Ok, I still havent had a chance to watch the two games I missed while out of town (nashville and colorado) but it seems since the calgary game, our beloved coyotes are falling apart.
Ive learned more about Carcillo’s actions in the Nashville game. Seems he ran his mouth and that was what the game misconduct was for not for pushing the linesman (that was the misconduct, even though sundins was much worse and he got nothing for it). But I do agree with Carcillo being sent down, i just wish they had taken action earlier in the season (like scratching him after having a bad game). Ok, enough on that.
Thomas has been sent back down again. Im just thinking Maloney wants to see how hes coming along, to see if he is worth re-signing. Murley is still up here. I found an interesting tidbit on wikipedia when I was looking for stats and age/height/weight on Murley. Apparently he was invited to Ryan Malone’s wedding on the condition he brings a date. He couldnt find one, so he went with his good friend Sidney Crosby.
We also called up (and signed to an NHL contract) Pete Vandermeer. Now, I cant figure this move out. Im thinking its either a) rewarding guys that are working their butts off in SA and/or b) to give Carcillo more motivation to get his ass in shape. Pete played last night against nashville and i barely noticed him out there. Toc said he was brought up to be physical. They guy had one hit and a miss. He had words with someone but nothing came of it. I was not impressed.
I got to watch practice Saturday and morning skate Sunday. I liked Toc. He wasnt afraid to stop a drill and say “no youre doing it wrong, do it like this”. He also works more one-on-one. Hes not afraid to grab a player and show him how to stand, which way to face etc. I was really impressed. Their practices seemed so much more efficient and well ran with Toc there. And the guys really seemed to respond to him. Most of the guys didnt play for him, just Doan, Ballard and Z. They looked good in practice but not in games.
Thursday night we played Columbus. Our guys looked like little kids out there. It was pathetic. I was ready to leave half way through the 2nd period (i didnt but i was seriously bored). Weller got kicked out of the game. it was absolutely ridiculous. There wasnt a call on the hit (if you watch the replays) until after the scrum. They were going to not call the hit until after weller got attacked by 2 columbus players. Weller did a shoulder to shoulder hit on “superstar” nash and nash turned and ran himself into the boards. Then someone comes charging at weller and weller pushes him away and then OKT comes at weller one hand going for his throat, the other one almost dropping the glove (but not quite) so weller drops his gloves and hauls off and punches OKT. OKT just drops to the ice. I feel bad that he got a concussion, but man, that was a great punch!
Last night we played nashville again. I pretty much watched Ryan Suter the whole time. he’s a great dman. I wish he played for us. Yandle got a penalty shot in the game. He missed and seemed so disappointed he missed. Bryz got pulled in the first (thank god, he let in 3 goals in the first). Telly did a good job, he let in two goals but our d was just off last night. the pairings were so odd. Boynton and Jovo, Z and Yandle. Not sure I like that. But Z has been getting into too many plays lately for a stay at home dman. And Yandle likes to get in the plays too. I think Morris is our only dman who is truely been a stay at home recently. It was an exciting game when we were able to catch up and then we lost it again. Maybe we are missing hanzal more than I realized we would? Looks like Hanzal will be out the rest of the season.
Looks like we are going to end up just out of reach of that playoff spot, especially if we keep playing this way. At least all the teams we need/want to lose are doing just that. It is not ideal to rely on luck when it comes to this, but we have put ourselves in this spot.
In other news, Game Night with the coyotes has been announced. It will be held March 9th at Dave and Busters. I went to last years and had a great time meeting almost all the guys, so i will definatly be attending again this year.
And in sad news, Zednik had life saving surgery after taking a skate to the throat. I wish him a speedy recovery and hope that he is able to play again.
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