I was too damn mad to write last night. I wasn’t sure what would fly off my fingertips. I wouldn’t mind the refs knowing how I felt about their horrid performance but I didn’t wanna say something I might regret about the team in all that heat.

I probably shoulda just put this one out of my mind but now that I’ve cooled off a bit…

Antonio Jason Labarbera! Stay in your damn net! I am about 2 seconds away from duct taping you to the posts. You are not a good puck handler but you do have some redeeming qualities if you just friggin play to your strengths and stop shooting yourself in the skates. (GMDM, I am trying to see what you saw but after games like last night, it is just tough. I have been trying to avoid saying this… but maaan I wish we had that little Swedish Wolf back)

Daniel Winnick never gives up and never says die. Thank you for providing a ray of tenacity and maintaining the system in the face of great adversity. Too bad your team didn’t help you carry the banner.

Joe Thornton… you POS excuse for a player. I hope someone rings your bell soon. What you did to Z was stupid and totally uneccessary. I officially HATE you and hope the Sharks bomb again in the playoffs and you get traded to Carolina. And yes, your butt IS big, its not the shorts A-hole.

Thank you Vrby for not letting this game be a goose egg. Please get hot soon… you too Pruuu! and Mueller and Doaner and… well, you get the picture.

Dave Tipppett… the Sharks seem to have stolen a pair of balls from somewhere. WTH? was Paul Bissonette? Can you say Shelly, McLaren, Clowe and Murray? Never assume these guys will only play skill hockey. Paul deserved to be in this game (if he isn’t hurt) Biz ‘earned’ the right to play last night. Didn’t he spark a friggin comeback against the Isles? Didn’t he score when no one else could find a way? He might not be the biggest deterrent against arse clowning but he’s the best we got. Unless you got plans to call up Francis? What does it say about our abilities when even the Sharks decide to mess with us and no one does a thing about it? (Vandemeer? Aucoin? Pyatt? you all have reps for not taking much shit, we could sure use a bit of that about now.)

This entry reads like good cop, bad cop doesn’t it? That game apparently made me schizoid.

We didn’t follow the system. We didn’t stick up for each other. We didn’t play as a pack. We didn’t deserve to win. Bryzzie isn’t the only one who needs to reassess his game and get his act back together. Stop the madness. On any given day this team is top 10 but only if it’s all for one and one for all.

We are beat up and struggling but it is not the end of the world. This is our first 3 game L streak. We have to find a power play, teams will continue to beat up on us because we can’t fight and win and we can’t make them pay on the score board. If everyone remembers their role and does their job to the best of their ability it will be our last one. All eyes are on you, its gotta be tough knowing everyone expects you to fail. Don’t listen, don’t read, don’t pay those haterz no mind. WE BELIEVE! and we’re behind you 110%, so stand up and skate proud, skate like a pack and make yourselves and us proud.

*** personal note to the NHL… there needs to be repercussions for your officials. I know they are supposed to do their best since they are paid professionals but apparently thats not working so well. Seriously! Before this game I just chalked some of the BS down to general whining about reffing. Now I wonder what is going on at ref school and if there is a minimum eye sight requirement for your zebras. Really, it just keeps getting worse. You gotta find a way to enforce consistency and at least a modicum of understanding what the hell they are supposed to be doing. Cause it sure as hell ain’t impartially reffing hockey.

***personal note to the reffing community… many of you suck, some of you are trying to do a good job and sometimes get it wrong, some of you should be fired and tarred and feathered. I have never alternated between hate and loathing so often as this season. Every team deserves respect and at least an attempt at impartiality. Please clean up your act, there is only so much a sport can take before it becomes a joke and fans walk away. Think of it as job security.

On that note…

Martin Brodeur brings his record breakin butt to town tomorrow. It would sure be nice to mend our tattered reputations with a win against the Devils. It can be done you know. Hell WE’VE done it before.

The keys to this game?

Well I would say goalie battle! except I’m not sure how deep into the dark Bryzzie has gone. We just might be seeing AZBarbie (I will bring the duct tape just in case… I wonder how much money a flight from Russia last minute would cost? Anyone got Telly’s phone number?) Okay truly, the only way we can hope to end this one with dignity is for whoever steps between our pipes to have all the mojo they can muster. ( I will break out my lucky bingo troll just in case)

Contain Parise, Zajak and Captain America, Jamie Langenbrunner… oy vey! The neutral zone is about to become one very dangerous place but if we can hold them out there or to perimeter shots, we just might come out on top. The Devil’s are very hit or miss when it comes to offense but all it takes is one of these guys to tag up and Marty will hold the line. My solution is to just say no to the dynamic trio.

Take advantage of the few weak spots like Pandolfo or Pelley. Both are -5 and may just provide the chink in the Devil’s armor. Find some guys who may not be cookin with gas and blow through them instead of dumping and recovering. Use your speed! Use your aggression! Use your heads! Trust me on this, you guys can do this…together!

Watch out for Salvador and Peters. If you don’t want a repeat of Tuesday night, keep these guys in your sights and don’t let them punk your mates, they’ve been known to throw down and you can’t go out like that. We don’t have anough individual knuckle power to go toe to toe with anyone but if you let them know right away, mess with any of us, you mess with all and the game should proceed peacably.

