Who is our Mario Lemieux?

The Pittsburgh Penguins have done what some thought inpossible. They beat the Detroit Red Wings at the Joe to win the Stanley Cup Finals!

I would like to extend a huge Congrats to the Penguins. It was an exciting series to watch and the Penguins really showed people what they are made of. MAF and the Penguins defense stood on their head last night and they totally deserved to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup.

The Penguins had quite the run this year, filled with ups and downs. They struggled to win a game in Detroit. After the first two, it looked like it might be over with but they won at home to hang in the series and then stole it last night. I am not going to get into too much detail/recap because I am sure you were all glued to your TVs last night!

It truly is a great story and if you look at where the Penguins were a few years ago, truly amazing. It brought a tear to my eye to see Mario Lemieux lift the cup.

I do feel bad that the finals may have been slightly overshadowed by the events in Phoenix (you can thank Mr. Moyes and Mr. Balsillie for that) but it does bring us to an important point…

The Coyotes are in almost the same position the Penguins were in not too long ago. Mario Lemieux came in and turned the franchise around. Now, the Coyotes already have a pretty good player base and with the right owners and coach, this team will go far. In a few short years you will be hearing “The PHOENIX COYOTES have WON the Stanley Cup!!! Can you believe it? After all they have gone through?”. Now that is something I can not wait to hear!!!

Who is our Mario Lemieux?

Game Re-Cap, Coyotes 6, Detroit 3

I don’t even know where to start with my write up about last night’s game. I didn’t get much sleep but I am still all hyped up from the win and maybe the three cups of coffee I had this morning…maybe.

The Coyotes have not won in the last 9 games (since March of 2006) against the Red Wings (this was the stat I saw on tv last night – sometimes at games I sit where I can watch the tv broadcast). This was a well deserved win and a much needed win.

This game was big in many ways, something the Detroit fans don’t seem to grasp. They seem to think that the season starts in April. Let them think that, I will take all the points and do a little victory dance. I want all the points we can get and I want them allllll season long! This win placed the Coyotes alone in the 5th spot (it also didn’t hurt that Vancouver and the Ducks lost last night!). Our team played a full 60 minutes of our game. The Wild and Wings were two teams we could not figure out and were finally able to do so at least once this season. The boys need to see that they are good. They need to know they can beat these teams. It’s a confidence thing. We know they have the skill. We know they can beat any team they want, but do the boys know that? This game should go a long way in them seeing what they can do and believing in themselves.

I’ve noticed our PP is starting to look much better these last few games, last night included. We still have a problem winning face-offs, which is hurting our PP. We start the PP chasing after the puck; definitely need to still work on the face-offs in order to help the PP.

Another thing that really lights a fire under our guys is the other team taking a few liberties with Turris. Early on the red wings made some questionable plays on Turris and Carcillo stepped in to tell those wing players to watch it. That really seemed to spark our whole team. I am still sticking to the Carcillo-Turris-Stevie G line being one of the better ones out there.

It was nice to see we held Detroit scoreless in 5 on 5 play. Their goals all came on PP. One was a 5 on 3 that should have never happened. There were a lot of ghost calls on the Coyotes and a lot of “missed” calls on Detroit. It was like the refs wanted the wings to win it. Luckily our guys were able to battle back and take the win.

Some other info on the game:

Winnik was a healthy scratch for the Coyotes. Will he be sent back to SA again? Will he be a healthy scratch in Phoenix for the rest of the season? Will he be able to return to the Winnik of last season? So many questions there…

Detroit fans threw two small octopuses on the ice after two of their goals. After Lisin scored the empty netter, sealing the win, a much larger octopus was chucked on the ice in front of the Coyotes bench. Carcillo skated over and looked like he really wanted to fling it at a wings fan; instead he took it over and deposited on his bench, much to the chagrin of his teammates. I think it would have been hilarious if he flipped back into the crowd (not hitting any Coyotes fans of course).

