 shots was a pretty big deal because it meant Bryzzie is coming back from the doubting place and will be able to keep the boys hanging around til they can find a way to win.

All the new kids found a way to contribute. Nokaleinin? Nokalienen? oh to hell with it, LocoNoko may not have scored but he ran around knockin the fire out of everyone he could reach. (I would love to nickname the boy AT&T for his ability to reach out and touch someone but I have a feeling LocoNoko may be sticking if he keeps playing so edgy)

Last but certainly not least, the DeMolition man has returned… finally. Despite all the hoopla at the end of his last year, we all knew he’d be back if there was a way. He seemed to have a shaky moment or two but other than a puck hopping over his stick during a power play this new Derek Morris is just fine. The hit on Mueller was sheer poetry and he got a couple of nice shots off during his 16+ minutes of TOI without even breakin a sweat. Welcome back Mo indeed.

The Coyotes took down the Avalanche 3 – 1 and it was a great time. The 12k+ fans in the building were rockin the house. Lots of signs were visible welcoming the new kids and fan favorite DMO, a wave was produced after ginormous effort from a crazy man in section 104 and folks were makin serious noise for the boys throughout the arena. 81 points! 4th in the Western conference! 4th in the NHL! Attendance going up every game (including pesky weeknight games)! National media attention…POSITIVE media attention! Holy jumpin! (yes I wish our little motor mouth, Darren Pang could be here to enjoy this, he was the biggest homer ever through some tough times) but I’ll just borrow his favorite phrase to describe this amazing turn of events.

Up next in this home stand are the Anaheim Ducks. I know everyone and their mama is expecting the Ducks to make their push for a post season spot. We better be ready to squash those plans.

Keys to the game?

Solve Jonas Hiller. Period, point blank and simple. We’ve given this team the business all season but it always comes down to Hilly. This kid is a rock in their net and doesn’t rattle easy. If we can get 2 by him and then hold on tight I would be happy.

Mind our own net. We have to give Bryz some lock down defense. That damn Bobby Ryan can make the best defense look like Swiss cheese. We have to let Bryz see what is coming in and don’t let those damn Anaheim trees set up shop in front of him. Bryzzie still knows how they shoot and always gets up for these games. No rebounds! No second chances for these guys Breezer.

The newest edition of the scoring committee can’t lay back and let the new boys do all the work. (it will be fine if LocoNoko gets the GWG though, I’m all in for another case of poetic justice against his former team) It is time for everyone to partake in the scoring drives. We have to bring all guns to bear in order to get this job done.

Discipline of course will be key tonight. These boys will eat you alive if you give them enough PP time. Just stay out of the box for your own sakes. No stupid penalties tonight please.

Watch your backs! Getzlaf and Wizniewski will be headhunting. Head on a swivel and do unto them before they do unto you should be the words of the day.

There are still some tickets left. The bandwagon is starting to fill up but don’t worry, we’ll scoot over to make room for you to join us. There will of course be a tailgate in Lot J as usual from 2ish to 5pm when the doors open. So come on by and join the party. Don Maloney is hosting a chalk talk around 3:30 ish (I hope you RSVP’d for that) Don is always a great speaker and allows lots of questions.

Don’t forget about the Coyotes Carnival on Sunday! Right here at the JobArena. Rain or shine the boys will be out for this charitable event. We’ll have a blast and you can meet the new kids. It is only a $10 donation to get into the event. Hope to see you there.

As always… Go Coyotes!

I don’t have time this mornin to go into all of yesterday’s awesome events. All I can say right now is YES! WHOO HOO! HOORAY! We have the slickest GM in the league! Don made us proud yesterday by doing what needed to be done to correct our course before anything crazy happened. Some people may think its all about adding particular players, its not. Trade time is all about adding the ‘right’ player(s), having assessed your team with a totally honest eye and removing the players that are hindering your progress (for whatever reason) and adding guys that can add the gears the team is missing. Sometimes your team just needs the spark of knowing that their organization really gives two shits and wants them to succeed. The Coyotes made THAT statement loud and clear yesterday.

