Ok, so the Coyotes started off amazing with two big wins and now they have had two bad losses. Wednesday night the Coyotes were in Chi-town to take on the ‘hawks. They played a strong first period, hitting hard and both teams ended the period at 0-0. Morris got into a scuffle with Adam Burish (a fellow Wisconsinite) and a linesman skated over Dmo’s hand. He left the ice and was taking to a local hospital. Thank god he was ok (he was back for the game Friday night). After that, the Coyotes seemed to fall apart. Also, our blue line was exposed. We were weak once we lost DMo. Ulf was playing musical d-pairings and nothing seemed to click. There was a lot of shoving and physical play but the coyotes just couldn’t get back in the game. I am not so sure getting Jokinen was the best move. He was great in the games we won, but not so much in the games we lost.
One of the shoving matches was right in front of the coyote’s bench. As one of Chicago’s players was shoved into bench, Carcillo took a swat at him. It was harmless, but because it was Carcillo and the Coyotes, he got a 2 game suspension. Gretz should have let the boy loose during the ducks game or this game. He was hungry for a fight and could have had lots of them during those two games. He is a fighter, you are never going to squash that in him, so let him loose, especially when the other teams are taking so many liberties with our players.
Friday night the boys played in Ottawa. We were hoping for a big bounce back but that did not happen. Our D was still a bit shaky but come on Bryz, you are the goalie. You need to stop those pucks. Why Gretz didn’t pull Bryz is beyond me. He had a bad night in Chi-town, so you give him a shot to redeem himself. Then in the first he lets 3 goals (from 13 shots) in, in a span of about 7 minutes. When Bryz came back in the second, I knew it was over. The boys were able to rally a bit in the third after a goal by Doan (what has gotten into our Captain? He is so not off to his usually slow start, I hope this doesn’t mean he tapers off at the end of the season). Lisin and Bods also got goals, but in the end it wasn’t enough. The coyotes lost 6-3.
Wow, those were some tough losses to watch. I am glad they were away games and I didn’t have to witness them in person. But they better get their act together, we have Montreal tonight, Caps Thursday and Pens the Thursday after that.
In other news, my night was not all lost. We went to the RoadRunners game and they beat the Salmon Kings (WTF kind of name is that?) 7-1. Oh that game was amazing. I didn’t know any of the players yet, but we found a few that we liked. The goalie was awesome. He is amazing, 5’9 and just wow. He was spot on! There was another player that was 5’8 and he was going after all the big boys. #61 got two goals. #17 and 51 were very physical and making space on the ice to create some good puck movement. We are planning on going back tonight and tomorrow. They looked better than the coyotes.
Also, I noticed it seemed the players were able to get away with some questionable hits. One guy totally charged another player and nothing! And they were hitting hard and getting into scrums all over the place. There was only one real fight but the atmosphere there was awesome. Even though they are part of the Sharks organizations, I am liking these hometown boys. I even bought a $5 hat so I could support the RoadRunners at their games. I guess when there is no Coyote hockey in town, I can catch some games. You can get tickets for as low as $8.
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