Happy Playoff Hockey!!.. SOMEONE had to step up and do it since HTH felt the need to make me give a shit. We all know how much I hate to do it since my precious boys are off participating in the Worlds or chillaxillatin for the summer. I guess it’ll be me doin the quicky look at round II and a couple of player(s) to watch for and hopefully a reason to tune in, watch and maybe discuss on the forum. So let’s start off with the Eastern Circus…

(1) Boston Bruins v. (6) Carolina Hurricanes  Bruins lead the series 1 - 0

The Canes knocked off the nearly invinsible Marty Brodeur and the red hot Zach Parise led Devils by the skin of their teeth. Taking on the insatiable Boston Bruins will hold a very scary challenge. Timmy Thomas (dontcha just wanna say little Timmy Thomas for some reason?) and the B’s seemingly can do no wrong (sweeping the Canadiens and ruining their 100th anniversary). In their first meeting, Boston has established a psychological advantage over Carolina with a big win. (4 - 1) but we all know why Carolina fans call their team the Cardiac Canes. Don’t count out Cam Ward and his determined band of miscreants, they always seem to find a way out of every hole they dig themselves into. Having the Canes in a game almost always means a crazy roller coaster. Game 2 will be in Boston on Sunday 5/3 at 7:30pm on Versus.

Player(s) to watch: David Krejci (B’s) - he’s been quietly doin some serious scoring and  is 3Gs, 3As in 5 games so far in the post season to go with his 73 regular season points. Combine those numbers with a sweet post season +/- plus 8 and you’ve got a guy to watch for sure. (not to slight the red hot Ryder or Savard in any way) On the Cane’s side as always it comes down to whether or not Cam Ward can work his magic. The Bs have so much fire power, Cam is going to be one busy boy. Stahl had better step it up a notch or 3.

Definitely worth watching, although I can’t stand the B’s (still have a little Wheeler induced nausea), they are very very good and very very disciplined and will make life miserable for the erratic Canes all through the series.

(2) Washington Capitals v. (4) Pittsburgh Penguins

I’ll be rockin the Red when these 2 division rivals meet for round II or should I just go ahead and call it WWV? Or how about the Cold War - Part Deux? Anyway you slice it, its gonna be a media circus (hell, it already is) Ovie VS Sydney is causing Betty to salivate all day and into the wee hours of the night. The regular season has ramped this series into the stratosphere and when these two play in Washington on Saturday, the pundits will be squirming in their analyst chairs no matter who beats who. (hell they already are. NHL on the Fly has been beside itself and had a lil series of questions for the Kid and Ovie…including some really dumb ones) Poor Syd and poor Ovie, lots of people tryin to make this into a Thrilla in Manila. But there is more to both teams than Ovie and the Kid.

Player(s) to watch: Alexander Ovechkin (Caps) - is he really hurt or is he playin possum? Or is the injury all in the mind of a certain reporter from the Post? Whether he’s hurt or not, he’s still not going to be the deciding factor in the series, again…this time it will probably come down to another Russian, that lanky youngster in the net. Simyon Varlamov has the Capital buzzin. Cool as a cucumber, seemingly unflappable and holding a mind boggling .952 sv % and a stunning 1.17 GAA, if the Iron Curtain continues to hold, the Pens could be in deep borscht. For the Pens all eyes will be on the Kid and Geno but it may just come down to Fleury keepin up with Varlamov.

As HTH would say, both teams can score. Between two time Rocket Richard trophy winner Ovechkin and the top goal scoring defenseman in Mike Green (now that Greenie appears to be back on track) add another Hart candidate in the hulking Evgeny Malkin and the human highlight reel stylings of Crosby and every game should be a barn burner. (but can they play some serious defense too… the answer to that question may just be the tie breaker)

Now on to the West Coast Royal Rumble

(2) Detroit Red Wings v. (8) Anaheim Ducks  Detroit leads the series  1-0

True to form the Ducks came out viciously dirty. ( No I don’t like them or their style but hey, its hockey and not supposed to be prim nor prissy) They took their edge and  “flexible” rule book to the next level as expected. Brownie knocked Hudler into next week with a shot to the head and will probably get a suspension for it. (lots of disagreement on whether it was dirty or if Hudie shoulda had his head up) whatever you think it was, it sure got the Ded into the highest levels of pisstivity that I’ve ever seen. Who woulda thunk that Ericksson could fight?

As HT said, the former Stanley Cup champions will certainly do “whatever it takes to get their cup back”, literally! No matter who they have to run over or run through. But the Wings are pretty damned determined to keep it for themselves.  (Go Liddy!) Its gonna get nastier so stay tuned.

