(Photo Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images) The Pistons dominated the Suns and beat them 116-86 in a game that right from the start proved to be out of reach for Nash and Co.

Yes, it was that bad.

The Suns missed too many shots, including a few easy ones, in the first quarter and the Pistons took an early lead at the first intermission, 27-16.

Detroit did a good job on defense and forced Phoenix into bad shots selection, a few turnovers (4) including a 24 seconds violation (it’s always a bad sign when the Suns commit those). The lead was extended to 17 points early in the second as the Pistons kept shooting very well.

Stoudemire scored 14 in the second quarter (18 in the half, 31 in the end) and the Suns tried to close the gap in the period, and partially did it with a 11-2 run, before the Pistons got the momentum back with defence and scored a bunch of easy points off the frequent Suns’ turnovers. At the half Detroit lead was a game-high 18 points, at 59-41.

And if you thought the first half was bad, well, all you had to do was wait and watch the third quarter that was much worse as Detroit enjoyed frequent leads of over 30 points.

It was 75-50 with 6:04 left in the 3rd when Coach D’Antoni called a time out in disgust and things got even worse. 90-58 at the end of the third quarter. I can’t recall the last time the Suns trailed by that much at home.

The Suns got NOTHING from Hill (zero points), Diaw (2 points), Barbosa (18 when the game was over by 20 minutes), Bell (8 points) and Steve Nash (11 points and 6 assists). There’s not really any detail to report. Let’s just hope it was a bad night, for whatever reason.

The Suns tried to make the final score a bit less bitter in the fourth quarter when Marks, DJ, Diaw, Barbosa and newly acquired Linton Johnson were on the floor. Without much success, anyway.

Over the last three games we have experienced a nice win (vs Boston), a tough loss (vs LA) and an “unacceptable” defeat (vs Detroit).

The Suns are clearly still looking for their identity with Shaq on the court and O’Neal is trying to establish his no non-sense approach to the game: just look for example at the occasional high elbow here or the flagrant foul there.

While Phoenix is still looking to find their way, Detroit clearly knows how to play - and win - as a team. They have been together for a few years now and their system is in perfect synchrony.

Rasheed Wallace led the Pistons with 22 points while five others scored in double digits. Chauncey Billups (14 points, 11 assists) orchestrated an almost perfect performance for the Motor City’s quintet.

The Suns (38-18) will now hit the road and play the Grizzlies in Memphis on Tuesday night (6 PM) and the Hornets in the Big Easy the night after that.

Yours truly, Steve Fan (I guess this time the Pistons didn’t care about Diesel-power)

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The game isn't quite over yet but the outcome was decided almost before tipoff. Quite simply, the Suns didn't show up to play and the Pistons did.

Detroit executes very well on every play, on both ends of the floor. At this point, I'm not so sure they even need a head coach. With their core of Billups, Hamilton, Rasheed and Prince, they can run on autopilot.

The Suns, on the other hand, were stagnant on the offensive end and disinterested on defense from the start. There was a play in the 1st quarter with Diaw, Shaq and Nash on the left side, where Boris and Shaq just stood there looking at each other, having no clue what to do. This game has been awful to watch and has done nothing to abate the flu/cold that has grabbed a hold of me.

Ever play Arch Rivals for the NES? It's a great game. I still own it but rarely play it because against a certain friend of mine, I never stand a chance. He's the king of depantsing, he pulls those suckers down from any and all angles. That's the Suns against the Pistons today. Helpless. They've been completely handcuffed and in the process, embarrassed.

One can only hope this is just part of the process of integrating Shaq and not a sign of the Suns being totally overmatched against the well-oiled machine that is the Pistons.

Thank goodness for the Grizzlies.

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(1 votes, avg: 4 out of 5)

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Detroit is the best team in the league. Their continuity and versatility is impressive and they put on a clinic Sunday afternoon.

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Epic battle begins today.The Blues have been no slouch lately. Despite sliding a bit behind us in the race for 8th, the Blues are holding steady… pacing themselves right behind us at a respectable 66 points and #12 position.Although we are 7 of 8 against these guys this season (including preseason) don’t make the mistake of thinking this will be an easy 2 points. Boyes, Kariya and AndyMac are racking up points and Legace (although shaky in his last outing and having his traditional Coyote woes) is no slouch between the pipes. The Blues are getting some interesting secondary scoring from Perron, Walker, Stempniak and Jackman. They have lost the last 2 contest on this road trip to the Ducks and Kings and much like us, seem to do well against the big opponents and squeak a point or lose to the teams they should beat with authority.

