it’s the way you present yourself for all your worst critics to see

Ok…. let’s do an entry on yesterday’s activities. I don’t want to but I know I have to. I need to write something about it!

The tailgate was a lot of fun. There was good food, good people and strong drinks. And tequila shots. Oh and jello shots.

The award for the best drink goes to the Sweet Tea Vodka in Lemonade. It was an alcoholic Arnold Palmer but it did not taste like alcohol. Close runner up was the jello shots. Strawberry jello made with strawberry rum. Very good choice brought by The Virg.

The best food goes the The Diva for her mix of squash, zucchini and onions done on the grill. Yum and so very healthy.

Best Sign goes to the guy and his daughter who were both dressed as chef’s and had this sign:

second runner up goes to YotesSignGurl for her “19 PIM? Marty Gone Wild” a close third runner ups was CanadaYotesFan and her “Scoring? Czech” sign. Again, so much play on words with the Czechs. Love it!

Best warmup moment: Catching Lombo giving someone the thumbs up.

Ok… well now to the game.

Award for the worse player on the ice: Jovo. But does that really surprise anyone? And the new guy Bissonette. Don’t like him at all. He can go back to Pittsburgh. He was almost more worthless than Jovo.

Coyote that really worked it: Petr Prucha. Those BJs were all over him but he kept pushing back. He does need to get a little stronger on his skates though. He was getting pushed around easily.

Best goal that wasn’t a goal but should have: Adrian Aucoin’s

Best fight that didn’t happen: Jovo. He looked like he was ready to kill the BJ. Stupid refs should have let him go at ’em!

Best Scottie moment: There wasn’t one. He did not make the goalie play leapfrog. 😦

Best Scottie picture:

Runner up Scottie Picture:

Overall, I was disappointed in the loss but I am not going to start freaking out. There were some guys who seemed like they really wanted it and others *cough Jovo cough* who looked like they could care less. I feel bad for those that worked there asses off last night. And the BJ’s goalie was on. That right glove hand? Yah, that was hard for us to beat. It also didn’t help that there were a few momentum loses. I think the thing that hurt the team/crowds morale the most was that goal that was taken back. Everyone was so excited we had finally tied it at 1 but the refs took it away. And you could see a big difference after that. There were also some questionable calls made on the Coyotes and some not made on the BJ’s. Oh well, you win some you lose some. I still have faith and I still believe Tippett will be a great coach for this organization.

I also have another theory… whenever the Flyers and Coyotes play on the same night, they do the same thing. If the Flyers win, the Coyotes win. If the Coyotes lose, the Flyers lose. Last night the Flyers lost and the Coyotes lost. Coincidence? I think not…

Next up, Coyotes at Sharks tomorrow night. We have always been a better team against the Sharks, I hope that keeps up. But then again….we were 5-0 for home openers but lost this season.

This should be an interesting season. It is time for the team and the fans to step it up. The fans can’t leave it to the players alone and the players can’t expect the fans to love them unconditionally (although some of us do but that’s not the point). We need to show the world that we are a hockey city. I know we have it in us. It is us against the world but we will prove them wrong.

A hodgepodge of a post!

Well, I have missed quite a few games on my blog. So here is a quick round up of what I have not written about.

Let’s start with the oldest game first and work our way forward. The game against Detroit was a heartbreaker. I know many fans who were just pissed off but I wasn’t mad about it. The boys played hard and really made the Red Wings work for that win. It wasn’t like games past where we laid down and let them win. We fought them all the way to the shootout. Yes, it went to a shootout.

Which brings me to my next point… Why did we rest the game in young KT’s hands? I know he had a good game and all, but why not put him out in less stressful situation? We need to work on our shootouts in practice. We have not won a game in OT or shootout all season (I think we are 0-4 now).
***
In other news… Sean Avery is not welcome back with the Stars. I have a feeling he won’t really be welcome back in the NHL.
***
Speaking of the Stars, Turco’s got his game back. He was spot on when we played in Dallas this past week. Sucks for us. Turco’s got his game back, the cancer is gone…look for the Stars to make their way up in the standings.