Sooo welcome new Coyotes, one and all. May your time here in the desert be fun, fufilling and successful. A special welcome goes out to our DMO, the demolition man is back in the desert where he belongs!

Young Mueller wasn’t happy here? It showed. I wish him the best in te future but not tonight. Tonight, I hope his sandbagging ways backfire on him and he doesn’t score. After that, he can go forth and prosper with my heartfelt blessing. (Sorry, he’s the enemy tonight) I won’t mind as much if Kevin Porter scores… as long as the Coyotes win. Kevin Porter is a hard working sweetheart that really deserves a chance to show what he’s made of. (only one Ports, only one. You too are the enemy tonight)

We play the resourceful Colorado Avalanche tonight. These boys have been finding ways to win all season. Joe Saccho has been a miracle man with his very young squad. I have been pulling for thm all season… just not when they play us. Tonight’s game could be billed as the matchup of the discarded. With the swapped Wolski and Mueller going head to head for the first time it should be very interesting.

Keys to this game?

Special teams… we will all be watching to see if the new boys can get our flatlining PP jumpstarted. Oh I know its too early to really make a difference but seriously, we will all be looking for that.

If Bryzzie starts, he needs to really leave the Olympics behind him and come back to earth. Being in his head is never a good thing for our boy and right now I think that is a very dark and scary place…Get outta there! Positioning, flow and rebound control hve to become his friends for real tonight. These kids can throw rubber with the best of them, be ready Breezer! AzBarbie has had some nice games, if he starts this one he just needs to remember to stay the hell in his net, relax and let his reflexs work for him…no drama tonight, small movements, controlled limbs and he’ll take care of business.

Use the force scoring committee. The energy provided by the trades has usually worked in our favor. We need to keep it simple. Control the low slot whenever we get in the Av’s zone and just shell the hell out of the amazingly hot Mr. Andersen.

Defense… you were non existent last game. That better not happen tonight. Get yer poop in a group blueline. Young Yandle has been amazing when the big guys have been out. Its time to stop taking a back seat to your elders Yands. Own your shifts, stop playing so safe. You are at your best when taking those edgy risks. The rest of you sloths need to adjust and get back into the flow, vacation is over! Time to get back to being the NHL’s top scoring blueline.

Gotta go… the trip to Scottsdale takes FOREVER!

As always… Go Coyotes!

There are 20 games left including tonight’s tilt against the Dallas Stars. That is 40 points, sitting there, begging to be brought home. Now of course we can’t bring them all home but I’m sure our record can accommodate 21 or more of the little critters.

Looking back and being honest, who can say they saw this coming? We had hopes of course and most of us said we’d skid into the post season on a smoking wing and a prayer. But who saw THIS? This team that won’t quit, that hasn’t lost more than 3 in a row all season. This Coyotes squad that never gives up, even when they’re 2 goals or 3 goals behind. Who saw these guys becoming a family, a unit, a force of nature?

That force is back in Glendale tonight after burning the Oil,  sweeping the Wild for the first time ever! and just missing beating the Avs to 2 points. (we just left too many chances on the table last night. Totally winnable but I’m not totally disappointed. Just gotta say… there are nights when I really hate zebras) But the boys scratched, clawed and as Tippett says, hung around til they could find a way to win for the most part. We grabbed 4 more of those coveted little points to bring our total to a whopping 79! *we’re 3 points ahead of LAK and within shouting distance of Chicago’s 83*

Tonight is one of those nasty back-to-back nights with a bit of travel slipped in to make it more interesting. (the NHL scheduler really hates us apparently, because we just did this… against Dallas no less!) Well the Stars can forget about facing a lifeless, legless team again this time. They’re home and we’ll be providing them with some energy to help them along tonight on home ice.

So, keys to this game?

Screw Marty Turco. Literally and figuratively. Make him a non factor. Don’t dump anything too close or he’ll go all 3rd defenseman on us. *putting it out far enuff that he’s tempted to go out front would be fine and then strip him and put it in the net!* that works quite well.

Watch out for the rejuvenated Ratboy, Ribbie is back in the lineup and ready to sneak a few goals if he can. Don’t let them get any good chances, they had a good game against CAL the other night.

