Well now… let’s see what been happening to the boys in the last few days… the good and the bad.

After gorging themselves on bad sushi (Sharks win on 3/25) the boys went to LA and played sickly. The royals gave them a whippin and sent them off to San Jose in shut down mode.

Ersberg didn’t let them get a shot in edgewise and picked up his second shut out since arriving in the NHL, proving to himself and the Kings he is a top notch goalie who can backstop the royals next season for sure. The Kings were on the top of their game (the confidence of a strong goal tender can do amazing things for a team eh?). We played a perimeter, soft, game all night. Multiple turnovers, no visible signs of fire and of course… no points on the board.

“It feels great, I couldn’t ask for much more, ” said Ersberg, whose parents had traveled from Sweden to attend Thursday’s game. ” I think we played a great game defensively. I saw almost every shot and (the defense) was there on the rebounds too, so they helped me out a lot. “Ahem… that pretty much sums up this game. 3 - 0 Kings final.

And to add insult to well lets just call it salt in a wound rather than injury, we followed up the royal spanking with a tacky loss to the Sharks. Let’s face it, Joe Thornton has turned on the playoff mentality and is a force of nature. In the last meeting between these two mortal enemies Big Joe has 5 goals. Yeah you read that right, the guy has the skill and talent to carry the fish even when no one else shows up to play. Gotta give credit where its due.

In this 3 -1 Sharks finale Nabby actually had his act together and pretty much stopped anything he could see… well except that hella sick performance by our captain on the lone Yote tally. Man! that was some serious patience and control. The Donor is a force to be reckoned with on his own.

So doin the math here, we are now officially out of the playoff run and will be playing strictly for pride and to finish a fantastic run with our heads up and for love of the game.

The good news is… drumroll please

. Read the rest of this entry »

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/

We’re just gonna hit the highlighs for this one… cuz there is waaay too much to recap. I can say that anyone expecting a seriously vicious game in revenge for the loss of Carcillo was doomed to disappointment. Although there were a few moments.

Its about time we return the love to Bryz! This is a game in which we bailed like hell to keep the boat floating til Breezy got his act tight. Don’t get me wrong, Breeze didn’t have a horrible game just not a great one (to be fair, that 1st goal wasn’t Bryz! fault, after his first save, 4 seperate Yotes can’t hang that sucker outta danger). And so we stepped it up to keep oursselves in the game until he got it together * see the entire third for Bryz!s poop in a group*

The biggest performances of the night came from Hanzal keepin BigJoe off our collective backs (several steals and simply frustrating the premier centerman all night). Jovo makin up for his brain stalls w/ a huge offensive night (dancin better than Nagy and +2 for the night!) and of course our Captain goin completely lights out all game.

We outscored those boys 2 of 3 periods. We outhit them 24 - 16 (including some glorious banging on Bernier n the 3rd). A sweet 58% on the face off dots came in very handy especially those important ones down in our end (lil Ninja didn’t get any points on the board but he was 8-2 on the dots). 25% on the PP! 75% on the PK.

Everytime the Sharks scored we answered. Everytime they came into the neutral there was a hit and no Shark walked into our zone unmolested. What wasn’t  to love about a game that got tied 3 times before the second period was done?

The crowd was sparse (week night late games are not going to be well attended unless its a Ded Thing game) it woulda been nice for the boys to come home to a full house but those of us who were in attendance registered on the loud meter quite well (especially the Roenick Sucks chants). 

The shortened bench didn’t phase the team one bit (TGO had complete control of the multiple odd lines) as we lost Vbrat (groin) and then Rhino (neck). *The groin injury to Vrbata probably started in Minny… he inexplicably, simply stopped moving in that game* 

Z!!! again with the TOI, my boy is a serious work horse on that blue line (Z’s high TOI lets Bally and Mo get rested enough to keep up with the top opponent’s lines) TQ!!! with the blocks, the steals, THE GOAL!

The third period was one of the best we have had in a looong time. JoelP continued to shine with the go ahead goal and our Donor adds the insurance marker.

The end result was a fantastic win… the perfect revenge. 5 - 2

~photos by BTinAZ~ see more at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9302501@N02/sets/72157603729267582/

OnyxStarr@coyoteshipcheck.com

Tonight is the much anticipated rematch of the Sharks and Coyotes. And you just may participate in the fishing expedition of a life time as we try to land the big one. 4 of 5 meetings the SJ team has been the one that got away. The last one cost us big time w/ the loss of Danny Carcillo.

Nabby got a rest as the rookie Griess took over his net for a game and should be fresh and ready to rock *the alien took a couple of tumbles game before last and may not be his best* but the rest probably negated any advantage from bein jostled quite a bit in the last contests.

Some folks are callin for a beat down for Bernier and JR. Some are predicting that one or the other will be scratched to avoid anything like that from happening. I dunno. We aren’t going to be at our best, coming off the road and not much rest.

