Well, I went out to Washington DC this past weekend. It was a nice little vaca and I missed some Coyotes game. Apparently they were not too much to miss.

They lost to both the Preds and Blues. I heard Carcillo was one of the few players to show up and that Dmo chose to sit out the Blues game as he asked to be traded from this losing team.

Sunday I went to see the Panthers at Caps and am happy to report that the Panthers beat the Caps 6-2. Ballard got two assists and looked AWESOME out there. I love that guy so much. And after really watching the Panthers (since they weren’t playing my team) I realized there are a lot of great guys on that team. I hope they make the playoffs.

The Caps looked like the Coyotes. For once I was glad not to be on the losing end of a game. Listening to the crowd, they sounded just like Coyotes fans. The only player that really showed up was Ovie. Every shift he was out there you thought this is it, something is going to happen now!

Nick Boynton was scratched. Turns out he got into it with the Coach a few days before. That sounds like Boynton. He is not afraid to speak his mind and that is why I love him.

I am not going to say much about the trade deadline. I expected Dmo and Telly to go but it still hurts. Olli I am not sad to see go but I think we could have gotten more for him then two players that have 22 (or so) goals between them. And the biggest upset of the day? Carcillo to Philly. Wow. No one saw that one coming. At least he’s going to a good team. Flyers were my number one team before I moved to Phoenix.

Don’t be surprised to see this blog go in a new direction shortly. I no longer believe that Coyotes management is seriously trying to “build a winner” and go with a “youth movement”. They have been doing the same thing every year since I’ve been here. They keep repeating the same thing and trading off fan favorites. I ask, do they really want to put butts in the seats, do they really want to win? I also don’t think they can seriously build a winner until something is done with the coaching staff.

Thursday-Coyotes, Friday-Roadrunners

Thursday night the Washington Capitals were in town to take on the Coyotes. I was seeing a lot of #8 jerseys, looking brand-spanking new. I have decided the Caps have a bunch of bandwagon fans here in the Valley. Washington has a lot of great players, not just Ovechkin (I know, he is amazing though) but I doubt those people notice the rest of the team. I have a soft spot for Mike Green, Brooks Laich, David Steckl and Jeff Schultz. Last season, I actually thought we should trade our 55 for their 55. :)

We went down to watch the Coyotes warm-up and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Yandle was rocking out to his rap song. Carcillo was doing his guitar impression to one song. At one point, McGrattan and Sauer collided and Sauer hit the ice but they were both laughing. All in all, our guys were looking good and having fun.

Telly was given the start. I (and a few other people) was happy to hear this. He was spot on, even earned himself the first star of the game. There were times, if it had been Bryz in the net that I would have been scared to death of that puck going in. I think Gretzky needs to do more of a 1A and 1B tandem with Bryz. It just doesn’t seem he is quite up to the starter job yet or maybe now that he has his big contract, he doesn’t have to work as hard? I’m not sure but I think he needs to be challenged. Telly can’t be a starter, but he could sure give Bryz a run for his money. The coyotes need to use that and make it more of a competition for Bryz, make him EARN the starting role.

McGrattan earned his first start on Thursday also. On his first shift, he had his first shot on goal. I was surprised that Jose “the open door” Theodore was able to stop it (and all the other shots we made), must have been a good night for him. McGrattan seemed to be having words with Brashear. McGrattan looked like he was ready to go but Brashear didn’t seem willing (even though he was pissing off all our guys).

The boys fell apart a bit in the second period. Tiki was injured in the first and of course Gretzky couldn’t just make a small adjustment, he had to change ALL the lines. The boys were running into each other, passing to the Caps and just seemed to lack communication skills. Fortunately, they were able to hold the Caps (and Ovechkin) off and come back much stronger in the third.
Caps got on the board first and thankfully, we held them there. Boedker scored to tie the game (his third goal of the season) and Mueller got the game winner. They were a couple of sweet goals.

Carcillo seems to back to his old self (for the most part). He started laying out some bigger, harder hits. He was shooting like a mad man. I believe his leash has been loosened a little bit but he’s still not playing his game at 100%.

