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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See more of Teal’s pics

I hope everyone had a great New Years and that 2009 brings everything you wish for.

12/26/08 Yotes VS Kings part 1

The first game on Friday night I expected a flat and sluggish group of pups to flat out get crapped on by the Kings. But I got a surprise visit from a team that (while not great) didn’t quit. We came out hot and high. The Kings tried to match us in intensity but couldn’t quite do it. On any night that Shane Doan and Ilya Bryzgalov are in high gear, my money is on the Yotes. And unfortunately for the Royals, they ran into not only the Doaner and Breezy but also into a Pistol Pete Mueller, trying to shake off the sophmore jinx. The game was a pretty routine bit of pong until Muels found a spot that Jonathan Quick just couldn’t cover. The Yotes did a fantastic job of keeping the dangerous Doughty out of the action (and on Doughty’s best run, the post assisted Breezy in spades). Sauer, Klee and Z made sure that Kopitar and Brown (despite lots of minutes) didn’t get much in the way of quality tries at Bryzzie.

Gotta give some props to the very young and very green Mister Quick, without him, the Kings would be in serious trouble while Ersberg recovers. We solidified our spot in the western top 8 and while I was hoping we could pull away from the pack… the second half of the home n home was a total ‘off with their heads’ kinda night.

12/27/08 Yotes VS Kings part 2

Going in to Saturday night I had expectations… apparently I wasn’t the only one, as the Job was pretty full and buzzin w/ anticipation. Unfortunately now I know how the King’s fans felt on Friday. “a defeat that deflated a rare full house” At least the Kingiefans only paid $11.50 to see their mess… trust me it hurt a LOT more at $60.00 bucks on Saturday. Not to mention that at least their team woke up and tried. My boys… not so much.And we had special guests that we brought to the game (Teal’s bro and sis-in-law) see how happy and anticipatory they look?

Soooo… Saturday night… The boys slept walked?…err sleep walked? oh hell, they oozed out onto the ice like a 3 toed sloth on extra strength Lunesta. Apparently it was some good shit too, cus they never woke up. lets walk thru the horror in a general looksee shall we?

0 - 9 PP *insert sounds of crickets here* ZERO for 9!… including some 5 on 3s… I do believe there just might be cause for alarm in those words don’t you? Am I the only one scanning last years stats and shaking her head? Doan and Jovo both had over 25 ppps last season… they are nowhere near on track for that this season. It hurts us preciousssss

Face offs - not quite dismal but close enough, Rhino had another off night in the circles along with everyone else, add this sorry statistic to the fact that we couldn’t pass, shoot nor hang onto a puck… ughhh

Puck possession battling was non existent. Kings were ditzing about in our zone all night long. I can’t recall more than a handful of times we came out of a puck challenge with the disk on our stick.

Sinbin parade. They musta been giving away free booze in that penalty box, there was no shame… just guys beboppin in and out of there like, no big deal… this also hurt more than I can say. Ah well, no use beating a dead horse over this stink bomb, luckily the loss hurt nothing but our pride and we had bigger fish to fry on Wednesday.

12/31/08 Yotes VS Avalanche

What is there to say about what we needed to do? We faced the Lanche on Wednesday and did everything right. Bi polar just doesn’t describe us some weeks.

Face offs - 57% Hanzal/Doan/Joker all over 50% and Rhino just barely under the .50 mark…just wish we could do this more often (and at least Marty has stopped being thrown out of the circles so often)

We did all the little things right. Like winning the battles for pucks…often just outright stealin them.

Matching hit for hit…we don’t play physical, we don’t do so well. OhHale gave Hejduk a slam he felt all over again on New Years day. (his hit and his assist kinda make up for his faux pas on the Avs goal)

Staying out of the friggin box! Only 2 PIM were assessed to our boys (IDK if the refs just wanted to get home to celebrate or if we really were that disciplined) but whatever… the defensemen were able to contribute a lot more since they weren’t dogass tired from PK’ing all night. Z on the point during the PP seemed to be making a difference too (not enough PPs to really gauge) but you gotta figure anything that helps prevent odd man rushes/short handed chances has to be good right?

