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victoria, BC • Canada • 32 Years Old • Male
Well we did not break it but almost, the buzzer in Chicago runs off a compressor that needs time to regenerate on our 7th goal the buzzer was audibly softer than the others. What a game, we passed the puck as good as any team I have ever seen, tape to tape over and over, I’ll post the link for the highlights as although Ilya Bryzgalov got shelled he actually did not play terribly just did not have much help. Still surprising the Gretzxy kept him in there usually when this kind of thing happens after five you got to get your starter out, maybe it’s some attempt to motivate the team through embarrassment as they got out played badly.

Quick note turns out the Coyotes backup is injured suffering from a lower body injuy so when the decision was made to go with Ilya the Coyotes knew he was going to have to stay in though I’m certain they didn’t expect this.

Pluses +

Secondary Scoring: Andrew Ladd, Dave Boland and Ben Eager get on the score sheet in a big way nice to see the third and fourth line guys getting on the sheet also thought is was about time Dustin Byfuglien got rewarded for his hard work, this is the second or third game straight he has played very well and has been creating chances, tonight he got rewarded.

Brent Sopel: he has seen his minutes steadily decline this season and been the topic of a lot of trade speculation and he knows that the team and it’s GM Dale Tallon are faced with tough choices coming up regarding their defense. Tonight he played very well likely his best game of the season got rewarded with extra minutes likely because we were up finished a plus three and played well positionally .

Discipline with the lead: Just last night we let a team get back in the game with Detroit coming back to beat us, against them we had chances to go up three but couldn’t capitalize and it came back to haunt us tonight we went for the throat.

Puck movement: In the zone and on the rush we played very unselfish hockey the puck flew from stick to stick and the Coyotes just couldn’t create turnovers at all. Note some credit may be due to Joel Quennevelle’s fast practice teachings, he runs practices at full speed to get players used to making plays moving at game speed not three quarters if you have seen one of there practices he really does not even allow much time for rest; tonight we looked like we had a gear Phoenix didn’t.

Minuses -

After a seven to one win I struggle to think of what they might be, we played great tonight and obviously not much went wrong but I did have a couple concerns so here goes.

Brent Seabrook: nothing to do with his play but leading seven to nothing Brent tried to make a defensive play on a break away by Enver Lisen which turned out to be the Coyotes only goal. The play he made was to get big and make that desperation stretch dive but he did it so close to his own goal he went awkwardly into in the net and Cristobal Huet head first; not a bad play but time and a place, thankfully he is ok.

Kris Versteeg:I have loved the way Kris has played and his name has come up a ton recently in conversation about the Calder Trophy for the league’s rookie of the year but late in the game he got caught up in a conversation of sorts with Kyle Turris that led to them dropping the gloves (click here to see it) he ended up taking a double instigator which he kind of deserved; it was obvious Turris didn’t want to fight so Kris good spirit but keep it on the ice as the commentator mentions “you both wear visors.”

Here is what the Great One had to say about it:

“What happened in the last 5 seconds, I don’t like to see an 18-year-old kid [Turris] get grabbed out of a pile in a 7-1 hockey game and take a beating like that,” Gretzky said. “I don’t think there’s any room for that.

“I’ve never seen anything like that. In a 7-1 hockey game, to me it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

I have to agree with he Wayne the game does not need this sort of thing and Gretzxy could have sent Carcillo out right after to grab one of our guys who didn’t want to fight.

fight courtesy of Hockeyfights.com

Three Stars
1. Andrew Ladd: This Ladd finished with a goal and three assists and was a plus four

2. Ben Eager: Ben pots two goals and dominates a fight with David Hale, played his role to perfection, a grinder willing to go to the tough places to get the puck that brings energy and determination.

3. Dustin Byfuglien: lots of other worthy to be in the top three but nice to see hard work get its reward Dustin has played well since coming back from injury but could not seem to put the puck in the net tonight he got one.

Roster Updates / Rumours
Oddly the Blackhawks are increasingly mentioned as a destination for Mats Sundin, not that I wouldn’t love to see him in a Hawks uni I don’t see this happening, the market for both Martin Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulin has proved to be pretty slim and surely one of the two players would need to be moved to clear cap space for Mats. Both players are being shopped but they are more likely to get moved right at the trade deadline when their cap hits are a little less ridiculous.

The return of James Wisniewski creates a tough decision for Dale Tallon as changes need to be made to the roster to keep ourseleves under the salary cap. James is expected back this Wednesday and may find himself in Rockford for a small conditioning stint putting his return to the team likely around the 15th or so of December. Dale will have to decide between Cam Barker and Brent Sopel both are defensive liabilities but Cam is a stid on the powerplay and Brent is not, the problem being that Brent has a one-way contract and cannot be sent down without first clearing waivers so the likely answer is Cam get sent back to the Ice Hogs.

Just my two cents but if I was Dale I’d send down Matt Walker & rotate Brent Sopel and Cam Barker as healthy scratches based on who was playing better expecting Cam to play most often.

Here are my defensive pairings

B. Seabrook with D. Keith

B. Campbell with C. Barker

A. Johnson with J. Wisniewski

Quote of the Game
“We got outplayed, outscored and outhit,” Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. “They took it to us pretty well.”

Moving Forward / Highlights
To view highlights of this game please (click here)

Next up is the Ottawa Senators who have been playing quite well of late interestong match-up as our strenghts and weaknesses seem to be somewhat similar also it is possible that Nikolai will be back somewhere around that time Wednesday as he is expected back within the week but don’t look for him to start that early.

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