Records?! We don’t need no steenking records!  But we sure love smashing them. From Bryzzie’s phenomenal career high wins & shutouts to our amazing 10 game home streak to our most wins the fastest in the franchise’s history, we’re knocking down all preconceptions faster than anyone ever dreamed. Not to mention the weird and often too knuckle twisting ways we are finding to win.

We took on Nashville and never scored a goal…and still won! Talk about a fantastic game of defense and guts. The Preds are like a mirror image of our own team. (It was like twin brothers battling each other) Both sides showed no weaknesses. And the 10 round shootout at the end was a gut buster of EPIC porportions. Who would have ever predicted Adrian Aucoin as the shoot out savior? Oakie was brilliant (sooo glad he participates in the shootout tourneys at practice) A 1 – 0 win in a tight almost playoff type game is good practice for the real thing. Aucoin is very funny, he says he was just trying to put the goalie to sleep with his speed, we think that the wiley vet has been watchin these things pretty closely and knows exactly what he is doin out there.

We just love the shoot out apparently because we battled Chicago to a standstill behind the amazing game of AZBarbie. Last season we all cringed everytime the name ‘Blackhawks’ came up in conversation. They schooled us and ruled us all season long. Well, that is no more. We took it to the Chi-town boys 3 -1 in our first contest on home ice and then last night we won again on the crazy success of Adrian Aucoin’s sudden shootout prowess. Oaks says this about his second one “Now I’m nervous,” Aucoin said. “The first one was luck. Now it’s actually a streak.” 2 – 1 W, Yotes! Simply amazing as we got our 6th straight victory.

A tired yet elated team rolled into Dallas around 2 am to try to sleep in yet another set of strange and uncomfortable beds. Then the boys dragged into American Airlines Center to face a desperate Marty Turco (who is facing a serious challenge for his job from TBA – tall, bald & Auld). We’ll talk about goalies facing the possibility of being put on the trading block in another post. (along with rumors about possible pickups for the trade deadline… Wisniewski? really?)

We seem to have a very obstinate attitude towards making anything 7 right now. Our 6 game winning streak came to an abrupt end on Saturday night. The desperate Stars came to play and jumped on us from the first puck drop til the last buzzer. I won’t sugar coat it, it was bad all night. A short handed goal was scored on us, the PP went 0 – 6, a rookie scored twice in less than 5 minutes and Marty Turco denied every good old college try that we could muster. The only good thing about the night was Biznasty dropping the hammer on Barch, which was thoroughly enjoyable even though I wished it had been Steve Ott. Yeah we lost and lost badly (okay, we got shut out 4 – 0) but you have to keep everything in perspective. We are 7-3-0 in our last 10! We’re sitting pretty with 75 points (35-19-5), we’ve got 23 games left to get the other 25 points to break 100 and secure a post season berth. We have no severe injuries (except Uppy and Sweets) *knock on wood, lets keep it that way* We just need to break even on this last week before the break and then we get to rest for the sprint portion of the season.

So don’t be disheartened folks. I know we have gotten so caught up in having a competitive team that is spoiling us by finding ways to win no matter what, but the reality is that the boys are going to falter now and then and we just have to hang in there and keep supporting and believing. This Coyotes squad is the real deal and even though there will be a few more bumps and roadblocks, they are going to stay in the hunt for Lord Stanley’s Cup into April and beyond.

It sure is irritating, yet so very cool, to call for tickets and find out there aren’t many left for quite a few games. If you are planning to see the Hawks game on 3/20, you better call quick. That game was close to sold out last week.

So anyways, we play the Oil tonight. Those boys have been having a rough go of it all season. (18-33-6) and (2-7-1) in their last 10. I hate to kick a team when they are down but we need these 2 points. Besides, its not like they didn’t wreck us more than their share last season.

The keys to this game?