Klee played his 900th career game last night. I heart Klee. He has really done well this season and has stepped up even more in Sauer’s absence.

The Coyotes honored two Cardinal players last night, showing once again what a classy organization they are.

Coyotes goals compliments of (in order scored): DMo (1st period), Yandle, Jokinen (2nd Period), and Jovo, Lisin, Lisin (3rd period). Last night at the arena, they changed one of the goals to David Hale. I believe it was the Jovo goal listed here.
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In other news, Stevie G was sent back to SA. I am hoping this is just to give him some playing time during the All-Star break and that he will be back next Tuesday for the Ducks game.

If not, I would suspect a call-up for one of the other guys doing well down there. But like I said earlier, the Carcillo-Turris-Stevie G has some really good chemistry and Carcillo is playing more like last years Carcillo. I suspect the goals and assists are going to start coming for that boy now. Why mess with a good thing? Oh wait, we are talking about Gretzky here. These lines have been together for a few games…time to switch ‘em up!

6-3 Coyotes OVER red wings

More in depth tomorrow. I need to figure out how to fall alseep with all this extra energy I have now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is wrong with red wings fans?*

Sometimes I just want to scream at them:

"REMEMBER THE 80's? OF COURSE NOT, YOU WEREN'T A FAN THEN BECAUSE THEY SUCKED. PLEASE JUMP OFF THE BANDWAGON AND GET RUN OVER"

And then I aslo want to go:

"IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE COYOTES MOVE BACK TO FREAKING DETROIT AND STAY OFF MY COYOTES SITES. WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR CRAP. YAH, YOUR TEAM IS GOOD NOW BUT THEY SUCKED FOR A LOOOOONG LOOOONG TIME TOO."

God. I hate people and the whole, "I live in America so I can say what I want". I am almost 100% sure when the founding fathers wrote "freedom of speach" they were not talking about idiots saying whatever they want in online comments. These were also the guys that came up with the electoral college partly because they felt most Americans were not smart enough to elect a president. I think they would still feel the same today, as this is how I feel when I read this crap (and it's not just Coyotes, it's on all news articles that allow comments).

*Please note this does not apply to ALL wings fans, just the jag-offs that visit AZCentral.com and do nothing but put the 'yotes down (and not in the constructive way).

Winter Classic

New Years day offered us hockey fans the second annual Winter Classic. Finally, something for us non-football fans to enjoy. I will admit to having watched bowl games in the past, but only if the Badgers were playing and someone was having a party. The past two years though I have been able to enjoy my first love, hockey. Both years have been a success and are expected to continue for many years. Even people who do not usually watch hockey checked out the Winter Classic.

I have read that some people thought this year was better than last years. Some complained about the snow last year but I loved it. It added another element to the game, another challenge for the boys to overcome and it looked like winter. I also liked the teams last year better being a big fan of many of Buffalo’s players. But all-in-all, I think both years have been great and could do so much for the emergence of the NHL in your typical “non-hockey” markets.

Personally, I did not like either teams this year but hoped for a ‘Hawks win. Unfortunately Detroit decided to show up in the second and third and won the game 6-4. There also was a lot of tension, pushing/shoving incurred around the crease quite often. This is a good way to get more casual/first time fans into the game, show the passion that the players have.

As a girl into fashion and hockey, I have to say I was not in love with either of the teams “retro” looks. Detroit looked like candy canes with their stripped socks. I hope they never play the Wild with that outfit on; we’d have the elves and the candy canes battling it out. Oh wait… That could be next years Winter Classic! I am a genius! I did like the colors of the ‘Hawks uniform but they had too many stripes, both vertical and horizontal, making it hard to look at.

Both Strader and Pang were there. Pang did last years Winter Classic and was invited back again for commentary and interviews. Strader was asked to do the play-by-play when the original play-by-play guy came down with laryngitis. As a Coyote fan, I feel honored that both of our TV personalities were present. It just goes to show that we have a class act up in the press box.

