Welcome to another edition of Lunch Time with Hipchecks, as I know you all appreciate and enjoy these not perfectly edited editions of my blog (ok, they are never perfectly edited but I normally use word to help me watch for typos and what not).
Last night the ‘hawks tried to invade the job with their cheap plays and dirty hits (the refs weren’t much better but I digress..). The Coyotes were having none of that and both McGrattan and Carcillo tried to throw down without much luck. If you are going to act tough, then you need to step up when asked to go. I have now officially added the ‘hawks to teams I dislike (joining greats such as Ducks, Red Wings and Penguins).
McGrattan tried to get something started early but the ‘hawk player wasn’t having none of it. McGrattan was asking and shoving and the dude just climbs onto his bench. Carcillo was later yapping at another ‘hawks player and asks if he wants to go. Carcillo is about ready to drop the gloves, he is just waiting on the ‘hawks player who apparently can’t make up his mind so then the linesmen skates over and puts a stop to it. Those guys must have known they didn’t have a chance. But if you are going to act like a dick, you better be able to back it up.
The surprises of the night was the Hanzal/Toews fight and the Jokinen/Frasher fight. Hanzal definitely won that fight. It didn’t look like Toews got any punches. Jokinen’s fight was more like a wrestling match with Jokinen being the one that gets the take down. Also, right as this fight started, the ‘hawks wanted a goal because they thought Bryz let the puck by, but he didn’t you shoved Bryz and puck into the net, then you knocked the net off.
There was a lot of diving by the ‘hawks. They’d barely get hit and they’d fall to the ice like it was the end of the world. And the refs kept falling for it and whistling play dead. Yet when Jovo goes down, they ignore it and the Coyotes had control of the puck (and seemed to be waiting for the whistle). Since there was no whistle, the ‘hawks are able to score.
McGrattan got a 10 minute misconduct at the end of the second. I am not sure what happened there. Someone said it was because he was yapping at the ‘hawks bench, the official asked him to stop (or escorted him to the bench) and he just kept going. I am not sure if that is true, none of the articles I’ve read have said what it was for.
It was Shane Doan’s 900th career game and he was the man with the PP goal that tied the game. Z got us on the board first when we were down 2-0. Carcillo still hasn’t found his scoring touch. I have to say, I am proud of the way the Coyotes played (killing off a stupid Jovo penalty in OT was awesome) and they deserved that point (even though I still don’t believe in the whole point for a loss thing).
As far as the shoot-out, we can blame those two goals on Bryz. That was all him, no defense out there to help you buddy. I want to look up his record against Chicago, because I feel like he has yet to win a game against them since coming to Phoenix. Speaking of Bryz, he started to make me really nervous in the 2nd and 3rd periods. Seriously, let’s play Telly next game.
Turris and Mueller were the first two shooters. I would love to ask Gretzky who his third choice was and why he picked those two to go first. Was Doan or Jokinen going to be the clutch player? Was Turris picked to help boost his confidence? Was Mueller picked because he was the best last season (with Vrbata) but still was only at about 50%? I didn’t get a good look at Turris’ shot (the guy in front of me was tall, broad shouldered and had a big head and it was hard to see around him) but he is usually pretty good at lifting the puck and going top shelf, and I don’t think he did that last night. Note to Gretz: work on a shoot out drill k? K.
Coming up: Friday is Coyotes at Carolina. I will only see part of it as we are heading out to the RoadRunenrs game.
Saturday we take on Philadelphia and during the broadcast the Coyotes will reveal their new 3rd jersey. Until then, enjoy the hipchecks and hockey we are all so lucky to have. 🙂
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