Catch Up

Ok, I know it’s been awhile since I’ve written anything. I am going to try and get better at that. No excuses, right?

Some quick updates:

Mueller has been activated from IR. He returned last night against the Flames. He wasn’t quite visible (as usually) but as The Diva and I discussed, the Coyotes plummeted after he was injured, so maybe, just maybe, he is the anti-cancer for the locker room and we need him in the lineup.
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Tiki has also returned to the lineup. He had a tremendous game last night! Welcome back Tiki! We missed you!!
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Turris has been sent to SA. I didn’t think he was doing to bad but this will really help his game, give him some confidence. I think it was a great move. Plus, if the Coyotes can’t make the playoffs he can help push the Rampage to the playoffs.
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Schlemko is back with us. He is getting some major FF miles this past few weeks.

Ok, the games:

Wednesday night we won. I know right? We beat Dallas 1-0. Bryz was amazing in net. Wait… did I just say that? I love playing Dallas because it is just too much fun to watch Turco and it turns into a battle of the goalies.
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Thursday night we played the Canucks. My friend and I went to Saddle Ranch before hand and got some of their monster drinks. It definitely made the game more fun and we really annoyed the old lady Canucks fan in front of us. If you don’t like it, go back to Canada. This is our arena. Well anyway, we lost. Not too surprised there.
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Last night we played the Flames. It was looking bad, really bad. But then we rallied late in the third to make it 7-5 but couldn’t quite get those last few goals. Tiki and Winnik both had two goals each with the fifth coming from the Captain, Shane Doan. Winnik really needed those goals. He hadn’t scored all season. Way to go Winnik!!!! Oh yes, the best part? When Phaneuf tried to punch Carcillo in the face. Not his best idea. Hahanaha

Soon after this, a fight broke out in the crowd. A Flames fan jumped like 4 rows to go after Coyotes fans. They were escorted out.

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Let’s see… I just have a random thought left.
-The Suns are getting ready to fire their coach. He hasn’t even been there a full season yet but the guys aren’t playing to their full potential. Coyotes… please take notes. The Suns know, when you have that much talent they should be producing. If they aren’t it probably means there is issues with the coaching staff. Time to shake things up.
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Ok, well Monday night we take on the Oilers at home. Yah, don’t even want to think about that yet.
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Tuesday night is our STH signing event. I have no idea what to get signed. Maybe I will get pics instead. Although it’s always awkward as they are behind those big, long tables.

Catching up with the Coyotes...

Wow, I haven’t written much lately. I was just so depressed after that Chicago loss I found it hard to get up the motivation to write. But don’t worry, I’m back now. I’m sure y’all missed me.

A quick hit on the Chicago game. First off, I’m not sure Carcillo should have played. He was obviously not his usual self, probably all hopped up on pain medicine. Telly let in four goals and was replaced by Bryz in the second. I do find it funny how when Bryz let’s in four goals in the first, he is allowed to stay in. When Telly does it, he gets pulled. And it really shouldn’t have been four goals, one was a distinct kicking motion (they reviewed it and called it good but it really shouldn‘t have counted). Two of them were a direct result of the D breaking down. The other one rolled in off the crossbars, would have been difficult for anyone to stop. Ok, done with Chicago.
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Thursday night the Lightning came to town. This was also the debut of what we like to call the “Bad Boys Line”. Carcillo-Murray-Fridge. I am loving this line. They hit. A lot.

The refs missed a whole bunch of calls against the Lightning, but nevertheless, the Coyotes prevailed and won the game. Hale had a great shot from the blue line that lead to Kyle Turris getting the game winner. KT has really started to come into his own.

Jokinen finally showed up and got us our first power play goal in like ever.

Carcillo took a high stick to the mouth (no call) and went off the ice for a bit in the third. This should have been a 4 minute penalty, as there was blood on the ice. We also have lost Tiki for awhile. He injured his hand while blocking a shot. He will be placed on IR.
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Last night we faced the Dallas Stars who were coming off a 6-1 loss to the Wings. I expected the Stars to be out for blood, but we out hit them 36-20. Someone must have pissed in Doan’s cheerios because I think he hit more guys this game then he has all season. The Bad Boys Line was hitting anything in a Stars uniform.

The goalies were outstanding last night. We ended the game tied 0-0. At one point Turco came out of his crease, almost all the way to the blue line, and checked Lindstrom. Where was our goalie-checking Fridge? Turco seemed to stay in his crease whenever Fridge was out there.