Player(s) to watch:  Jonas Hiller (Ducks) Can the kid hang on in the face of one of the best offensive juggernauts in the league? Can he live with Holmstrom’s butt in his face all the damn time? Chris Osgood (Wings) -Ozzy was on and poppin. Despite the Ducks attempts to put him through his own posts, the cagey vet hung in there and seems prepared to give as good as he gets. Combine that with the Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Franzen onslaught VS the Getzlaf/Perry/Ryan combo and it should make for one hell storm of a  series. Game 2 in Detroit on Sunday at 2pm.

(3) Vancouver Canucks v. (4) Chicago Blackhawks  Vancouver leads the series  1-0

Defensive shutdown artistes VS high flyin creative offensively minded youngsters. The Nucks have been finding ways to score but they are bettter at getting a lead and then shutting down the opposition. The Hawks have had their defensive struggles, but usually can score their way out of trouble. Facing one of the best goalies in recent memory is going to prove troublesome for them.

Players to watch: Roberto Luongo (VAN) Nicolai Khabibulin(CHI) - just like the other goaltending battles, this one may come down to which goalie has the best set of nights and the edge goes to Louie. But other players are definitely making their presence known. Chicago’s Captain better get into battle mode because Kaner and Versteeg probably can’t keep up their current pace alone.

I agree with HT that Louie is just too good in the playoffs…  and could be the biggest factor in halting the Hawks march to a finals appearance. Chicago is young but rapidly proving themselves worthy after knocking off Calgary.  Can the Bulin Wall keep playing above himself and get his team back on track? Game 2 in Vancouver on Saturday.

Another toss up series that will really depend on the goaltending (Chicago), or lack thereof, that each team receives. While HTH seems to have forgiven and forgotten the bitter season against the Hawks, I certainly haven’t, and will be rooting for the Nucks.
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Be sure to tune into the playoffs and watch some exciting hockey!! Don’t forget to stop by and vote in the polls and chit chat on the forum.… Enjoy!

Shout out… for those interested in a particular game and it’s not being shown on TV, you can watch the game via online feed.. just head on over to www.nhlsnipers.com

So, now that we are all relaxed and happy, the Pre-ASG Coyotes are back. Someone please tell the boys that the AllStar break is only 4 damn days, not 2 damn months!

3 of the 4 games of this homestand have been pretty damn good. First SJS gets the cattle prod treatment ( a little shock therapy was probably just what they needed to get their act together). Then the Ducks cam into town expecting to just waltz away with 2 points and actually had to get a little help from the totally incompetent war room and blind refs in order to even grab a point. Then HNIC shows up with their crowd of crazies chanting Looouuu! b4 the puck was ever dropped. Funny how quiet they got after that 3rd goal.

The Ducks still garnered 2 points for their push but it was a close call as we made them go to the shootout to get them. The Petteri Nokelainen goal was about the most pathetic miscue by the referees/war room I have ever seen but par for the course in our games. I’ve come to expect nothing less when it makes a difference between a W and an L. But we didn’t quit! We battled and scrapped (its a damn shame MacG was possibly injured in his scrap w/ Parros…Brian is out for the rest of the year).

We grabbed a point, we showed that we have some pride, we proved we CAN play with another gear. Too little, too late? Well yeah but better late than never.

The Canuck’s game was a different story. We battled from minute one. 60 minutes of intensity and tenacity. I’ve been begging for this kind of performance.

Urgency! Good start, come out with a nose for the net. Get the lead and play with it all game. There wasn’t a whole lot of coasting back for pucks in this one.

Tenacity! Second efforts, 3rd efforts, hell 5th efforts if thats what it takes to get something in the net. Lombo and Dawes really understand this and it showed in this game. Lombardi got a goal for his efforts and Dawes setup some great opportunities.

Group effort! Play unselfishly but don’t forget to take your own shots when they present themselves. Everybody take a shot or 3. Keep the passes simple and crisp. Oh hell yeah! 5 different Yotes got goals and 12 Yotes grabbed points.

Physicality! If they even LOOK like they want a piece of our smaller guys, hit ‘em. If they are not in a red jersey, hit ‘em. If you can get anywhere near launching distance, hit ‘em. The Nucks don’t have a lot of guys who can chuck ‘em, they do have the pests Burrows and Hordichuk, who will fight but were not a worry. TGO sat the entire Bad Boy Patrol (they really weren’t needed. Jovo and Doan could pretty much take anybody on the Nucks and we needed the skill more than the kill last night).