If there is an ounce of pride in your bodies, do not let the phrase 0 for 7 on the power play ever be said about you again. A power play is like a gift. Try to score on one please. Let the words urgency and tenacity be your guide. (Peter, please shoot the puck, you pass like a dream but doode! please shoot the puck on the power play kthnxbai)

Just do what you do best, pack mentality! Score by committee and don’t let Brodeur’s press scare you. Everyone can be had on any given day.

Puck drops at 7pm, doors open at 6pm. Hope to see you all there. If you still need tickets, its too late to do the CircleK/Pepsi thing (24hrs advance is required) but not to late to take advantage of the Ambassador Club discount.

As always… GO COYOTES!

Good news: Upshall has been activated! TheGr8t Scott has been deemed fit for duty and will hit the ice tonight. We missed him alot, thankfully the kidney shots that creep Holmstrom gave him didn’t do any permanent damage. (Where’s his friggin suspension? Scottie was IR’d and facing urine checks for a couple weeks from that cheap shot)

Bad news: JovoCop has been deactivated. Mr. Jovonasty has been suspended for 2 games and fined more money than I have even seen in my lifetime for his elbow on Tavares. It is sad that Jovo is now considered a repeat offender and people like Burrows (deliberate slash to the knee of Vrbata) don’t even rate a looksee*EDIT(oops ROFL, I stand corrected, apparently SOMEBODY sees thru AlexB). Don’t even start with me about the elbow. He did it and although I’m still sure the big guy wasn’t out to cripple the kid, it appears pretty damn intentional. We can play without him but our guys better have eyes in the backs of their helmets without that big deterrent on the ice.

Sad news: Porter and Hoggan are back to San Antonio. We hate to see them leave but consolation is, everytime they come back they look better and better. Its good to know that our future roster players are almost ready for prime time.

Cool news: We have a new featured blogger. In honor of our Pacific Division chase its Sharks afficianados; Dudes on Hockey! These guys are informative and often edgy (just the way we like our blogs) So be sure to go check them out for your San Jose Sharks news, notes and insight.

So it is time once again to face the fish people. This is the 5th of 6 and we’ve gotten a point off these boys every time we’ve played but this time we really need to get both points. This is the time of the year where cushions start disappearing. 3rd one day and 9th the next is not that rare of an occurrence in the Western Conference and the Pacific Division is one of the toughest in the league.

Keys to the game?

Play THE system! Tippett has the knowledge to get us to the post season. He can lead us to water but he can’t make us drink. The boys have to listen and follow the plan. Shark’s Captain Rob Blake describes our system pretty well in the local news. “Phoenix, is a team that tries to frustrate you,” Blake said. “They play well. They’re pretty patient throughout the neutral zone, and they want you to be frustrated and either take penalties or create turnovers.”  It has worked very well… no deviations tonight guys.

Goaltending better be straightened out. As the Olympic break gets closer, Breezer has to be getting a little distracted no matter how hard he tries not to. Even though his last start wasn’t pretty, we can probably all agree that it wasn’t his fault. (We pretty much sucked the first 2 periods and the extended man down scenario didn’t help either) Hopefully, facing Nabby (Breezy’s best competition for the Olympic starter spot) should focus the big guy on this game.

Offensive touch is on the verge of breaking out! (No, really. We proved we can do more than 2 goals a game and its time to show off our new skill again tonight) Getting Upshall back gets the Korpedo off the main line which should be good for a few extra chances at beating that crazy alien Nabokov.

Enough with the goals against! Play friggin defense. Forwards need to forecheck like their lives depend on it. We’re down a big part of our blueline without Jovo. The dmen are gonna need every advantage they can get. Do NOT give that Marleau line any leverage. And for gods sake NO POWER PLAYS if at all avoidable.

Its our barn, we’re your peeps, play for us! We’ll give you back double what you give out.

************In other news************

The Ambassador’s Club met on Saturday for the second time. AJ is in the lead with like 50 purchases through the program. There were a bunch of us tied with 4 or more purchases. We’re doing good guerilla marketing for the boys. Giving out the cards, posting the links and just basically trying to talk butts into the seats by any means possible. Thank you to everyone who has purchased tickets so far. The promotion will be ending soon (I’ll get the exact date so you guys don’t miss the opportunity) remember its not just for the game of the day, you can buy the discounted tickets for packages and for games all the way through April. (Including The Ded games, Shane’s Bobblehead night, we win you win nights too.) Also don’t sleep on the CircleK/Pepsi deal. The cheap soda prices ends Jan 31st but the choice of games ends before that. Grab your 10bucks and go buy the 4 (8) pks, take your receipt AND the voucher from the display to the Jobarena and score 2 lower bowl (80 & 100 buck seats!)

Doug Moss did a mini Q & A for us. The team is talking about snowbird packages with WestJet and a hotel in the Biltmore area to package with Yotes tickets for our Northern friends to get out of the cold, see great hockey and enjoy our great city. Talk about a great shuttle idea vacation package. The Yotes have bid on the ASG week for 2011/2012/2013. Don’t count on 2011 even though we’ve heard from Bill Daly’s lips that we’re in the running. (the BK and ownership stuff just won’t get settled in time most likely to make us a serious choice) BUT, we’re most likely going to get the nod for one of the other 2 bids. We were also updated about our beloved #44. Sweets has been out all season and is still having issues. There is a slim possibility that we might not get him back at all for this season which just blows. The old  injury continues to plague him, affecting his skating, balance and the odd headache. We hope he continues to progress and makes it back to the roster after the Olympic break.