Muels shook off another link in the sophmore jinx chain. Apparently Pistol Pete found a serious chink in Budaj’s armor and nailed him twice up top. Too bad he couldn’t put away the hattie point blank dead center. Ah well I’m sure he’ll take the 2 odd angle markers and hope that ’scoring in bunches’ thing is true.

The LOB line certainly lived up to its moniker. Lisin and Boedker cross the neutral at the speed of light and lob sweet passes to the high slot for Olli to slam home. Works for me and certainly worked for them in this game. I hope TGO can put the itchy trigger finger to rest for a lil while on this line. They look good together.

Ya’ll know how much I adore the Swedish Wolf. Telly Munster stepped up to the plate for this one. A little jittery to start (HEY! he’d been out a while) he quickly got into his rythm and spanked him some Yeti hind ends. Tellqvist and Mueller got the 2 stars they deserved at games end.

Both teams came into this game with 39 points…we came out with 41. We done real good to drop the Yetis and cement that 7th spot for a little while longer. The Quackers are only 1 point ahead of us and the Nuckleheads are only 4… wouldn’t it be sweet to sit in 5th place for awhile (even in a tie?) Its definitely doable with January being a really strong month for us. A game in hand on ANA and they face theose notorious Flyers next (which we should all hope that those boys hit the west coast errr flyin) and us facing a flaky yet still dangerous Isles team, Friday night could well be a big turning point for the season.

See you all at the Job! Friday night is gonna be a hellstorm with ex-Yotie Lil Mikey Comrie comin in on a hot streak.

For more of Teal’s gorgeous game day pics

We’re statistcally close…Divisionally we rank 3 and 4 (who woulda thought we could hold on to 3rd in the Pcacific?) Conference wise we’re 7th and 11th (again, who woulda thunk it? holding onto 7th for more than a game or 2) their superior numbers on the Pk will not be an advantage…as we have no PP to speak of anyway. Last 10 games played for both teams is a tie at 4-3-3… this might be another goalie war.

We missed sweepin these guys last season by 1 game. Erik Ersberg sure made the last games of 07 tough, but he’s out DTD and we will probably get to see just how quick Jonathan Quick is in goal for the Royals (LA Barbie has not been havin a whole lotta success recently and is riding the pine behind the called up Quick). Our lil speed demon Lisin was the star of the only game we’ve played against the Purple Puck Pushers in 08. (I’m sure everyone members that full stride breakout on a DMo pass but just in case… you can watch it again here. ) So we need to continue to own these guys. With ANA quiet tonight we have the chance to pull even with them and with their next game being against the quietly improving Stars we could stay ahead if we pull off the Ws in this back-to-back series. (ANA 39 pts - PHX 37 pts). This is a do NOT waste situation that will be invaluable down the stretch. And look to COL as the last game of December (with Stasny out with arm fracture makes the Yeti very vulnerable right now)to be THE big finish for the boys.

Damn thats a lot riding on 3 games. But with 2 of them at home where we have been thriving lately, it certainly looks doable. So I am going to stop looking ahead and focus all my limited powers of concentration on winning tonight and let Saturday and Wednesday take care of themselves as they arrive.

Watch the game on or on AZ- TV locally

As Always

!!!!LET’S GO COYOTES!!!!

I would invite you all over to share in the Casa de Onyx celebrations but I’m sure you are having something a wee bit tastier than

To get the laughter part started

happy holidays

See you on the GDT tomorrow!

