Coyotes Sweep Blues!

Last night the coyotes beat the blues 2-1 to sweep the series. Bryz played outstanding, both are goals came on the power play in the frist. After that, the power play kind of fell apart.

Jovo got a goal. But i swear he thoguht before that we werent on a powerplay and that there was going to be an icing call. he just slowly skated towards the puck, meanwhile a blues player saw and went flying down the ice. luckily jovo was able to beat him to it.

carcillo looked like he might have hurt his knee again, but he came back after a bit and played well.

hossa was definatly more noticable last night. although, so far im missing freddie. i didnt really like the line combos last night, but i think gretz is still tweaking them.

if we are going to beat the flames tomorrow night, we better play a hell of a lot harder and faster and better than we have been.

ok, well thats all i can think of at the moment, so a short entry. tomorrows game starts at 8. im hoping we can just win in regulation and call it a day.

Another Loss

The coyotes lost to the blackhawks 1-0. Their goalie just played a phenominal 3rd period (of course thats our best period too).

The first two periods were FLAT. they flat out sucked. Although i did like the line of carcillo-rhino-doan. they made some good chances. had some good hits. i really think i just like rhino and carcillo together. those two with vrbata did well too. I didnt notice hossa until about the middle of the third period. He was out with perrault and mueller to start. (not a good line). Then gretz did some line shuffling and put hossa with hanzel and vrbata. he did much better there.

Yandle needs a night off. hes getting worse. im not sure what his problem is. he started off well but has been tapering off.

Ok, well tonight is the Blues again. Hoping we can win this on to sweep that series. Im not counting on it though. especially with the way theyve been playing.

Trade Deadline

Well, the coyotes didnt do too much. They made one trade with New York Rangers. Pretty much an even trade.

Sjostrom, Gratton and Lenny for Hossa and Montoya.

NY media is reporting the coyotes are giving them a conditonal pick too. I havent been able to confirm that with any other sources. And now the NYR website isnt loading that page.

Overall a pretty uneventful day. Im a little disappointed we didnt get rid of York for something but what can you do. Im glad Vrbata is here. Hopefully we can resign him to a reasonable deal before July 1.

**Edit** according to Jim G on AZC, Vrbata says the issue isnt money. Money hasnt even been brought up yet. According to the blog, Vrbata wants a 3 year deal. So length, not money, seems to be th issue.

Blues @ Coyotes

Last night the coyotes played the blues and won 2-0. I sat behind the coyotes bench about half way up. They were some nice seats and i had a good time.

the guy to my left was totally drunk. he kept yelling lets go red wings. and then the blues fans next to him were like "uhh the red wings arent playing" so then he rotated through "lets go blues", "lets go coyotes" and "lets go redwings". He decided he didnt like me after i cheered for an amazing hit by ballard that this guy took offense to. Me and his friend were like it was a totally clean hit! and then he started calling me a bad girl or mad girl or someting. so i just shook my head and laughed. his friend was like yah dont mind him hes had a little too much to drink. but they were quite interesting to sit by (i think the non drunk one had smoked some pot before the game). ive had some good times at the last couple games. I met some nice guys from green bay and a woman from tuscon on friday. i had crazy drunk man by me on sunday. interesting, very interesting.

Carcillo and Ballard seemed to be handing out the hits like crazy. Ballard had two amzing hits that knocked the guys flat. York decided to take out Pang while trying to get on the bench. That was hilarious. byrz made some amazing saves. he lost his stick a few times and at one point he made the best glove save ever. he was worrying me a little with all his flopping around but he got the shut out.

again, i felt there were some questionable calls and non-calls. as did the 2 people i went with. and the guy next to me that smelled like pot.