Haterz are really silly people. They don’t listen and they sure make up some really crappy stuff to natter on about. The NHL has said repeatedly that it may take as long as the end of the season to get our ownership deal done. Yet some dorks (mostly AZCentral POS commenters so I guess any credibility goes down the tubes straight off the bat) continue to cling to January 15th as some doomsday decision making date that will knock Ice Edge out of the buyers process… and they are gloating about it. Sheesh! Get a different hobby haters. But my favorite thing so far is the conspiracy stuff. They apparently don’t watch our games, don’t see the crap we take from the refs. Now they are all about the NHL trying to give us preferential treatment to get into the post season. ROFLMBFAO, don’t bother getting a hobby haterz, get a life instead, you guys have waaay too much time on your hands and not enough working brain cells.

So, puck drops at 7pm, doors open at 6pm. Hope to see you all there!

As always… GO COYOTES!

WE DID IT! We got 10 straight home wins to set a franchise record. What an amazing night.

We stole a point in San Jose Monday night (we almost took 2 but just couldn’t come all the way back) Battling the #1 team in our division is always tough since SJ has so much talent. It was great to keep within striking distance of the leader.

The big story is our home ice performance though. Feels like nothing can stop us on our own ice. Everyone is starting to notice and say nice things about us. We got plenty of room on the bandwagon, even for the former haterz. Can you believe even Gambo is giving us props. I wish our opponent’s fans would be as classy as Canuck’s Coach Alain Vignault who said we were the hardest working team they’ve faced. Canuck fans are making excuses but lets face it, they were outplayed by a team that went head to head with the Sharks the night before…all the way to shoot out. The Nucks got to sit around and watch us battle, they shoulda been able to put us away but couldn’t. Deal with it Canuckleheads, you got Korpedoed by the lowly Coyotes.

We started AZBarbie for this second game of the back to back. I was totally not expecting anything from him but Jason stepped up and snatched this win from the Canuckleheads. I will still be nervous when JB starts but tonight went a long way towards believing in him. Going head to head against Luongo is no picnic but Barbie outplayed one of the league’s top tenders tonight. At this rate of play, AZBarbie just might become a term of endearment. JLB is 3 – 3 – 0 for his starts which is acceptable considering he has rather large layoffs in between. He really needs to stay in his net before he gives me heart failure but other than a bit of a shaky start with big dramatic movements that take him out of position, he did a good job. Gotta give him props for his shootout prowess too.

The return of JovoNasty was spectacular! If your name was Sedin or Erhoff you ended up calling him MR. Jovonasty. All night Jovo was upending Canucks like a dump truck. Haven’t seen him grin like that in awhile. (He sure likes plowin through people) Also haven’t seen him that pissed in awhile (he should always play mad) but I thought the refs were gonna toss the big guy for arguing their stoopid calls. Totally loving this rendition of Ed Jovanovski. Poor Canucks, must hurt to go up against that many players you rejected and get beat. (Jovo, Babs and Pyatt)

13k in attendance watched our historic moment. You may have noticed googahs of mini hockey teams around the arena. The Coyotes Cup was held in Scottsdale and teams from all over( including the cute group in my section from Alaska) came to battle for supremacy. They got an extra present of seeing the Coyotes play the Canucks and win. Congratulations to Murph! The Squirt A Phoenix Polar Bears won the Coyote Cup.

Count the night a success. We haven’t had a record this good since 2002 when Bob Francis’ team went 12 over 500 (took them nearly the whole season to get there). In the 30 years of the franchise’s existence as Jets and now Coyotes, we’ve never strung together 10 straight home wins. Every game just keeps getting better, this one had it all too. I think we have actually found another gear. Thank god because we’re gonna need it to finish the second half of the season successfully.

Well we’re still chasing that #1 spot in the Pacific. The Sharks ate Washington like a bucket of their favorite chum tonight. So hopefully they’ll either be tired as hell or too high to concentrate. I’d love a delivery of sushi from the boys for New Years, wouldn’t you?

So what do we gotta do to serve up home win number 11?

Well 11 is a good start, Marty Hanzal has to keep doing his spectacular job of corraling Thornton. Z has to keep playing second goalie. Jovo could plaster a few Sharks to the boards for shits n giggles and Bryzzie needs to look sharp and watch out for that damn red hot Pavelski.

Goalie Battle! Is that our newest redundant statement? (Besides pack mentality and committee scoring) It seems to always come down to whoever blinks last with these two goalies. In Bryz we trust. (some nights I swear he could take teams on alone… if he could score, he just might).

Grit and discipline will be the watchwords of the night. Staying out of the box should be a little easier after what we put up with from the Canucks. The Sharks are hard hitting but mostly not cheap shot artistes (like that little bastard Burrows). We know they’ll get their chances but if we can keep them to low percentage chances and screw up their entry through the neutral all night, we should be fine… give the PKers a break guys.

