It was officially a streak for real folks. No I ain’t talkin about some freak named Zeke, cavorting across a soccer field bare assed. I’m talking about the Phoenix Coyotes knocking off 5 opponents in a row! It was sweet. We are now 6 - 1 - 1 after we got tripped up by those pesky Kings and  the wounded but uber dangerous Ded Thangs.

W – Dallas – 5 – 2 -we beat the perennial playoff hounds. They are paarlaying loser points into another hunt for Lord Stanley but we’re denying them every chance we get and staying on the trail right with them.

W – Anaheim – 3 – 2 -we showed them the door too, another playoff monster that thrives on loser points paving their path to the post season. No soup for you only Duck soup for us!

W – Calgary 2 – 1 – scary buncha guys (Joker is still scary even when he isn’t scoring). Thought they would take us out behind the woodshed, glad we were able to not only hang with them but to show them the united pack smack down (damn you former Coyotes for giving so much more to the Flames than us).

W – Ottowa 3 – 2 – I guess having their own Michalek didn’t help. Ours may not score as much but preventing scoring apparently is even better! Go Z!

W – Minnesota 2 – 0- silly elves, this is our year dammit, don’t go away mad… just go away. (see other entry for full disclosure)

OTL – Los Angeles 3 – 2 – damn you Wayne Simmons, your dream just may come true. One of the very last teams I wanted to share points with. But gotta give the Princelings their due, just like us and Colorado, the basement kids are coming into their own finally.

W – San Jose 2 – 1 – Wow! I realize Marty owns Big Joe and Z pretty much owns Pretty Patty but can I say wow again or is that too much? Every time they play each other I have an insane urge to put on a life jacket sporting the #30. Always tough (can you say Shelley, Murray and Mclaaren?) but when faced with total discipline and determination, even the best can be beaten. I actually LOVE playin these guys this season.

L – Detroit 2 – 3 – It sucks to start out the road trip with a loss but the boys found their cojones finally and played well to almost catch up to the Ded. I guess #13 is sooo NOT Bryzzie’s number. The 13th start was ugly. Much of the night the big guy looked off kilter and slow. The blue liners didn’t look too swift either for about 45 minutes of the game. (ummm guys? when Breezy is off, you are supposed to carry the big guy til he gets his head straight. He’s carried you many a game, time to return the favor.) Ah well, we’ll get our shite together for Wednesday. Somehow Tipper always manages to rein them in and get them back on pack fairly quickly. I really just wanted 8 points out of this trip and I didn’t care if it meant grabbing loser points. It feels strange to expect to get more than half the available points on a road trip but the boys have built up my faith so much that I actually have expectations now. Too weird.

Sooo anyone have any idea what the hell is up with Doaner? Ever since Wizzer nearly decapitated him, Shane has been off. Stop grippin the stick so tight my Captain. The whole team isn’t on your back anymore. These boys can carry they ownselves big daddy. Just have fun, run over a few more people per game and let the goals fall when they may. (Is it just me or is it almost as much fun to watch Doaner steam roll people as it is to watch him score?)

Daly and Maloney were doin the talking head thing today. Much as expected not much was really said that we didn’t already expect. Everyone is happy about the potential new ownership. Not much will change (except maybe we’ll see a new addition to the team on the scoring front… and of course lose someone since it costs to get a quality scorer even with GMDM doing the buying).

Daly on NHL Live

The BoG will be meeting starting tomorrow so we’ll all be waiting with bated breath to find out if the good ol boys wanna let the whippersnappers into the club. I hope so. I actually have met a couple of them and came away impressed. I think the Coalition wrote something up on that awhile back and I haven’t seen nor heard anything to make me change my mind.

• Ice Edge Holdings – They have passion and a real desire to own the Coyotes for the business of hockey.
• They have business acumen and know how to make money.
• They understand the game (hell they’ve played it and love it).
• They are innovative and are not afraid to take on a risk, much like ourselves and Tippett, they see something in this team that they can believe in.

