Soooo we’re what? 3 for 40 on the power play now? Is this where I cry like a freakin baby? How bout I just whine like Syd (its just as loud and annoying) Are we allergic to big games? Maybe a lil stage fright? Maybe we’re better at home cuz its quieter there and they can think and not play panic hockey?

IDk what the deal is but I’d be willing to bet we wouldn’t be havin a billion and 5 too-many-men penalties if the lines were a lil more consistent. C’mon, I KNOW they’re professionals but get real, if they have some kind of an idea who they are playing with, who they shift after etc it would be a boon. Nothing lasts long with TGO, if you play well, he takes the hot guy away from the line to jumpstart another line, if you aren’t clicking, he mixes you up to try to get something going. How the hell are you supposed to get chemistry with that shit happening every 32 seconds?

The PK was not its usual solid self. The first period they held the Quacks off fine. But on the 2 many men fiascos, the Ducks scored against both PK lines (Klee/Dmo AND Z/Sauer). “Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said the first penalty was “confusion on the defensive part” and the second was a player thinking another had come off when he hadn’t. “I guess that happens sometimes and it happened to us twice tonight,” Gretzky said.” Oh for the love of Ivy, Wayne… that doesn’t wash in peewees much less at this level… own your juggling ass mistakes. Sure part of it is the guys but make it easy on everyone and friggin show some patience.

“Bryzgalov was frustrated by the two times Phoenix was called for too many men on the ice, both proving to be costly mistakes.” YA Think? Of course he was frustrated but he still held his own and played a good game. “We are not playing for the first time. This is not our first game,” Bryzgalov said. “It’s one thing when you save a breakaway and you get the penalty. It’s another when you get it for nothing.”

And before I continue to bitch about not showin up for this HUGE games, WTF? no TV? again? Is it me or does it feel like we’re gettin less TV time for away games this season? I understand the local blackouts (hie thee to the local arena if you want to watch) but the away fans don’t even have that option so the NHL gains nothing from the blackout of the away city. So why?

Now because we couldn’t SEE the game, its hard to judge our effort tonight. We didn’t get to see the guys who don’t score a ton but contribute so hard in other ways and help the gunners do their jobs. But judging by what I heard, we didn’t have it tonight. When Bryz is the only reason the Ducks didn’t run us over and leave us as road kill, it had to look as bad as it sounded. Heeter is a good PbyP guy and if there was something to be found he’d have told us about it.

Gunning for 2nd place in the division and a solid 6th spot in the west and we can’t get up for it? Where the hell is the leadership? Where are the competent coaches pushing the right buttons and gettin the guys prepared for the damn-near-playoff type atmosphere? These kids have no clue what its like. Time for Steven Reinprecht, Olie Jokinen, Edward Jovanovski to step up and lead by example (yes, if I knew their middle names I woulda used the whole thing in my best Mom is really pissed voice) There are too many games where Doan has to carry the whole team on his back. He can’t keep doin that on his own. The kids have been doin most of the heavy lifting in our wins, that has to stop too. DMo? DMo? where the hell is your shot boy?

When a team is getting the kind of goaltending we have been getting there is no excuse for not giving at least a competent showing. Not to take anything away from young Jonas Hiller (who sounded like he was awesome tonight) but when we face a team as wounded as the Ducks (no Perry, no Selanne) this shoulda been a walk in the park rather than a walk over broken glass. Danny practically gets decapitated and we can’t take advantage of a 4 minute PP?

Okay I am done ranting like a freakin banshee. We need to find a fix for our totally sour power play… and we need to find it fast. The schedule isn’t going to get any easier in the next few weeks. 1/2 the games are away games and our road record is becoming abysmal. (6-11-3) and facing {MIN/VAN/CGY/EDM/SJS} in the next 10 games is not going to help those numbers. 4 of the next homers are almost as bad including our uber nemesis CHI and DET. In fact all of Jan and Feb look like a cluster waiting to happen. We better find some consistency and get a faceoff coach and concentrate on our power play every chance we get. Trust me, its easier to defend a playoff spot than to climb into one.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020581

God I love Coyotes hockey… even when it makes me want to spork out my own eyes.

We got to sit on the glass on Z’s side of the rink. What a freakin rush! This game had a lil bit of everything. Fast paced non stop action and a chalupa at the end! The 5 - 4 score doesn’t tell the tale at all in this win.