I also think that it is quite classy that we had both the American and Canadian national anthems, even though both teams were American teams. They did this last year also. I think it goes to show how much Americans and the NHL appreciate what Canada means to this sport.

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!

Another Semi-GDT

Tonight the Red Wings are in town for their first game against the Coyotes. Last season the Coyotes could not win a single game against them. There were a couple of games that were quite close and the Coyotes even lead for awhile but Detroit turned on the intensity in the third and that was the Coyotes downfall last season. The Coyotes always seemed to get tired in the third and not able to match the other teams potential. Tonight is going to be different though. I can feel it.

Keys to the game:
1. Don’t take penalties. Detroit is awesome on the PP.
2. Come out strong and keep up the intensity for all 3 periods. We have to play 60 minutes to beat this team.
3. All players must show up. We need everyone to battle. That includes you Jokinen. You have played well your last two games back (only disappearing for short periods) but tonight the boys need you to show up for all 60 minutes.

Bryz is starting tonight. Hopefully his confidence is on the rise.

In other news:
Porter has been re-assigned to SA. I am guessing they sent him down because they called up Lindstrom (who has done well in these last couple of games) and they don’t want Porter to be a healthy scratch for too many games. He can play and contribute in SA. That would be much better for his development then sitting up in the press box.

There still is no word on McGrattan yet. I am still not sure how he can be floating out in limbo. Maybe the Coyote have bought him out? If I hear or see anything I will post.

Probably the Best Hockey Game I Have EVER Watched!

Holy shit, what an amazing Game 5! I was literally on the edge of my seat after the third period! The pens were up 2-1 and the wings made it 3-2. I was pretty sure the game was over and the cup was going to make its way to the ice. Watching the clock count down the final minute of the game, I was surprised to see the puck go in with about 25 seconds left. I sat straight up and screamed. Did that actually go in? Did I see that right? It did! Holy shit holy shit the pens had tied the game!

I sat nervously through the first two overtimes. Could the pens really pull this off? Could they force a game 6? I was praying to the hockey gods to send this series back to Pittsburgh. Finally, about half way through the 3rd I saw the puck going in the net. I know it wasn’t actually in slow motion, but I swear I saw it going in in slow motion. It was just amazing. I couldn’t believe the Pens had just pulled off the win. Wow.

This game 5 had the highest TV audience for a game 5 since 2002. Wow, that has got to be good for the sport. Unfortunately there are people like Tiger Woods who say unintelligent things like, “I didn’t know anyone still watched hockey”. To that I say, go to hell Tiger Woods. If I was a golf fan, I’d no longer support you. I hope you get bad. And by the way WHO THE HELL WATCHES GOLF?!?!?!?!?!? That has got to be one of the most boring sports to watch on TV. Do they even get a good TV audience for that?

Rumors:

From Ek - Spezza and the LA Kings is still out there, but don't rule out the Calgary Flames who may make a bold move for Spezza if they fail to land Jokinen.

Why the fuck would Spezza go to LA? If he does, at least I will see him more often but the kings? Jesus.

Not much else, Spector reports the Avs may resign Jose and shop Budaj.

Well, I am going to finish watching game 6. I’m hoping the Pens pull out the win and force game 7. It’s not looking like that’s going to happen. They couldn’t get anything going for a 5 on 3 and Detroit is up 1-0 in the second. C’mon Pens!

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.

WARNING: Long Ass Post Ahead. Mostly Detroit/Preds Game and Rumors.

Preds fans were loud and proud at the start of the game. I wish I was able to be there to cheer them on. I am thinking about maybe taking a trip next season to Nashville. I don’t know if I would go when they play the Coyotes or not.

After watching Detroit four times this year against the Coyotes and the games in this series I have come to the realization I really don’t like Detroit. They get away with so much more than most teams because of who plays there and probably because of their history. Just because you’re an original six team or you are a “superstar” doesn’t mean you should get to play dirty. It reminds me of the Chris Simon/Chris Pronger and the disparity there. Also, the comments from Bettman about Chris Simon and then what he said about Tocchet were very hypocritical. Anyway, I am just sick of refs and the NHL favoring certain teams and certain players. I can’t wait for Bettman to be done. Can the NBA take him back please?