Play physical not tentative. (just because the refs in COL blew some calls at the end, doesn’t mean we’ll get jobbed again) We have to play these guys physically and hard all 60 minutes. No space allowed.

Discipline as always will have to be tight. No matter what any Star does, let HIM get the penalty… or take that clown to the box with you. (we don’t have to worry about Otter, he’s out with his appendix)

Scoring committee and their new left wing Lombardi need to come out firing all the heavy artillery tonight. We need to go into the break with a good victory.

Puck drops at 6pm. Tailgate is from 2pm til 5pm in parking lot J. Hope to see you all there! It is we win/you win night so don’t forget to keep your ticket AND the voucher for free tickets after we win. Booster Club 50/50 bring your extra 2 bucks to get in on the chance to win some dough.

******************NHL Olympic Roster Freeze is on

Some juicy pieces cleared waivers  Like Jonathan Cheechoo… an interesting player,  we should at least kick the tires on that

As always… Go Coyotes!

3 D down really sucks. But the crazy Coyotes refuse to let anything derail their hot start. (Is it still a ’start’, 16 games in?) Sporting a 10-6-0 record that is good enough for 8th in the league, the Coyotes are still finding ways to get ‘er done.

We gave away a couple points to LAK (only explanation is that we lost our damn minds) and then again in Colorado. *The 2 teams least expected to do a damn thing in 2009, battling for the top of the Western conference…go figure*  But we quickly got back to pack against Chicago.

The Blackhawks were so far into our poor Breezy’s head last season I worried for their sanity and his. But not this year. The Hawks played well and had a couple days rest with their dads, while we came in off the road on a back to back. Not the best of ways to play a game against that rough n tumble gang of miscreants. (you know I really wanna use a 20cent reference here dontcha?) The boys fought hard and got an early jump on the boys from Chi-town. We were already one blueliner down (Z was spotted in a walking boot and Sweets is still about 10 days out) the real Schlem-shady stepped in for my baby boy without missing a stride. Then we lost Jovo in the 3rd… Man are we gettin bit by the injury bug here lately. But we held onto our 2 goal lead *thank god the war room actually saw that friggin kick in by Fraser*. The most important lesson learned in these few games are 1. the ‘new’ Coyotes can hang with anyone when they stick to the system 2. Bryzzie means biznizz this season so all you doubters can bite me and him 3. We have depth, sustainable, professional level depth this season and that all adds up to winning over the long haul.

Must give shout outs to our very own KidCaster Carson who was in the booth on Saturday with Strades n Nasher. WAY TO GO CARSON!

So we’re rollin into Anaheim tonight. Beaten up but not broken. We’ll get our first look at young Mr. Heshka tonight, hopefully he can fill Jovo’s big ol skates with authority. If our paw print holds true, we’ll take these 2 points from the Quacks and rest up for the Habs next week. Maybe everyone will be well by then. But no matter, we will perservere and continue to prove that we are contenders for that big silver cup.

The Yotes are hosting a viewing party at 8. Alltel Ice Den – at the new 18 Degrees restaurant. See you there.

As always… Go Coyotes!

Can you say wow? Alvaro Montoya certainly strutted his stuff in his NHL debut last night. The kid certainly waited long enough for his opportunity and didn’t disappoint.

Al Montoya became the first Cuban-American to play in the NHL and the first goalie in the history of our franchise to post a shutout in his rookie debut. (It has been about 3 years since a rookie goalie, Mike Smith, has done that. ) Congratulations Monty!

While beating the injury riddled and pretty much down and out for the count Avalanche isn’t world beating news in and of itself. (boy the Avs fans aren’t happy about the team’s performance) The win shows great promise from the Desert Dawgs. We all know in the past we have struggled to beat teams below us. Seeing a 60 minute effort, secondary scoring, killer instinct, crisp passing and precision sniping all night long bodes well for next season.