Boedker -Boedy could use some ProActive solution. I hate to be mean… but the NHL has not been good to that gorgeous lil rookie’s complexion (srsly he’s got everything else hockey-wise)

Mueller - Muels apparently could use a new hip flexor and a lucky charm to take the sophmore jinx off his back

Turris - to “REALLY” weigh 180! my friend Virg says he should get one of those shirts with the fake musles built in. or a McDs gift card so he can haz cheese burger everyday…

Jokinen - Joker could sure use some Rogaine for eyebrows

Bryzgalov - Breezy needs a home hot dog cart (I’ve never seen anyone who actually LIKED hot dogs as much)

Lisin - a sweet lil red race car bed, so he can go fast, even when he sleeps. vrrooom vrrrooommm snore snore snore

Yandle - a professional photo session, so he and his family can have 1 non mug-shot photo,(with a barber on standby to shave him between takes)… that 5 oclock shadow thingy is a 5 minute shadow on him

Hanzal - a ritual burning of ALL copies of Zoolander so he can stop hearing how hot he is right now (even though he is)

Doan - sheesh what do u get the captain who has everything? 3 hats… in lieu of the real thing, since I can’t seem to will him an NHL hat trick (and neither can he apparently)

Jovanovski - JoVo gets a better tryke, one where all the wheels work? or a longer bus? or maybe we upgrade him to a big wheel… a big boy ride! since he has decided to be more Jovocop than Special Ed lately and both Santa and I appreciate that

Tikhnov - Teeks needs a Russian accent (cuz the Nor-Cal one sure confuses the hell out of interviewers) add the banishment of the words dude and awesome from his conciousness

Michalek - Z could sure use an auto block for his puck-over-glass moments and some seriously kevlared shin pads since he seems determined to go full-metal-kamikaze in front of every puck this season

Morris - DMo gets a new contract, early…please Santa, convince Mo Cheeks to re-sign (ok this was really a gift for me but hey…its MY list)

Porter - Puddin gets a line mate who understands his mental signals to go to the front of the net (or for Kolarick to make the team and show the other kids how it works)

Tellqvist - Telly sure could use a few less breaks between starts, the Swedish Wolf deserves better than 10 - 15 a year anyway

Carcillo - Wild Thang gets a muzzle or a taser button on his balls (TGO can press it to shut him up when needed) although the ability to grow a REAL mustache would also be nice, so DC can stop looking like a 12 year old trying to look like Erroll Flynn playing a porn star 

Winnik - The Beast could use some skate brakes so he can actually stop n shoot in the opposing crease and save his career (aka get out of Gretzky’s doghouse)

Reinprecht - Rhino could use some R.E.S.P.E.C.T. the guy should NOT be on another trade-him list for 2008, he just gets no love and he should

Lindstrom - Lucky Lindy needs 2 of the kids on permanent status for linemates, Lindy Hop could really throw down if he had some stability

Hale - OhHell needs a modicum of defensive wisdom… he can hit and pass a little but deciding when to do what could use a little boost

Sauer - Sig needs a goal, a pretteh, puck handling, honest to goodness goal scorers GWG (he does nearly everything else so well, this would really be a gift)

Klee - Ksquared needs a stronger constitution so he won’t have to rest so often which opens the door for Hale storms

Thanks Odie, Virg and Teal for the input, hopefully Santa reads this blog… or maybe not since I would prolly end up on the naughty list for some of them

!!!!MERRY CHRISTMAS to those who celebrate it and HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all!!!!

xposted to HLOG

We finally get over the 50% mark on faceoffs (you go Hanzal,cuz no one else certainly did) but our puck possession still sucked lemons. Does anyone else want to yell DECLINE IT! for the love of hockey DECLINE IT! when ever our PP takes the ice? (another you go boi! to Hanzal for not making us endure a PP attempt) Doesn’t it seem like we can only score on the delayed call this year?