Killer instinct! If you manage to get ‘em down, keep your foot on their necks and grind. There is no such thing as a safe lead anymore. Rack ‘em up as fast as they’ll fall for you. This was the best part of the game. Nobody got that ‘ok, I’m gonna just protect this lead, defense only’ mind set. We were still pushin for the next goal when we were 5 - 0. I loved that.

I’d be remiss if I neglected to mention Tiki’s crazy penalty goal but it was sooo wild I’m just gonna post a you tube apparently there are some disgruntled Nuck’s fans out there?

We played hard, we played well. Our special teams were on and poppin. We got lucky that VAN totally missed how low we were playin and didn’t take advantage with their open point men (especially Bieksa). It was pretty sweet chasing Louie outta the net. Even sweeter was spoilin another bubble team’s bid for 2 easy points.

PS… thanks Haler for Rickrolling 17,000+ people! LOL

As always… Go Coyotes!!!

Well they came home men. Bryzzie recorded his shutout of the season. What started out as a tentative game turned into a goalie battle of epic proportions in the Big D as Bryzgalov transmuted into Beastgalov and stole the show. Turco was no slouch his own self, turning in a great performance. If not for the heroics of the Russian pocket rocket Enver Lisin, we mighta gone to another double shutout shootout.

The boys did everything I asked of them… well… except you Olli. Man I hope you read this shite and get so pissed at me that you hattrick on Saturday, Monday damn… Thursday? Seriously! You piss me off so royally right now I could pluck you bald…oh wait… you are already bald. NVM but I am still wallowing in never before reached levels of pisstivity. I have no more words to describe you (they say a picture is worth a 1000 words)

Soooo Ilya Bryzgalov saved the boys bacon, going from mild mannered Russian goal keeper to some dire, crazed edition that we haven’t seen before. The amazing beast stymied the Stars all night long. It was one of his best performances of the season so far. (thanks Qbert, for the pic)

The warrior crew returned home and promptly shat their armor against the Canucks… blew a fargin 2 goal lead, let the Nuckleheads grab 3 (count ‘em and weep) unanswered goals in the 3rd. There was more scrummin than hockey goin on. *and I admit to wishing heartily that DMo coulda got loose on Hordichuck*

But all this pushin n shovin took us away from the game rather than shoring us up to play better.

Between losin the majority of the faceoffs in the 3rd (allowing the Nucks to gain better puck possession throughout) and PIMs up the wazoo, we basically handed the Canucks this one. 4 - 3 Canucks… final.

So to continue the shatting, we played the Flames. Always a fun proposition.. NOT. But we have been holding our own this season so it wasn’t all doom and dred. We came out hard n feisty (20 sogs in the first period! some of them quality shots that Kipper had to really perform on) The Mighty DWin started us out great (gettin that scoring gorilla off his back…not once but TWICE! for his first multi-goal game)

Unfortunately Winnie was the only Yote who seemed to be able to put the biscuit in the basket through 2 full periods.

The Flames were a whoole nother story, walkin into our zone in the 2nd and blasting Breezy full of holes at will. When will the boys learn that 1 - 1.5 periods played balls out will not win them a hockey game? The second period saw 4! (count ‘em again folks) 4 goals scored including a shortie from Glencross that was an embarrassment of a turnover that a group of mini-mites wouldn’t have made. The fire retardant failed us and the Flames outshot us 21 - 8!

The 3rd period we woke up and the Flames cooled down (each side only got 9 sogs). Doaner answered Lombardi’s 2nd goal (6th Flame goal on the night) makin it 6 - 3 and we got a little momentum going. But another goal from the Flames killed the crowd and people started leaving in droves. Well they missed a hellified show by the sneaky Tiki. Tikhnov ripped a slapper and a wrister past Kipper 3 minutes apart that put some life back in us… with time left on the clock. (Another first time multi-goaler!)

 I had a foolish leap of faith (idn’t funny how hope will spring up like that?) that we might actually tie this game up. another brown stain added to the score sheet… 7 - 5… Flames… final. *high point of the night… Danny takin Phaneuf down. 

Lowpoint of the night…Bertuzzi with what seemed to be 900 assists on the night*

The dismally seemingly perpetually brown film engulfed Monday night’s game against the Oilers too. But at least there was real hockey being played.

High points were

•  Telly in the net on a mission.  
• Sweets back on the ice after missing 14 games (Sauer was a last minute decision, I mean the kid can barely hobble and laced ‘em up anyway, gotta love this man).
• DMo blastin away at Rolli (6 sogs, nasty ones too).
• The return of Hanzal and his face off percentage of 62%.
• And biggest surprise of the night? Olli Jokinen diving through the crease to try to put one in! (Hey don’t look at me, I was surprised all night that Odawg could actually appear to give a shit, much less show some ‘real’ passion).