They have ideas…

1. how to utilize every square inch of the arena to get revenue
2. how to treat a fanbase
3. how to build a hockey club
4. how to recognize that they don’t know everything and will have to trust people to do their jobs
5. they also recognise things that aren’t working
6. and how to treat a legend, we just might see #99 again (oh don’t panic, not behind the bench) but maybe somewhere within the ownership group

I didn’t get to meet Keith but read what he has to say HERE. Whats not to like about this crew? A few games in Saskatoon? Gimme a break. Better a few games for our Northern cousins to enjoy and help the bottom line than none for us because we’re too stupid to recognise an opportunity to get on our feet or too stingy and jealous to share and welcome some more fans for the organization to thrive on. Will there be changes? Of course, there have to be in order to get out of the red ink sea. Will we like all of them? Of course not, don’t be silly, the business of hockey will not recognise our favorites and all of our preferences, but as long as they get good results and keep the team alive and kickin in Arizona… count me in. I like them, they are actually going to give it their all with no strings attached and no screwing of others to get their way. Their regular business is built on that premise. They got tired of being part of the all-about-the-benjamen crowd and started a business they could be proud of. A business with integrity. Thats their reputation in the business world and I expect no less from them in the hockey world.

Monty sighting! We saw the Big Cubano wandering the concourse last home game… in his sporty sling. Best wishes on a speedy recovery Monty.

The always obliging Kurt Sauer gave our friend DTG the skinny on his expected return to the ice (see paw print 12/13 for that news) He graced the stands with his awesomeness last game too.

Holy crap its almost midnight AGAIN! Gotta go grab some zzzzs (not him!) some sleep people, some sleep.

Quick shot reminders –

The “Leader of the Pack” award is designed to recognize the top Coyotes Season ticket holder for each month during the remainder of the season. The nominations must include a full description of how the individual has demonstrated his or her commitment to the Pack. If you know a deserving Season Ticket Holder, please nominate them for this award. (if you don’t know their full name and info, fake it, give the team as much info as you can so they know who you are voting for… they’ll count the votes right). Vote HERE for December.

Ambassador’s Club! Coyotes STHs (season ticket holders) have volunteered to help out with gettin butts in the seats. The Yotes are sinking their teeth into some guerilla marketing and have issued these volunteers their own links to help friends, family and innocent bystanders get discounted Coyotes tickets. So if you need tickets to a game feel free to use my link HERE. (promo code…Coyotes)

Round 3 of theNHLArena’s poll is up. Go vote in the final round remember to let us know what you think is good, could be better and could just be kicked to the curb.

As always … GO COYOTES!

Holy jumpin! (its sad that I miss that silly saying, but there it is) We, the Phoenix Coyotes, are ‘officially’ on a winning streak. We captured our 4th straight victory last night against the Ottowa Senators. Man that feels good to say.

I sat in the stands Saturday night in coat, hat, 2 shirts and gloves (I been sick so I really feel the cold) and so did the Sens for about 20 minutes of 60 as the Yotes tore into them like a blizzard on crack. It was amazing. I shoulda been home with my antibiotics and Kleenex but dedicated idiot that I am, no way was I missin the Michalek brothers reunion and a team we barely see once in a blue moon.

The return of Jovocop was a beautiful thing. He announced his presence by drawing first blood on the seemingly hapless Brian Elliot within the first 4 minutes of the game. Beautiful wrister with eyes. WTG JV!

I was almost starting to feel sorry for Elliott as the crowd started chanting his name in a Turco-esque fashion after Taylor Pyatt slapped him with another unassisted goal less than 5 minutes later. (TaterPy looked like a man on a mission, I thought he’d run right through Elliott with the speed he was carrying through the Sens zone). 2 – 0 and the Sens were reeling.

Prucha apparently likes the feeling he gets from scoring, both he and Pyatt have 2 in last 2 games. Pru!!! made it 3 – 0 and it looked like the game was in the bag. But of course it can never be that easy can it? The Sens would not just go away. Elliott stopped fighting the puck and started playing the top of his crease like a real goalie and we started to play protective hockey rather than slash n burn hockey. The Sens popped us twice due to our total lack of intensity. (Bryz fought them off valiantly but when the opponent can whack multiple times at a crazily hopping puck right in your blue paint, whats a goalie to do?)

The final tally 3 – 2 didn’t tell the tale of decent play for 56 minutes. 10 minutes of great aggressive play, 46 minutes of basically decent play and 4 minutes of  desperate play to try to protect a game.

The Good? – We played tough as nails for about 1/2 the game. Dominating the neutral, laying out serious hits and passing like demons. We jumped on an ailing team with killer instincts on full throttle early and often.