The Islanders came to visit and I practically chewed my nails to the quick worrying about Dipietro’s ability to give his team that big edge with his puck handling. Dip is one of the best in the league at providing that outlet jump from the net.

I settled down pretty quickly when we jumped out to the 1 - 0 lead on the stick of Tiki’s sick goal. Walk in low, deke, slither, backhand, score! Very sweet! We have good numbers when drawing first blood (11-6-1 when scoring the first goal of the game). Then it took the Isles almost 8 minutes to answer it on Bergheim’s wrister. But by that point we couldn’t seem to get the hang of fighting off the NYI’s triangular zone entry. Some big hits were bein thrown but the boys weren’t limiting the Isles chances very well (13 - 10 sogs in favor of NYI) OhHale took a borderline interference penalty (ok he interfered but he didn’t inhale) but Campoli dorked out with a hold to give us a break and a 4 on 4 situation. We took serious advantage and in the waning seconds drew a delayed call. Guess the proof is in the pudding… Z is hella dangerous back on the blue if the boys will just fraggin look up and pass. My baby boy grabbed the lead back for us with that new slap shot of his. 2 - 1 Yotes into the first intermission. (yes that was me wobblin the glass almost off its moorings in section 113… I’ll probably be banned from glass seats now, but I don’t care)

The second period was pretty good too. The captain scored one of those odd angle shots that have been making regular appearances for us lately. Rhino got his 200th point on the assist. Of course the second period was also the start of a very rough night for Tim Jackman who took a deliberate swing (apparently trying for Jovo) and hit Telly in the head, knocking him over and tweaking his helmet. The entire crowd began to religiously boo everytime Jackass touched the puck. The team should have drawn straws and decided who was gonna take that asshat behind the woodshed. He deserved it. And the refs who missed it? Should be sentenced to watch that clip over and over and over, maybe next time they see a goalie gettin roughed up they’ll call something.

The third period started out fantastic as the Joker put away a classic rebound goal in the first 5 minutes. But Josh Bailey answered it in less than a minute with his first NHL goal. But still, 4 - 2 in our favor was quite impressive. Lucky Lindy stole a puck and went down to on the breakaway to give Dip a lil 5 hole misery and get us our 3 goal lead back. Apparently we then went into a coma. (they really gotta stop indulging in these rest periods) Z made a rare miscue in challenging Richard Park on his entry into our zone, Park was flat out flying and got by Z to pop Telly and get back within striking distance. 5 - 3 Yotes. The entire crowd and the teams take a moment to celebrate Doug Weight’s 1000th NHL point (Weight joins a short but illustrious list of American born players to hit that bench mark). Apparently we still don’t take Richard Park seriously… Park pretty much ‘parked’ his ass off of Telly’s weak side and slammed home a snap shot that could’ve cost us the game with a little more time left in the period.

But hey, landmark game for the Isles with lil Josh Bailey’s first marker and Doug Weight’s entry onto the list of elite American born offensemen.Landmark game for us as well since we moved into a serious tie with ANA for 6th spot in the conference and a secondary tie for 2nd in the Pacific division!And Z celebrated his 300th NHL game with a goal, an assist and 2 blocked shots.

Stars of the game…Telly, Tiki and my baby boy with the 1st STAR!!! Go Z!!!

We face the Quackers tomorrow. Probably one of the most important games of the season. We win… we strut home in 2nd place for the Pacific and 6th place in the conference… not too shabby for the underdawgs. If we lose… we don’t fall, but rather, we hang about in neutral since the closest team to us can’t gain enough points to screw up our 7th place strangle hold.

See more of Teal’s pics

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 I know its too early to rate performances and waaay too early to start predicting how well we are going to perform for the season, but come on! you know we are all in heaven so far as the Yotes come out scrappin and yappin in 08.

We are 2 - 0 for a fantastic start. 1 home and 1 away winning game under our belt. Nerves and jitters for both rookies and vets are settling down now. KT and Bodz both grabbed their first NHL goals (Bodz with extreme patience and KT with dogged perserverance). I got a feeling Tiki and Ports won’t be far behind as both are also playing extremely well.