Again, the boys played hard and took it to OT. Again, we couldn’t get the win in OT. Nevertheless, it was a good game to see and I was glad to see Turco back to his usual self. Yes, I have a goalie crush on Turco and I am not afraid to admit it!
***
Thursday night my other favorite team rolled into town. I think I annoyed my seatmates as I was cheering on the Coyotes and then I’d be like good one Suter or way to go Arnott. They kept telling me not to cheer for the Preds but I was like, the coyotes are winning and I can say that the Preds did something well.

And, I never noticed this before but Ellis has this little ritual/dance that he always does when the ice girls clear the snow away. It was actually pretty cute. Yah, another goalie crush…what can I say? I love the goalies.

Anyway, this was a great game and I was excited to see the Preds for the first time this season. Of course the Coyotes win this one and that is all that matters.
***
Last night the Coyotes played the Bluejackets. Bryz with the shutout! Coyotes with the sweep! TAKE THAT NASH! That is for the goal on Ballard/Dmo/Telly last season.

I was on the edge of my seat for about the last minute and a half. I wanted Bryz to get the shut out because he really needs it for his confidence and to prove to us fans that he wants to be a starter and it was looking like he was going to let that one soft goal in. He was looking a little slow while the Bluejackets had 6 guys out.

And speaking of the extra attacker, we really need to work on our empty net shots. Wow, we cannot aim, not even in practice. We went today and it was not pretty. Fridge was launching those suckers. The pucks were getting some air!

Ok, back to the game. Carcillo got in a fight with Boll, which was pretty much expected. It was a pretty good one and I bet the guys could have went longer when the refs stepped in.

All-in-all, a great game. This accompanied by the Wild’s lost to St. Louis has put us in the 7th spot. It’s a pretty nice place to be and the guys seem to be in good spirits.
***
On another note, the Coyotes brought up Lindstrom and I think this kid has finally gotten it. He also seems to make KT better. KT has just played so well with him (he got our only two goals in the Nashville game). I hope Wayne recognizes the chemistry and keeps those two together for a bit. I believe he will be in the lineup for awhile.
***
The guys left today for a road trip. They are hitting Edmonton tomorrow, Colorado on Tuesday and the Kings on Friday.
***
I would also like to say best of luck to McGrattan. He is still with the team but has taken some time to work on a personal matter. I am sure he is going through a hard time; Phoenix fans are here for him and hope to see him back on the ice for us as soon as he is able.
***
And in another note, my friend Michelle thinks I should buy hockey skates with the Christmas money I will be getting. I am still undecided about this since I have only gone once this year. I looked online and it looks like the cheapest skates are $75. That is a lot of money for something I am not sure I will use very often. Eventually, I would like to learn more how to play but right now is not a good time for me; hockey is expensive!

Really Quick Game Post

Coyotes at Columbus
A big congrats needs to go out to David Hale. He got his first ever NHL goal last night after a streak of 231 goalless games (that‘s 5 seasons of no goals). It also was the game tying goal. Way to go Hale!

Carcillo got his second goal of the year and also had a great fight. It was long and there were some hard punches exchanges.

Tiki got the game winner for his second goal of the season also. It came with about 2 minutes left. I was never happier for a goal. I did not want to give Columbus a point.
Telly played outstanding. He definitely needs to get more starts.

Jokinen left the game after a hit and didn’t return to the ice. At this time it is unknown how long he will be out with an upper body injury. We are having a rash of injuries, Dmo, Winnik and now Jokinen. Hopefully Dmo and Winnik will be back in the lineup soon.

Gretzky kept the lines together, for the most part. Obviously he had to make some adjustments when Jokinen left the game, forcing Lisin to play center.

I think that is all I got for now. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I will be back this weekend as the Coyotes take on the Avs (Friday) and the Sharks (Saturday), both at home.

(I told you it was quick – I didn’t take notes, just enjoyed the game)

Coyotes 4 Blue Jackets 2

Please stay tuned for a Rampage update. I have a guest blogger who will be answering some questions that we fans put together.

As for tonight’s game, the Coyotes beat the Blue jackets 4-2. As this was a radio only broadcast (and I don’t have Center Ice), I wasn’t able to see it. I did hear bits and pieces of the game. I listened on the way to the gym and the Coyotes were up 2-0. I listened on the way home and Porter and Doan scored, making it 4-0.