There were a lot of missed calls against the Stars. I counted at least 5 during the third period.
We were all a bit worried going into OT as we have not won in OT/Shootout yet this season. Somehow we were able to hold off the Stars and take it to a shoot out.

In the shoot out we sent out Lindstrom, Mueller, Jokinen, Rhino and KT. Mueller, Rhino and KT scored for us (with KT getting the game winner). Bryz let in two shots, but the second one was kind of odd. The puck hit the blocker and kind of trickled into the net on an odd bounce. There wasn’t much he could have done. Although it was heartbreaking to watch. We were all standing and when that went in we sat down (only for a second).

There 3 Stars were:
3. KT
2. Turco
1. Bryz

The goalies definitely deserved to be stars, but I would have put KT above Turco just because we were on home ice.
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In other news, Boedker was named the the NHL Young-Stars game. He totally deserves that honor. He works hard, hits and gets things done on the ice.

Doan was also honored by being named to the All-Star game. Doan was the one guy on the Coyotes who totally deserved it (of the three that were on the ballot).

Congrats to both Doan and Boedker. I have no doubt they will represent the Coyotes with class and dignity.
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Winnik was sent down to San Antonio for a two-week conditioning stint. He may return early with Tiki out for an undisclosed amount of time.
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Up next the Coyotes go on a long road trip. It starts off Tuesday night in Minnesota. We then play on the road Thursday (Canucks), Saturday (Flames) and Sunday (Oilers). The Coyotes then come home on Tuesday the 20th and play the Redwings. This road trip will be a telling stint for the Coyotes. They play some pretty tough teams (Wild, Flames) and then home to play the Wings. This week may be the telling in whether the Coyotes are ready for the play-offs or not. Hopefully we can get at least another 6 points out of this. Minnesota and Calgary will be a challenge but if they aren’t ready the Oilers and Canucks could easily take the wins too.

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).
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The guys left today for a road trip. They are hitting Edmonton tomorrow, Colorado on Tuesday and the Kings on Friday.
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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.
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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!

Coyotes 5, Stars 3

Jokinen returned last night from his shoulder injury not nearly as invisible as he had previously been. He scored a goal in the first period but seemed to disappear in the second until the very end when he scored a power play goal to tie the game at 3-3.

Lindstrom was called up from the Rampage (we acquired him from the Ducks for Logan Stephenson – hopefully he will have a better chance to make the Ducks than he did for the Coyotes; it seemed he has been passed up on the D quite a few times and they never really talk about him). He didn’t get any points but he was out there with Turris and they had a few good chances. Darn that Marty Turco.

The scratches were Winnik, Hale and Porter. No McGrattan and no McGrattan in the lineup. The Diva had found an article (from an Ottawa paper) that one lined that McGrattan had cleared waivers. Upon further inspection, we could not find anything else. He was not on any of the transactions and/or player movement lists. Where is he? He can’t just be floating out in space…

Bryz was our starting goalie. There were a few times that I just wanted to strangle him, especially when he gets too far out of the crease. It seems every time he gets out of the crease, the other team scores or would score if not for our D.

Hanzal has earned a new nickname: Martin “Empty Netter” Hanzal. He got another empty net goal when Turco went to play the puck, passed it to his teammate and his teammate passed it to Hanzal who was right in front of the empty net. Classic. Hanzal also got a great goal early in the first from Tiki, who set it up nicely behind the net.

Fridge looked like he was on a mission to take out every single Star. He was hitting anything in a Stars jersey. He had a great hit in front of our own net. It was amazing. This is what they need, guys who get in there and clean out the trash. We don’t want that in our crease!

Rhino got the empty netter to seal the deal, 5-3. He had Hanzal coming up behind him and he looked to see if he could get Hanzal another hat trick, but there was also a Stars player racing up the ice. It’s better to be selfish and get that security goal then to miss and have the Stars get a chance to control the puck.

Some Observations:
The Good – finishing checks and trying to get guys in front of nets
The Bad – no puck control on PP, spending too much time in our own zone, too many penalties (although the refs were calling every little thing last night but that’s when the guys need to adjust their game a bit) and bad turnovers early on.
The Ugly – all the guys that are growing ‘staches. Why why why? Jokinen, Telly and Porter all seem to have this thing growing above their upper lip and it looks horrid. Please shave boys. We like your baby faces without the bad ‘stache.