Its a damn good thing no one else cept the Quacks were playin or this coulda REALLY hurt. We’ve got a chance tomorrow to make up for this

The first 10 minutes we looked like a pack of ungainly puppies trying to find our way out of a basket. Not a good look for us. Telly looked like a rusted statue of a goalie but came alive fairly quickly.The 5 on 3’s at the end pretty much put the kabosh on him trying to hold us in the game. Yes the refs sucked but we certainly didn’t help ourselves with our undisciplined actions. Predicting that DC will feel a wee bit of tightening on the leash(maybe a view from the press box?) for his mini-meltdown. Even though he fired up the boys by taking on the very large (6′4″ 225lbs) Jason Strudwick, the entire effect was marred by his jaws flappin like a fat ladie’s drawers in a windstorm. STFU Danny…srsly… I thought you had gotten over this tendency.

The Oil made us pay dearly for the youthful mistakes of Enver Lisin at the start of the first. 2 PPs…2 goals and we’re fighting for our lives. The great part was that we didn’t lay down and whine, we actually took the game to them and dominated the second period. It is soo very weird to actually still expect to win after being down by 2. Srsly… after Hanzal scored and Telly and the defense tightened up, I had expectations of pulling off (if not a win) at least a point and ending our Edmonton misery.When Winnie pulled off that move and Lisin scored, I was SURE we’d come all the way back.

The third period both teams were fighting each other to a standstill and we might have survived (1)5 on 3… but 2 of them? No way in hell. Especially with that insane shot of Souray’s waiting to end his drought. (If Z had jumped in front of one of those zingers I’da had to take him out back and explained the difference between team sacrifice and complete and utter stupidity/death wish). Seriously starting to hate Dwayne Roloson, he is a Coyotes killer of the worst order.

So we come out of Edmonton once again empty handed. Head into Colorado to play in the oxygen deprivation tank of the Yeti. An Avs win is another one of those ‘who-do-we-have-to-kill for the W games’. Sitting at 33 points and looking to climb back in the hunt for a berth, these guys need to be shoved back so they don’t get too close… we end the month of December against them and every loss against us helps next time we face them.

As always… Let’s Go Coyotes!

Whodathunkit?

Lil Kyle Turris had the game of his life on Thursday night. Handing us 8th place with the help of his trusty Russian sidekicks Bryzzie and Lisin. Don’t be hatin, a few more games like that and KT will have proven TGO right. No one else could solve the very hot Dan Ellis (who is playing extremely well right now and is a big factor in Nashville hanging around in contention). The Preds have been habitually low scorers this season and KTs timely goals were just enough.

It seems like the rest of December is MUST WIN games… 4 pointers or some wanna be team tryin to creep past us so any loss (w/out a point) would truly impact us.

Thank goodness Bryzzie matched Ellis for intensity and played solid if not brilliant in this one. Enver Lisin just keeps gettin better and better. The lil Russian Rocket flat out makes things happen out on the ice, each and every shift he seems to break things open on some level. His linemates are starting to recognise it very well. The break away on the first goal was beautiful (thanks to Lucky Lindy for recognising Ellis’ weak spot and spreading the word to KT and to the REAL Jovocop for the pokecheck) but the second goal was one of those ugly ones and with out Lisin popping Ellis like a taser, this opportunity doesn’t happen.

Funny how one of the league’s bad boys shied away from any extracurricular activity w/ the Wild Thang (apparently Danny did everything but triple dog dare Jordin Tootoo to go. After the 6th invite… a ref stepped in and made Carci back off with the threat of a 10 min) too bad we’ll never see a game w/ DC mic’d up…

So we send the Preds home and hop into the 8th spot like we own it. We timeshare well but with the Wild’s current foundering I feel like we own 7th all by ourselves. So we stay home, rest up, hang out and prep for what could very well be the game of the season so far…bring on the Bluejackets!

Can I say whodathunkit again?

I mean, srsly…The Coyotes in 7th place… all alone… no timesharing? Sound like peyote dreams? Well think again… 2 - 0 SHUTOUT! 4 game series SWEEP!