Somehow, from the time I got out of the car, went to get the mail, and got the game going on the computer, it was 4-2. I am still not sure how the blue jackets got those goals. No one would tell me. I think Jovo was going to the box when I got out of the car. So maybe a PP goal?

However, when I finally got the radio broadcast going at home, Hanzal got his first goal of the season to make it 5-2 with about 20 seconds left. It was an empty netter, but still, he got his goal! Way to go Hanzal.

It sounded like Yandle was having a good game. He may have been credited with one of the goals. From what the broadcasters said, Turris passed the puck to Yandle who put the puck on net. He either put it in, or Rhino tipped it in. I never did hear if the goal ended up credited to Rhino. This is why I hate radio broadcasts, I like to actually see for myself what happened. One of these years, I may have to invest in Center Ice, but it is so much money just to watch a couple of yotes games.

Scratches were Carcillo, McGrattan and Hale. Apparently Carcillo was scratched because of the stick he took to the face in Sunday night’s game (although, he was at practice on Tuesday and looked fine to me). I really would like to see McGrattan get another game but being up against Minnesota, I don’t see that for tomorrow but maybe Saturday. Hale, well he can just stay a scratch. Yandle seems to be doing much better after his benching.

Bryz was in goal tonight. I can’t assess his performance but it sounded like he didn’t do too badly. Maybe he has finally figured out how to be a starting goalie.

All Star voting starts today. The coyotes have three players on the ballot, Bryz, Jokinen and Doan. I will be voting for Doan as much as I can remember. He deserves it. He deserved it last year but Jovo got sent instead (thank god he’s not on the ballot). I am not sure that Bryz is an NHL all star goalie. There are so many other goalies out there that are much better and much more consistent. And I am still not sold on Jokinen and figure he will get it just purely because of his name.

On a side note, this morning Yandle was second for DMen for the all star game. How does that happen? Does he have an exceptionally large family and they all got on and voted multiple times? Anyway, kudos to whoever got Yandle to the top of that list, I never would have saw that coming!

Coyotes start the season with a BANG!

The Phoenix Coyotes are off to an amazing start, two wins in two nights.

The coyotes had their season opener this past Saturday, taking on the Columbus Bluejackets at home. The coyotes started off hot. They were skating fast and hitting hard. They had Columbus quite frustrated and it seemed that the bluejackets’ penalty box had a revolving door installed.

The coyotes seemed to fall apart a bit in the second. They seemed disjointed and not together. I am not sure what happened, maybe a failure to communicate? They were able to hold Columbus off and they came back in the third to seal the deal.

Jokinen finally started to become the player I had been expecting. He had a goal and an assist. Jovo did not give me any cause for alarm. Hale had a solid game. Yandle had one major fumble, which seemed to lead to Columbus’ goal (or maybe I just blamed him since he was on the ice). He then later got a goal and also a fight, so he kind of redeemed himself.

Fedoruk is looking slow on a line with Boedker and Rhino, but damn the boy likes to hit! He was hitting anything with a Bluejackets jersey on.

The following day, I got up bright and early and hit the road to go to the Ducks home opener against the Coyotes. I am so glad I went to that game. It was awesome.

The coyotes got off to an early lead. The ducks were hitting hard but the coyotes didn’t let that stop them. Hale was taking the grunt of the punishment, but he just kept on going. He even got in a fight (he didn’t do very well, but the point is he tried). That boy has just earned a spot with al us fans. We like a guy who is not afraid to stick up for his teammates, and Hale proved that this weekend.

Jovo had one major turnover, but it didn’t lead to anything, so I guess I will forgive him. Doan got a pair of goals; maybe he’s not off to his normal slow start. Turris had a goal. The ducks fans around me were pissed. The guy in front kept yelling that it was kicked in. I was like, dude, no. First off, there was no “distinct kicking motion” (there was no kicking motion AT ALL) and second off, a duck pushed Turris into the net and he just took the puck with him. Bryz let in two goals. They looked to be the exact same shot and he should have been able to stop them. They were the types of goals I knew were going in as soon as they left the ducks stick. Bryz, please close or cover your 5 hole. K? Kthanks.

There was a big fight at the end (tension was building all night) and they showed Gretz on the jumbotron and he was screaming “The game is fucking over!”. There was .3 of a second left and the refs made them do another face-off. Gretz sent out all forwards since there was no way they could win the face off and get to the other end of the ice in .3 of a second.