Get a good rest and come out raging. Don’t think about the fact that you got smacked in Dallas or the fact that you gotta hit the road again for another nasty road trip. Think only about containing Dustin Penner and Gagne (if he’s well enough to play). Think about taking advantage of Staios, Horcoff and O’Sullivan (the worst +/- holders on the team). These guys are struggling, run through them or over them as often as possible on your way to see Deslauriers about a goal or 5. (The kid owes us for lettin him have his 1st shutout, doesn’t he?) The scoring committee should really ramp themselves up for a bunch of shots on goal, we’ve had too many nights lately where the sogs were horribly lacking, in quality if not in quantity.

Defense and discipline. It has been our ability to execute these two things that has saved our bacon lately. Let’s keep that going. The goalies have gotten used to having help, lets give them a break tonight and limit the amount of rubber they have to fend off. Don’t let their losses fool you, these boys from EDM are sneaky, they have been right on the verge of winning quite a few of these games. Do NOT let them have PP time or we will give them the break they’ve been waiting for to get some confidence and possibly go on a tear.

Maaan Bryz, hang tight. I know there is all kinds of craziness running through your mind right now. Bearing the weight of your country for the Olympics is never easy (especially when that country is Russia) and knowing you are one of the lynchpins for the success of an entire franchise has got to be quite the heavy load. You only have 3 more weeks of double duty big guy. Hold fast, we believe in you. Come out scrappin tonight, you got this!

Sorry this one is so brief but I am crunched for time. Lets just get to the game tonight and let our boys know how much we care. BRING THE NOISE!

See you all at the game, puck drops late on this one folks 7:30 start time. See you all there.

As always… Go Coyotes!

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

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

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

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

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

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

As always… Go Coyotes!

This is probably a lil disjointed and maybe I’m an idiot but its how I feel…

Okay hockey bretheran… I have a question. One that has been bothering me for some time. Why can’t the league support 2 more teams? Why can’t makeit32 work? Why is expansion ‘really’ such a bad thing? Is it really the horrible an idea that Kansas City or Wisconsin AND Hamilton or Winnipeg get a team. (I really don’t have a clue who all is clamoring for a team right now)

I can see the NHLPA getting behind the idea. They get more members to contribute to the pool and have a stronger voice. More players get a chance at the gold ring.

I can see the players getting behind the idea. More opportunities to play longer (they are already like migrant workers going from team to team, 2 more to choose from can’t be a bad thing). Newbies could see it as better opportunity to break into the league with a bigger draft (almost like adding round 8 back in...) and b4 you say no one good comes out of the lower rounds, puhleze! the Wings seem to have no problems finding talent like Zetterberg and Datsyuk in late rounds.

I can see the fans getting behind this. More hockey! is thereanything better than more hockey? Ummm especially for the fans of the chosen cities who have been raucously screaming their lil lungs out to get one for years.

The team owners, well hell, them ole boys would get expansion money out the wahzoo. Could shift the conference member teams around a bit resulting in shorter flights, less money being spent crisscrossing the country, more revenue to share, better TV contracts if the markets are chosen correctly.

Seems to me that everyone wins with makeit32. So why isn’t it happening? Why haven’t Mr. Balsillie or Mr. Bruckheimer or whomever, been throwing their dollars at getting the NHL to expand, rather than targeting teams already in place? We’ve expanded and contracted a lot since 1967, I don’t understand why the topic has suddenly become such an anathema.

Cincinnati, Hamilton, Oklahoma City, Portland, Winnipeg all seem like pretty viable expansion cities for various reason. Hell Kansas City’s TV market alone would make me sit up and drool if I’m the NHL. Portland doesn’t provide a whole lot of competition from ‘other’ sports and could easily become a hockey hotbed just from lack of Pro sports choices. With a bit of judicial governmental $$ support, either Hamilton or Winnipeg could renovate their large arenas to accommodate a couple more thousand fans and some state-of-the-art luxury boxes in a very short time frame and with the clamoring market could have that monetary support paid back very quickly. Cincinnati I’m not too sure about even if it has been bandied about in the past. Vegas seems too transient to support a pro franchise on the season ticket holder front (although I am pretty sure they could get plenty of corporate response). These are just a few cities w/ possibilities off the top of my head.