Everybody contributed last night, Mikkel Boedker drew first blood, pulling a puck out of a scrum and beating beleagured goalie Raycroft on his open left side. Then beloved captain Shane Doan pulled the trigger on his 30th goal of the season. Congratulations Doaner! Z put the final nail in this coffin with an empty netter. 7 Yotes nabbed points and the team limited the Avs to just 23 sogs total, and only 3 in the 3rd period, to help the Big Cubano make history. Props to David Hale! If Haler could play like this every night he’d be a regualr in the line up. Hale threw 3 big hits (including one fairly highlightable one on Svatos) and fought Laperriere, crisp passing and looked confident all night long. (You go boi!)

The boys are certainly playing for pride and determined to go out with a bang. The sense of competition is fierce as the guys play for spots on next year’s team. Saying we have too many forwards is like saying Niagra Falls is wet. On the main squad there are at least 4 too many forwards and the AHL holds at least 4 forwards that have been pushing for jobs all season. Thats a lot of folks who won’t be in Phoenix after training camp in 2009 and no one wants to be the odd man out.

Its certainly too soon to start wondering if Monty will be challenging Bryz for a tandem style rotation but I would love to see it happen. I believe in the power of an unselfish goalie tandem. 2 goalies who can work together and support each other is a powerful base for a team to build a winning season on. We face the Kings tonight on home ice. Both teams are on the rise for challenging the league next season. Montoya will get the start, let us all hope he can make another good showing.

As always… Go Coyotes!

I hope everyone had a great New Years and that 2009 brings everything you wish for.

12/26/08 Yotes VS Kings part 1

The first game on Friday night I expected a flat and sluggish group of pups to flat out get crapped on by the Kings. But I got a surprise visit from a team that (while not great) didn’t quit. We came out hot and high. The Kings tried to match us in intensity but couldn’t quite do it. On any night that Shane Doan and Ilya Bryzgalov are in high gear, my money is on the Yotes. And unfortunately for the Royals, they ran into not only the Doaner and Breezy but also into a Pistol Pete Mueller, trying to shake off the sophmore jinx. The game was a pretty routine bit of pong until Muels found a spot that Jonathan Quick just couldn’t cover. The Yotes did a fantastic job of keeping the dangerous Doughty out of the action (and on Doughty’s best run, the post assisted Breezy in spades). Sauer, Klee and Z made sure that Kopitar and Brown (despite lots of minutes) didn’t get much in the way of quality tries at Bryzzie.

Gotta give some props to the very young and very green Mister Quick, without him, the Kings would be in serious trouble while Ersberg recovers. We solidified our spot in the western top 8 and while I was hoping we could pull away from the pack… the second half of the home n home was a total ‘off with their heads’ kinda night.

12/27/08 Yotes VS Kings part 2

Going in to Saturday night I had expectations… apparently I wasn’t the only one, as the Job was pretty full and buzzin w/ anticipation. Unfortunately now I know how the King’s fans felt on Friday. “a defeat that deflated a rare full house” At least the Kingiefans only paid $11.50 to see their mess… trust me it hurt a LOT more at $60.00 bucks on Saturday. Not to mention that at least their team woke up and tried. My boys… not so much.And we had special guests that we brought to the game (Teal’s bro and sis-in-law) see how happy and anticipatory they look?

Soooo… Saturday night… The boys slept walked?…err sleep walked? oh hell, they oozed out onto the ice like a 3 toed sloth on extra strength Lunesta. Apparently it was some good shit too, cus they never woke up. lets walk thru the horror in a general looksee shall we?

0 – 9 PP *insert sounds of crickets here* ZERO for 9!… including some 5 on 3s… I do believe there just might be cause for alarm in those words don’t you? Am I the only one scanning last years stats and shaking her head? Doan and Jovo both had over 25 ppps last season… they are nowhere near on track for that this season. It hurts us preciousssss

Face offs – not quite dismal but close enough, Rhino had another off night in the circles along with everyone else, add this sorry statistic to the fact that we couldn’t pass, shoot nor hang onto a puck… ughhh

Puck possession battling was non existent. Kings were ditzing about in our zone all night long. I can’t recall more than a handful of times we came out of a puck challenge with the disk on our stick.

Sinbin parade. They musta been giving away free booze in that penalty box, there was no shame… just guys beboppin in and out of there like, no big deal… this also hurt more than I can say. Ah well, no use beating a dead horse over this stink bomb, luckily the loss hurt nothing but our pride and we had bigger fish to fry on Wednesday.