Overall, it was a great game. We went down to watch warm-ups. Doan gave us a huge grin and Tiki tried to toss us a puck but it was intercepted by a ducks fan. The guys that sat down next to us tried to tell us they were loud. We laughed at them. They were no where near as loud as we were. As part of the overall Ducks fandom, yes. As individuals? No. A couple of times I wanted to tell the guy sitting next to me to watch the game, not me. I kept seeing him out of the corner of my eye staring at me.

Ok, back to hockey!

I found this article on TSN: http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=244291&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_nhl#videoyourcallarticle

I agree with the revenue sharing but not moving teams back to Canada. He states, “”I mean the Canadian fans are like no others,” he continued. “They’re passionate, they come out and support it, they buy the merchandise, and they’re knowledgeable about the sport.”

Wow, so does that mean us American fans are not passionate and know nothing about the sport? I’ve met many people in America that are both passionate and knowledgable. I think the main problem is, the league isn’t marketing the teams/sports the best in America. Everyone I have taken to a game has fallen in love with the sport. It takes time to get them to be knowledgable but if the sport was more out there, these fans could become more knowledgable.

He also states, “You know, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Quebec City, perhaps Halifax if they had an arena that could sustain an NHL team.” Am I mistaken but didn’t Winnipeg and Quebec already have hockey teams? Didn’t those teams start to lose money and were bought by Americans? Yah, so lets move the teams back and see if they do better. Initially, they may do better because it’s new but it will taper off. It did once before. Although maybe after losing their team, they have realized what they were missing out on. I say no moving of the teams and no adding new teams, especially right now with so much economic uncertainty and us taxpayers having to bail out all the irresponsible people who bought more house than they could afford.

I think the league needs to work on keeping the current teams where they are. Obviously the fans in Nashville cared enough to stop the Blackberry guy from buying their team. Their fans came out of the woodwork to protect their team. I think you would have that with other southern/southwest teams too. I know I would do whatever possible to keep the coyotes here (although, the lease with Glendale pretty much says that even if the team is sold, the new owner probably couldn’t pay the fines to move the team). Some fans are passionate but may not be able to support the team by buying tickets and merchandise. I would love to add a few more jerseys, sweatshirts and other items I’ve seen online to my collection but I’m not going to go into debt buying NHL licensed products. Some of their prices are just outrageous.

In other news, Mike York signed with Columbus Blue Jackets. This really surprised me. I was thinking York would be headed to Europe.
From the Hockey News:
York agreed to a one-year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.Analysis: York is expected to add depth on the top three lines for the Blue Jackets. The 30-year-old York had six goals and eight assists in 63 gamers last season with Phoenix. During his eight seasons, he has 127 goals and 195 assists in 578 games with the New York Rangers, Edmonton, New York Islanders, Philadelphia and the Coyotes.

Top three lines? Were they watching him last year on the Coyotes? He was lucky if he made the top three lines! He also could barely crack the lineup by the end of the season. He was a healthy scratch quite a bit. I really think York’s time in the NHL is coming to an end. But then again, maybe he will have a great season with Columbus. I doubt it though.

According to Spector’s Fredrik Sjostrom has signed a one year deal with the Rangers worth 840K. The link is in Swedish, so I am trusting that Spector’s has translated this correctly. I am happy for Sjo. I always liked the guy. He is definitely not a top line guy, but he is a hard worker and a good role player/4th liner. He is good defensively and good on the PK. I think the problem in Phoenix was he was taken so high in the draft, that everyone expected him to be amazing and reach his full potential. Unfortunately, he never lived up to that potential. I liked him for what he brought to the game though and wish him all the luck in the world.