Low points were

• 44% face off total.
• Goin 1 for 999 on the PP again (I guess its gettin better… at least we’re managing to get 1 now).
• Having to watch Telly get his bell rung with no call…again (how do the refs manage to miss this over and over again? Has there been a game this season that someone hasn’t tried to decapitate the Swedish Wolf?)
• Goin gooseegg on a minute and a half 5 on 3. 
• The sound a post makes when denying a Mueller goal.
•  Not getting to watch Jovocop beat the hell out of Sheldon “shit starter” Souray
• And last but certainly not least… watchin the score board record yet another loss. 3 -1 Oilers… final

And that is our home performance, all wrapped up in a brown miasma. We have one more chance to pull out of this homely rut on Thursday night. Please dear hockey goddess, haven’t we been punished enough? Whatever transgressions we’ve committed, please! we will never do it again. Just give us back our pre-ASG team. Oh and ma’am, if at all possible can we have one of those really cool road winning streaks like last year?

News n Notes…

Schlemko was called up again… does this point to a trade acomin? God I hope not. Hopefully this was just a precaution since Mr. and Mrs. Halestorm are expecting any minute. EDIT: Schlem went back to SA… I believe the mini-Haler arrived okay, just don’t know yet what the lil one is named yet.

KT was sent to the Rampage! Didn’t see that coming… although you all know I was an advocate for another year of college (minimum) or startin in the AHL and building up his strength from the giddyup for our boy. Wayne and Co did the kid a great disservice methinks, waiting this long. Hopefully KT will get mongo TOI and build up his confidence and strength… and help the Rampage stagger into a playoff spot. EDIT: KT is rockin the AHL. Multigoal games, huge TOI minutes and just all around tearin it up. 3 games, 4 goals, 3 assists and a +1!

TGO salary stuff… for those who give a shit and are makin a big deal out of his salary in this financial crisis.

Thanks Teal for the pics… more to come

As always… no matter how low or how high we get… GO COYOTES!

1/2 the road trip is done. we’re basically .500 so far. We’ve got 2 points of 4 available but we kinda screwed the pooch during the Minnesota portion of this swing.

Road trippin Part 1 - Yotes VS Wild

Talk about a rough start. Did we not understand that the puck drop signaled the start of the game? 6 minutes into this one we were down by 2? How does that happen? Well it happens when your forwards stand still and your best defenseman is so damn confused by the musical blueline that he can barely tell where the goalie is supposed to be much less himself. 3 unanswered goals (at this point was I the only one burning incense to the hockey goddess so we wouldn’t get shut out?)and then Lucky Lindy got us on the board finally. (1 - 3 Wild)The first 2 periods looked like school recess field hockey. Even when that 2 many men thang ‘just happened’ to the Wild and of course we managed to blow that opportunity to get back in this one.

So the 3rd period starts pretty much the same way as the first with the Wild nailing us within the 1st minute of play. I can’t begin to describe just how badly we stunk for the first 40 minutes of this game but suddenly we came to life. The Joker answers Koivu’s 3rd period marker in less than 12 seconds and we went on a mini tear dictating the flow of the game and giving the Wild fits. Rhino and Doan connect for another goal to make it a ‘real’ game at 3 - 4 and with 13 minutes left I was soooo sure the boys would at least pull off the tie.

Until we let Cal Clusterbutt sneak past our defenses. (jeebus! anyone but that guy!)(3 - 5 Wild) Did I mention how bad our defense was all night? Even Sheppard gets in on some kick-em-while-their-down action to put the game out of our reach.(3 - 6 Wild) Anyway, we start to lose our cool and Carcillo wants a piece of Kolanos so bad he could almost taste it (Kolanos got away with a lil knee on knee action against DC earlier in the game, then lets an elbow fly) the refs aint havin it (and w/ Kris’ former concussion issues, he was none too eager to get in the way of anything Danny was likely to serve). The Wild decide to play keep away for the rest of the game… and we let ‘em. We leave the Wilds of Minnesota empty handed and owned again. 3 - 6 Wild final

Road Trippin Part 2 - Yotes VS Nucks

But not to despair. We arrive in Vancouver, apparently full of piss n vinegar cuz when the puck drops this time Lucky Lindy is all over Luongo like a bad rash, scoring 5 hole on the rusty goalie in the first minute. Who the hell are these guys wearing our unis? We’ve not had that kinda hot start since Heck was a pup. I wasn’t even through with my first version of the Lindyhop before the resourceful Swede teamed up w/ the Captain again to baffle the Nucks defense and try to destroy Louie’s groinal recovery…on the PP! 2 - 0 Yotes? in the first 1/2 of the 1st period? WTH? And you know what was even more startling than a PP goal? Yandle and Hale lookin like honest-to-god defensemen! Yeah I said it. Before the night was over I was marveling at the 180 performances of the 5th and 5th Dmen.