Its long been said that hockey costs too much to make part of the average Joe’s discretionary spending and that isn’t true in most markets. Its mainly the longest serving and the big ticket winners that charge out the wahzoo for tickets (but hey! they only charge what the market apparently will bear). Maybe it is time for Toronto et al,  to share the wealth? Bring down the ticket prices there just a little bit with some healthy competition from a team close enough to give fans a choice (TOR has got a waiting list that would immediately give their competitor a built in shot at a fanbase). That would certainly give the fans a boost (lower prices for the team they already love and a chance for others to get season tickets without waiting for Uncle Cletus to drop dead) It could start one of the nastiest rivalries the NHL has ever seen and you KNOW hockey fans can seriously get behind a rivalry. Maybe its time to take a look at having a set price range? We’d damn sure see which cities can support a hockey team then. Have a set range that ticket prices can fall within, if your team can’t maintain an average attendance at the prescibed prices…well I guess then we get to find a home for you that will be able to. I don’t know… just seems like all the teams should be contributing equally but can’t due to weird ass management practices or some other form of monetary mismanagement madness. (That way it truly becomes about butts in the seats rather than teams filling an arena yet still not pulling in the monetary numbers because they charge 40% less that the rest of the league, we need equal footing for true measurements)

With the economy in such disarray maybe this seems like a shallow and thoughtless entry. Expanding the NHL when people are losing their jobs, the economy is freefalling like a stone from a bridge and food banks can’t keep up with families on the edge. But even the economy would get a boost. Construction or renovation of 2 arenas would create jobs, said arenas need to be staffed which would create new jobs and of course their would be another 60+  hockey players getting jobs (including any minor league additions in 2 new feeder rosters).

What am I missing here? I know there has to be some major issue with this idea. The NHL can’t be stifling its own growth for no good reason right? So help a sista out. Explain it to me like I’m a 5 year old because I don’t get it. Makeit32 makes more sense to me than keepinit6 or relocating it7 in too many ways to ignore.

I can’t wait for this to be over so I can enjoy hockey again. C’mon Canes! (damn you flightless birds! That Geno is a monster! why’d he have to wake up now?) You can do it Cammie Cane. Lets go Ded Things! Black Hawks Suck! Guess you know where I stand in this series LOL Even though I kinda realize a Canes – Wings final just won’t have the punch that a Wings – Pens matchup would have, it would still be beautiful to have a ’southern’ team in the finals… for troll taunting reasons if nothing else.

Mr. Breslow… sir, I salute you!

As always… Go Coyotes!

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

Okaaayyy, blood pressure is back down, or at least within normal ranges. Srsly, talk about almost strokin out at a game! Maybe its true that I take my hockey a lil too seriously…. naaaah, no such thing.

So I guess its time to talk about the second game that shall not be mentioned ever again after this posting. hmmm where to begin…

I guess the fact that we never bothered to show up might be a good place. Remember folks, when we’re good, I am overly enthusiastic and give superior praise… if you expect me to let my innate homerism temper this entry, you’ll be sadly disappointed. So what you read below may sound mean… but just dammitt, well deserved.

The Wolf and his craptastic rebounds. OMG! If Telly could take last night back I think he’d pay just about any price to do it. The Telly monster doesn’t have the best rebound smothering ability on a good day. But on a good day he is able to steer those babies outta harms way. Tuesday night he couldn’t steer his way out of a paper bag. I mean short of catching the puck and throwing it in the net himself, there was no way he coulda screwed himself up more than those ugly, heart shattering rebounds.

Hey Doan! you think YOU were embarrassed by this game? Not even close bud, not even close. There were people leaving by the end of the 1st period. The ability to believe is heartily tested by performances like this. I know the first thing the announcers will say is ‘we’re still in 7th place, nothing was lost in this game‘. But dammitt there WAS a big loss. We played gutless, heartless and balless, there was no pride out there Tuesday night. All the effort in the world meant nothing in the face of letting (an admittedly good) Hawk team run us a big fat goose egg in our own home arena.