The vets are no slouches either as the wiley Rhino leads the Coyotes with a +4 and 3 assists but we have 6 players w/ multiple points and 12 players w/ at least 1 point under their belt. Mad Max Doan has been on and poppin anyone that takes a shot at one of his charges. What is even more exciting is seeing them so gelled, that no matter who gets a liberty taken against them… someone is watching and payback is guaranteed. From Hale to Jovo retribution is swift and as painful as the punisher can make it.

Bryz Ga Lov! Bryz Ga Lov! oh yeah the main dude in charge of the nets has only let in 3 for 64! Very nice start for our Breezy. If he can keep his concenration tight this is going to be the best start the Yotes have had in a very long time.

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We have all come to know and love the little legless wonder. But now Pierre the hockey fanatic snowman seems to have hit the big time.

Running for President in 2008 and doing his best to spread the Pierreocratican Party message through out the land.

You know he’s hit the big time when Coyotes fans have embraced him as their avatar on boards around the country, when people are discussing the genius behind the plan and when… fans begin to make their own Pierre ads and Youtubes.

Oh yeah… Pierre has hit the bigtime…

Pierre Smear Campaign

Be sure to check out Pierre’s campaign website at Pierre08.com

Now back to regular hockey thoughts and news…. (dont forget to vote in our poll on the blog page…)

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Well we had them almost to the chopping block to end the season on a high note but we sorta let our foot off their necks and they got away. The Ducks win in shootout 3 - 2 final. But man what a game by Turris and Carcillo! The two young guns put on a serious show.

DC and his new cohorts in offense KT and Mules, lit the Ducks up for first blood and then DC combined w/ Vrbie and DMo for another tally in the third period. Mostly it was the Yotes all the way but we got a lil happy feet and let them back in the game midway through the third when Kunitz and Ryan exploded within 2 minutes of each other.

Poor DMo scored just seconds off the buzzer going off, it didn’t count! So we ended up goin all the way to a shootout. Which was good and bad. There was nothing on the line so giving up the 2 goal lead (and the shutout bid) didn’t hurt so much and the opportunity to see the ‘other’ Kid in the shootout was priceless.

Bryz! had already handled way more Duck shots than he’s used to us allowing (40 sogs before the SO) and he wasnt as patient as he probably should been allowing both Kunitz and Selanne to score. Mules shot wide and we needed to score to stay in it. No pressure right? *cue choirs of Hosannas* Kyle Turris in his first NHL shoot out…can anyone say pressure?

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Well Saturday we were left all cold and hungry at the Job. Promises of Duck soup went unfufilled as the boys ignored our Oliverian pleas for more. 2 - 1 Ducks final. The Hanson Brothers were signin autographs and apparently picked up another member of the family.

As Carci shows Sutherby a rousing old fashioned desert Hanson welcome.

The Ducks didn’t have many sogs (15 total for the entire night… ugly, especially when added to the fact that the Sharks held them shotless for the entire 3rd period the night b4). We doubled that at 31 but unfortunately 5 of those were Teemu’s and 2 of them went in. The first one was an especially ugly moment for me as my baby boy gave up the puck to Bertuzzi (who ranks really high on my list of ick factor players) Big Bird sent Tee on a tearing breakaway to beat Bryz! on the backhand.

The second one was one of those shots that make Selanne… well Selanne. A PP goal that I’m sure Breezy would love to have back. Our PP lit Hiller up only once on the Jovo boomer. (1 for 5 just sucks, but at least it kept us from having duckegg on our face).

Without Jiggy, Perry and Getzlaf the Ducks should have been an easier meal… but they stayed ahead of us in puck possession/faceoffs/blocked shots and hits… becoming the eater rather than the eatee LOL ah well, we’ve won 5 of the 7 meetings so far and hopefully the boys will be able to bring us a season ending victory on the Pond for our last game of 08.

So we turned our sights to the sushi bar and all you can eat buffet. Nice of Wilson to deliver way out to the Job eh?

The Sharks came in on an incredible streak of heat. Those boys started gettin hot at probably the penultimate time of the season (8-0-2 in the last 10). Their Captain, Pretty Patty was havin a slump of epic proportions and Cheech had left over injuries from last season and required a good talking to from Papa Cheech to get his act together. But add them to Big JoeT and the fish have been taking big chunks out of both conferences.