Ok, now that I am done with that rant, I will focus on the games.

Colorado won last night. Thank god. I watched the game and was surprised that Minnesota didn’t start playing dirty in the third. They usually do when they are losing. Every game I’ve seen, if they are losing, they will start to play dirty in the third so they can win. Looking at the other teams in the playoffs in the west, I wouldn’t mind Colorado advancing. I wouldn’t mind Colorado, Calgary or Dallas going all the way. I will in no way cheer for the Ducks, Sharks, or Detroit.

Looks like the Stars game will be on tonight instead of Sharks. My original program listing showed Sharks; now it shows Dallas. I am not sure if I will watch this game or not. I guess it depends how I feel at 6 and if the game holds my interest. I am a little tired of the Ducks and Stars. I’ve already had to endure them eight times this season (thank god for the schedule change!). It’s looking like I may not be watching this whole game. I need to make dinner and get a work out in yet today.

Ok, so the first period of the Preds game was great. The Preds really seemed to control most of the first period. They had a lot of really good shots on goals. Arnott is still out but Legwand was back in and he was getting a lot of good chances. Ryan Suter was getting a little bit feisty. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him fight. I saw a clip on youtube once of him trying to fight (in defense of Ellis) and it wasn’t that good. Suter, leave the fighting to Hordichuk and Tootoo. But keep up the big hits!

In the second period, Detroit got a lucky bounce off a dump in (what it looked like to me). There was no way Ellis could have known which way the puck would bounce. It should not have been a goal. Preds seemed to be falling apart a bit in the second. They were getting sloppy. They had almost a full minute of 5-on-3 yet couldn’t do much with it.

Start of the third and the fans were still going strong. Detroit was still up to their tricks, diving and making it look good. Legwand had a good chance shorthanded; too bad he couldn’t get it past Osgood. Not too soon afterwards, Detroit scored to make it 2-0. Detroit also scored on the empty netter. Preds are out and Detroit moves on to round two.

I am still proud of the Preds. They played well and forced Detroit to play six games. At the start of the season, it didn’t look like they would even make the playoffs. But Ellis emerged as a great goalie and they were able to fight their way to the playoffs. Since the Coyotes couldn’t make that 8th spot, I’m glad it was the Preds. I think the games would have gone different had Arnott and Legwand played Friday night and Arnott played tonight. They were missing a big presence without them.

During the season, I tried to do quote of the day. Towards the end of the season, I kind of tapered off but I will try to do that again with the start of the season. For now, I am going to start trying to post some daily rumors and my opinions on them. Most will be from Spectors, Forecaster or Eklund (Hockey Buzz) So here we go (I had to play catch up, so there is a quite a few):

Ryan Miller has one year left on his contract in Buffalo. I just read on Forecasters that Detroit is interested. Now this could just be because Miller is from Michigan. But then again, Hasek is getting up there in age and as he showed during the first few playoff games, he’s not as good as he once was (don’t get me wrong, he is still great, but you can tell he’s not the goalie he once was). Detroit has Osgood now. I don’t know what his contract is but I would imagine they keep him around as he has done well for them. I am not sure what Detroit has in their farm system but they are known for developing players no one else thought would be great into amazing players.

There are a lot of rumors surrounding Minnesota so soon after losing in the first round. Gaborik (1 year left on his contract) may be part of a trade and head coach Lemaire may not be back. He said he needs time to think. One of Brian Rolston and Pavol Demitra probably won’t be back next season (both are UFAs). According to our own Jim G, Rolston may be a guy the Coyotes target this summer. A lot of people have the opinion that Minnesota will resign him but according to Spectors there will be many changes with Minnesota this summer. Maybe Maloney will pursue Rolston.