Leadership? Is it time for another player’s only meeting? I should think so. Back-to-back goose eggs? C’mon guys, step up and be counted or heard or whatever. I know you had to feel bad after the ANA chunk blowing. But sweet gorgonzola! who the hell is leading this mess? Veteran presence was more like veteran absence. What needs to be said? What needs to be shown? Somebody… anybody! Step up!

WTF? Carcillo shoulda been up in the press box with an ice pack and some really good drugs. The kid looked like Angelina Jolie about the lips. He gave it a fair shot and I have to give him props for tryin, but he really shouldn’t have been in this game. How the hell was he supposed to do what he does best without a) full faculties (due to at least a minimum of pain relieving medication) b) the balance and coordination it takes to particpate in any danny duel(which would have been affected even by that minimum medication) and c) one nasty punch woulda been all it took to lose the kid for at least a few days, maybe even longer (which any Hawk worthy of the name woulda took full advantage of, given the opportunity).

Fridgie, Fridgie, Fridgie… man oh man. You are a very bad boy. But thank you for at least doing something. I’da rather you had taken on Buffy though. Goalies are off limits my friend. No matter how pissed you are and no matter how stupid the goalie may be for dithering about behind the net, plastering them to the back wall is sooo not nice. *and no, I am not going to lambaste the Fridgidaire too severely so fuggedaboudit*

Jovo, DUDE! what were you thinkin? Hope you are okay, cuz just DAYAM! you got seriously rocked! Maaan, I hate to see you go out like that playa, but c’mon. Walker bashes your head into the glass from behind a couple of times, you take exception… (not enough exception in my opinion), you both take a couple of smacks at each other and off come Walker’s gloves. How are you not expecting that to turn into a fight? Yeah it was cheap but srsly, after the couple of ‘love taps’ you shoulda already dropped the stick and dropped that puke instead of expecting to skate away. (or maybe you just weren’t expecting him to be that fast? NEVER! expect an opponent to square up and do the gentleman’s appointment thing again big guy… didn’t watching the Wellerizing of the Jackets from last season teach you anything?) Don’t miss PB’s take on this

Ollie ‘the ghost’ Jokinen (the other boys all sacrifice the body to keep the puck out of the net) but watch Ollie the fraidy ghost jump over the puck (ala Marleau) leading to the Eager goal. No wonder you never got hurt in FLA Ollie, you don’t battle the corners, fight on the wall, go to the net and apparently you don’t block shots either. How’d you like not playin the rest of the game there big guy? That whopping 9:46 musta stung eh? Well since you apparently can’t grow eyebrows… how bout ya grow a pair and block a shot next time?

Mixed D pairings? Wha?? Screwin with the offense isn’t gettin yer rocks off any more Wayne? Now you gotta fix a blueline that wasn’t broken? Playing mix n match with the bottom 3 just wasn’t good enough was it? With Klee down you had the perfect opportunity to start playin musical D. And I suppose your motive was because we got spanked in the last game, so you thought, ‘let’s try something different, like splitting up Z and Kurt’. Yeah bud, that worked out real good didn’t it? Z on the wrong side of the ice for a good portion of the night is not a pretty thing to watch and neither was watchin the pairings struggle to figure out where their partners were covering. I could just vomit.

Those not mentioned with disdain and their performances not picked apart with alacrity are just as guilty as the rest and conspicuous in their absence (except Breezy who actually had his shit together for the most part).The whole team stunk the arena up, not just the few mentioned above. Dmo? Rhino? Hanzal? Mueller?