*************OLYMPIANS!************

Z and Sami have been added to the list of Yotes that will be heading to the Olympics. Breezy was announced for Russia earlier in the month. The Michaleks will hit the ice together and give the Czechs a serious chance at a medal. (May be our only chance to see the boys play together) Lepisto will join the Finns along with former Yotes Kapanen and Jokinen. (Good luck Niko! I still adore that little guy, he is all heart). My heart goes out to Doaner, Jovo and Ryan Smyth who were not chosen for the Canadian squad. You know they really wanted to be there. Doan has led Canadian teams to sweet victory before, I think they may regret not grabbing our Captain when all is said and done. The guys stayed classy in the face of disappointment, declaring that they will be with the team in spirit and wishing them golden success. Team USA has not been announced yet, might we see our very own Yands get the nod? (good chances there for the Boston boy who has matured beyond belief this season)

Hope to see you tomorrow night for Coyotes Howlin Good New Year’s Eve game and party at Westgate. Puck drop early peeps. 5 pm start with Westgate going from 7pm – 2am. Remember designated drivers! Be safe out there please.

As Always… GO COYOTES!

Holy guacomole! What a night. We held a pregame celebration for our Captain’s 1000th game and 16,ooo folks showed up. They came in old school sweaters. They came in new school and home made apparel. They came in family groups and teams and singles. It wasn’t a cheap promotional trick, there were no tickets from vodka bottles or white out gimmicks. They came to honor Shane Albert Doan and to watch his team in action. What a tribute and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer, more deserving guy… or team.

Every game lately makes me think, wow, thats the best game of 2009. This one was no different. We had a hell of a crowd. We had a fight. We had neck and neck scoring. We had a goalie battle. We had the requisite crazy goal (just so the hockey gods can let everyone one know who they favor?). We had the epic 6 on 4 battle in the last seconds that brought the crowd to its feet. And we got the win. Who can ask for anything more? This couldn’t have been better if I sat down and planned it out. A huge crowd got to see what we die hards have been witnessing all year. If this 3 – 2 last ditch effort win doesn’t draw back some fans I don’t know what will.

This was the tale of 2 underrated long shots vying for the right to take on the perrennially division leading Sharks for first place honors. So evenly matched and each with something to prove after no play off appearances in over 7 years. Each team is clawing their way up the points ladder, game by game. Neither team has a major proven star but after this season, there may be a few more household names in the Western Conference.

Our best get-well-soon wishes go out to Justin Williams who suffered a broken leg during the first period. And to our own Daniel Winnick who may have broken an arm (we’re still awaiting official word but Winnie was sent straight to IR and that spells long term issue). I have never seen the stretcher at theJobarena. It was scary as hell. The Dawgs play so honorably and unusually clean that this kind of thing never crossed my mind to happen in a Yotes game.

We didn’t move up in the league or conference but we sure as hell proved a point in the division. 50 points is good enough to get us into 2nd place and within targeting range of the Sharks. Do we really want that distinction though? I mean look at San Jose, they are in 1st place a lot and it gets them diddley squat in the playoffs. It may even be jinxed!  It also paints a target on our backs for every team in the Conference to start gunning for. But then again, I for one would be willing to risk it since 1st in division guarantees us a berth in the post season. So lets go get it and worry about keeping it later.

Speaking of keeping it, all the haterz out there have started chattering again. Trying to cha cha their way out of the doody hole they put themselves in by predicting the Yotes for dead last in the NHL. Rumor has it that we are a fluke and will be dead after the break. Do they just not do their homework? Dave Tippett has coached (4) 50 game winning seasons. He has a reputation for getting everyone on the same page and for delivering the performances of their lives…consistently. I hope they all enjoy a heaping helping of crow when we blaze into the post season no matter what place in the league we take to get there.

The Sharks know we’re coming for them. Monday night in the tank is going to get crazy. This first part of a home n home will be a serious testing ground for us. If we take the win we will be within 1 point of them and with a second shot at them on home ice on Thursday we could start opening up the distance between competitors in the Pacific.

I am not looking forward to this game despite beating the Sharks twice so far in the series. I can’t think of a worse time to be out Winnie and Fiddy. The Sharks play a very physical game against us. We could really use Winnie’s size and tenacity tomorrow. We weren’t too bad on the face off without Vernon Fiddler but puck possession against the Sharks will be tough without those extra FO wins that Fiddy brings to the table. We’ve called up Porter and Hoggan. Hoggan brings the physical with his play and hopefully can help ward off McLaren, Shelley and Murray’s bruiser tendencies.

Keys to this game?

Shut ‘em down – Thornton is not easy to make invisible but Hanzal seems to be in his head, lets keep it that way. Marleau is on a tear, we just can’t give him any room. Heatley is just Heatley and we’ll have to try to limit him as much as possible.

Jump them early – we do much better playing with a lead. We need to give Ilya that breathing room so he can put the onus on Nabby to blink again. We’ve chased their goalie from the net before and if that 1st line can keep rolling like the last few games this might be another one of those nights. But we may need another unlikely hero to step up and surprise these guys.