More on Avery

Ok blogger is really pissing me off and won't accept my correct html, so please go here:
http://stars.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=396741
(I know it's ugly but it wouldn't let me do it any other way for that link)

I really enjoyed this blog. It was very well written and came from someone inside the Stars organization, which I believe to be a reliable source. One of my favorite paragraphs from the blog:

Avery’s reputation – which by all accounts – he worked hard to earn and
richly deserved – permeated the Stars room like a foul odor well before he
ever physically set foot in it. Once he did get here – he did not go
out of his way to overcome it. And things deteriorated from
there.

I also found it funny that he now asks for help for his "anger management" issues. Is this a cop-out? Is he trying to blame something other than his poor judgment for his behavior? According to this blog, he was asked to not talk to the media and yet he did. He blatantly disregarded a request by his employer. Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he seems to be blaming it on "anger management" issues. I am so sick of people not taking responsibility for their actions. It's stress, it's them not me, it's fill-in-the-blank. Seriously grow up and accept that you messed up.

Try to learn some class Mr. Avery. It will take you much farther in all aspects of your life then the way you act now.

Oh and I am surprised he didn't find some way to insult Shane Doan in all of this! :P

Dallas 3, Coyotes 2

Last night the job made sure to welcome Avery with open arms… or something like that. There were plenty of signs around the arena that we got a good laugh out of. One of my friends had a sign that said “Avery is a” and then had a purple pansy with his head at the center. She went down to warm ups with it and Avery called her a fat fucking bitch. Way to stay classy Avery. Avery got a couple of penalties and I have never heard a crowd cheer so loud; it was great. That’s what you get for calling our Captain over-rated in every interview you have. Seriously, do you have a crush on Doan or what?

Ott also received a warm welcome from Carcillo. The first time, the refs wouldn’t let them go and just gave them 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. I still think Barch should have gotten a penalty also, as he tried to get in on the fight making it two on one. Almost as soon as those two got out of the box, they went after each other. The highlight of the fight was when Ott stuck his tongue out at the cameraman and Carcillo gets his arm free and just hauls off and punches him. As the fight was at the end of the period, the boys went straight to the locker room. When they came back, I couldn’t concentrate on the game because they were still jawing at each other. After awhile, it looked like Carcillo was just laughing.

Even though Carcillo didn’t get a goal, he played a good game. He was energized and hitting every star player he could. He was still favoring his right leg. In warm ups, he kept picking it up. He was always pushing off with his left foot and he kept doing this hop move to get going fast. I think his knee may be bothering him.

Jokinen again took a stupid penalty right off the bat and then disappeared for the first and second periods. He decided to make an appearance in the third. He was too busy doing fancy moves to score though. Seriously, I don’t care how prettily you can skate; I want you to put the puck in the net.

Two things that we need to work on: consistency and face-offs. We could (and should) have beaten the stars. They were not playing well but neither were we. We were going in streaks. We’d have a good five minutes or so where everyone was trying, the energy was up and we were doing good things and then we’d back off not play all out for about ten minutes or so. As for the face-offs, we need to find someone who can either do a good face off or find someone who can teach our guys to win. At key moments, we would lose the face-offs, making it harder to control the puck. We won maybe 3 face-offs all night.

Bryz actually had another good night. Yes, he let in three goals, but those can be blamed on the D letting him down. Our D probably sucked the most out of all the guys out there. It’s a sad day when Yandle is probably your best dman out there.

Oh yes, we need to work on communication. Passes were all over the place and guys were running into each other. Overall, not our best game and we definitely deserved to lose that one.

Scratches were Daniel Winnik, Brian McGrattan, and David Hale. Winnik and McGrattan were definitely missed. I want to see McGrattan in the lineup. Put him in against Chicago on Tuesday. That is definitely a game we can't afford to lose.

Coyotes at Minnesota

Wow, what happened to the Coyotes of the last few games? For whatever reason, the Coyotes cannot beat the Wild and they continued that streak last night. The scratches for the Coyotes were McGrattan, Carcillo and Hale, same as Wednesday night. Boogaard was in the line-up so it would have been a good game to play McGrattan. I am hoping that McGrattan gets to play against Dallas on Saturday. He can go up against the likes of Ott and Avery (like Avery would ever fight anyone).