Daniel (don’t call me Pooh dammitt) Winnick was slammin! That kid hit like a freight train, created chances that would impress any coach not named Gretzky and didn’t stop playing until the final horn. He kept his cool when that stupid Canker Carkner jumped him from behind and gave us a man advantage (that we totally failed to capitalize on) but the important thing is that he held his ground without being drawn into stupidity.

Jovo was back with a vengeance! It was good to see the big 55 still has his edge and has apparently resolved both halves of his nature, the offensive juggernaut and defensive monster were both visible tonight and that special Ed guy was nowhere to be found.

Pyatt and Prucha seem to have figured out where the back of the net is AND how to get a puck in there. After long dry spells, these two are hot and seemingly unstoppable when they decide to score. By any means neccessary could be their new mantra.

Ilya Bryzglaov! OMG do I absolutely adore my big Russian. More every game. THIS is the Bryzzie I knew was inside there. This guy has truly been the backbone of our resurgence. You Breezy haters better recognize! Without the big guy’s stellar performances we would be in the cellar and on our way out of town by now. Quietly cool and nearly unflappable, there is a reason he’s the #1 goalie. From setting the tenor of the team to keeping their asses out of the fire to giving them a chance to win every single night. Whats not to love? What does he gotta do to get some respect? Score?

The bad?

We stopped playing and decided to protect Ilya’s shutout. You all know how I feel about playing to tie and playing to protect a lead, this game turned into the same thing. Playing to protect anything in the NHL is like committing suidui, wait its more like hari kari (painful and seems to take forever) but either way it usually leads to death. It almost did last night too.

Loss of the killer instinct is disturbing. Apparently it disturbed Tip too. We need to learn to play better with a lead. (not something we have a lot of experience with yet) but it will come with more time spent in the lead… I hope.

Giving rookie goalies confidence and hope… thats just gotta stop. You could visibly see young Elliott pick up confidence and get comfortable as the game wore on and every time we couldn’t finish beautiful chances. The Sens should thank us, the game in ANA tonight will probably be their only win for the road trip since we pumped up their goalie. EDIT: Shootout victory for the Sens… guess they really need to thank us.

We’ll take the 2 points, Bryzzie deserves them. We’re learning… quickly. Its important to realize that every game we learn another thing about how to be winners. Not half bad for the team projected to be in the cellar all season eh?

Up next Minnesota Wild on Monday 12/7/2009 – These two teams are riding great W streaks (Minny w/ 5 and Yotes w/ 4) Last contest, the Yotes took the W 3 – 2 but the Wild have been horribly difficult to knock off in the past. The uber capable Backstrum has given us fits since he first joined the team.

Keys to this one?

Get the dirty goals. Gotta jump on Backie quick. Lots of bodies in front of the net getting multiple whacks at every scoring chance. The guy is good but he can be beat (we’ve already done it once this season)

Be aggressive and stay that way all 60 friggin minutes. Do NOT play to protect a lead!  Coyotes can’t roll like that yo.

Watch the Wild’s new dynamic duo, Koivu and Miettinen, them boys are on a serious mission. And Brunette has 9 points in his last 5 games. Those 3 spell trouble with a capital T! Contain Clutterbuck (if the flu lets him play) he’s a menace and will start as much trouble as he can. Stay focused on the game not the antics.

Another goalie showdown is about to go down. May ours be the last to blink!

Coyotes are looking to reward their biggest fans…

The “Leader of the Pack” award is designed to recognize the top Coyotes Season ticket holder for each month during the remainder of the season. The nominations must include a full description of how the individual has demonstrated his or her commitment to the Pack. If you know a deserving Season Ticket Holder, please nominate them for this award.

We have extended the deadline for the November nominations to Monday, December 7th.  To nominate a Leader of the Pack for the month of November, click here.

I voted for Heather McWhorter and I hope you will do the same. Seriously, who did more this season to keep hope alive, to bring the news to us, attended the court sessions and Tweeted them to us, got the Coalition started, held a rally, runs a blog, is the GM of a Coyotes section on a discussion board all to generate interest in and love of her beloved Coyotes. It has been an honor and a joy to be friends and seatmates with Heather. I can think of a lot of people who are great Coyotes season ticket holders but none sweeter and more sincere than her.

I guess the Tikhnov story has more chapters to it than anyone thought. Teeks is on loan to the KHL according to all reports but apparently everything wasn’t as sweetness and well wishes as reported. But the good thing is that Teeks had his first game and got 2 goals! Go Tiki Go! And of course don’t forget us and come home for next season bucko.