Goalie battle! – Sheesh how many times can this be a key to a game? The goalies in the west are all exceptional and Nabakov is one of the wiliest. I still think he’s at least part alien but this season at least we know he’s beatable. Our mad Russian VS theirs will once again be the difference maker.

Own the neutral zone – this is our best chance to keep ourselves out of trouble.

Discipline, discipline discipline – it has to be said. Stay out of the box. #8 in the league with PP points against our #9 place PK looks pretty even but we’re down one of our best with Winnie out. Lets not test our PK prowess tomorrow.

Puck drops at 8:30pm and the game is not on local TV so listen on the radio with Heeter or visit a friend with Center Ice.

Go check out BTinAZ’s newest pics, they’re phenomenal as usual. And if you need tickets, you came to the right place we got the ambaasor’s club discount still going strong!

As always… GO COYOTES!

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!

Let me be the 999th Coyotes fan to express disappointment that the game wasn’t televised locally. Every away game should be available to the visiting team’s fans…always. Its one thing to black it out for the homers (they can get off their fat asses and go to the arena) but the poor bastages without that option get cheated. Seems like it happens to us more than anyone, don’t get me wrong, I love Heeter and the radio team but… it still sucks.

Sooo, after the 5 – 1 loss to the Blues (ughhh…season sweep), I really thought we had that whole tanking thing down. I mean come on, who the hell loses to the Kings 6-1 and then the Blues 5-1, back to back? Apparently we do. Even after hangin tight against the Blues and owning the Kings for most of the season, we manage to pull off 2 of the most embarrassing losses of the season. If that isn’t a sign of the apocalypse OR great tankin, what the hell is?

The Blues game was so embarassing even BTinAZ  stopped raising her camera when we had the puck on our stick (it rapidly became apparent that we couldn’t do a damn thing with it anyway, so why bother?). Bryz returned to the net after 3 games off and did his best impression of Swiss cheese. ( Breezer has to stop cheating off his posts and get his positioning tighter or he’s going to lose his spot as the owner of the Coyotes net) But there was enough blame to go around, the defense looked like rag dolls, the special teams looked like old cottage cheese, spotty and disgusting, the forwards looked like the Keystone cops on psychotropic drugs. Everybody looked like poop.

But then… we went to San Jose for a lil R n R. Fishing in the Tank. What could be more relaxing? Apparenly the lil road trip had a reenergizing affect on the boys. Even though we were almost prevented from seeing it (thnx to the gracious and magnificent Team Teal for getting us access!) this was a seriously amazing game.

We drew first blood on (who else?) Upshall’s pretty goal about 1/2 way through the 1st period. 1 – 0 Yotes yay! Everything started clicking like a brush fire in a high wind. Trust Uppy to get the party started. Upshall is on a career high for goals scored with 15 total under his belt.

The Captain took a stick in the face, the boys made the Sharks pay for the priviledge. Enver Lisin was a holy terror in the Shark’s zone and drew a second penalty seconds later and the resulting 5 on 3 was a thing of beauty as the Captain and Jovo played pong on the PP before JV buried a monster shot past Nabby to make it 2 - 0. (good thing the President’s Trophy wasn’t unpacked yet)

The start of the second period wasn’t any better as Z finished taking the wind out of their sails with his wrist shot to make it 3 – 0 Yotes. Then it got ugly. Fishy frustrations boiled over and resulted in some conduct unbecoming. Fridge (vs Moen), Jovo (just lending a helping hand in starting a scrum, lol) and Hanzal (vs Setoguchi) all got into the act as mini bouts of  fighting broke out all over the place.

With Monty on pace for his second shutout of his short NHL career, of course poor Yandle (destined to be Monty’s Achilles heel?) failed to clear Moen away from Monty’s six. Moen scores after 65billion whacks at a puck laying at the post, just beyond the Big Cubano’s reach. 3 – 1 Yotes and the Sharks got a shot of life, bringing their crowd back into the equation. I don’t know who gave my baby boy the big brass ones but whoa! Z finally took exception to being creamed behind the net and after Setoguchi’s hit, he went a lil bit apeshit, drawing not one, but 2 minors (crosschecked Seto to the ice and then when he popped up, smacked him another good one) I think he would count that as ‘4 minutes? well worth it’ since the Sharks failed to capitalize after Murray joined the parade to the sinbin, mitigating Z’s lil tantrum. Monty got his bell rung by Goc, literally getting popped in the head as the big forward tried to get one past him.

If we thought it was ugly in the second, watching Tree cut (the-newly-returned-after-injury) Goc off at the knees was even worse. Bad Tree! Bad boy! (maybe retaliation for poppin our goalie in the head…no call?) Then it was the big PM putting the game and the President’s Trophy out of reach for the Teal Terrors. 4 – 1 Yotes.

Highlights: Big Al Montoya stopping 41 sogs. The team blocking 31 shots. Lombo goin 18/10 on the faceoff dots and has points in the last 8 games. Enver Lisin usin his brains and speed for defense. Counting the ways the Sj announcers could eff up Z’s first name. Not having to watch another trophy we didn’t win presented.

The boys come home to play the most serious spoiler game of the season. If the Yotes beat the Ducks, they could single handedly be responsible for keeping them out of the playoffs and lending a helping hand to a couple of fellow underdogs trying to get into a most needed post season. (maybe they will return the favor next season if we need it?) go Nashville! go St. Louis!