Carcillo may be having problems with an injury. It was mentioned Tuesday that he had a nagging injury and tonight they mentioned him being banged up. I am wondering if it has to anything with the way he has been skating lately. He seems to be favoring his right leg/foot.

Bryz was in net again tonight. He actually looked good. He has played quite a few games in a row. I am waiting for the melt down again. I know he’s been doing well lately but he hasn’t earned my trust yet. I need to see that he can maintain this play over the entire season.

The game doesn’t start off well as Jokinen heads to the box early in the game. Fortunately the boys were able to kill this penalty off. Don’t look for Jokinen in the rest of the game because after this penalty he completely disappeared. Where was Jokinen this game? When he does show up he scores a couple goals, gets a few assists but when he’s gone, he leaves his teammates out to dry. He may look like a PPG player, but really he gets 2-3 points in one game then he leaves his teammates to do all the work for a couple games. I am still not sold on him. As he becomes a FA at the end of the season, I expect him to either be signed or traded at the deadline. Maloney isn’t going to want to see a player just walk at the end of the year if he can help it.

Ok, back to the game…Clutterbuck had a huge hit on DMo and DMo was none too pleased about it. DMo did not see Clutterbuck coming. I am also going to add that this is a guy I would want on my team. I love guys that will hit anyone and everyone (Orpik is another example). He is definitely one to keep an eye on (thanks to Ms Conduct for going on and on and on about him. I totally have a man-crush on him now. You better keep writing about him!).

The Coyotes get on the PP and what a miserable PP it was. Are you sure we weren’t on the PK? The Coyotes got one shot on goal and struggled to keep it in the zone. They could not keep possession of the puck. The Coyotes get another chance to go on the PP when Clutterbuck heads to the box but again, they just could not control the puck. Doan made a nice hit to keep the play alive and keep the puck in the zone. You just got to love Shane Doan. He is having a monster of a season. I will say that is the good thing about Jokinen coming here, he has taken the attention away from Doan. Teams pay closer attention to stopping Jokinen, leaving Doan room to shoot and score.

At the end of the first, it is tied at 0. It was a little surprising as we could not pass nor control the puck.

Early in the second the Coyotes end up trying to kill off a 5 on 3. Minnesota is able to score from the point thanks to Zidlicky (nice pick up on MN part, I always liked him in Nashville).

DMo is still angry about the Clutterbuck hit and he goes after him a bit in the second. He doesn’t do anything that would get him a penalty but he is definitely trying to send a message to Clutterbuck. I don’t think DMo has dropped the gloves yet this season, and Clutterbuck was lucky he didn’t this game. When DMo is angry, watch out!

The Coyotes go on another PP. This time they have a little better puck control and put it on net more than in the first but it’s not enough to get it past Backstrom. However, when they go on the PK a short time later (DMo in the box), Minnesota scores again. So far, both the Minnesota goals have come on the PP yet, do the coyotes learn from that? No.

We end the second 2-0, Minnesota.

Going into the third, I was still quite optimistic that the Coyotes could come back. They were only down two goals. I thought this is the period. We are going to come out energized and ready to go. We are going to control the puck and just fire away at Backstrom. Well, it didn’t quite happen that way.

Yandle ends up fighting Clutterbuck. I have to give Yandle credit; he stood up for his teammates and tried to get the team going. He got a few good punches in early in the fight but Clutterbuck was able to get him into a position where he couldn’t really throw any and thus gave Clutterbuck the opportunity to throw some great punches. Clutterbuck was lucky Carcillo wasn’t in the game, because if given the ok, Carcillo would have taken him down. But I digress, congrats to Yandle for his first NHL fight. Keep it up and you may when over all your naysayers (hey, he’s slowly winning me over).

Jovo ends up taking a stupid penalty while the Coyotes are already on the PK. So we have another 5 on 3 in Minnesota’s favor and of course, they score, making it 3-0.

Minnesota scores once more on a PP making the final score 4-0. I guess I can take solace in the fact that all of the goals came on the PP. We were able to hold them off at even strength but could not get enough control of the puck to really do anything in their zone. It’s really not that comforting though; it just means our PK sucked this game. We had been doing pretty well on the PK, what changed? What is it about Minnesota that we just can’t seem to beat them? I believe this is the 10th game in a row we have lost to Minnesota. Wow, that is just pathetic.