We have been flat and not desperate enough, early enough. I don’t know how many ways or times I can say: Desperation! Fullout 60 minutes of hockey! Forecheck, forecheck, forecheck! Scoring committee! (not just 2 - 3 guys getting multiple points, although anyone wishing to see my ugly Bud light hat on the ice, feel free to score the hattie and I will oblige them). Shut down the freakin neutral zone and help Yandle out when he’s being hurried on his side of the blue line.

Wayne, I implore you, put the lines back together. You created a fatanstic chemical balance that got us this far. Please stop frickin with it. It’s soooo NOT pretty when you resort to juggling. (although I realize that the juggling is the direct result of the shooters not producing, I am willing to have patience and I hope TGO is too, shake ups rarely work for us, chemistry, trust and familiarity has been our secret weapon all season.)

Wake up snipers! Its time to put the hard hats on and take care of business from here on out. This is the stretch guys…in case you didn’t notice. Men become boys or learn to play golf w/ the old men early. So put away the PS3s and get your tookis’ in gear my babies. It’s clobberin time! Shell early, shell often and let’s get our eyes back on the prize please.Go Dawgs! Go get us 2 points!onyxstarr@coyoteshipcheck.com
 

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The forecheck was back, shaky and inconsistent but it made some key appearances. Both goalies made tremendous and valiant efforts all night long. A 12 man shoot out has to be the most stunning and grueling game a goalie can face. It was a spectacular end to this game. Unfortunately it shouldn’t have come to that kind of an ending.

My personal opinion is that TGO made his first faux pas in what has been a sterling coaching effort this season. Gettin our big Czech back should have amounted to no more than a few adjustments in TOI for a few players. Instead WG juggled. Kinda like zigging when you shoulda zag and getting hit by a bus.

Kapanen (you already know I love the Mighty Finn) should NEVER have been place between Donor and Mueller. Just ughh. Like asking a dachsund to keep up with racing boishoi’s. He looked out of place and they looked lost. The line produced bupkis. Most of the other lines looked like regurgitated borscht too. WHY? Weller, Hanzal and York? just ewwww. Wellie barely had 3+ minutes in this game, is the press box calling his name next? Dwin, Hanzal and…TQ? York, Weller and Perrault? what the hell are these combinations supposed to be doin? Oh wait… must be losing, cuz thats what they did.

We turned it over, we fumbled it, we lost our advantage in getting Hanzal back. We did actually get a PP goal from the Rhino Vrbata Doan line at the 10 minute mark of the 1st but we bumbled 4 minutes later and let the newly returned Stasny score on an ugly rush (how does he come in without bein molested and grab his own rebound and score w/ 3 Yote dmen right there?). 1 -1 game for the rest of the first and well into the second. Zbynek! woo hoo! gettin a few shots off with authority(nice to see the team use Z at point instead of constantly goin to Jovo) … what the hell was Laperriere talkin to my baby boy about? I don’t like him after the game he tried to beat on the boy but it didn’t look ugly so I’m just wondering what was said. Leave my boy alone Ian, you really don’t want me to show you my angry face!

What is it about the 10 minute mark? The Avs find their way past Telly on the stick of the very hot Svatos to make it 2 - 1 and despite some fairly good battles it stays that way until the third. Our line changes sucked mightily.

The third period we saw some familiar faces playing together again and we looked better! ahem… resting my case on that. The battle heated up significantly and both teams look great. The Yotes finally get some sense of desperation and in the last 2 minutes we dominate the Avs and DMo saves our bacon and grabs us a point at 19:57! We’re going to OT 

The OT was ugly, our line change nightmares continue. We end up shorthanded at the 4 minute mark for too many men on the ice. We barely manage to pull this off. We’re goin to the SO… Telly hasn’t had one in awhile but he is a feisty one in these suckers.