Big news in Ottawa: they will most likely buy out Ray Emery’s contract if they can’t trade him by June 1. Also, Wade Redden will probably be UFA this summer. I doubt we will see either of these two in Phoenix. Our goalie situation is set (and I doubt our owners/coaches would want the drama here). Our d is pretty much set. I can only see us signing another dman if we trade one of Boynton, Jovo or Morris. I don’t see a trade for any of them except maybe Boynton. Morris was outstanding this year and well, Jovo is just too difficult to trade (no movement clause and a huge salary). Plus, if we don’t get any offense players, we could always move Jovo to forward!

Penguins may have trouble keeping both Malone and Hossa, even if they spend to the cap. I know, I know, this is nothing new but I just thought I’d throw it out there. Malone has been thrown around as a possible signing for Phoenix. I would prefer him over Hossa. Hossa we would have to pay out the butt to get and I’d rather not tie up all our money on him when we have some great young guys coming up who will eventually require more money. Plus I think they would have to sign Hossa to a much longer contract then Malone, JMO. I feel that Malone would fit in better with the young team too. I know we have the other Hossa, but I don’t think that’s going to be the driving force that gets him signed. He hasn’t really expressed much interest in playing with his brother and for Phoenix. I’ve read more about him wanting to play with Chara.

I found a good article on HF about our rookies:
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/10302/coyotes200708_rookie_review/
The part on my fav rookie Daniel Carcillo:

You can never blame Daniel Carcillo for not trying. That is, trying everyone’s nerves. While he’s shown to be an irritating middleweight, much of Carcillo’s full potential has been locked away as his mouth and muscles have kept him of the ice. If he wanted to show everyone that he could lead the league in penalty minutes well, he won. Racking up a whopping 324 minutes in 57 games - including a league-leading four game misconducts - it’s astonishing that Carcillo wasn’t able to muster up a match penalty with all his antics. Regardless, when he wanted to play some effective two-way hockey, he was able to play at a high level. He was able to display this when he scored five goals in the last two games of the season – which even left Gretzky laughing at the anomaly – even though the Coyotes were out of postseason contention. He finished with 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) and was a plus-1.No one discredits Carcillo for being loyal to the franchise and defending his teammates. However, as it was seen during the season, Carcillo really lacked a sense of when and where it was acceptable to flex his muscles and his jaw. It didn’t help that the Coyotes had one of the weaker penalty-kill units in the league. It even got to the point in the season where the Coyotes had to send him a stern message by shipping him out to San Antonio to play in the AHL for a brief stint.Come next year, Carcillo needs to really balance out his game. Seeing how he has the tools, great drive, and some good upside, he shouldn’t look to covet the league’s pest award.

I believe that after his stint in San Antonio, Carcillo got the message. He received a lot of phantom calls after that and then showed he does have skill with that last stretch of games, especially the last two games.

Also included were Peter Mueller, Martin Hanzal, Daniel Winnik, Enver Lisin, and Keith Yandle. It’s a good read. I recommend it to any Phoenix Coyotes fan or anyone interested in a good up-and-coming core of young guys.

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.

Red Wings @ Coyotes

So, the final score was 4-2 Wings, but the game was much closer than the score implies.

The first red wings goal, I am blaiming on Boynton. He seemed way out of position. And i think he knew it. as soon as the guy on his side got the puck, boynton raced to the net but it was too late. I dont really place the blame on bryz because he had his eye on the guy who just had the puck and probably thought his other dman was there, where he should have been. Also, this was a wings PP goal.

Our first goal was an amazing one by Jovo. Yes, I just put the words amazing and jovo in the same sentence. Crazy. But dont worry, the damn jovo will be coming back later in this entry. Jovo just came down the center of the ice and fired the puck right into the net. No wings players anywhere near him or his line of shot. Beautiful. Oh and congrats to Jovo on his 100th goal! (a lot of our guys seem to be reaching milestones this year, although not records, just milestones)

The next goal was a penalty shot by Vrbata. It was amazing. Even his break away was awesome. He was just flying down the ice with amazing puck control. It totally looked like it would have went in but a wings player was behind him and reached his stick around him. At first they just said penalty but I saw no one going to the box and I was thinking, are they giving us a penalty shot? Damn that would be amazing if they did. And god damn it, we got the shot! So that puts us up 2-1.