12/31/08 Yotes VS Avalanche

What is there to say about what we needed to do? We faced the Lanche on Wednesday and did everything right. Bi polar just doesn’t describe us some weeks.

Face offs – 57% Hanzal/Doan/Joker all over 50% and Rhino just barely under the .50 mark…just wish we could do this more often (and at least Marty has stopped being thrown out of the circles so often)

We did all the little things right. Like winning the battles for pucks…often just outright stealin them.

Matching hit for hit…we don’t play physical, we don’t do so well. OhHale gave Hejduk a slam he felt all over again on New Years day. (his hit and his assist kinda make up for his faux pas on the Avs goal)

Staying out of the friggin box! Only 2 PIM were assessed to our boys (IDK if the refs just wanted to get home to celebrate or if we really were that disciplined) but whatever… the defensemen were able to contribute a lot more since they weren’t dogass tired from PK’ing all night. Z on the point during the PP seemed to be making a difference too (not enough PPs to really gauge) but you gotta figure anything that helps prevent odd man rushes/short handed chances has to be good right?

Muels shook off another link in the sophmore jinx chain. Apparently Pistol Pete found a serious chink in Budaj’s armor and nailed him twice up top. Too bad he couldn’t put away the hattie point blank dead center. Ah well I’m sure he’ll take the 2 odd angle markers and hope that ’scoring in bunches’ thing is true.

The LOB line certainly lived up to its moniker. Lisin and Boedker cross the neutral at the speed of light and lob sweet passes to the high slot for Olli to slam home. Works for me and certainly worked for them in this game. I hope TGO can put the itchy trigger finger to rest for a lil while on this line. They look good together.

Ya’ll know how much I adore the Swedish Wolf. Telly Munster stepped up to the plate for this one. A little jittery to start (HEY! he’d been out a while) he quickly got into his rythm and spanked him some Yeti hind ends. Tellqvist and Mueller got the 2 stars they deserved at games end.

Both teams came into this game with 39 points…we came out with 41. We done real good to drop the Yetis and cement that 7th spot for a little while longer. The Quackers are only 1 point ahead of us and the Nuckleheads are only 4… wouldn’t it be sweet to sit in 5th place for awhile (even in a tie?) Its definitely doable with January being a really strong month for us. A game in hand on ANA and they face theose notorious Flyers next (which we should all hope that those boys hit the west coast errr flyin) and us facing a flaky yet still dangerous Isles team, Friday night could well be a big turning point for the season.

See you all at the Job! Friday night is gonna be a hellstorm with ex-Yotie Lil Mikey Comrie comin in on a hot streak.

For more of Teal’s gorgeous game day pics

Another win courtesy of the Swedish Wolf and another host of unlikely suspects. I guess they really were glad to be home. They sure gave us a great welcome back present.

Speaking of unlikely suspects… how damn fantastic has the lil BabyFaced Cossack been playin since he came back to the big club? Enver freakin Lisin has proven to be a real force out there. We all know speed kills but ever since Boedker got here I have been wantin to see both he and Lisin on the ice together. Land speed records obviously mean nothing to these 2. Both seem to own the neutral everytime they decide to cross it and both are seriously dangerous once they gain the opposition’s zone. Lisin was a HUGE factor in the last couple of games, drawing penalties seemingly at will and handing out assists like Halloween candy. Enough of a force that Party on Garth has been reassigned to SA (who can really use some veteran presence to get them back on track after 15 losses) Good luck Murray, see you again soon.

Are we missing Olli Coyote? Well sure, but his absence gives some other players room to step and prove they belong. KT, Teeks, Lisin and Porter are all steppin into the void. Now we need Doaner and Rhino to really catch fire and we just might be able to pull of another good streak.