Read the rest of this entry »

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

Well the changes WG made certainly appeared to work. The Flames had no idea what hit them. Between the pieces falling into place sweetly for the Yotes and the Flames own lack of fire, the boys were really clicking on Tuesday. It will take even more of the same to beat the Canucks tonight.

Physicality and bravado and ingenuity. The boys have their work cut out for them just to be creative enough to get past Luongo. Throw in Davison, Burrows and O’brien for agitation and physical dustups and the road to a win gets just that much tougher. Hopefully Burrows learned the lesson about messin w/ Carci because Davison sure as heck will be after the boy all night. O’brien may be a bit much for Carcillo to chew up and spit out but thats why we have Fridge and Murray or in a pinch… the Doaner.

IDK what the heck TGO is going to do about gettin KT into this hometown game. The philosphy has been that winners keep playing and after the upset that Tuesday’s lineup handed the Flames, surely they deserve to give it another shot tonight. Which would leave KT in the pressbox and I’m pretty sure Wayne and Co. don’t want to do that to the kid. Interesting delimma to have for once (too much talent to leave in the press box) and of course there is the desire to see if KT can come out firing on all cylinders like Mules did last season after a quick stint in the box to get a different view of the Pro game.

Last season we split a 4 game series. For us the Mighty Finn scored 2 GWGs, for them it was Taylor Pyatt. Pyatt is still on their roster but lil Niko Kapanen has moved on from the desert. The Nucks started a bit slow but have been ridin a wavelet created by former Leaf Kyle Wellwood. After winning their last game (against the Predators w/ a stunning shutout) , Vancouver will be looking to build on that success. But we’re coming off an even bigger win (against one of our most pernicious rivals) and hopefully that confidence will give us an edge. Both teams seem to have their main firepower rolling (the Swedish Twins have 3 goals and 8 assists in the last 6 games) and we have finally gotten some production from our big blueliners DMo and Jovo as well as our vet forwards (Doan- 3 goals and 5 assists in 4 games, Rhino- with 7 points in 8 games and Joker w/ 11 points in 10 games). It will come down to a couple of key points.

Secondary scoring - the kids will have to contribute. The Canucks don’t have the depth of weaponry that we do. Boedker, Mueller, Porter and KT (if he is in the lineup) can seriously turn this game on its ear if they get rollin. Somebody pleeeease create some traffic in front of BobbyLou… if he can see you… he can stop you!

Role players - Garth Murray, Danny Carcillo, Todd Fedoruk are going to have their hands full walking that thin line between protection and energy. If they have to drop ‘em, thats fine…can’t let anyone push us around anymore. But they HAVE to avoid the stupid penalties, and the extra box time while making the Canuck agitaters parade to the bin alone if at all possible.

Goalie showdown - Breezy is going up against a proven #1 goalie, Louie doesn’t make many mistakes (3 shut outs so far this season) so Bryz has to be at the top of his form tonight in case it becomes one of those whoever-blinks-first-loses games. As the Yotie billboard used to say… “blinking not recommended”.Coming out ahead against Kipper is one thing, back-to-back top performances, against netminders of this quality, would be simply HUUGE, not only for Breezy’s hutzpah but for the team confidence as a whole.

Discipline - The Canucks can really make a team pay on the PP. We can’t let them have too many chances at it. Our PK team has been solid and is ranked 16th in the league but with Klee playing through a leg injury we don’t want to risk anything by forcing the PK guys to battle very often. STAY OUT OF THE BOX giving the Sedins or Pyatt or even Wellwood free shots at Breezy could prove to be our undoing.

Yotes Notes

Nuck News

Thanks to OdinMercer and CoyoteQ for the graffix

Well … in a rare appearance of our alter egos we go down like the famous and mythical bird that bears our name. Hopefully to rise again in 08 stronger, more resilient, faster and more experienced. Dropping games in ugly succession to the Oil, Nucks and now the Kings… ouch. Barring a miracle of Biblical proportions the boys are now playing for pride, learning and chemistry development.