A 12 man shootout! who woulda thought Theodore could last that long? We saw award winning tending for the whole thing. We saw shooters who are stellar made to look like snot and shooters who have rarely even thought about a shooting move get a chance. Perks finally nails one, York actually grabs one too. But 3 unlikelies from the Avs score too, Arnason, Liles and Mcleod all find their way past Telly and the Avs avoid the sweep and gain 9th position over us.

sigghhhh *one last ref bitch…when are these guys gonna take look at calling picks at the blue? After the Flames got away with so many of them I been lookin for it… and damned if it doesn’t happen a LOT*

So we just made the hole a wee bit deeper and the fight a wee bit more desperate. We gotta get our poop in a group against the Blues on Sunday. We need the points more than I can say. We may see Telly again since Breezy has been sick and Telly has been playing phenominally.

Lets Go Coyotes!!!

!photos from BTinAZ~ when link is ready.

onyxstarr@coyoteshipcheck.com

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I posted a few quick thoughts late last night after the game, but wanted to get a little more in depth into the game. It was a pretty good showing by the Suns, and I was very encouraged by some of the things i saw.

A lot was made about what exactly Shaq would bring to this Suns team, on and off the court. Off the court it was evident pretty quickly: He brought confidence, swagger, and some humor. How that would translate in the locker room and on the court we were left to wonder when he first showed up in Phoenix. After two games, it’s quickly becoming evident what Shaq brings to this team on the court as well.

After game 1 against the Lakers, a lot of people immediately jumped on the Suns about not playing any defense, and Shaq’s non-ability to defend or guard anyone. After game 2? Not so much.

The Suns played excellent defense, frustrating the Celtics to a level i have not seen from them this year. KG in particular was really irritated, as Amare pestered him, scored on him, and generally held him in check for the entire game. The Celtic’s other members of the Big Three, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, shot a combined 5-25, 20%.

The Suns also crashed the boards again, out-rebounding the Celtics 50-32, meaning in both of Shaq’s games the Suns have grabbed more rebounds than their opponents. Shaq himself had 14 boards, while Grant Hill continued his dominance since Marion left with 13 boards and 14 points. Hell, even Steve Nash got into the act with 7 boards, good for third on the team.

And while defense and rebounding were certainly something I wanted to see the Suns improve on with Shaq, there was one other thing I noticed about the Suns that has changed since Shaq started playing: They got a mean streak.

That’s right. The run-and-gun, finesse-style, ’soft’ Suns got tough all of a sudden.

Last night’s game was chippy, to say the least. It started with Shaq early, picking up an offensive foul on the first possession of the game. It continued with Amare and KG, who yapped at each other the entire game. The fouls came early and often in this one, with Shaq and Amare getting KG, Kendrick Perkins, and Pierce all in foul trouble early. It lead to the Suns getting to the foul line often, and attempting 12 more foul shots than Boston.

However, the best thing I’ve seen come out of Shaq’s arrival has been Amare’s absolute dominance. Shaq called him the ‘greatest big man in the game right now’ last night. High praise indeed, even if it is a bit premature. Amare is averaging 33 and 11 with Shaq in the line-up, and has done it against very good competition. KG is an absolute stud, and Amare did everything but brand him and claim him for his own, including getting into his head.

Amare himself attributes it to being able to move back to the power forward slot instead of center. With Shaq in the line-up, Amare is freed up from all the banging down low against bigger and stronger centers, and is able to move more freely inside and out, where he is developing an absolutely devastating 17 footer.

Just like the over-reaction after the Lakers game, it is hard to make too many observations of trends after only two games. That said, there are a lot of good things I see from Shaq and the Suns, and if they can keep it going they have a very good chance to make some serious noise in the playoffs.

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Well, 50% anyway. I actually wrote the last article on Wednesday, but time stamped it to post on Friday, so I hope you guys didn’t read it and think that I was an idiot for writing about stuff that had already happened. Anyway……. Like I said, 50% right. The Cards cut ties with underachieving FS [...]

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(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri) Amaré Stoudemire scored 28 points to lead the Suns past the Celtics 85-77. The Suns dominated the boards 50-to-32 and for the second consecutive night (2-for-2 with Shaq in the line-up) ourebounded a tough opponent.

