Coyotes Open House

Thursday 6/25 from 6-9. These players:

will be
in attendance
from 7-8:30

Please RSVP.

The Coyotes will also provide free hot dogs and pop.

Sales Reps will be available for full and half season ticket packages.

Mini-packs have yet to be released.

All pics: my own

Tonight was the Young Stars and Skills Competition at the NHL All-Star game.

I had the TV on for all the events but didn’t watch all of them.

The star of the Young Stars game was Boston’s Blake Wheeler. He was drafted by Phoenix but because he fell under the old CBA, he basically chose to become a FA this summer. At the time, he said some things that pissed me off. I still don’t like the kid, but I am glad to see that he has done well for himself. I don’t think he would have had the same chance in Phoenix as he has had with Boston. Although, I still can’t wait for Boston to come here so we can show him that Phoenix has real hockey fans.

My boy Bods also had a nifty move, lovely toe drag with shot which the rebound lead to a goal by Steven Stamkos of Tampa Bay. Bods was definitely one of the fastest youngsters out there. The rookies looked hesitant to hit or really dig in corners but that didn’t stop them from lighting Carey Price up. Final score: 9-5 Rookies. Nice.

Ovenchicken won the Breakaway Challenge with about 42% of the vote. I voted for him but was so close to voting for Stamkos. I loved the fall down and flip it in with my hand move he did. But you can’t beat Ovie going over to Malkin and getting sunglasses and a fishing hat with a Canadian flag on it, going two sticks to the net. OMG, hilarious stuff.

And last but certainly not least, my boy Doaner won the Elimination Shoot Out. He should have had it a round sooner but Tim Thomas went easy on his teammate, Marc Savard who was providing some great feedback to the announcers. (I am now a Marc Savard fan btw.) When Doan first got up for the first round, I thought, “he is going to win this” (why Gretz never uses him in the shoot out anymore is beyond me) but I didn’t want to say it out loud or tell anyone for fear I would jinx Doan!

Coyotes players representing us well. Way to go boys!!!

Tomorrow night is the “big game”. I will attempt to watch all of it and report back.
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On a side note, I think the NHL should really use Ovie to market to non-fans. He may not be the best looking, but he has this charisma that just makes you love him. He is funny, he is energetic, he has skills, he’s not afraid to hit and he’s a clean player. He doesn’t do any of those cheap shots like Crosby. I would much rather see Ovie promoting the NHL than Crosby. What can I say? In the great Crosby vs. Ovie debate, I am 100% Ovenchicken! I just think he could really get non-fans into hockey. His commercial a few years ago was classic. I vote for Ovechkin as NHL’s new ambassador. Screw Crosby, give me more Ovie!!!!!! He is endearing, even with his missing tooth. And you can tell he loves the spotlight. Hey NHL, wake up and use the Russian to market the sport!

Wha?? No hockey?!?!?

Oh my god, I have to go a whole week without hockey? How will I ever manage?? I need a fix…
So far, I have just been working out and catching up on my sleep. I’ve also watched a couple TV shows I normally don’t get to watch on Thursdays. I usually have to watch them on the weekends.

I know there is All-Star game stuff to watch this weekend, but really…it’s just not the same! I will be watching it though, mostly to support Doan and Bods.
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In other news, Shumway has stepped aside as CEO. Moyes will now be taking over the Coyotes while Shumway will focus on other aspects of Moyes’ businesses.

Shumway has been good for the Coyotes organization, but I could see where Moyes would want to do this. It gets another salary off the Coyotes books and Moyes more involved with the day to day workings of the teams, as he may retain some ownership. It sounds like they are looking for investors and part-owners to help Moyes out. It doesn’t look like they are going to completely sell the team off.

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.

Rookie Camp Signing night

My Autograph page from the night.

I see Nick Ross!!!! (second from right in red). I can't remember who the guy next to him is, but he had a cut on his lip. We asked him if he got into a fight with a hockey puck and lost. He laughed and said yah...
A shot of the table from line.
Kyle Turris and Brett Hextall (KT make my brain shut down!)
Mikkel Boedker, our first round pic.

Oh wow, the rookie camp signing night was soooo much fun. We got there early and waited in line outside but it was so worth it. We were some of the first few in line. We ended up having a seat on the cement (surprisingly warm) and had a picnic. One person took her free coyote duffel and brought us all the free hot dogs and pop. We watched the clips from last season’s games and I got a little sad every time I saw a huge Ballard hit.

Well, when we finally got to through the line I somehow ended up between Odin and Mrs. O. (I think Odin actually preferred that, he was rolling his eyes at us!) First up, I asked Mueller why he was there. I said are they punishing you? What did you do? They making you be a rookie one more time? He just laughed and said I don’t know. Mrs. O really liked Scott Darling’s last name. He thought that was quite funny.

The best was when we got to Viktor Tikhonov and she started telling him that she took Russian in college but all she can remember is “I love you”. Josh Tordjman looks up and goes, “Can you teach me how to say that so I can say it to him?” I just started cracking up. I guess Tordjman was just cracking everyone up that night.
We would also look at a name and Mrs. O would go are you American? We actually guessed most of them right! We also complimented those with 4 consonants in a row and asked Juha Uotila how to pronounce his name. Yah, I still don’t know how.

Kolarik and Porter were sitting next to each other and I said, “I’m glad you are Coyotes now. I had a hard time watching you at Michigan”. They looked at each other and went, what are you a buckeye? I got a horrified look on my face and gasped, NO, I’m a Badger! They were like oh ok.

At this point, I can’t remember much else. That was last Wednesday.

Freaking Dylan Reese. I liked the dude until he signed the page as number 2. That’s Bally’s number, you were assigned 45 for rookie camp and that’s what you should have used!

This year was a lot different from last year. There were a TON of fans there. The line took up almost the whole length of the rink. I think I had a lot more fun this year but I did miss Carcillo. He was great at Rookie Camp and Rookie Signing last year.