We got swept by the Oily bohunks. It was ugly, the problem was they are just as fast as we are, they don’t have any BIG stars they too are rolling a lot of small threats every game, their goal tending can be just as streaky as ours. We got caught on days when their goalies were hot as hell(check out Rollie’s stats … some of his best games were against us) and although we tried, we just couldn’t establish OUR tempo and ended up playing to their tune and 1 step behind all 4 games. The last game we actually managed to score more than 2 goals! and managed to keep tying it up too. But as the 4 - 8 score indicates we totally lost our lil minds in the third and left the ice on the ends ot the Oiler’s series brooms.

We also got caught in the Linden backlash. The Canucks got the Gipper speech from Trevor Linden and totally morphed into the Power Puff Girls or something. Suddenly the wonder twins managed to get their rings together and become harder to intimidate and harder to catch, much less hit. Of course we happened to be in full out crapitude mode from our net to our forecheck which is NEVER a good thing.  The 2 goal shuffle we were mired in didn’t help either.

    AP photo

So the last mathematical possibility is just about over and with all of our enemies too far to catch w/ out divine intervention… we faced the Kings to begin our battle back to the team from January (I hope). Booyah! We score 5 goals! The scoring committee was back! Even Rhino found a lil puck sense. (Poor Vrbie is still in the wickedest slump evah!… his agent could just cry right about now) Without Jovo and Hanzal and with Z playing in spite of the fact that he shoulda been nursin a bad wing, we didn’t do too bad. The new King’s goalie Ersberg is amazing. No wonder the Kings are playing with renewed vigor and confidence. If he had been in net at the season start those boys mighta had a real good shot at a run. So anyway… the Kings finally get by us 5 - 6 final after a shoot out… poor Telly he just seems to get caught in those long running shoot em ups.

But at least these 3 losses did not go for nought. With the playoffs out of reach maybe reality can set back in and we can get back to Plan A - the rebuild. I hope the plans for the off season include a little chat w/ the people responsible for the referees about some fairness and safety for Carci.

    AP photo

I mean this is becoming ridiculous, foolish and is definitely buffoonish. Calling the kid for everything under the sun is one thing, calling the kid for majors no one has ever seen b4 is another,  but letting the kid get beat to death is a whole nother story.

     AP photo

The refs are supposed to be fair and objective, the arbitrators of fair play. Instead they are turning into vindictive and petty dictators who skew the games due to a predjudice that has no place in their calls.

Who is looking forward to a delicious Duck dinner? I know I am… without all this white out talk getting in the way, maybe the boys can get their teeth into some good old fashioned hockey again. Coyotes style. Forechecking, (hip checking too please Bally), scoring committee, Breezalicious, Coyotes style hockey. Play hard, get deep and score like Hiller is made of cream cheese!

Go Coyotes!

~pics from BTinAZ~

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bleedintealinaz/sets/72157604153391788/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bleedintealinaz/sets/72157604189002148/

onyxstarr@coyoteshipcheck.com

We are on a mini-roll. Ducks n Nucks down. This was a classic example of how we CAN play. How we SHOULD play every single game.

Starting from the net out, every single player brought their A game. (ok, some players have more of an A game to bring but that is besides the point) they all brought their best from lil Hoss to NickyB there wasn’t a slacker in da house that I could see.

High points:

Daniel wild child Carcillo - (there will be links at the bottom of the page to justify this). DC was on the prowl from the minute the puck dropped. Toc kept the leash on until the right moment.

Burrows deserved every punch DC landed on him. The wild child not only put a lid on the twerp who was huntin our top sniper, he definitely pumped up a ready- to- get- crazy crowd to levels not usually seen or heard at the Job. DC gave the Yotes their sixth man home crowd and stopped the Canucks lil intimidation bid in its tracks.

Marty too hot Hanzal - playing with a sore groin, assisting on both goals, shutting down the Sedins (especially the steal from Henrick) that scissor pass was one of the prettiest of the season. Sheesh just wait til that kid fills out… totally unstoppable.

Daniel cookie monster Winnick - he always seems to know exactly where mama hides the cookies. Lately Winnie has just been a force to be reckoned with and is not inconsistant in his defensive play whatsoever. (other guys have an off night and Dwin doubles his efforts) Amazing kid.

Niko lil ninja Kapanen - amazing how many times the opportunistic lil Finn shows up at just the right moment. The Mighty Finn has a nose for the loose puck. (maybe he’s just so much closer to ice level than everyone else) Niko can certainly put the biscuit in the basket and doesn’t get nearly enough love.