Bryzgalov was so solid, so hot and so in the moment that the Jackets had nowhere to go. With a stunning set of defensive corpsmen in front of him, there didn’t seem to be anything SuperBryz couldn’t do… including shutting the closet door on those poor, tired looking Blue Jackets. This was a major milestone for us. playing a game that had so much meaning (7th place in standings, pushing a close competitor down the standings ladder and closing the mouths of all who drag out that nasty Nash goal to taunt us with every game against these guys). “A shutout is like a dessert,” said Bryzgalov, who has allowed only three goals in his last three games. “Most important is we are in a playoff race right now and Columbus was two points behind us. It doesn’t matter if we win 2-0 or 6-5, it’s a huge two points for us.”

A series sweep over the Bluejackets by a ragtag group of kids, an ailing #1 goalie and a coach that many have been begging to step down. Oh yeah the motley crew stepped up and swept the Jackets with a cagey mix of old shooters and new shooters with Rhino drawing first blood and Boeds puttin the insurance goal to bed.

Mules to Ksquared to Doaner rocked Mason just enough for that tough ol dog Rhino, who tucked the rebound past Mason to give us the lead and what would eventually be the GWG.

That Lucky Lindy seems to be makin things happen ever since he got here. “(Lindstrom) made a good play taking the guy on the wall a little bit and the puck bounced to me, ” said Boedker, who has 16 points in 33 games in his rookie season.

“It was supposed to be Enver (Lisin) on the ice, but he was getting his skate fixed so I took a chance and jumped on and was lucky the puck was right there.” May the force continue to be with us and hopefully Boedker can clump a few together after that beauty.

Can you say JOVOCOP!

Well I can…the monster cop was back and dishing out extreme stopping power all night long. One of those stand-em-ups nearly cost that Jacket his tailbone, (hittin the ice, bouncin, then sliding several feet is hell on the coccyx). Hello! the blueline was committing assault w/ intent to win, all night long. Sig Sauer

and the Iron Czech

had Breezy’s back and sides and any other angle the Jackets could dig up.

Oh look! Klee was makin York sammiches too w/ a lil Zebra on the side.

Even Enver ‘Feivel’ Lisin got his licks in.

Carcillo finally got a bout with Boll and to me there was no clear cut winner but some decent knucks were chucked in this one. One thing about DC is there is just no quit in the boy. Boll was tryin to tie him up w/ an equipment strip but DC was havin none of that… he kept battlin even as parts were fallin to the ice. Gotta love the Wild Thang.

This was one sweet game.

http://coyotes.nhl.com/team/app?gameNumber=483&gameType=2&page=Recap&season=20082009&service=page
Last 5 games

DATE RESULT
12/20/2008 CBJ 0 @ PHX 2

12/18/2008 NSH 1 @ PHX 2

12/16/2008 PHX 1 @ DAL 2 a point!

12/13/2008 DET 5 @ PHX 4 a point!

12/11/2008 MIN 1 @ PHX 3

Next up EDM oy! http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=260584&lid=sublink03&lpos=topRelated_nhl

Standings http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/standings/

Here ki ki kitty! That’s right Shea Weber and the fanged wonders are in town tonight. Talkin about fighting like cats n dogs! Both teams need these two points to remain in contention. Both teams have been hangin close, by the skin of their teeth.

The Preds have 33 points (15-12-3) is a really good record, especially for a team that is uber dependent on goaltending and has no power name leading the litter. Both Ellis and Rinne are holding this team in place with their performances and Weber has gotten hot on the blueline to give them some added claw power.

We’ve gotten at least a point out of the last 4 games and sit at 32 points. (14-13-4) is a damn good record for a team with a first time #1 gate keeper and a hodge podge blueline. The nicest thing about our offense is that on any given day 6 or more fairly consistent shooters can heat up and we have 3 possible canons that can get busy on the blue line.(of course with 1/2 of that number being grass green… there is also the possibility that no one will score) ughhh.