As always… GO COYOTES!

Wow! Lots of activity in just a week.

Ducks 3/22/09 We didn’t fare too well against the Ducks on sunday. (you can check out the pitiful GDT commentary for that game over at Odie’s if you want). There wasn’t much to say about it for sure. The 2 – 6 score doesn’t tell the whole story but I really think it says enough. Pruuu!!! notched his first goal as a Yote  and of course the Captain came through with one. But the story of the night was the Ducks PP which pretty much had its way with us all night. The 4 minute hi stick on Uppy pretty much just sealed our doom by letting them get 2 in less than 30 seconds. So we opened the door for the Ducks to sneak back into post season contention… oops, our bad.

Oilers 3/26/09 But these new Coyotes are really gettin into their spoiler role and when EDM came to town (yeah the team that was tryin to sweep us), we came to life on home ice. Klee, Lombo and Hanzal bulled, bashed and scrabbled their way to beat Rollie the Goalie giving us the 3 – 2 win over the Oil. Hemsky and Kotalik are pretty much unstoppable when they get into gear and scored goals 43 seconds apart in the 3rd period. This was a really solid effort although we got a little rattled in the third, we never stopped pushing and that attack mentality is what really kept the Oil from completing the comeback. That never say die attitude bodes well for the future. It was great to see Klee get his first goal in the desert, Dawes fed him the perfect centering pass (we’ve seen a lot of those since the arrival of Team Transplant), it is taking our stay-at-home-defensemen a little bit to figure out that they are actually going to get to shoot occasionally!

Sharks 3/28/09 So, on Saturday we flew up to SJ to try to ruin the wounded Sharks day. (No team has beaten the Sharks in regulation more than us) if we could have kept our game together this would have made 3. But alas it was not to be. Specialty teams really made the difference again. But what really made the night especially fun was seeing Kurt ‘Sweets’ Sauer score a badass goal.

What made the night especially yuck was seeing Jody Shelly score. Tree really screwed the pooch on that outlet pass which totally killed the momentum from the Sauer goal. But we battled down to the wire and really made those fish sweat. We failed to kill the Lombo penalty in the 3rd and then failed to convert on the PP from the Cavanaugh penalty after. Another great thing about this game was hearing the commentators praise Scotty Upshall. Apparently Uppy is going to make TGOs line swapping look like genius everytime it includes inserting thegr8Scott into a line. According to Panger & Co, Uppy has an uncanny ability to bring energy and heart to any line he’s played on. If you didn’t love the Carcillo trade you still gotta give Upshall his props for what he’s brought to the Yotes in his short tenure.

Well we get to roust Dallas tomorrow at home. This should be a really good game as well. Another team we’ve matched up well against all season.

News and Notes:

Bettman reiterates… Glendale or die tryin!

Z’s shot blocking total is now 247! (he better stop blocking them with his hands tho, the one last night scared me to death) Brett Clark from COL is closest to him at 237. After that no one is close.

Smack Daddy is scheduled for surgery on April 1st.

Team Pierre wins more awards

See you guys tomorrow at the Job.

And as always… GO COYOTES!

I have a serious game hangover. I’m still not sure how it happened but Shane, this one is definitely your fault!

You know, when you have no expectations and crazy, mad shit happens, you get a great buzz! But now I feel  like crap this morning from too much adrenaline last night.

I got bidnizz this morning but I’ll be back to tell ya’ll a little story about the underDawgs that took on the leviathon of the Pacific and WON!

OK back…

This game totally wrecks the Operation Tank proponents among us. Oh yeah there were some really torn people at the game. Even more than Teal and Q who were decked out in all their fishie glory down by the glass. (I told them that wearin that much teal would be a jinx) The OT theorists really want Hedman in the draft. While I totally hope for some more viable blue line personnel, not enough to tank and establish a losing atmosphere for the kids and Team Transplant.

So Kyle ‘don’t call me tiny’ Turris blew up the joint 21 seconds into the game. Then put in another one to give us the 2 goal lead in the first. The 19/91 combo would prove to be a HUGE success all night long. But in the end it was a Captain’s battle. Pretty Patty completed the Sharks come back from a 3 goal deficit and gave his boys new life. But our Captain literally took the game (and Rob Blake) on his back and put away the game winner. Best goal of the year hands down.

Upshall, Yandle, Lombardi and Prucha all gave a good accounting all game long. The Bad Boy Patrol line (McGrattan, Fridge and Prust) looked great and inspired a lot of confidence in the smaller guys. McG got a lil more TOI than expected as he hit the ice everytime Shelley did.

We chased the Alien Goalie from the net! Nabby is rarely unprepared and almost NEVER rattled but 3 goals in 9 shots caused him to be relieved by Boucher after the 1st period. Amazing.

Tree got his first goal as a Coyote to put us up by 3. Kalinin is really tryin to earn his spot for next season. If the NYR fans could see THIS Tree, they’d be stunned by his apparently newly discovered ability to play high minutes and chip in on the PP.

The game had all the elements you could ever want in a game including something we Yotes fans had given up ever seeing again… extreme physicality… sustained physicality!