Lucky for us Nabby wasn’t having the best of days and our boyos chummed the water up pretty good in this shark hunt. They bloodied the top carp w/ 4 nice goals, including a shortie!… (damn its nice NOT to be on the receiving end of one of those). Nabby was pulled after the 4th goal and our old friend Brian Boucher took over the SJ net.

We scored first blood in the second period and proceeded to build up to a nice 3 - 0 lead (DMo, Envy and Donor)…then took a few too many penalties, ending up 3 on 5 which let the finned ones back into the game (BigJoe and Pickles took advantage of our inattention to make it 3 - 2).

Rhino shook off his own slump to make it a 2 goal cushion again but Big Joe was hot on the trail and tied up the game with his hattie. 4 - 4 we’re goin to OT (Sharks hit 100 points for their conf standings)

We went back to war with bated breath… and Hanzal was sooo hot… nailing Bouche for the OT win. 5 - 4 final.

Highlights of the night… DC on the breakaway, he didn’t score but it sure was pretty… especially comin on the heels of a …. wait for it… PIM free game for the boy. Not sayin he didn’t have a couple of close calls (which the refs didn’t jump on the whistle for as others were doin the same things)… but on the whole DC played and let Wellie do the heavy lifting.

Wellie went toe-to-toe w/ Douglas Murray… or was that fist-to-face? The first punch buckled Murray’s knees but he gamely fought on… Match to Wellie but kudos to Douggernaught for hanging that long (not many people survive being Wellerized).

And the effervescent TQutie leading the JR sucks chants as well as all the pervasive JR sucks signs strewn willynilly throughout the arena were also a favorite *hey! I didn’t like him when he was here… I didn’t like him when he left and i still don’t like the putz so don’t blame me for enjoying the homage to his suckiness*.

We went down to a backstage pass afterwards and got all kinds of nice pics… most of the Finfolks were still nice, in spite of the loss… especially Coach Wilson, Marleau and JoeT. Bouche signed Spencer’s pic commemorating his shutout feat. Our guys were fabulous as usual, including Toc.

Ducks and Sharks and Backstage Pics courtesy of BTinAZ - more in her gallery on the paparazzi page too

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bleedintealinaz/sets/72157604233571690/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bleedintealinaz/sets/72157604275384892/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bleedintealinaz/sets/72157604280104265/

I am running out of ways to serve duck… we may have to resort to some kinda salad for the next 2 whippings. 5 - 1 against the Quackers now and we show no signs of stopping. Simply amazing come from behind win. Hey Wayne… keep ‘em in different hotels for every home game… if you run outta places I will even volunteer my place if it will help!

I cannot say enough about Winnick… from training camp to last night that kid just has no quit. Game after game, shift after shift he does what every hockey player ’should’ by giving 110% . He doesn’t get enough credit for being the lynchpin of that big line. Hanzal and Weller too but Daniel… just amazing, especially for a 9th round pick.

Lisin has finally gotten it. (I have not been his biggest supporter in the past). Seriously thought he wouldn’t be ready until 09-10 or so but last night changed my mind. If that kid can start finding the back of the net and get a bit of confidence he will surely be a staple on our offense next season. It wasn’t all about the flashy speed last night… the kid was defensively responsible, drew penalties, stood up to Pronger like nobody’s business (although I was screamin ‘get the hell outta there before that monster eats you!’) Envy shoved back with no signs of fear and held his ground just fine. Several very close chances at the back of the net too.

WOW! Doan! Just … wow! What a freakin shot that guy has. Good thing that didn’t connect w/ Jiggy’s head… I think it woulda knocked him the hell out. Desperate and crazy gets it done for our Captain and again he leads the way to victory.

Just when I was ready to hop over the glass and choke Yentle into next week, the boy goes and scores the most timely goal ever, to tie up the game. With Bally (finally getting to play forward… THANX TOC! and setting up an awesome screen) Yandle blasts a roof ripper past the totally blinded Jiggy and let us stagger into OT. *and the celebration was tres cool too!*

(Bally plays D, 2nd goalie and now forward… just … wow! what next Bally?)

The OT! shorthanded even! Hanzal! Winnie! Blueline monster elite core! Just superb.