apparently, the new rumor is trading vrbata to nashville for a dman and center (Marek Zidlicky and Jared Smithson respectively). its from ESPN and everyone knows espn isnt the best for hockey news. plus, in the post game maloney stated that the next step would be speaking with vrbata come the off-season. unless the plan is to flip him for the remainder of the season and resign him in the off-season. although, i dont know how well trading vrbata will do for getting us to the playoffs. and the dman from nashville isnt even suter. and i think getting another dman would mean that we would have a deal in place for one of our other dman. so who would go? jovo? very unlikely. he has been an offensive threat as of late (still has his brain farts though) and hes got the no trade clause. morris? hes been amazing for us this year. that shot on friday? AMAZING. Ballard or Z? i cant see either of them going. Maybe jones, but were not going to get much for him. Yandle is going to be a big part of the future team. he needs a break though. hes either trying to hard or hes losing confidence. i think he should either be a scratch or send him down to SA for a few games and let jones play. i forgot about boynton. but ive been loving him for the most part lately. hes been physical and tough. although he did take at least one bad penalty, i still love the guy.

dear god this was a horrible week for a coyotes fan

tuesday. flames. i. dont. even. want. to. talk. about. this. such a disgrace. carcillo was getting used and abused. we got crap calls. we had a perfectly legal goal taken away from us. ugh. enough about that.

friday night there was a 12 round shoot out against colorado. unfurtanatly we couldnt complete the sweep. Morris goal at the end of the third was fierce. too bad we spent most of OT killing a penalty (too many men, jesus that should have never happened!) I agree with the GMs, OT penalties should only be a minute long. It makes sense.

Don Maloney has assured us (in many places) that he will not be making any moves for a rental player. He is standing firm on the plan and i like it. i dont want a rental player and i dont want to give up any young guys. I mean if he could work out something with say York, Sjostrom, maybe Kapi or Ziggy, Id be all for it. And Id be willing to give up one of our 6 picks in the first 3 rounds too. But other than that I doubt anyone goes. Mueller Hanzal Wheeler Carcillo are all pretty safe. (I include wheeler in that because that is what anaheim wanted for bryz) Mueller Hanzal and Carcillo are constantly being mentioned as the young guys and the future of the team.

Coyotes beat Kings

Despite some really crap calls, the Coyotes were able to win this one.

Joel Perrault gets called for goalie interference when he gets shoved by a king and then the goalie grabs him and wrestles him to the ground? Whatever. After that call, they were all just ridiculous. How can i take a ref serious who calls crap like that? And Carcillo gets an unsportsman like conduct. What did he do? I didnt see him do a thing. Doan was out arguing that one for a long time after the perioded ended. If his team thought he did something, Doan wouldnt have argued that long. I feel Carcillo did a good job controlling himself tonight. Again, it seemed like the Kings and Refs were all over him, taunting him and he held his ground.

Perrault got a very sweet goal. Im still surprised that went in. Vrbata got a goal too. I like the fact that our goals come from all different lines. Its not just one line. And Im really liking the lines Gretz has now. I like Vrbata Reinprecht and Carcillo. It just works. Carcillo crashes the net, Vrbata and Reinprecht have some major skills. And I like Kapi with Weller and Winnik. Kapi provides the skill and being with those two guys he gets a little more room and protection. Hes such a small guy that being with two huge physical guys really helps him. I cant decide if I like Kapi or not. I used to say, Id like him if he had a few more inches/pounds on him because you cant deny his talent. But now with those guys, hes really found his niche.

I thought Ziggy should play over York. I have fallen out of favor with York. I thought he did some good things early on in the season but now it seems he just falls down. a lot. im hoping gretz plays ziggy like every other game or so. i thought he played well against the stars.

Jovo keeps leaving forwards to manage the blue line. at one point last night, hes in the play and theres two forwards on the blue line. wtf? seriosuly jovo, im still not liking you! at least one of the forwards was mueller, and hes been doing a good job out there. but the last two games ive notice jovo leaving the blue line and carcillo has been covering it, not sure if i like that idea.

Ballard and Morris continue to impress, even though they have their moments. (not nearly as many as jovo though). Yandle does better when he relaxes i think. it seems like sometimes he is just trying to hard and thats when he makes mistakes.

I am so over Freddie. I dont even know what he was doing out there last night. hes definatly had better games.

Im guessing Telly starts tomorrow night, since we have back to back games. Bryz could use a rest. And Telly has been solid as our backup.

Coyotes 5, Dallas 2

So after the last crappy home games, the coyotes came out strong and beat the Stars 5 to 2. A well deserved win.

Vrbata got his 100th NHL goal. (and the game winner at that)

Boynton got an empty netter for his 3rd goal of the season.

