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

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.
***
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.
***
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.
***
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.
***
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.
***
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 Game Line Up and Respectable Players

Something I have been wondering about recently involves our rookies and those coming back for their sophomore season.
Will the returning guys (Mueller, Hanzal, Winnik, and Carcillo) have a sophomore slump? Hanzal will be coming off a back surgery, will he be cautious? We are putting a lot of stock in our young guys. Watching Mueller in practice, he looks older and more muscular. Winnik still looks good and he’s skating very well. Last time I was at the practice he was out with Jokinen and Turris and looked very good with those two. I haven’t seen Carcillo or Hanzal yet but I’ve heard Carcillo has been working out this summer and going to a camp up in Toronto.
Another thing I have been wondering is how the rookies are going to do. I’m sure Turris and a few others (Boedker) will be up here all year but I wonder about the likes of Porter and Kolairk etc. We have so many rookies; I don’t see them all on the Coyotes all year. I have a feeling that some may be bouncing back and forth between here and San Antonio. If it’s like last year, the call up will happen and then when they aren’t doing as well, back to SA.

In two weeks we have the rookie game. That should also give me an idea how all the young guys are doing and who will be making the big club.

Here is the line up for the rookie game line up
Stolen from: http://blog.coyoteshipcheck.com/

Phoenix Roster: Projected Players:

Joel Gistedt - Goaltender - Frolunda (Sweden)
Kurtis Mucha - Goaltender - Portland (WHL)*
Kyle Turris - Center - Wisconsin (WCHA)/Phoenix (NHL)
Colin Long - Center - Kelowna (WHL)
Daine Todd - Center - Medicine Hat (WHL)*
Tyler Johnson- Center - Spokane (WHL)*
Viktor Tikhonov - Left Wing - Cherepovets (Russia)
Brett MacLean - Left Wing - Oshawa (OHL)
Adam Perry - Left Wing - London/Belleville (OHL)
John Flatters - Left Wing - Prince Albert/Saskatoon (WHL)*
Mikkel Boedker - Right Wing - Kitchener (OHL)
Kevin Porter - Right Wing - Michigan (CCHA)/San Antonio (AHL)
Chad Kolarik - Right Wing - Michigan (CCHA)/San Antonio (AHL)
Jared Staal - Right Wing - Sudbury (OHL)
Jonas Ahnelov - Defenseman - Frolunda (Sweden)
Nick Ross - Defenseman - Regina/Kamloops (WHL)/San Antonio (AHL)
Sean Sullivan - Defenseman - Arizona (CHL)/San Antonio (AHL)
David Schlemko - Defenseman - Arizona (CHL)/San Antonio (AHL)
Mathieu Brodeur - Defenseman - Cape Breton (QMJHL)
Tim Billingsley - Defenseman - Mississauga-St. Mike’s(OHL)
Michael Stone - Defenseman - Calgary (WHL)
Brett Motherwell - Defenseman - Syracuse (AHL)/Elmira (ECHL)/BC (H.E.)*

Obviously not all of these guys are going to be in the NHL. Many will be sent back to their junior team but it will be fun to see them all and focus on those that may be making the Coyotes. I can’t wait to see what lines they put together. With Gretzky behind the bench, I am sure there will be much line juggling!

And for those who care about the other team:

Los Angeles Roster: Projected Players

84 — Azevedo, Justin — Center
45 — Bernier, Jonathan — Goaltender
55 — Cameron, Bryan — Right Wing
81 — Campbell, Andrew — Defenseman
72 — D’Orazio, Mike* — Defenseman
80 — Doughty, Drew — Defenseman
44 — Drewiske, Davis — Defenseman
77 — Fillier, Matt — Left Wing
37 — Hickey, Thomas — Defenseman
50 — Holloway, Bud — Right Wing
64 — Kidd, Josh — Defenseman
74 — King, Dwight — Left Wing
83 — Legault, Olivier* — Left Wing
48 — Loktionov, Andrei — Center
53 — Martinez, Alec — Defenseman
51 — Moller, Oscar — Center
75 — Rowat, Linden — Goaltender
57 — Simmonds, Wayne — Right Wing
79 — Teubert, Colten — Defenseman
76 — Voynov, Viatcheslav — Defenseman
82 — Wudrick, Geordie — Left Wing
36 — Zatkoff, Jeff — Goaltender
* tryout?

One article/opinion piece already has Kyle Turris winning the Calder. Last year Mueller was often mentioned in the Calder race and I don’t doubt that KT will be on the top of that list for most of the season. It’s nice to see other people putting their stock into KT over Stamkos.
http://my.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=6051&user_id=11756

My favorite coyote radio guy is leaving. Louie DeBrusk has taken the color analyst for the Edmonton Oilers/Rodgers Sportsnet. I am a little disappointed. I really liked Louie and never did get a picture with him. I do wish him well. I much liked when he did the interviews for the coyotes website. He comes across very well on camera. I am sure he will be great for the Oilers.
http://coyotes.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=381128
A quote from DeBrusk (from article on AZcentral)
"Any time you're making a career change - to a certain degree it's the same line of work, TV, but it's different from radio - it's an adjustment, the unknown," he said. "Every time you try to make an adjustment like that, there's always some thinking about it, but everything seemed to add up for me."

Don Maloney has shown he fits right in with the rest of the Phoenix Sports teams. (For those that may not know, Phoenix sports teams have a reputation of making sure all their athletes are quite respectable. This is why I laughed my ass off when people actually thought Kobe Bryant would be traded to the Suns. With his past, that would never happen) Former agent David Frost is thinking he is going to come to the Coyotes training camp. He has asked (and been granted permission) to leave Canada (he’s on bail for sexual exploitation) to attend the coyotes training camp. I think it would be best to put up Maloney’s quotes from the article to best convey his feelings:
"I can't be strong enough about this, we don't want any part of David Frost," Maloney told the Toronto Sun. "He is not welcome here. This is the first I've heard about this, but I can tell you without a doubt, I don't want him here, we don't want him here, he will not be allowed here."
"If young Keefe is in any way associated with Frost, he will not be coming to our camp," Maloney told the Toronto Sun. "He's a player targeted to play in San Antonio (of the American Hockey League). He played there last season and we had no problems with him and had no association with David Frost."
"This is simple really, if Frost is connected to Adam Keefe, we're through with Adam Keefe. When I was in New York, we had Sheldon for a brief time. And I had a little exposure to this man (Frost). I didn't like it. And I don't want anything to do with him now."
Wow Don, tell us how you really feel. But I can’t say I disagree with Maloney. After googling the man (and a friend’s hint that she also looked into him and was disgusted) I can’t say I don’t disagree with Maloney. The dude sounds like a pedophile. He needs to be locked up for good. Supposedly he sexual assaulted both girls and boys (ages 14-16) and watched them engage in acts with each other. Keep this man far away from Phoenix. We don’t want him here or anywhere near our players.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=248538&lid=sublink01&lpos=headlines_nhl

The coyotes have agreed to a one year affiliation with the sundogs. Maybe this year I will be able to make it up to a sundogs game. I’m sure I could get a few others to tag along. Road trip time!
http://coyotes.nhl.com/team/app?articleid=381204&page=NewsPage&service=page

It looks like Chickenoff (Tikhonov) will be free to play in the NHL this year. That is good news for us because that boy is good!
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=248637&lid=sublink01&lpos=headlines_nhl

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.