The Sharks were pretty pissed about being outworked and the frustration boiled over after Winnie put some poor fish into the wall. Rob ‘the old fart’ Blake jumped Winnie and then realized he had bit off a bit more than his false teeth could handle. He hugged and stripped poor Winnie so long that the refs stepped in before Daniel was down to his skivvies. No punches were landed but the aggression factor ratched up quite a few notchs.

I was sorely disappointed in my other Michalek, mucho liberties after pinning Uppy to the net and old fart Blake jumping in was just ridiculous. Then when Uppy called Mimi out later, Milan refused to go. Sweetie, you and your brother can’t fight. If you are gonna go all bad ass, at least man up when challenged fairly. ROTFLMAO because we could actually read Uppy’s lips (you big p*ssy, now that I ain’t pinned, lets go) ummm… paraphrased, but you get the drift.

McGrattan is still Smack Daddy Supreme! He and Jody Shelley fought a real heavy weight bout. I hate the fights in hockey (yes I am such a wuss) but I understand why they happen and I don’t bitch when they do. THIS one was a humdinger! and because the combatants were evenly matched, had a reason for going and really knew how to chuck ‘em, I actually enjoyed the hell out of it.

Brandon Prust also threw down with Brad Staubitz in the early moments of the 3rd. It wasn’t a great bout but it did serve notice that the Dawgs weren’t out of sass.

As usual the refs botched quite a bit of the game. The fans really let them know it too. I don’t think I’ve seen that much ref induced pisstivity in a long time. From the non call on the other Michalek and Blake for roughing up Upshall (yet somehow we ended up on the PK), to the trip on Klee which led him to fall and trip a Shark (Klee got called  but the original tripper escaped scott free). But on the whole the refs just let the guys play hockey.

The second period was a hell storm. We hung tough. 28 minutes worth of penalties and some hard battles chipped away at our momentum a little bit and Big Joe Thornton came to life with the only goal of the period.

We still have no killer instincts. Up by 2, we let the Sharks get back in the game. Joe T (second goal of the night for that beast) and Pattyboy took advantage of our innate protection mode instincts to tie the game up 3 – 3 early in the 3rd. But our Captain had guaranteed that we would be better. And dadgum if he was gonna be foresworn if he had to haul the entire Teal nation into the net, thats exactly what he would and did do.

So like I said earlier… WE WON!!!!

Pics courtesy of Bleedin Teal…see more

Now we just gotta give the Ducks a lil taste of our desert brewed spoiler treatment too.

As always… Go Coyotes!

First of all, Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all. Hope your day is filled with green beer, good cabbage, tender brisket and a Coyotes win.

Okay, went to practice this mornin… we’ll see how observant I was when they announce the scratches. (my take is Lindy/Tiki/Dawes/Winnie/Lisin)

Maybe it is only because I mainly catch the game day practices I am not overly impressed with practice. Here are the things I saw.

• Wayne wasn’t there at all from what I saw.
• Even in practice they overskate the goal rather than stopping to the weak side or in front of the goalie. (coaches should make them do this so it becomes second nature in a game)
• They don’t give the puck the 2nd or 3rd whack (coaches should make them do this so it becomes second nature in a game).
• They don’t follow up with sticks down as trailers. (coaches should make them do this so it becomes second nature in a game)
• Still lots of aimless, undirected time for the guys. They wander around, shooting at the empty net, shooting at the broken glass pane behind the net, talkin along the boards (Dawes and Lindy seemed to be gettin along real good).

Bryz left the ice a lil early, Fuhr padded up in net ROFLMAO (is there a come back planned?). Appeared to be teaching a group how to work a goalie in close. (too bad 3 of the 7 players were D men… how often are they gonna use that?) But Sulli had the rest of the guys doin the same thing to Tater (they wore his lil ass out). Hopefully we’ll get in close enough to use the techniques.

A little face off work for KT. Against Prust. KT even won some fairly handily. Learnin to use his body against bigger guys I guess. Kid is determined as hell.

McGrattan was sportin the #22, he didn’t look that rusty. He even managed to pot 2 goals.

Man! I wish Boeds would shoot more. He has a wicked ass low shot.

They practiced controlling/ moving the puck with their skates (prolly a really good thing since so many passes go into their skates anyway).

Yandle is hilarious when he misses a shot or gets stoned (he has this really high pitched holler) but it is a lot of fun watchin him celebrate when he does score.

They also practiced a lot of bouncin pucks off the back boards and goin to the net for the pass. Tiki and Prust really showed a lot of creativity and chemistry in this drill. Not content with that just bounce it and go stuff LOL they would do spins and fakes and still hit each other in front of the net. Pretty good stuff there.

So that was basically practice. If you see a bunch of shots goin high and into the middle pane tonight remember that they were goofin off hittin it today and stop wondering why it keeps happening.(coaches should make them NOT do this so it doesn’t become second nature in a game)

The Sharks are here. We’re probably screwed. I hope we can turn in at least a decent performance. Doan says we will and if all it took was sheer determination, we would be better right now, but that guy has such a martyr’s complex he’s pretty much taking full responsibility for Joker sucking, the team tanking and just about anything and everything that isn’t right with the Yotes. Trust me Shane, it is NOT all you kiddo.