The Suns enjoyed an early lead in the game (24-13 after 12 minutes, despite plenty of turnovers) and were able to hold off any comeback attempts by the Celtics late in the game.

It was a tough battle filled with tension, hard fouls, turnovers, poor shooting percentages, or in other words, Eastern Conference playoffs basketball. “Obviously the defense, our rebounding – all that was good” as D’Antoni confirmed after the game.

Boston shot 38.5% from the field (30-for-78) while the Suns were 31-for-73. The teams combined for 45 turnovers and 47 fouls.
The Suns defense was able to held the Celtics shooters in check as Paul Pierce was 2-for-13 and Ray Allen a similar 3-for-12.

Kevin Garnett, who could have become a Suns this past Summer, led Boston with 19 points, but in the end it was STAT winning the heated battle between the two power forwards. Shaq on STAT after the game: “Amaré Stoudemire is the best big man in the game right now. I didn’t know he was that good“.

Shaq’s presence (4 points, 14 rebounds) can change the structure of the game and provide a much needed energy spark. His presence give much more flexibility to attack the boards since tends to create mismatches for the Suns opponents. It’s not by chance that Grant Hill scored his first consecutive double-doubles (14 points, 13 rebounds) since 2002.
I also like the way Shaq always look to open the fastbreak after getting the rebound; he might not be the fastest center in the game, but he understands the game extremely well.

I am starting to undertsand the reason of the trade, now. Is this the beginning of a new era? too early to tell, but when Steve Kerr traded for Shaq I think - more or less - he had that kind of game in mind.

With the win the Suns (38-17) improved to 22-2 against Eastern Conference teams and gave them a half game lead over the idle Lakers.

With growing confidence the Suns will now face the other great team in the East on Sunday as the Pistons come to Phoenix (12.30 AM) of a lunch tip-off.

Yours truly, Steve Fan (now more than ever Diesel-powered)

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This is the type of game that the Suns got Shaquille O'Neal for. The grinders. How would the Suns respond when someone tried to muck it up and push them around with Shaq in the lineup? We got a decent idea Friday night. The Suns broke out early and matched the Celtics intensity throughout in a 85-77 victory.



The Suns were sloppy and without Leandro Barbosa, after losing him to a bloody cut and head injury early in the game. However Boston could not capitalize on the turnovers and the Suns defense was solid. The Celtics couldn't hit a shot and the Suns completely controlled the boards. The Suns hit the Celtics with quick 15-0 run and set the tone.

Then it turned into a playoff game. Garnett and Amare started going at each other full on. Elbows, trash talk, tight defense and the occasional basket. I personally thought Amare was afraid of Garnett in the past because Garnett tries to intimidate opponents and I've seen Amare shrink into poor games against him. Not in this game.



I think we're seeing Amare (28 pts, 6 reb, 3 blk) transform into an MVP caliber player. Shaq (4 pts, 14 reb, 2 blk) is building his confidence and creating openings for him on both ends of the floor. When Shaq moves through the middle, players hesitate and Amare is getting a ton of open looks, driving lanes and blocks. Amare played excellent defense against Garnett (without fouling) and I'm glad he got a tech for shoving him after the big dunk. This is a different team and this is just the beginning.

What more can I say about Grant Hill. Hill (14 pts) nabbed 13 boards and attacked the rim. DJ Strawberry brought the rookie energy tonight with extended minutes as well. He made plays on defense and created some turnovers. The kid just has to find a few points in those minutes and he'll be a solid rotation contributor. Ray Allen (11 pts, 3-12 FG) and Paul Pierce (8 pts, 2-13 FG) never got it going and a lot of the credit has to go to the perimeter defense.

I thought Boris (10 pts, 5 reb, 2 ast) was impressive in extended fourth quarter minutes as well. He is STILL passing up too many good shots though. Diaw can't do that against teams with strong principles like the Celtics. The Suns only squeezed off 11 threes and most of those were in transition or shot-clock desperation heaves. Layups and free throws are the key to beating good defensive teams and Boris has the ability to create those opportunities. He'd cut his turnovers if he simply attacked them rim instead of constantly kicking out.