Dmo was awesome Thursday. He was on Ovechkin all night. He slammed him into the boards so hard at one point. It was amazing. We also saw angry Dmo. He was about ready to kill one of the caps. He was yapping at him all the way to the bench. He tried to go after him again, but the refs stopped him. He was ready to throw down, but the refs were letting that happen.

Also, it was great. Ovechkin totally fanned on a shot from the point (and he was going to smack it hard too) and totally fell on his ass. It totally cracked me up. Also, Doan split a puck in two. I have never seen a puck split.

Tonight the Flames are in town. This should be a good game. Iginla is a great player and we can always count on Dion to try to start something. Based on what I saw in morning skate, I am thinking Lisin and Rhino will be the scratches tonight, as the skating coach was putting them through some drills and really working them. Also, Tiki should be back. He was on the ice for morning skate and looking good.

Friday night I went to the RoadRunners game. They played the Idaho Steelheads (Dallas affiliate) and won 2-1. My goalie was in net again and just keeps showing me why he deserves to be on my goalie list. He is just so much fun to watch and he can stop the puck pretty damn well.

My favorite dman, Andrew Andricopoulos, was having words with one of the Steelheads and it looked like they were going to throw down. Then at the last second, the steelhead just turns and skates to the bench. Who does that? The refs weren’t even anywhere near by to stop it.

My other favorite dman, Rory Rawlyk, did not play as he was injured pretty badly in Wednesday’s game. He was missed because he is not afraid to jump in and help the goalie out. Plus he isn’t afraid to check and push and talk smack. He is one tough player.

Brett Thurston did get into a fight (and won) with one of the Steelheads. Ashton Rome didn’t seem like his normal self, no fights and not a lot of big hits. We were thinking he might be a little bit hurt.

We will be attending the next home game on Friday. They will be playing the Ontario Reign (Kings affiliate). Apparently I also need to learn how to skate by January, which means I also need to buy skates. We will see how that goes.

It's turning out to be a sad day for me

Iget home and turn on the Caps game. Its tied. Then it ges to OT. Then the Caps get a penalty. Then the Flyers get a goal. NOOOOOO. Fuck. And those were the exact words out of my mouth.

So it's Flyers and Montreal (Go Montreal!)
and Rangers and Penguins (Go Rangers!)

And now currently I am watching the Flames/Sharks game and it was 2-2 and hten suddenly it's 5-2 Sharks. Flames pull Kipper and put in the great Cujo though! Go Cujo!!!

Looks like it will be Detroit and Colorado (Go Colorado!)
and Dallas and Sharks - unless of course Calgary bounces back (Go Dallas!)

I was looking through forcasters website and found this today:
BOOK OF DANIEL The poster boy for "old-time hockey" Daniel Carcillo had a goal and two minor penalties in the first period alone against the Dallas Stars Friday. The NHL leader in penalty minutes added a power play goal in the second period and an empty netter in the third. INTEL Despite being the polar opposite to his former style of play, Phoenix Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky loves Carcillo. With the ice time The Great One is giving him (nearly 13 minutes a game), the feisty winger will be the penalty minute king for years to come.

Also, Nashville extends the contract of all their coaches. It looks like they will try to resign Ellis and Suter. Although with 8 dmen, they may need to make a trade. I'll take Suter and give you Jovo. Straight up. Good thing I am not a GM. I would end up with all dmen and Goalies. And a couple of forwards.

Nothing new in rumors. Same old stuff floating around out there.

Well that's it for me today. It's been a long day.

Playoffs, Yet Again

Both the Caps and Canadiens won tonight. That means the Habs move on and Caps force game 7.

San Antonio Rampage won against the Toronto Marlies tonight. 3-2. They now lead the series 2-1.

That's it for me tonight. I can't think much after spending the day looking at housing websites. haha

I checked the rumors and there wasn't anything that interesting out there. The one somewhat involving the Coyotes has Mike York going back the Germany to play next season. I predict this will probably happen because he didn't really prove that he belonged in the NHL this past season. All he proved was he was good at falling down. :)

Some Pics

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.