Coaching staff should be run over by the Jovo bus.After all the shite that was bandied about by coaches and players alike, the promises that we would be ready for this game etc…. I have never been so disappointed in all my Coyotes fandom days. You know, I really didn’t expect a win. The damn ChiTown boys are just on too hot of a roll to think like that no matter how big a homer I am. They’re damn good this year and as much as it pains me to say it, they’ll make an awesome showing in the post season. Kudos to them for coming back to life as an organization and playin like hell on wheels as a team.

But hey life often sucks and apparently the hockey gods don’t want us gettin too big for our britches so they gave us the Blackhawks. But then again perhaps they still have us in their good graces because they only gave them to us 4 times LOL and of course there’s that ever useful consolation prize that we haven’t fallen out of playoff contention.

We can’t afford a repeat of 07 though. This lil farrow in our work ethic and spirited play can’t be allowed to flourish. Whatever is wrong needs fixing. NOW! (can we start with the very much MIA power play and move up to our supremely indifferent road record?) Many are starting to lose faith in Wayne and his team. Even the most verbose of his supporters are beginning to have doubts. With so much talent and such good veteran presence how are we not the ‘new’ Penguins or following in the footsteps of other young teams? Well kiddies if you look at the big picture, thats exactly what we are doing. We’ve got the parts now (for the first time in a looong time) and we are sittin in a pretty good spot for the 1/2 way mark (better standings-wise than last season, when we were in and out of 8th, 9th every damn day) So before everyone starts giving up on the boys, there are still 41 games to be played. If we start with Tampa Bay and start kickin keisters again, there is still plenty of room at the post season table to accomodate a small band of Coyotes fans. We may not have the numbers but those of us that still believe are a force to be reckoned with.

Still Love You Guys !!!Go Coyotes!!!

OdinMercer
Official Viewpoint

The Diva on DC

The Big Picture Look

Guess I won’t have to put Versteeg on my slap this bitch list. The NHL did it for me… slapped that lil bitch that is. Versteeg gets the fine and the suspension and the really laughable part is… he says KT challenged him to fight! What a joke this kid is… Own yer error dude…all buck20lbs of Kyle Turris couldn’t have hurt you, game was over, what was the point?

I really thought Gretzky was gonna blow a serious gasket… we’ve seen him pissed before but never like last night… and go to YotesTV and hear what Doaner has to say about it… Hey! Coach Q… better start thinkin about Verpiggy bein a healthy scratch next Yotes game…

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=258967&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_nhl

Rough, rough road trip. I really don’t know where to start on this one.

The boys left here on a 6 goal high. Bryzzie subbed in for Telly and didn’t let in a single goal so his confidence shoulda been at least in the chill zone if not high. We were a game over .500 again and had won 4 of our last 5. So what happened?

In St. Louis we were overconfident and didn’t play the whole 60 minutes. We got started on a seriously physical note. We didn’t sustain it though. We let the Blues stay with us. Then we let them get ahead of us (okay flukey goal off the D but it counted as the GWG).We never turned on any serious heat until the last desperation 2 minutes of the third. We lost. I can”t say it was a horrible game, but it was definitely winnable and we let it slide right through our gloves.

We went into Chicago already broken. IDK what happened. We hit the ice already broken. This wasn’t some kind of meltdown, it wasn’t a total goalie issue either. NOBODY came to play a game at all, much less a 60 minute game. Carcillo tried to set the tone early with extreme predjudice. The first shot Bryzzie stopped told the tale of how confident he was feeling (he stopped the puck but started looking behind him in uncertainty). The first goal was not pretty… the second goal was on the team mostly…after that its a tossup of who looked worse the goalie or the team. By the time the 4th goal went in I was hoarse from yellin at the screen for Telly to be put in. Then Panger and Heeter casually threw out this lil gem…(wait for it… its ugly) … Goalie Mikael Tellqvist has a bruised foot, he won’t be subbin in… So did we just go out on the road with a single, mentally unbalanced goalie? We couldn’t have one of the SA kids come meet us in CHI, just in case what happened, happened? Color me stupid and put a bow on my head…Highlight of game? Enver ‘Feivel’ Lisin. Enver was sooo NOT leavin Chicago on a goose egg. David Hale was the only defenseman NOT a minus… fairly pitiful as highlights go ain’t it?