My best guess is that the boys should invade Nabby’s space as much as possible, he doesn’t like being crowded nor bumped. The Sharks won’t like it much either and if we can get them to react, we might get enough PP time to actually nail one or two freebies.

Hopefully the refs will get this one right. They better be expecting the raucous hard hitting contest that is sure to come and not let Bernier pull any of his normal questionable crap or there will be blood on the ice for sure. Jovocop is back and has a couple of deputies ready to deliver rough justice this time (just a feeling, DMo hasn’t gone any rounds lately, Z found some testosterone on the road *altough he really has no pugilistic skills, he might be able to start some static* , Bally LOVES to piss off Marleau *despite the consequences* and Doan is in a zone of aggression). Whatever happens, this looks like it may be the contest of the season for us. I hope we can rise to the challenge.

This is where we draw a line in the sand. Every game has been important but we need this one real bad to start one of the most important home stretches of the season. I’m not sayin sweep but 3 of the 5 would put us on the playoff map with a vengeance.

Let’s Go Coyotes! Shark steaks for the barbie boyos.

Check out PBs pregame take: http://www.onefansperspective.com/2008/01/fire-in-valley-iii-sharks-and-coyotes.html#links

OnyxStarr@coyoteshipcheck.com

It was like facing Megaladon in Jaws XV. Thats how big and bad the Sharks loomed on us this season. And like poor old Meggie, the SJ denizen of the sea finally got served.

Sheer guts, determination and the willingness to pay the price is what got us through this hell storm of a game. The VHS line was quiet on the scoring front, but everywhere else they were as solid as it gets. (it was time for the rest of the committee to do some of the work anyway) The under rated TQ and Kapi were feisty and either settin up chances or goin head to head with the SJ Alien Nabby. The defense was solid (the entire blue were givin everything they had). Only 6 give aways on the night (yeah 3 of them were Jovo’s….sighhh), face off percentages were awful but we had 16 blocked shots! (6 of them from Ballard alone) and 37 sogs!  

Nabby was as incredible as he always is, Torrey ‘freakin’ Mitchell gave us fits all night.

Doug Murray was a mammoth rock out there.  But they just couldn’t keep the Coyote juggernaut contained… even with the help of the most inept set of refs ever to hit the ice…(yeah that might be a weee bit of hyperbole but c’mon! I’da rather had Mick McGeough out there! and THAT should tell you how bad it was).

The first two periods were simply a goalie battle of epic proportions. Neither goalie blinked in front of some of the best scoring chances I have seen in a long time. It would take some burps from the guys in front of them to get anything past these two monoliths.

Unlikeliest goal of the season came from Mike York for the Yotes as he fakes a pass and (will wonders never cease?) Nabby bit. York proceeded to curve the pass into a shot and beat Nabby comin and goin.

The best play of the night was the desperation effort from Captain Shane ” I AM CLUTCH!” Doan off a beautiful blueline play from the much maligned Jovocop. (This play by Jovo pretty much negates any and all brainfarts he had during the rest of the game). How Doan knocks the hell outta two Sharks and breaks free with that pass I’ll never figure out. But the rocket he launched? I don’t need to figure that out, it was hard and nasty enough to nail the very surprised Nabby and THAT is all I need to know.

The overtime was a travesty of reffing……. again. (poor Bally… bad place to get a penalty but hey, feces happen, frequently) So even short handed we manage to survive the OT intact and still ready to rumble.

Down to the wire. We got a point. Are we satisfied? HELL to the NOT! Mules! (the moves of a sidewinder crossed with a slinky and the poise of a true predator) owns Nabby on his chance. 3 Sharks test Bryz!’s resolve. His response is ‘not today comrads’ (to be fair, Pavs pots a post, but the others are simply turned away empty handed).

The smiles, the jubilation, the belief simply amazing. And the kid in a candy store reaction of Bryz! afterwards…. priceless.

No I am NOT goin into THE BRAWL. There are several good and nasty debates flyin through the ether that are better than I could ever be at describing and decrying what went on.  (you have NO idea how tempted I am to just let loose on JR right about now… )*tacky son of a bitch, that goal was worth about as much as your 500th*

I will simply close with Good Luck and speedy recovery Danny Boy! (our resident warrior extra ordinaire will be out for approx. 6  - 8 weeks due to his injury in this game… badly strained knee)

Links, links! and more LINKS! below. (see comments sections for the ongoing battles about the game itself and the brawl)

The Awesome recap and discussion w/ Youtubes galore from PB: http://www.onefansperspective.com/

More stuff:

http://coyotescorner.net/viewtopic.php?t=6277

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=456972

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=456324

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/1220coyotes1221.html

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=11983

~photos from Paul Sakuma/Associated Press~