Round 2 of the Coyotes poll is on and poppin. Go vote for your favorite blog and let us bloggers know what you like… or don’t like.

See you tomorrow night for Yotes VS Wild.

As always… Go Coyotes!

I know, I know…whats with just the paw prints lately? Well, its my compromise to keep that work/life balance thang goin. Shorter informative posts that cover my Yotes thoughts and the happenings rather than tryin to cram a bunch of single entries into a week. Better than complete silence eh?

Ducks game 11/29/09 – So we did manage to slap the fowl taste off the Ducks on the 29th. The Quacks got a loser point out of it but we took the win. 3 – 2 in OT. The GWG was Doaner, just not with the slapper I asked for. Who can argue with a belly deflection though? We’ll take our Duck roasted any way the Yotes decide to serve them up. The main difference in this game compared to last season seems to be our ability to persevere. Last season all those Jiggy robberies early in the game would have deflated us faster than a cheap helium balloon. Not this year, we take a lickin and keep on tickin, apparently Tippett has actually convinced the boys that it ain’t over til the fat lady sings (and that he has her tied up in a closet to prevent her from piping up?) Talk about your unholy disappointment… no TV? zip, zilch, nada. even the usual pirates sources couldn’t snag a feed. God I will be glad when we finally get enough respect to have ALL our games televised. OH and word to the NHL, all away games should be on TV for the visitors. I sure don’t mind if its blacked out for the home crowd…they should get off their asses and buy a ticket. But the away crowds don’t have that option…put it on TV dammit!

I haven’t heard anything much about the IEH meeting with the NHL from last week. Guess the Diva is right about the NHL not bein to wild n crazy about games in Sakatoon. Seems like we’ll be waiting for that new ownership til after the new year after all. damn it all

Calgary Flames 12/3/2009 - Is anyone else as pleased as I was about our performance against Calgary… on home ice no less? There was a sea of the wrong red up in the joint on Thursday night. Its funny, they were pretty quiet from the very start. Even when the Flamers drew major first blood with 1 second left in the first, there wasn’t an outburst of OLE chanting. (That woulda had the Yotie fans screamin hysterically)

Prucha finally got tired of being robbed and after Kipper had already grandthefted Doan and Winnie (double pad stack no less), Pruu! went wicked wrister on Kipper to get the Yotes on the board. Talk about ruining Kipper’s day, the guy came in ridin a 2 game shutout and some lil Czech brownie swooped in and nailed him dead to rights. suhweet!

The entire game was a goalie showcase. Bryzzie continued to prove he belongs in the goalie elite with a googah of saves that he made look easy. (Kipper and his flair for dramatics made the headlines despite the loss) We traded great chances until Tater Py decided to pull a Pru! belly slider. (Thats a whoole lotta boy sliding across the ice!) Pyatt sealed the deal with his grounder, all we had to do was hold on tight against the onslaught in the last 3 minutes. It got extremely hairy but we were careful and disciplined (we only had 3 penalties all game!)

W! 2 – 1 is a beautiful score and just reinforces Tippett’s philosophy of defense first, discipline second and it only takes 1 more than you let the opponent snag to win a game. Flame off, Yotes take 6th in conference and 11th in league.

TheNHLArena - I gather one of our sister sites, the NHLArena is running a poll about blogs around the league. Each team has a selection of blogs to vote on and give your opinion on why you read them. I would love to hear from you guys over there. Lots of styles and writers to choose from. Head over, you might find a blog you haven’t read yet. Be sure to vote and maybe leave a lil message? Your opinions can only help us all get better at givin you what you want to read about.

To rebrand or not to rebrand zyllyx wants your opinions – So should the new ownership completely revamp/rebrand the Coyotes? IDK I am torn. I know I am in the minority when I say dump the white out. Let it fade into history with the rest of the Jets stuff. Sure we need to remember and honor where we came from but after more than 10 years in the desert, its time to adopt some of our own traditions. The Sandstorm shouldn’t just be a friggin ticket promotion, it should be a unique and embraced rally cry for the fanbase in the desert. You can’t have one anywhere else now can you?