There were more fights and jawing than any real playing going on from our side (please… dont anyone bring up … ‘if McGrattan had been on the ice’, or I may have to resort to some violence of my own). JeebusMerryandJehosophat DC FOUGHT! JOVO FOUGHT! HALE FOUGHT! KT FOUGHT! was there anyone who didn’t fight? and guess what? we still lost … 7 – 1 …

Everyone sucked. Even my beloved Z had a horrid game. I’m going to stop right there… no use in beating a dead horse unless you just want tired arms. Sooo… we sucked in these first 2 road games… yeah we did… but what happens now? How we play Dallas lets us know if this team can bounce back or not. If this team is a collection of guys on skates or an NHL team. I’m not neccessarily talkin about a win in Dallas either… but we better tighten the straps on the hard hats, step into some steel toed boots and bring the work ethic back.

We get the Joker back on Wednesday. There will be a bit of a shake up. Who rides the pine? Who stays in? I don’t know what its going to take for Breeze to get his act together, he’s gotta be feelin like shit, but he has to get his head right. Telly said it best, 21 guys, all have to play their best, all 60 minutes, thats how we win.

We haven’t had a horrible run. This was just one game out of 82. How we choose to respond both Wednesday AND the next time we face the Hawks is the real story. Until we are mathematically eliminated from a playoff berth I consider us contenders. So let’s ALL pull up our socks, put this one behind us (not forgettin it) just learn and move forward. It’s hockey people, not life or death. We play again on Wednesday and hopefully we can take our disappointments out on the Stars.

Last word on the Chicago game…if Versteeg doesn’t get a minimum of 1 game suspension the NHL should declare its rules a joke and disband. 2 game misconducts and an instigator at 19:58…automatic suspension

I really gotta get my ‘What a Lil Bitch’ list back up and running so I can add Sopel and Versteeg to it.

OK does it get more pathetic than this statement? “The Blackhawks have won four straight and six of seven against the Coyotes, including three in a row at home by a combined score of 11-2.” This has simply GOT to stop, Sheesh these games are sooo winnable. What is it about the Hawks that gets our knickers so twisted? For cryin out loud it ain’t like they are the Wingnuts or something (although when that GDT comes up.. I guess I will have an even more pathetic statement to post).

Last matchup we at least showed up respectably. A one goal game and 2 defensemen w/ 5 sogs. We need that more often so how about starting tonight? If not for a couple of reffing gaffes this was a different game, so maybe…if we’re lucky, we’ll catch a reffing break tonight and get some guys who can actually watch the game and make the right calls.
This is a game that we can’t breakdown for even a second… much less the normal 10 to 20 minutes per game we usually get outplayed. Who’s gonna be in net for us? OOOH million dollar question. Bryz wasn’t horrible last night…had some spectacular saves, pillowed up really well for the most part but he can’t save us from ourselves if we consistently parade to the box and when we continually totally cockup the PP opportunities we are given. Face it… a Nabby/Lundy/Backstrom clone couldn’t save us from ourselves some nights. But does Breeze need to start against the Hawks (his perennial nemesis) the second game of an ugly back to back road set? I say no but hey, what do I know. I only want the best for Bryz, I don’t know if that means he needs to start and be reassured that TPTB still believe in him or not though. But then again I really want a win and Telly has been hot as hell for us. My vote is Telly. I guess we’ll see.

We’re 4-8-1 on the road goin against the Hawks 7-1-4 home record…ughh.. Khabby has been a real pain in our butts (maybe we shouldn’t practice with him in the summer any more?) But the Bulin Wall has been ailing, maybe we get to see Christobal Huet in net? Might give us a better shot at breeching the Hawk’s nest.