The stars were going after Carcillo but he just held his ground. He didnt go off, he didnt fight, he just skated away. Even when he got a call for elbowing (i didnt see where that was elbowing) he just skated over to the box and sat down. Lets just hope he keeps this up.

Overall I thought all the guys played well. Shane Doan was back. Also, it was disclosed that he was playing with a broken hand for the month of January. The month that he was also the leading scorer in the NHL. Wow. Thats pretty amazing.

One of the other blogs I read posted this article on Ryan Suter: http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/story.php?left_nav=0802&article=suter0802&right_nav=normal

It was a good article. Suter seems like a very down to earth, nice guy. That seems to be the norm among hockey players. Im not going to lie, I wouldnt mind trading Jovocough for Suter.

Tonight we play LA Kings. So far we are 4-0 in the series with them. But we shouldnt take that for granted, they have had a recent surge. They beat Detroit not too long ago.

Ok, well I am going to tnoghts game and also recording it. They are doing a behind the scenes type thing that I think will be interesting to see.

Good News

Zednik seems to be doing well:
"So far, he looks very good. He's awake, oriented," said Noor. "He remembers what happened last night."

And it looks like he will make his return:
"I think he'll be able to continue his career," Florida's Coach Martin said. "I think it's too soon to establish a time of his return."

I would guess he will be out the rest of the season. It will be at least 6-8 weeks until he returns to "normal activities" per his Doctor (Noor). Im not sure what is considered normal, but I would think he would make it back for next season.

He is meant to be back I believe. He was very lucky, something made that skate go where it did. Centimeters difference and he may not be here.

Once agian, Zednik, his family, friends, and teammates are in my thoughts.

*sigh* do i even want to write about this..?

so this was an interesting game. im very disappointed in the outcome.

the coyotes came out strong (much better than the last couple games) and scored a goal on their first PP. Kapi put it past Turco (assists from Joel P and Jovo). We held that 1-0 lead for the 2nd and half of the 3rd but just couldnt keep it. we ended up losing 2-1. We played hard, fast and physical. I feel we should have won this one. Bryz played outstanding. I think he let in 2 on like 44 sog. I was hoping he continued the shutout trend we had going against dallas this season.

The lines were just crazy tonight, it seemed like they were always changing. Carcillo started off with limited ice time, but it seemed he got more time as the game went on. Billy Thomas seemed to get limited minutes as well. He seemed a little invisible at times. This is the 4th time hes been called up this season. Im starting to feel bad for the guy. Im guessing he will be up here until doan is better. maybe splitting time with murley and/or carcillo? I think if Carcillo plays like he did tonight, they will keep him in. The minute he starts running his mouth, they should bench him.

Mueller and Winnik played amazing games. They both had some good scoring chances but turco was just too damn good tonight. Boynton got into a pathetic fight. i think he threw a couple punches and couldnt keep his balance at all. winchester definatly won that one. As much as it pains me to admit, Jovo made a great save. He came in behind bryz and got the puck almost right before it went over the goal line. We need to get better on the face off. I dont think we won any on the Dallas PP.

And in other news, Ottawa traded Patrick Eaves to Carolina. He is the son of Mike Eaves, current Badgers Mens Hockey team. This is the first big trade with the deadline looming. According to Don Maloney, coyotes are going to stick to the plan and not make any deals at the deadline. He said if he does it will be for the long term benefit of the team, not a rent a player type trade. Im hoping we can get something for York or Sjostrom or Kapi. Maybe Ziggy and Thomas and that lost Russian. Or maybe a pick. we got plenty in this next draft.

UPDATE COYOTES vs STARS

Ok, so Vandermeer has been sent down. Doan didnt make the trip. Hes injured - groin. Thomas and Carcillo recalled and expected to play. Bryz in goal. And Gretz will be micd up on the game for Versus.

I will be watching. And Ive set mu DVR up to record, just in case.

Heres hoping we kick some Stars ass!

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Some Pics

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.

Quick Update..

I'm waiting for my cab to take me to the airport, so I thought Id do a quick update.