So tonight Sean Avery and Steve Ott roll into town along with the rest of the Dallas Stars. Carcillo is expected to be back in the line-up, so hopefully Avery fears for his life on the ice. I still hope they play McGrattan. I miss the big guy out on the ice. I am not sure who will be scratched tonight. Gretzky is just going to have to rotate which forwards he scratches unless someone really messes up because none of them are playing that badly/messing up. I say on D we continue to scratch Hale. I know Jovo won’t ever be scratched, so Hale it is, as Yandle isn’t doing so badly right now.

Playoffs

Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve written about the playoffs. I skipped a whole round!

It is Detroit and Pittsburgh in the finals. The first game is Saturday. I am not sure if I will watch it. I’ve got something going on that afternoon and am not sure what time it will be done. I will be recording it though, as this promises to be a really good series.

Detroit is the veterans while Pittsburgh is the young guys. Detroit has the dirty players while Pittsburgh has the whiners and divers. I think this will go all seven games. If it does, I will have to beg my dad to record it since I will be busy that day and not able to watch it.

The Detroit/Dallas series was very good. Turco played his little heart out. He was probably one of the best players for Dallas. He definitely got them out of the first round and the second round. If his teammates had been able to muster up the offense, he could have gotten them into the finals. I’m not going to go on and on about these series because they are over.

Pittsburgh and Philadelphia was a sad series. Philadelphia looked like a completely different team then the previous games. They did lose a lot of players to injuries but that should have made the other players step up. Briere did exactly what I thought he would. Disappeared.

End of the Season

It has been awhile since Ive posted. Ive been busy with work and other stuff.

First off I saw this on another forum and thought Id take a shot at it:

Best turn around game (positive): I think I will have to go back to the start of the season and say either the LA game when we first got Bryz or the NY Rangers/NJ Devils games. The fact that we could beat those two teams gave the guys a big confidence boost.

Best turn around game (negative): Calgary, we were up by 3 and then let them come back to win. It seemed we started getting worse from there.

Best Game of the Year: Sharks game where Carcillo got hurt. We were down and our Captain did what was needed to win the game. After that, we showed we had a chance to hang with the sharks (even beat them a couple more times!)

Worst Game of the Year: Either the Columbus game (the goal seen 'round the world) or the last Canucks/Oilers games. We didnt show up for either of those games. I think half our guys were already thinking about their summer golf outings.

Quick hits:
Best Offensive player: Vrbata (until his recent slump) and obviously Doan. Hes had an amazing season. Im wondering if playing for so long with a broken hand has kind of come back to bite him as he hasnt seemed himself lately.

Best Defensive player: Derek Morris, he really stepped up his game from last season. I hope he comes back and does that again. Z would be a close second. You don't notice him as much, but hes there quietly keeping us in some games.

Best Rookie: this is hard. Mueller and Hanzal both had great seasons. Each were asked to play different roles, so you cant compare them. Also, after the SA send down, Carcillo played well and really showed that he has the skills and he now knows it and is going to use it.

Biggest Surprise player: I would say Winnik. He has just gotten better and better as the season has progressed. Some would say Vrbata, but I had high expectations for him as he was a vast improvment over Adams. I knew we got the better end of that trade since day one.

Wow, that was hard. Trying to think back to all the games and evaluating. But it was fun to do.

Ok, and in news Turris signed with the big club! He has two games under his belt so far and you can just see the potential there. He is such an amazing passer. He shoots it high on net, something a lot of our guys dont seem to do (at least not lately).

Another signing was that of Nick Ross. He is now in SA. I hope he does well. I really liked him at rookie camp and they even let him play one pre season game. He wasnt bad but it showed he had a lot of work to do yet. Hopefully at least one year in SA will be a lot of help for him. Im thinking he will be there for at least 2 seasons, 1 seems like it would be rushing his development.

In Blake Wheeler news: he may stay at school for another year. This is what Ive been saying all along. Everyone was going on about how he doesnt want to sign and hes holding out but I had a feeling he just wasnt finished yet. If he goes back next year, he will be the captain. Why wouldnt he want to be captain? And what if they are better next year and get to the frozen four? If Wheeler wants to stay in school, I think thats great. I think hed learn more with a year in SA but ultimately its his decision and he has to do whats best for him.