Apparently there is very little difference between cats n dawgs as we both sit 3rd in our respective divisions. The cats are 7th and the dogs are 9th in the west. PK% (Yotes 16th, Preds 17th) and GF % (preds 17th, Yotes 18th) are within a point of each other in the league. So what does it come down to?

Which team is hungrier? Which team’s netminder has the bigger cojones? Which team’s coaching staff has done the better prep job? Which team can find a way to snag the W at any cost. This is a game that we absolutely NEED to win in regulation. We are in direct competition for playoffs with these guys and it is absolutely vital to put them away w/out letting them grab a point and stay ahead of us. That point could mean the difference between a playoff berth and early golf again.

Please don’t let TooToo be stoopid enough to take a run at the rooks. I really don’t wanna see him die. Although a Carcillo on Tootoo beat down might take the team into win space like nothin else.

Beware the Pred blue… Webz is sittin on 25 points and a hefty +12. Lets nip that in the bud straight off the hop.

Gonna need some crafty offense… both Rinne and Ellis are soo hot right now… some menage a tois (sounds so much more fun than tic-tac-toe) hockey in front of the crease or maybe just some nasty Fridgie screening can get us into chalupa territory tonight.

Come on Bryz! its time to steal one tootsie. No early softie… just good solid stoppage. You can do it… nay! you NEED to do it. The boys have had your back for the last couple of games big time. Step up! OWN your net babe.

!!!LET’S GO COYOTES!!!

Predatorial Coverage

Odie’s Take

Official Preview

Thanx Qbert for the graphix

Thanx JC for some of the sweet stats

BIG SHOUT OUT TO PATIO 6

Watch the game

Hoo boy! Its gonna be a scorcher down in Texas tonight. The Stars have done a lil self chemo and rid themselves of the cancer in their locker room. With Avery gone and team mates bonding again, the Twinkles will be looking to get back to their classic winning ways. Injury riddled lineup makes them totally unpredictable. Wounded opponents are always more dangerous and the Stars will be no different.

We’re on a tear. Bryz is coming back to solid. Adding Lindy seems to have infused us with a lil more hop in our step. The Joker is healed and on the hunt for his playoff berth (and apparently has no problem dragging the team kicking and screaming into contention). Enver Lisin is DTD (we lose a bit of the wallop thru the neutral…hopefully Boeds will pick that up for us) but we called Porter back up to give us some other options.

Since the shaming in Chicago we seem to be pulling together. 3 wildly successful games in a row (a point out of the Wing game counts as successful people), indicates a turning point for the boys. We don’t want to just cling to an 8th place tie, we need to build off this and grab some points tonight and make the next 8 games our coming out statement to close out December. Every month we’ve gotten a little better, become a little more gelled, a little more confident and certainly increased our winning ways.

DAL sits in our usual spot in the cellar right now. At 5-5-0 in their last 10 and 26 points, we need to hit them hard before they are able to regroup. A flustered Marty Turco is our best friend (he really hates sittin in the crease waiting for something to happen, we need to play off his impatience again…make him move Dawgs). Their PK/PP AND GA are all amongst the lowest they’ve ever been  (28th). Their IR list reads like a full team roster but they still have the newbie Brunnstrum, our arch nemesis Riberio and Modano/Richardson can also bite ya even when you expect it. Even though newly acquired Brian Sutherby is listed DTD (remember that scrapper from ANA?) he can’t be overlooked.

Our numbers look pretty good, 6-3-1 on the last 10 games. Our GF/GA and PK% are firmly middle of the pack but our PP could still use a whooole lot of work… as could our lamentable face off inability (again I beseech TPTB…No Panic Yanic for specialty team coach, we’ll never become a puck possession team if we can’t gain friggin possession in the circles). Lindstrom and Jokinen have been hot, Mueller has found his legs, Boeds is due a clutch and Doaner always gets up to face Turco.

This is TOTALLY WINNABLE! We can do this!

!!!!GO COYOTES!!!!