Illya i am a horse Bryzgalov - the boy may act crazy off the ice, but he plays totally insane on it and that is what counts. Breezy was in full force field mode. The guy is simply unbeatable when firing on all cylinders. Bryz! only faced 24 sogs… (and truthfully only a few were quality, since the forecheckers and blueliners were stellar) but no softies, no real bobbles on anything at all. Just WOW!

I am resolving not to bag on Yentle and Special Ed. They had a few miscues but more than made up for them with solid performances throughout the night. They get a pass from me because they were leading with their hearts and that has to count big.

The rest of the blueline were… well the best they have been all season. Shutting down, holding the line, getting shots (those boys accounted for 18 of the sogs) which made Louie scramble like a mad fiend all night.

Speaking of Lou… amazing freakin goalie… simply amazing (love ours more… but still) stopped 43 of 45 shots. And some of those shots woulda been guaranteed goals against any other net minder. So props to you big guy… your team hung you out like mildewed sheets.

Who the hell pissed in Vbrat’s cheerios? He wasn’t akin no shit from Burrows or anyone else. Whe is the last time you saw Verbie in the box? He is shooting again (5sogs) and its only a matter of time before he gets his groove back.

Still impressed with Lisin, that fly away and consequent post ping shows me he is on the door step can’t wait til he pots one… (hmmmm, maybe Sat against the Oil, they don’t have anyone who can keep up with the lil jetstream do they?)

We outplayed these guys. Out shot, out hit, outfought, outblocked and just plain old wanted the 2 points more than they did. lead on Captain Doan, the boys are right behind you. And your sixth man is too… Can’t wait to get to the rink, blinky (geeky) glasses, bigger signs and megaphone at the ready.

Let’s Go Coyotes! One game at a time.

 ~photos by BTinAZ~

onyxsarr@coyoteshipcheck.com

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/0314coyotes-ON.html

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=492328

http://coyotes.nhl.com/team/app?gameNumber=1070&gameType=2&page=Recap&season=20072008&service=page

http://www.onefansperspective.com/2008/03/coyotes-win-two-in-row-at-home.html

Everyone knows how important this game is to both teams. We are both battling for the same rung. VAN got smacked by the Ducks last night and still sit at 80 points. We whipped the Ducks on Tuesday and sit at 75 points. How huge is this game? Think Godzilla of the season. If we can move within 1 of NSH and within 3 of VAN we are going to be in prime position for a hard push to that 8th or even that 7th spot (MIN has hit a bit of a rough patch lately).

Keys to this game?

Discipline! The Canuckleheads have been involved in about 9 or so brawls this season. We can’t get drawn in by their antics. If we gotta chuck ‘em let’s make sure we pick our battles carefully. Wellie and Carci need to watch their backs. (Carci! if it’s Bieksa… let Wellie handle it please!) NickyBoy, keep a lid on it, we need some of those big hits of yours tonight and some further exhibits of excellent pinching.

Special teams! will be invaluable in this one. We need to be creative and patient on the PP …. and I’ve said it multiple times… defensively aware! Our shortie against record is abysmal. We have to stop handing these opponents free shots at our goalies from our slovenly PP maneuvers. The PKers better be really sharp tonight… got a feeling they are gonna get a LOT of work. This team gets chippy rather quickly and we have a tendency to fall short in the critical last minutes of periods.

Net minders! no matter who is in, I have faith. But seriously, Breezy, can we just pretend on that softy? I mean, just pretend you let it in and DON’T. That way you can just have that spectacularly tight game, all game, instead of being brilliant right after the ugly one gets by you. In this game 1 goal may just be enough, so just say NO to softies.

Essentials! Another big night from the blueline and the BigKidz is essential. A few blueline canons would be sweet but I will settle for the BigKidz shutting down those geeky assed twins and the blueline to get the puck outta our freakin zone when it counts.

Yandle… for the sake of my bleeding eyes please, if you get scared, nervous, panicked, whatever, do NOT put another damn pass accross your own crease, for the love of god, bounce a board or behind the net but NOT 2 feet in front of the damn goalie! (rookie mistake my ass people, he’s made that blunder enough times to know better by now).

This is THE night… if the big guns can’t get rollin for this one I will be severely disappointed. Vbrat has broken his cold streak with that SO goal, hopefully the kid has a hot streak comin on, he does seem to score in bunches. Donor is back, second game in which we’ve seen Capt Clutch get his crazy on. (bajeebus! does the guy have a shot or what?) Rhino? Rhino? hellooooo? Step up! want the puck! (Show us some more of that crafty face off, shifty crash the net, elder statesman magic, you keep tantalising us with).