ESPN’s power rankings have been up for a few days. They are the first (and only) I’ve seen so far. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=3504426
Coyotes are ranked 11th in the Western Conference. “The Coyotes now have the big center they’ve been lacking in Olli Jokinen, but they still don’t have enough scoring and they’re going to miss Keith Ballard along the blue line and in the dressing room.”
Ever since Ballard was traded, all I’ve heard is how much he sucked and how much better off we are without him (these would be from fans). Thanks ESPN for pointing out what I have been saying all along. I would rather have Ballard on my blueline than on the opponents. Ballard did regress a little bit form the previous two seasons but this was his first season as a top line shut down pair. You have got to expect he’s not going to be the same player, especially since he’s in a new role. As far as the scoring, if the young guys can step up and produce like expected, we will have no problem scoring. Below us in the rankings are Vancouver, Colorado, St Louis and the Kings. Those teams don’t really surprise me. Although, if the Kings have solved their goalie problem, they may cause some trouble and upsets. Kings will be a team that I will keep a close eye on this year. They started to turn around and were getting better at the end of the last season.

Random Stuff

Ok, I still havent had a chance to watch the two games I missed while out of town (nashville and colorado) but it seems since the calgary game, our beloved coyotes are falling apart.

Ive learned more about Carcillo’s actions in the Nashville game. Seems he ran his mouth and that was what the game misconduct was for not for pushing the linesman (that was the misconduct, even though sundins was much worse and he got nothing for it). But I do agree with Carcillo being sent down, i just wish they had taken action earlier in the season (like scratching him after having a bad game). Ok, enough on that.

Thomas has been sent back down again. Im just thinking Maloney wants to see how hes coming along, to see if he is worth re-signing. Murley is still up here. I found an interesting tidbit on wikipedia when I was looking for stats and age/height/weight on Murley. Apparently he was invited to Ryan Malone’s wedding on the condition he brings a date. He couldnt find one, so he went with his good friend Sidney Crosby.

We also called up (and signed to an NHL contract) Pete Vandermeer. Now, I cant figure this move out. Im thinking its either a) rewarding guys that are working their butts off in SA and/or b) to give Carcillo more motivation to get his ass in shape. Pete played last night against nashville and i barely noticed him out there. Toc said he was brought up to be physical. They guy had one hit and a miss. He had words with someone but nothing came of it. I was not impressed.

I got to watch practice Saturday and morning skate Sunday. I liked Toc. He wasnt afraid to stop a drill and say “no youre doing it wrong, do it like this”. He also works more one-on-one. Hes not afraid to grab a player and show him how to stand, which way to face etc. I was really impressed. Their practices seemed so much more efficient and well ran with Toc there. And the guys really seemed to respond to him. Most of the guys didnt play for him, just Doan, Ballard and Z. They looked good in practice but not in games.

Thursday night we played Columbus. Our guys looked like little kids out there. It was pathetic. I was ready to leave half way through the 2nd period (i didnt but i was seriously bored). Weller got kicked out of the game. it was absolutely ridiculous. There wasnt a call on the hit (if you watch the replays) until after the scrum. They were going to not call the hit until after weller got attacked by 2 columbus players. Weller did a shoulder to shoulder hit on “superstar” nash and nash turned and ran himself into the boards. Then someone comes charging at weller and weller pushes him away and then OKT comes at weller one hand going for his throat, the other one almost dropping the glove (but not quite) so weller drops his gloves and hauls off and punches OKT. OKT just drops to the ice. I feel bad that he got a concussion, but man, that was a great punch!

Last night we played nashville again. I pretty much watched Ryan Suter the whole time. he’s a great dman. I wish he played for us. Yandle got a penalty shot in the game. He missed and seemed so disappointed he missed. Bryz got pulled in the first (thank god, he let in 3 goals in the first). Telly did a good job, he let in two goals but our d was just off last night. the pairings were so odd. Boynton and Jovo, Z and Yandle. Not sure I like that. But Z has been getting into too many plays lately for a stay at home dman. And Yandle likes to get in the plays too. I think Morris is our only dman who is truely been a stay at home recently. It was an exciting game when we were able to catch up and then we lost it again. Maybe we are missing hanzal more than I realized we would? Looks like Hanzal will be out the rest of the season.

Looks like we are going to end up just out of reach of that playoff spot, especially if we keep playing this way. At least all the teams we need/want to lose are doing just that.

In other news, Game Night with the coyotes has been announced. It will be held March 9th at Dave and Busters. I went to last years and had a great time meeting almost all the guys, so i will definatly be attending again this year.

And in sad news, Zednik had life saving surgery after taking a skate to the throat. I wish him a speedy recovery and hope that he is able to play again.