Coyotes beat Colorado last night in OT. Game tie-er (is that a word?) and winner by Vrbata. This guy has been great for us this year. 1) I hope we get him signed to a reasonable deal (similar to Bryz, maybe less money though) and 2) I hope he keeps it up. Hes known to have a big start and then taper off, hes done the opposite here, slow start and keeps picking up steam. With this win, coyotes are now in 8th again. If we win tonight we could jump up as high as 5th. This is a roller coaster of a season. Man, its going to give me a heart attack. At least I wont every cry at a game like the guy next to my friend during the caps game. If i was his wife, Id have smacked him good. Theres still plenty of season left!

Carcillo was sent to SA and Murley brought up. Here is what Gretz said to the AZCentral:

"He's in a really tough situation," Gretzky said. "He's the kind of guy we need to play with a lot of energy and a lot of passion. With that, there's going to be some effects toward the hockey club, but that's part of the makeup of him as a hockey player.

"Obviously, the positives outweigh the negatives, but we've talked to him continuously about the aftereffects, so the fights and all that kind of stuff we can live with, the penalties we can live with, but the continuous 10-minute misconducts, game misconducts, it's just at the point where it's not acceptable any more."

Sounds like Gretz still has his man-crush on Carcillo, but feels he needs to tone it down a tad. I agree. The misconducts are preventable. Usually it his mouth, this last time he harmlessly shrugged/pushed a linesman away. I heard sundin did the same thing (havent seen it) but got nothing. Calls have been so inconsistent this year. But thats a whole other blog entry I may or may not get to.

In other news, Toc will be back! Bettman was in Colorado last night and said we need to put the whole thing behind us. Cant wait for the game on thursday for Toc's return.

Once I get home and settled I will watch the nashville and colorado games and maybe give my opinion. Calgary isnt on tv tonight, so I will make my ride lsiten to it on the way home from the airport. I will miss the 1st period though. Why arent all away games on tv? This is another issue I may attempt to tackle in a future blog. Think off-season, lots of days with no news. haha

And I cant wait until next years schedule comes out. I need to plan another trip to DC since i got my friend addicted to hockey now. (i know i know, it wont be out until like July)

Coyotes and Caps didnt do so well

Well, tonight was a disappointment. I had a great time at the caps game besides them losing. it looks like i got some good pics. i converted my friend into a fan.

coyotes lost in OT to the predators.

so all around a cruddy day for hockey.

Monday is the next coyotes game. I will be out to dinner when the yotes play but I will do my best to update.

More when I get back home. Pics will be posted!

The coyotes are 1-1 after the All-Star break. We were able to beat Columbus on Tuesday. Thanks to Center Ice for having a free preview. I was able to watch the game from the comfort of my house. It was a good game. Daniel Carcillo came back like he was never gone. You could see the energy level shifted upon his return.

We were so close to beating Detroit. If only we could have gotten one more goal before switching to the "lets not score, lets just make sure they dont score" mentality. It never works for us. What works is skating hard, playing physical, and getting those big hits. They have nothing to be ashamed about this loss though. They played hard and even had the lead for awhile. It just goes to show we are not the same team from last year and we can play with the best of them.

And Damnjovo has actually had some pretty good games without too many errors. In the detroit game, i would have sworn it was a different player. he actually tried to keep the puck in (not just let it roll past him) and he actually skated fast. It seemed like far too often he'd do a leisurely skate to the puck while an opposing player is flying down the ice.

Shane Doan has been on fire. he was the points leader for the month of January. He had 13 points in 13 games. He almost tied the detroit game. IMO he waited a tad too long to shoot it and went low. He should have shot sooner and tried to go between osgoods shoulder and the pipes. But who am I to say, I wasnt out there making that decision. (also, good pass from jovo!)

Tonight I will be going to the Capitals/Thrashers game. I will be sporting my coyote beanie as I need to show support for the guys playing in Nashville. I will update with some pics when I return to Phoenix. I will be in the corner where the Capitals attack twice, row H. Nice. I also found out that they do show out of town scores so i can keep track of the yotes. I am sad that Ilya Kolvachuk isnt going to be playing. Damn Ruutu.

Tonight is an important, must win game. We went from 8th to 9th (after the loss to detroit) and are now in 10th because someone else won when we didnt play. I have a good feeling about this game and Im pretty sure the yotes will win.