Poor Sakic… back injuries really suck. The Yeti Captain barely hit the ice before his back forced him to leave the game. The Lanche played really well, Ryan dammitt! Smyth tried to carry this game on sheer will and determination. Luckily Tellqvist had a little more of both and kept the AVs from riding Smyth’s example to at least a tie up in the dying moments. Smyttie blew Telly’s goose egg off the board with a whoole lotta time left in the 3rd period but the AVs could not solve the Wolf.
Surprise! DMo is back! The Demolition man announced his return with a naaasty wrister in the first 5 minutes of the game and then proceeded to guard Telly’s flank like a Rottie on PCP. Welcome back Derek, we missed you.

Ports seems to really like being back at center. And he can actually take a pretty good face off.He capitalized on a healthy rebound from his linemates early in the second to give us a breathing room lead 2 – 0. But then again what player wouldn’t enjoy centering Carcillo and Lisin? Between the aggression and speed, the path across the neutral becomes a hell of a lot less of a minfield and lets the smart lil center pick and choose his setups.

Talk about stepping up… DHL’s goal seems to have energized him to no end. OhHale is really taking his DHL nickname to heart as he delivered 3 big hits and 3 blocked shots along with a couple of sogs that he really got into like he knew what he was doin. Yeah he still had a couple of bad patches but not bad enough to make anyone cringe.

Jovo’s TOI is creeping back up. The JV got a lil more PP time, had 2 sogs and a nice hit. I figure this period where the kids are pickin up the slack and we are accumulating Ws may relax the big guy enough to start the goals flowin. If not, as long as he isn’t actively screwin up the game, I’ll take it. ( no pic of shame for the next GDT) Go Jovo!

My baby boy had a couple of rough patches but hell, playin nearly half a game in each of the last 3 has got to be taxing. So far the lil IronCzech is holding up well, adding another 5! blocks, 3 hits and a couple of sogs. Go Z GO! Sig is right behind Z on the TOI wagon blockin shots and takin ooponents outta the mix in his usual intimidating style.

We take out the Yeti’s 2 – 1 and looked good doin it. I kinda dig the new unis. The leaping fox/ferret/Coyote thingy isn’t that bad in person and the colors and style are pretty sweet. I’m gettin me one. I still want to hire NPY to teach the boys to face off. Wonder if a petition would do any good?

We face the fish next. On glove night. I’ll be manning a gate and handing out the lil souvenirs. I want a Pierre plushy night! See you all there I hope (especially you, Bobbo the radio show whiner). Complainin that we, in attendance, weren’t loud enough, weren’t ‘into’ the game enough. Well WE were there… YOU were at home sittin on yer keister. Become part of the solution mister add your voice so that the TV watchers can really hear the crowd.

PS I have not been a very good hostess lately… not including pics and links and whatev… so if you missed the great pappazzi shots from Teal from the last home stand, please go on over and check them out. She’s had some beauties.

Stars

Sharks

Panthers

Wild

Penguins

Flames

Capitals

Hope you all had an absolutely maahvelous! turkey day. I probably don’t say this often enough but thank you to all who drop by and visit and much love to those of you who leave your comments or drop emails. You are much appreciated.

OUCH! Joker will be out for 2 weeks. (we’ll be taking on COL,SJS, LAK and TOR in that time frame) but the Yotes have no plans to bring anyone up from SA. Considering how poorly the Rampage are doin right now, I can’t say as I blame them. Plus we get the Beast back today!

So We get to see the AVs for the first time this season. I don’t want to be the meanie but they aren’t doin so hot right now. 2 for 5 in their last games and those 2 wins were the Kings and Blues…barely. Looks like both teams have been struggling nearly equally. Both 4th in our division, we’re 5-3-1 at home, they’re 5-6-0 away. Last 10 games played we’re 4-4-2 and they’re 5-5-0 and we’re both hangin onto 20 points (thanx to our recent grabbing of 2 loser points).

Looks like the Swedish Wolf has earned himself another start (what an understatement!). Along with Telly in the net out lines look like this:

Daniel Carcillo-Kevin Porter-Enver Lisin
Shane Doan-Steven Reinprecht-Peter Mueller
Daniel Winnik-Martin Hanzal-Mikkel Boedker
Todd Fedoruk-Kyle Turris-Viktor Tikhonov

We’re still showin DMo as DTD and only Olli is IR for us thank goodness.