Patrick Sharp has been quite the Coyote killer and he scored for the Blackhawks on Saturday. He has eight points in Chicago’s last eight games, scoring six goals during that stretch. Think we need to contain him? And of course there’s the tag team of Kane and Toews to watch out for too… I didn’t check to see if Havlat was well, as that could change during the warmup and he’s out of sight out of mind for me after that ugly goal against us that shall not be mentioned.

These guys don’t seem to mind bangin around our rookies and sophs but man do they get touchy if one of theirs (Kane) gets popped legitimately. They may be a bit edgy and lookin for a bit of payback for that… hopefully Carcillo didn’t wear himself out in those Blues bouts last night. Got a feeling this one might get a bit chippy if not down right nasty.

Only an hour til puck drop. LET’S GO COYOTES

Second City Hockey and Sam asked Odie and I for the 411 on a couple of questions about the Yotes. See my answers after the jump…

Watch the game

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It’s the Captain’s 900th game! whoa! doesn’t that sound like a hell of a long time playin? Time is relative and the Doaner can get just as frisky as if it was his first game all over again… And he will have to if the Yotes want any chance to come out of this game with badly needed points. I fear we are in another year of ‘how goes our captain, goes our team’. Look at the games so far this season, when Shane is ON, the team creates magic. When Shane isn’t ON, the team is lethargic and moribund.

We’ll most likely be missing the services of Daniel The Beast Winnik due to gettin hit during Monday’s practice (thnx for the heads up EmmBee)

Daniel Carcillo-Olli Jokinen-Peter Mueller
Kyle Turris-Steven Reinprecht-Shane Doan
Kevin Porter-Martin Hanzal-Mikkel Boedker
Todd Fedoruk-Viktor Tikhonov-Brian McGrattan

Jovo-Morris
Michalek-Sauer
Yandle-Klee

Bryzgalov
Tellqvist
*no definitive word on whether we see Telly or Breezy

The Blackhawks have a decent offensive team again this year. They are however still having problems with their netminders… But freakin Khabibulin continues to outplay Huet and given that he knows waaay too much about our boys after practicing with them in the unofficial summer camp, thats who we’ll be facing again tonight.

The Hawks are sitting on a 7-4-5 record right now. The new coach is playin hard ball (play hard or ride the pine, no matter who you are). Both teams are ridin losing streaks. The Yotes are 8-8-0 (what is it w/ us that we can’t nab some of these xtra points in losses?) Neither team is sporting significant injuries this time around.

The crash and bang, speed and burn game the Yotes have been having success with better be at peak condition tonight. We roll 4 lines but one of them has the proverbial snowball’s chance in hell of scoring. We run short shifts to keep the energy and speed at righteously scary levels (but our vets are going to have to dredge up whatever they’ve been conserving and match the kid’s energy).

The Hawks have just as much youth and speed as the Yotes with an added advantage of Toews back in action after a very slow start to the year. Look for the bruiser squad of Burrish and Eager, pretty nasty customers, who will probably try to keep things very physical since it seemed to work well last game.

Looks like Chitown will be rollin

Versteeg-Toews-Kane
Havlat-Sharp-Byfuglien
Ladd-Bolland-Skille
Eager-Burish-Adams

Keith-Seabrook
Johnson-Campbell
Hendry-Sopel

Khabibulin

Keys to the game?

Speed, simplicity and tenacity as always…we have to be faster and nastier from end to end. No loose pucks and nothing too fancy. Just get to the pucks!!! (if you don’t get there first, at least make sure you end up w/ the damn thing on your stick) and shoot the damn thing on net (sounds so simple doesn’t it?)

Physicality – we better bang and crash harder than these guys do. They’re once again on a losing streak, on a road trip and none too happy about their current position, Brian McGrattan, you been talkin a good game… how bout walkin the walk now set the tone early.

Start Telly – no really Wayne… start Telly. You been ridin Bryz like a government mule, its time to rest him up b4 we go out on the 4 game road trip anyway…and for some reason the boy can’t wrap his head around this team. So kill a bunch of birds w/ one stone… start Telly.

STAY OUT OF THE BOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!