The SO… *poor Burke, trying to find a solution to Bryz! w/ BigBird, Marchant  and  Prongless* No dice. Vrrrrbata! skipping past the bing and straight to the backhand BOOM! 3 - 2 Yotes… final. (ok Vbrat you can start your next hot streak now that the ice is broken).

Every single player gave something extra in this game. (Yorkie w/ 100% between the dots and a blocked shot, lil Hoss with 3 big hits)

(Hanzal and Wellie combining with Dwin to make the Duck’s top line a non factor) (my boy Z with the outlet passes, 3 blocks and 4 sogs) (DMo w/ 3sogs and 3 blocks) Damn I could go on all day with the contributions.

Telly is the ultimate in uber cool celebrations in wins like these, Breezy is like a 5 year old in a candy shop, hoppin and shouting and giddy.

After the softy (sometimes you need that stick there Breezy) Bryz! tightened up and slammed the door on his former bretheren. Awesome bit of focus and tenacity from the big Russian.

We walk away with 2 points. Heads up, pride oozing from every pore and ready to stay in this hunt until hell freezes over. I am so proud of this team I have no words to describe how this win, on home ice, after being down, makes me feel.

~photos from Emmanuel Lozano/The Arizona Republic  and the AP~

Let’s Go Coyotes!

onyxstarr@coyoteshipcheck.com

It all came down to this

But let me start the tale from the beginning. First you preheat the oven… oh wait that’s a recipe … hmm maybe it is a rather auspicious start to this entry.

We finally got to see a matchup between Jiggy and Bryz! It was worth the price of admission. The ReNiedermayer’d Ducks weren’t as hard to beat as I thought would be the case. Nieds is still a bit rusty and actually made a few huffs.

The Ducks have made a living (and a religion) out of intimidation and physically manhandling (legal and dirty) the opposition. Tonight it didn’t work. Joel Perrault refused to be scared and spent a whole lotta of the game in Jiggy’s kitchen huntin for cookies while Gappy , I meant Pronger smacked him around. Prongs played nasty all night, kickin TQ in the shin pads and cross checks to the chests of various players after the whistle. All to no avail. How can you be afraid of a guy that looks like a young Andy Griffiths around the mouth? Oh yeah easy if he’s towering above you by 1/2 a foot… but not JoelP (kid might have a death wish, as much as he messed w/ Gappy).

The scoring went like this:

The Perry/Getzlaf duo gets loose in the first 3 minutes. 1 - 0 Ducks. We battle the rest of the period trying to answer it. The Ducks make us look like toddlers trying to get to the stairs around mom’s legs. We really battle hard but just can’t catch a break. Not even on the single PP that we get. There are chances, fairly decent chances, hell, we outshot them 14 - 9. But we get denied. The big highlight was Dwin’s hit on Huskins, Winnie knocks the stuffin outta that Duck. And who can believe the play where the puck went off of York and bounced off the inside of the post *rode the line all the way across the net* and Bryz! scooped it out and back into play! Just wow! Our goalie has mad skillz (and is a lucky summaB too).

So we come out in the second and within 2 minutes the big PM sets up his Captain for one of the prettiest wristers ever released by the Donor (this was one of those whole body wristers you gotta see to appreciate). 1 - 1 game. Unfortunately the Quacks would answer it almost immediately from a really ugly turnover by Wellie to Kunitz. Weight tipped in on the ensuing shot by Kunitz. *the puck was hoppin and caught air over our crappy ice and right over Bryz! * 2 - 1 Ducks.   sighhhh (I have heard a silly rumor… that fans complained so much about the temperature n the arena that the place is warmer than is good for the ice surface. Thus helping to exacerbate the crapitude of our playing surface……. ummmm bring one of the multitudenous fleece blankies they have given you oh nancy fanbase and shut yer pie hole. Good ice = better play and less chance of player injury and is more important than your chillblanes) I digress.

As much as I love to complain about the refs I gotta really raise my bitching to a new level for this period. McGeough was here… (do I REALLY need to say any more than that?) and we get back to back calls. One call so obscure that even the most knowledgable fan was left scratching their heads. Rule 68 somehow was ressurrected from the dead. (no TV coverage so I can’t replay this one multiple times until I can tell you what exactly precipitated this one) but after Bally’s interference penalty was up, young JoelP was in the box for a bench minor titled illegal substitution (I thought I had mistakenly twightlight zoned into a Cardinal’’s game). Luckily no feathered fiends are able to break our intrepid Pkers. Then to make up for the heinous rule 68 debacle, the Birds get to penalties back to back… 2 wrongs do NOT make a right but our fierce blueline maniacs go ballistic as Ballard feeds Morris left to right and DMo spies the local wild life (Rhino) lurking and sends him the sweetest cross ice pass and of course the Rhino gets Jiggy with it. 2 - 2 game on the PP! no less.