The Avs have an injury list from hell again (these boys were not healthy last year either but still managed to scrap hard). Foote/Liles/Guite and Tucker are all on the medic minder right now. We’ll have to watch out for the other TQ (Daniel Tjarnqvist)who had the topper in the last game and with the suddenly, pretty solid Badaj in net, this is not going to be pretty. hey’ll have to watch out for their former compatriots Sauer/Klee and Rhino (who usually has a big game against these guys) *Dmo is also a former AV but is still out DTD* We’re sittin on a win brought to us by unlikely suspects so don’t scoff at the notion that Sauer or Klee could be offensive threats to the AVs. No word on what lines the Lanche will be rollin but count on the wicked Stasny and Sakic to play major roles.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?id=2008020326

This may very well come down to a goalie battle. Budaj is 6-1-3 with a 2.76 GAA in 10 career games versus the Coyotes, but has lost his last three outings and Telly is 1.97 GAA and a .928 save percentage in splitting two career starts against the Avalanche. Hopefully Gretz and co. will continue to monitor Jovo and if this game comes down to the shorties with a lead, we won’t have to worry about the last few minutes with JV on the ice. Lets all hope that the 1st line PP continues to hold some surprise performers (then maybe we’ll stop being on the bottom of the list for PP%s).

So come on out and join us for a great matinee, puck drops at 2PM. And if you can come out *from 11 – 1* and join us in Lot J for the tailgate and welcome home party for our very own military fan Sgt.V, who returns from the sandbox just in time for the debut of the new black jerseys. Sgt. V has been keepin up with the dawgs thru sporadic visits to the forum when he can and of course the reports from his awesome wife. Come by and say hi and talk hockey with one of our favorite vets.

!!!!!WELCOME HOME RICK!!!!!

!!!!!WELCOME HOME COYOTES!!!!!

The forecheck was back, shaky and inconsistent but it made some key appearances. Both goalies made tremendous and valiant efforts all night long. A 12 man shoot out has to be the most stunning and grueling game a goalie can face. It was a spectacular end to this game. Unfortunately it shouldn’t have come to that kind of an ending.

My personal opinion is that TGO made his first faux pas in what has been a sterling coaching effort this season. Gettin our big Czech back should have amounted to no more than a few adjustments in TOI for a few players. Instead WG juggled. Kinda like zigging when you shoulda zag and getting hit by a bus.

Kapanen (you already know I love the Mighty Finn) should NEVER have been place between Donor and Mueller. Just ughh. Like asking a dachsund to keep up with racing boishoi’s. He looked out of place and they looked lost. The line produced bupkis. Most of the other lines looked like regurgitated borscht too. WHY? Weller, Hanzal and York? just ewwww. Wellie barely had 3+ minutes in this game, is the press box calling his name next? Dwin, Hanzal and…TQ? York, Weller and Perrault? what the hell are these combinations supposed to be doin? Oh wait… must be losing, cuz thats what they did.

We turned it over, we fumbled it, we lost our advantage in getting Hanzal back. We did actually get a PP goal from the Rhino Vrbata Doan line at the 10 minute mark of the 1st but we bumbled 4 minutes later and let the newly returned Stasny score on an ugly rush (how does he come in without bein molested and grab his own rebound and score w/ 3 Yote dmen right there?). 1 -1 game for the rest of the first and well into the second. Zbynek! woo hoo! gettin a few shots off with authority(nice to see the team use Z at point instead of constantly goin to Jovo) … what the hell was Laperriere talkin to my baby boy about? I don’t like him after the game he tried to beat on the boy but it didn’t look ugly so I’m just wondering what was said. Leave my boy alone Ian, you really don’t want me to show you my angry face!

What is it about the 10 minute mark? The Avs find their way past Telly on the stick of the very hot Svatos to make it 2 – 1 and despite some fairly good battles it stays that way until the third. Our line changes sucked mightily.