The season ticket holder signing was this week. Went and got a few sigs. We only got through one table. They cut the lines off early. They said they would cut the lines at 8 but they actually did at 730 and that was about when we finally got through the first table. We went to the tables with Turris. That kid has so much energy and enthusiasm. Its refreshing and I hope a few of our guys catch it! Yandle was giving Turris/Rhino a hard time. Turris was signing my bros hat and he asked where he should sign it and my bro goes, "Right next to the great Steven Reinprecht" and Yandle looks at him and goes; "Who?". It was classic. Jovo was giving Bryz a hard time. It was hilarious. Jovo was totally joking and Bryz was getting all mad. His voice was getting all high pitched. I was laughing my ass off. The guy in front of me had a pic of bryz as a duck and Jovo goes, "that pucks going in" and bryz was like, "no its not. that is playoffs. no goals go in that game". And Jovo went, "no, no thats going in" and bryz's voice gets high pitched and basically repeats what he said before. I also got Fuhrs and Tocs autographs and a pic with Toc. When I was waiting a guy had some old school pics of toc so he was having fun with that. And he seems like a really cool guy. The guy was like I have a ton of stuff for you to sign and Toc was like Really? thats cool. And the guy was cool, hed have toc sign for him and then let who ever was waiting get a pic or autograph instead of just hogging toc. And then this lady walks up and goes, "who are you?" and Toc sticks out his hand an shakes hers and goes, "Im Rick. Im one of the associate coaches". And the lady was like oh ok! nice to meet you. haha, it made me laugh.

Last and final home game against Dallas Stars. Wow, first two periods sucked. but we came back in the third (too bad we couldnt pull off the tie, thanks jovo). I upgraded for this game. I figured last game of the season, why not. Carcillo got the team and crowd going when he took barch out with 2 punches. And i read that barch ended up with a slight concussion. The crowd was literally on their feet cheering for like five minutes. Then they cheered again when he came out of the box. Bally made up for his flub by scoring later in the third. Oh and Lisin got a goal with assists from Kapi and Carcillo. Its about time that line got some points, they have been the best/hardest working line for quite some time. Bryz was pulled and for whatever reason Jovo tried to pass when there was a Stars player right in front of him. So he passes to the stars player who has Jovo in front of an empty net. Hrmmm, yah, not that hard to put it in. So a sad ending to the home games. But, it was a great third period and kind of fitting since their home record was bad this year.

Last night they were in Dallass. And Carcillo gets a hat trick and a fight. It was awesome. We ended up cheering so loud when he was on his way to the empty netter. I liked how he carried it into the zone and right to the net. He wanted to make sure that baby went in! Too many times we shoot from too far out with the empty net and miss. But yah, he just showed how much skill he had. he totally had turco going with that second goal. Hanzal got a goal too. There was a time when i thought we were going to lose it. We let Dallas catch us too often. Im so glad I went and watched this game. AMAZING. And Carcillo was named NHLs FIRST star of the night!

Last game of the year for us agains Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. Pronger will be back. We can and will beat them. No matter if we win or lose we will end up either 6, 7 or 8 in the draft (depending on what others do). Im not worred where we pick, I have trust in our scouting department (they have found some great draft picks that are usually below others radars and in trades ie Carcillo, someone had to have an eye on him). Plus we have like 6 picks in the first few rounds. We could even trade up if it doesnt cost much. But anyway back to the Anaheim game. Its on local tv, so I will be watching it and cheereing my ass off. I predict Turris will have his moment this game. He will get either an assist or goal. Hes had a couple of games to adjust and it would be great if he got a point and then went back to school.

Also, Lisin and Yandle were sent back to San Antonio Rampage. Im glad. Lisin should get a shot at playing for the playoffs since he helped get them there. It will be good experience for him. Yandle really needs some more time to develop this year. He had far to many flubs this call up. Give him a chance to work on his defense and then let him see if he can make the big team out of training camp.

And Im excited, looks like Preds and Caps will be in the playoffs. I will be watching them. Buffalo is out. :( I dont care about anyone else in the west that made the playoffs. The east has a couple of other teams I will be interested in seeing how they do in the playoffs. So, I will hopefully be able to write some more on the playoffs once they start.

Ok, I have written enough for today. Once the season is over, I plan on doing an entry about the last game. I will also have plenty of time to go over the UFAs and RFAs on this team and evaluate each player and give my opinion on what we should do with them. (And Ive got some opinions here). I also need to look at the list of upcoming UFAs for the entire league. I havent looked at that much this year since we've been playing pretty well and there was the excitement of maybe making the playoffs.

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.

*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!