There are more penalties and shenanigans through the next 26+ minutes but nothing phases the 2 netminders. It is a battle of wills at this point. Who will blink first? Well… neither and we headed to OT. We outshoot them again in the 3rd (10 - 5)  but Jiggy makes some hella fine saves.

OT is a really safety first kind of affair. Both teams taking only the meagerest of shooting chances 2 sogs for them and 2 for us. Neither goalie gives an inch. We are going to the shootout.

SO brings its own risks but the rewards so far have fallen on our side of the fence and tonight was no exception.

Todd Bertuzzi  forced wide no dice as the Bryz! wips him with the stick sweep.

Peter ’shootout money’ Mueller shows Jiggy a new dance step, low, stick side shuffle. Open hole , insert puck!

Ryan Getzlaf loses the puck on his fake, kicks it up and Bryz! denies the weak effort.

Radim ‘insert multiple I’m not worthys here’ Vrbata switches from his patented forehand , backhand, high shot in favor of a glove high shot and Jiggy denies him.

Brandon Bochenski (a player Bryz! has not faced before) game breaker here - goes straight in and Bryz! just flicks his measly try away.

We get some extra points, celebrate tastefully, digest the Ducks and spit out the pinfeathers as we leave the ice to prepare for the road. The atmosphere was simply ELECTRIC most of the night… 16,000 plus in attendance, not bad Phoenix, let’s keep up the support.

The radio guest was Mathias Tjarnqvist. TQ has a funny, modest charm to him. For bein such a ferocious beast on the PK and as much shut down work as he gets, that is one shy lil Swede. At one point he bleeps himself instead of using the F bomb and then in rebuttal to Sjo’s NY resolution for him lets loose with a lil cussin. Too damn funny (see Mattie, we all let them slip past us some times)

~photos by BTinAZ~ another fine job by our Andie

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9302501@N02/sets/72157603656915071/

The Ducks were a wee bit dessicated while waiting for Nieds and Selanne to make up their freakin minds about retirement. Not to say they were a bad team, just not the hard charging monster core of 06. We whupped ‘e w/ out Bryz! and we sit 3 - 1 in the series right now. The Ducks are comin in on a 2 game winning streak and we are comin in on a 3 including some home ice success.

Now with the return of Nieds they have gone 6 - 3 - 1 in the last 10 games  compared to our last 10 at 7 - 2  - 1.  Jiggy has a touch of the flu and Hilly battled the Hawks and barely escaped w/ all his pin feathers. This should be a very good game as we may finally see the much anticpated Jiggy VS Breezy showdown.

Vbrat has been on one of his tears and the VHS line is on and poppin lately. The return of Wellie means that 2/3 of the BigKids line should be crease campin and some large screens can be erected in front of JS. The only fly in the soup could be that the Donor isn’t back yet *game time decision* which might leave the big PM w/out a dance partner again. Hopefully Rhino is still giving introductions to who is who in the zoo. He has been bargin in all over the place and announcing himself w/ multiple points.

With Nieds and that tall, gap toothed dude on the blue, the Ducks are gonna be severely limiting our neutral zone rushes. They don’t mind close, tight, boring games at all. In fact they love to tie ya up and then steal some extra points (look at their points from last season!) They have that maneuver down to a science. Getsalaugh has about 43 points and Perisite has about 33 followed by that dude with the goofy gap at 31, everyone else appears to be scoring by opportunity or from gimmees. So lets buckle down and not let the terrible trio have nuthin and make those perimeter scorers a non issue. Cover the back door weak side and stay in Pronger’s space as much as possible (w/ out gettin hit by that friggin boomer of his).

Let’s face it. Gettin Jiggy wit it is sooo 07. This is the year of the Bryz! and we got it goin on out here in the desert. Come join us. Long sleeve Tshirt night and all the Duck you can chew *they are some tough old birds… bring your good teeth*