The third period we saw some familiar faces playing together again and we looked better! ahem… resting my case on that. The battle heated up significantly and both teams look great. The Yotes finally get some sense of desperation and in the last 2 minutes we dominate the Avs and DMo saves our bacon and grabs us a point at 19:57! We’re going to OT

The OT was ugly, our line change nightmares continue. We end up shorthanded at the 4 minute mark for too many men on the ice. We barely manage to pull this off. We’re goin to the SO… Telly hasn’t had one in awhile but he is a feisty one in these suckers.

A 12 man shootout! who woulda thought Theodore could last that long? We saw award winning tending for the whole thing. We saw shooters who are stellar made to look like snot and shooters who have rarely even thought about a shooting move get a chance. Perks finally nails one, York actually grabs one too. But 3 unlikelies from the Avs score too, Arnason, Liles and Mcleod all find their way past Telly and the Avs avoid the sweep and gain 9th position over us.

sigghhhh *one last ref bitch…when are these guys gonna take look at calling picks at the blue? After the Flames got away with so many of them I been lookin for it… and damned if it doesn’t happen a LOT*

So we just made the hole a wee bit deeper and the fight a wee bit more desperate. We gotta get our poop in a group against the Blues on Sunday. We need the points more than I can say. We may see Telly again since Breezy has been sick and Telly has been playing phenominally.

Lets Go Coyotes!!!

!photos from BTinAZ~ when link is ready.

onyxstarr@coyoteshipcheck.com

Well at least for this I can be positive maybe even upbeat.

So far we have the team from Colorado on the rocks. 3 times we have managed to take the 2 points and run. But Friday night will be a test. Smyttie, Small Paul and maybe even Joltin Joe may be back in the line ups for the AVs. The team has managed to hang tough despite having Smyth, Sakic and Stasny out of the line up at the same time. Key games from stalwart secondary players has kept them in the hunt. The middle of February has not been kind to the Avs (they are on a nasty 5 game slide). Look for the renewed vigor that having Stas back will bring and if Sakic decides he’s ready it will be a real dogfight.

Both teams are very evenly matched. Sitting 9th and 10th in the conference and 4th in their respective divisions. While the Avs struggle on the road the Yotes are struggling about the same at home so no clear advantage for either team in this tilt. GF% are Yotes=17th and AVs=18th but the Yotes have a slight advantage w/ better %’s in GA, PP and PK numbers.

Vbrat and Rhino (both former AVs) have led the battle in the previous outings and hopefully the Avalanche won’t be able to contain da Brat again in this joust. Talk about former players coming back to bite you in the keister! DMo was also an AV and has been plenty destructive to their top line. Vbrat has five goals, an assist and a shootout point in our 3 wins AND even scored in overtime during the last contest. While Rhino has 4 goals and 2 assists on the series so far including a hattie night.

We are about 5-for-14 on the power play against these guys and that may very well be the difference in this game. This is the last contest between the two for 07-08 and in order NOT to jinx us I will simply say… there is a possibility that brooms may be needed after this game, which has not been done since the 90-91 season, when both teams were still Canadian based.

Do I really need to say this? Discipline! Special teams! FORECHECKING!!! C’mon we all know the drill… no forecheck = no win! Major shelling no matter which widget they stick in goal! Scoring committe, wake up, stretch, sniff the ammonia tubes repeatedly if neccessary, but be ready to go from the giddyup! Both of our goalies have had good success against these guys and they are really going to have to bear down to keep these guys contained… can you say rebound control Yotie fans? I hope our net minders can not only say it but DO it.

With Parker, McLeod, Hanan and Laperriere on the ice (all pretty good at pissin ya off and all will chuck the nucks) DC AND Boynk are going to have to stay cool and save the passion for puttin pucks on net…. well unless severely provoked… and look for that to happen for sure. These guys are going to be desperate, we need to want this game really badly in order to take another 2 from them. So let’s go out there and send them home empty handed… we can even let them keep the brooms if they like.

LET’S GO COYOTES!!!!

See all you faithful at the Job… PS… Hanzal if back in the line up! The BigKids line has had the Mighty Finn in the middle and has been holding their own… thanx to Kapi’s opportunistic lil heart and Dwin’s unrelenting play at wing. So look for TGO to have more flexibility and craftiness in the rotations.

onyxstarr@coyoteshipcheck.com