If the big guns (Hi Peter!) can keep us on the board with an answer to what the Nucks manage to get past Bryz! the rest of the committee is more than capable of getting the insurance. (Hi Enver! I got a feelin … tonight is your night lil guy!)  But it all has to start with the big boys leading the charge. ummm and I sure as hell don’t mind playing with a lead all game… as long as we keep our foot on the gas all 60 minutes.

LET’S GO COYOTES!!!!!

onystarr@coyoteshipcheck.com

Didn’t I tell you the Oil game was a hiccup? Well didn’t I? Glad to see around the web that we all hung in with our boys. Very few naysayers came out of the woodwork. (and they were mostly the ID10T types anyway… so I paid no attention to their prattling). Simply freakin AMAZING! THIS is what we have come to expect from the boys. There was determination, sacrifice, hard work, loyalty, discipline and heroics throughout the entire game.

Bobby Lou wasn’t in the net, ma and Pinky and da Brain weren’t able to take over the Coyotes much less the world. But the video sure is entertaining.

Bryz! not a great game, but our boy provided the big ones when he had to and gave the guys every opportunity to stay in this one. Breezy has only had 2 bad games for us. He inexplicably lost his focus in the Chicago and Oilers games but both times the big guy has come back strong. The team understands and does not waiver in their belief in their main netminder, he seriously repaid that trust in the last 5 minutes with big stops. (and with Telly providing simply awesome back up, their belief is very valid).

Ed ‘ something special - in a good way this time’ Jovanovski. I have no words. The guy was phenomenal. You wanna talk about poise and discipline? Talk to Jovocop. (oh yeah, I am using his nickname with pride today) cuz he righteously earned it in this game. Not only the biggest hits we’ve seen since he joined the squad *but a whole LOT of them* and to be able to stand, arms at his side while Cowan plowed into him? Well I know I couldn’t have done it. I was almost ready to give up on the guy after predicting a huge season for him (just pointin it out b4 you guys blast me from a few posts ago) but Jovo stepped up and nailed the PP goal after drawing Cowan into the 4 minute dumbest penalty of the night.

Niko ‘little Ninja’ Kapanen. The lil Finn was simply stunning tonight. Kapi has gotten hot lately on the scoreboard but for those of us who keep an eye on him he is always brilliant with the small things. I can’t help but admire a guy with such a fierce will to play this game despite all the expert reasoning why he shouldn’t be able to compete, much less make such a huge difference. That goal was a symphony of soft hands. Can’t go there without just flat out, crushing, on Dwin’s flat on his back pass to Doan to set up Kapi’s goal. Nice to have Wellie back workin hard and givin DWin room to run.

Bally and Dmo are having the season. Continuously matched against the opponent’s top guns, these guys are the ultimate, shut down offense killers. Mo has been spectacular all season and Bally is coming on so strong offensively as well as playin lights out on the line. What about my boy? Has anyone seen that much intensity out of Z before? I have never seen him be the aggressor in an altercation. Last night he acted like he had 20 more pounds on him and at least 3 inches in height. Shovin Kesler back off his goalie and actually lookin like he might whup some hiney.

What the hell kinda koolaid is Wayne servin the Dmen in between periods? Nick ‘badass’ Boynton has been playing like he invented the ‘new’ NHL. The old scorin and roarin Boynk has been playing lately. I have been a proponent of Boynk for his tough loyalty in protecting the guys but I never really expected any production out of him. Man was I off *mea culpa*. And while I am droolin on about blueliners we gotta take a good long look at the newest member of our production rookies, Keith Yandle. How much difference his aggression from the back end makes every single game.

Although Rhino, TQ and the VHS were quiet goal-wise, don’t overlook them… we tend to do that with York too (The Peppermint had a fine game tonight as well) these guys were flat out hustling and softening up Sanderson every chance they got.

Last bit of gushing praise. Joel ‘been replaced by a REAL hockey player’ Perrault! I mean c’mon… the KID was softer than charmin and skinny as a willow twig last year. The MAN is a whole other story. JoelP has been hittin, scrappin, scorin and is actually defensively responsible this season… its either the koolaid … or the pod theory.

MULES! gettin the party started right… again.

Damn our Captain is workin his butt off out there! Mediating (keepin the lid on the Joves), setup man (300th assist tonight), defender (jumps in from center ice to backup Z when it looked to turn ugly) and don’t forget that off the ice he made sure to make some very sick kid’s day. What a guy!

We roll 4 lines deep, 2 superior quality goalies and the Great One makin his coaching bones. Anything can happen this season and pretty much has. Missed you all at the Half Moon Cafe, good food, good friends and good game. I am one seriously happy fanatic right now.

~photos from various AP sources~