So I guess in keeping with that theme, it would not be a horrible leap to rebrand the sweaters and logo too. Maybe not as radical as our crazy coyote from the first years but certainly something never seen before in the NHL.  (thats just how we roll in the desert) A traditional feel for the rest of the world on our away sweaters and the torqued up version for the home crowd would be awesome. Now before you bite my head off, I know we are barely getting our fanbase back together and just got the cool black 3rd jersey (its NOT a ferret or a fox dammit! the lil fella kinda grew on me after I got him) but think not about milkin our sparse fanbase for more ducats, but about giving all of Arizona a chance to be part of the NEW, the IMPROVED and the WINNING! Coyotes starting in 2010 (if we manage to get to the playoffs, this would be a very astute and logical move) And if we really get the 2011 ASG weekend, what a sweet merchandising opportunity to help get the new ownership off to a rousing start?

OMG! There was a whoole lotta history on the ice last night. From Roy to Dryden, From Lafleur to Maholvich to Savard. A lot of greatness graced the arena for Montreal’s 100th birthday. 2 hours of rememberances and hornoring before the game.

And as usual the game that followed (MTL vs BOS) was a monster for the Habs. They beat BOS so bad, even Cammalleri’s Mom wanted him to stop the madness. Dmo? dude! what the hell has happened to your game? I love you but you gotta stop this insanity and get back to the old you.

Tonight, we win/you win! We play the ever pesky and pissy Senators. It will be awesome to get another gander at some Michalek VS Michalek action. (Mimi has been a a tear since he was traded to the Sens, lets hope his big bro can slow his roll tonight) this is the first game Z and Mimi will meet since Meems was traded from SJ.

The Sens sit in 7th in the East and 17th in the league. With only  30 pnts and an 81 GAA they look ripe for the pickin. Don’t get complacent or overlook these boys. They are dangerous. 8 players in the double digits scoring wise, they’ve got some key injuries and we all know that just makes them more dangerous and desperate. They’ve lost a lot of away games (0-5-1) this season but they have owned us since 2002. Its time to put that lil stat to rest.

Keys to the game?

Contain the top echelon. Alfredsson, Michalek and the suddenly hot Fisher. These boys are not lettin their lack of goal tending stop them, seems like they are trying to win on sheer firepower.

Make the Sens make mistakes… AND capitalize on them. The Sens are struggling to turn this road trip around, they are emotional and tend to get pissy. We need to find every button they have and not just push ‘em, jump up and down on them. The more emotional they get the more chances we could have for some PP magic.

Give the rookie tenders a terrible welcome – we tend to give rookie goalies a very warm and fuzzy reception. NOT TONIGHT! Shell that sucker hard all night. It doesn’t matter if its Elliott or Baby Brodeur, give them as much rubber as we can possibly lift, something has got to go in, maybe a whole lot of somethings?

Its time to pull out all the stops and get a 4th W under our belts for what could officially be called a streak. Its the perfect night to show the home town crowd a good time and just maybe they’ll actually use those ‘you win’ tickets to come back and see us.

Coyotes Ambassadors - Thats right… we are all ambassadors for the sport and for our team. The Yotes have decided to reward us for it. Its a whole lotta info so I won’t redo the whole maketing campaign unveil (its been done so well by RR from Coyotes rising). Read the full deal HERE.

Random thoughts and linkage…

Keith Yandle? It is hard to recognize that the boy rockin the #3 has become a man but its unbelievably easy to give him props. He has been a light in the window this season when the big boys went down to injury. I have given the kid enuff shite over the last few seasons to fill a book, I’m glad AJ wrote this so now I dont feel obligated to reinvent the wheel. It used to be Yandle the candle because he was gettin burned at both ends… now its Yandle the candle for shining so brightly and keeping us goin in the dark hours of injury. You keep rollin gangstah Yands! Yes Diva, your boy is rollin dirtay, please contain yourself, I am still not going to become a total Fandle (fan of Yandle) just yet.

Uppy and Lombo will be out for visiting on December 8th. Polar Ice in Chandler. Go say hi

Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly. After an awesome October (which saw his first child into the world) apparently my boy child forgot about the concept of braking to avoid an accident. Swerving is sooo NOT his forte. When you hit the road this holiday season please err on the side of safety my friends. Getting there late is better than not getting there at all. The boy walked away from this one thank God. (His guardian angel is probably up for an award for biggest save of 2009)

Hopefully I will see all of you out tonight. Its gonna be a crazy one. For those that absolutely can’t make it, the game will be on Center Ice and the radio. But c’mon! its we win you win night! Get out there!

As always… Go Coyotes!