We need to score, we need to battle, we need to be disciplined, McGrattan needs to be worth a damn so I won’t feel like Tiki/Lindy/Dawes *take your pick*  sat for nothing.

Lousy GDT I know but.. its all I got for now.

As always… Go Coyotes!

Sorry I been gone for a bit…  Between bronchitis and dental surgery I have not been feelin the hunched over the keyboard thang but you’ll probably get sick of me over the next few weeks as I have now joined the ranks of the unemployed. Outsourcing sux, if you are the outsourcee. (anyone looking for an IT/desktop support manager? I’m available) LOL

Our boys should never be allowed to take ASG week off ever again. They lose their ever-lovin minds… and apparently the ability to win a damn game.

It has been painful to watch. Goin over 180 minutes without a goal (well, except the ones we’ve managed to score on our own goalie). And the really sad part is that a couple of these losses we haven’t played badly.

We’re hittin, we’re shootin, we’re passing (ok, we call it passing but it often looks like bad attempts at pong) and we’re playin defense too.  But ever since the Wings victory its as if we can’t buy a goal. Like we blew our wad on that season high 6 goals.

Untimely injuries not withstanding, we should be better than this. But it seems like there is something missing. We have Doan, Jokinen, Jovanovski and Bryzgalov for cryin out loud. Why can’t we seem to pull off a damn win? Maybe we’ve lost our fire? You know that burnin in the belly resolution to win at any cost? That do whatever it takes thing that makes ordinary players great and makes good players brilliant. It’s still there… feeble though it seems right now, there is still a spark and we have to find a way to bring it back to life. Not one of our guys has stepped up past his limits in the last few games.

I am starting to worry that TGO and current staff just can’t get it done. I know I’m not the only one (hell, I’m probably the last one to begin to wonder). We’ve seen major roster changes over the last 5 years with the coaching staff remaining in place and still not gettin the boys motivated beyond the ASG break. What is it going to take?

There are still like 29 games to be played and we can’t afford to go on an extended L streak at this critical juncture. I still believe it can be done but not with the current mindset.

Joker, if you truly want to finally make the post season you better find a way to help Doan lead this team and dude! stop imitating the stay puff marshmallow centerman! And Jovo, you had your best defensive run in the last few games but buddy, we need some points, 2 to 3 shots per game isn’t going to do it. Something will fall for you big guy but you gotta shoot! If Haler can get a goal from the blue, there’s no way you shouldn’t be able to. Hanzal, darlin I know you are doin way more than any 21 yr old should be asked to do, but sweetie, we need about 17 games like the 1/20/ded things game outta you. Seriously you WERE that game.

Z… baby boy… dig honey… way down deep (no… deeper) something is off and you gotta get back on track (if you survived 2 seasons of injured/recovering Jovo, you can survive musical defensemen and Haler too) Shane? I know you can’t do it all but lose Mr. Nice Guy and kick a lil ass in that locker room will ya… apparently these guys don’t understand the term urgency even when you start bangin heads thru glass and shootin like its your last moment on Earth… you’re gonna have to get nasty behind closed doors, methinks, to get your point across. Haler, I’m not blamin you for anything anymore, its not your fault that the coaching staff is expecting things from you that you just can’t quite deliver. I get that you are givin it all you got (and occasionally, you actually look like an NHL caliber blueliner) but you’ll please forgive me when I pray for DMo/Sauer/anyone-not-named-Hale to shore up the D pairings.

Coyotes coaching staff… pull your collective heads out of your arses and recognise, 90% of this game is mental when the tools are all there. We got the tools, what is happening to the boy’s heads? This is on you, to find a way for them to be ready to face each game as confident and prepped as needed. Next season there may not be a club in Phoenix if we don’t make the post season.

Some fans are already starting to look ahead to the draft… god , how pathetic is that? There is still a chance, the West is so damn tight that it squeaks when you look at the standings. The back end of the season is strafed with teams that are neck and neck with us, we play the majority against Pacific rivals and even more importantly Western Conference teams. We were dominant against these same groups in the first half of the year, many of them have found their extra gear (Dallas) and have turned on the afterburners. The sprint portion of the NHL marathon has apparently started early this year… somebody please tell our boys.

If they are really serious about makin the post season, every single player is going to have to play kamikaze style, beginning tonight at the Joe. There should be no excuses for not throwing everything including the kitchen sink at the Ded Thing’s net. If it takes gettin thrown 1/2 way across the ice or through the glass to make a play… do it! If it means becoming a bullseye in their crease and takin the cheapest shots imaginable… do it! Thats what Stanley Cup Champions do… sacrifice until there is no more to give, then dig down deeper and finding that lastexhausted ounce. That last ounce is the difference between winners and wannabes.

News and stuff… Tiki has been reactivated and sent to SA w/ StevieG and Nikulin. Porter and Hoggan are comin back the other way. Bettman will be giving a state-of-the-Yotes interview during the intermission tonight.  (It won’t stop all the bullshit but maybe we can glean a little more hope for our continued existence)Rhino may be back tonight (prolly Sat to make sure he’s 100% but maybe tonight) Zetterberg and Holmstrom are questionable for tonight… look for the crazy Ivan maneuvers from Datsyuk to reappear.

As always… GO COYOTES!!!