The next wings goal is total crap. Doan gets a crap interference call. Im so fucking sick of this call this year. We are always getting called interference for crap. And then Ballard gets called for slashing. WTF. He was just standing there. He didnt do crap. Hes been getting a ton of phantom calls lately. so, wings have a 5 on 3 and score making it 3-2.

Our guys continue to battle it out. Have a lot of good chances but just cant seem to capitalize on it. We pull bryz and then detroit gets the puck and score the empty netter. Although we fought to stop them on that goal it just wasnt enough to completly stop them so it ended up 4-2.

Ok, ballard had another off night. he attempted a hip check but missed by a whole lot. he was way out of position a lot. he did better when paired with morris but for some reason when he was with Z he just seemed off. Yandle was a scratch but he could have done more for us than Jones. Im kind of hoping either Jones or Boynton is traded. Im just not impressed with Jones lately. And as much as i love boynton for his toughness, hes just not doing so well for us. Hes scored on our own goalie i think twice this year and he just seems out of position a lot. And we will never be able to trade Jovo, so boynton and jones are the next expendable in my mind.

Jovo made a few good plays but he still turned the puck over a lot. He passes to everyones fucking skates. Then they have to fumble around and try to get the puck out and settled down and by that point they have 2-3 players from the other team there. And again i ask WHY IS HE PLAYING 1:30 ON THE PP?????????? Damn Jovo. Damn Jovo, Damn Jovo!

Ive decided I really like Joel Perrault. he seems to be doing really well. he seems to make a lot of chances. Im still undecided on Lisin. I feel like i need to see more of him to make a decision. hes shown some flashes of greatness but other times, i just dont even notice him out there. Of all our prospects, he seems most expendable to me. Im not attached to him so if maloney is able to flip him at the deadline (or before) Im not going to care, at this point. If i start to see more from him and i start to like him, I might not want him to be traded. But at this point there are so many other players on our team that I like and wouldnt want to see traded. I also wouldnt want to see some of our prospects traded (turris, wheeler, summers, porters). So yah, at this point I wouldnt mind if Lisin was trade bait.

Morris has really stepped up this year. I was calling for him to be traded last season but now, hell no. And last night he played really well. He seemed to be hitting everything that moved in a red wings jersey.

And speaking of red wings jersey, god damn some of their fans are obnoxious! There was a guy in front of me that every time a wings player touched the puck hed shout "BREAK OUT! BREAK OUT!" jesus christ, you cant have a break out when its 3 on 1! And I think Vrbata actually had the best break away (and maybe only one?) of the night. There were a lot of 2 on 1s and a few 1 on 1s but not complete breakaways. And then one of the kids he was with kept yelling coyotes suck! and other random stuff. It was so damn annoying, he was like 12 and his parents let him yell like that? Hell, my parents where in town and at the game and I was much more well-behaved than normal. Just in general wings fans are obnoxious. I hope next year we totally kick the wings' ass 4 times. I know we can do it. This was a close game. If not for the crap calls on Doan and Ballard, we could have won it.

Quote of the Day:
"I just about crapped my pants. I couldn’t believe it. I was in shock. And I kind of jumped the rail and talked to him for about 10 minutes. It was incredible, it was unbelieveable. He was really down to earth. It was one of the highlights of my hockey career." - Kyle Turris on meeting Steve Yzerman

That sounds just like the Kyle I met at rookie camp. He was just so excited about everything. I was talking to him at the meet the rookies and he was so excited that I had Badgers merchandise. He couldnt beleive it. And when I asked for a pic, he practically jumped over the table! It was pretty funny. He seems like a great kid and I cant wait for him to get here. Im thinking he will be at Wisconsin at least 2 years.