At his best, Nash controls the tempo of the game. There are only a few players in the league who can do that. The bigs like Duncan and Garnett do it on the defensive end and Nash on offense. When it was clear this was going to be a defensive struggle and Shaq and Amare had it under control, Nash (18 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast) turned into Chauncey Billups in the fourth quarter with two huge threes.

This game was ugly but fun as hell to watch. The 24 turnovers were due to poor spacing and facing the best defensive team in the league. The Suns were the aggressor though. The attempt to be physical just got the Celtics into foul trouble and they dug a hole they couldn't get out of. I think the Suns exposed a weakness as well- little interior scoring. When the jumpers weren't falling, the Celtics relied on defense to come back. It helped but the Suns still put a few runs on them and never trailed in the game.

The Suns know they can score and now are finding they can rebound and defend better with an eraser in the middle. We got a glimpse of their newfound versatility against elite competition. Detroit promises to be just as fun and probably just as nasty.

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Nice win for the Suns tonight over a Celtics team that couldn't hit water falling out of a boat. Allen and Pierce weren't just missing, they weren't even close most of the time.

Can't imagine they'll shoot that poorly in their next meeting with the Suns but the Celtics looked overmatched tonight. They didn't have much of an answer for Boris, especially in the 4th quarter, and got killed on the boards. It's nice to be on the right side of that for a change.

Once the Suns made their second run to answer the Celtics surge, the game was never really in doubt.

Now that the game is over and the 4th quarter was incident free, I suppose I was getting a little more fired up than needed with all the elbows and pushing and shoving. Not sure if they intended to go after Amare from the opening tip like that or if the hole they dug in the first quarter did it, but it was a little much.



I know defense has been the Celtics calling card so far this year but there's tough D and then there's cheapshots. Perkins forearm shiver on Amare, to me, falls into the latter category. Regardless, it's good to see the Suns rise above it and battle fort he win.

Other notes:

-Boris had 10 total, 8 of which I think were in the 4th. Since I'm writing this right after the game, no one has a box score available, so forgive my estimates. His shot selection was perfect and he executed very well in the halfcourt.

-Amare was a beast again. Why he takes his jersey off right after the game is over, I'll never know. I'm guessing it has something to do with that Carly Simon song.

-the Suns have to stay away from those elbows. Raja got drilled by Shaq against the Lakers and now LB got split open by Pierce. I was surprised Raja played tonight, I didn't know that large an egg could go away that quickly.

-Sean Marks played in the first quarter and Coach D played 10 guys total. In other news, my neighbor's dog just opened a dating service for his fellow canines and the pussies that love them.

-1 of 2 Shaq. 1 of 2. Set your sights low and go from there.

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Cliff Robinson has always been one of my favorite NBA players, both as part of those tough to hate TrailBlazers teams with Clyde, Jerome Kersey, Terry Porter and Duckworth, and of course as a high-scoring, 50-point dropping Sun.

What drew me to Uncle Cliffy? Look no further than the headband (and maybe the red and black color scheme of the Blazers.) In Cliff's heydey, NO ONE sported the headband. I'm sure there were a couple of guys here and there but Cliff was the trendsetter, the OG if you will. As his career wound down, the headband made a stunning comeback and now damn near every player has rocked one at some point or another in their career. Cliff shouldn't be forgotten if for no reason other than making the headband cool again.

Note to current NBA players: when you put the logo right between your eyes, it looks stupid. Very stupid.

So why this sudden reminiscing when there's a huge game against the Celtics tonight? I say why not.

Some quick, interesting stats from Cliff's career:
-He became the oldest player at 33 years of age and two months to register his first 50-point game
-Won NBA Sixth Man of the Year with a record 90.8% of the vote after he averaged 19.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and career-best 1.99 blocks
-Robinson was currently one of only two players drafted in the 1980s still active in the league in 2007,[3] with the other being Kevin Willis
-At 6'10", he is the tallest player to make more than 1,000 three-pointers
-arrested for marijuana possession and DUI in 2001...and failed a couple drug tests in 2005 resulting in a suspension.

That last note isn't all that surprising, at least not for me. You see, Cliff Robinson and I have some history together. Not really, but here goes...

When going outside for an early morning butt with a friend after waking up from an all night drunk at a friend's house in a shady part of Scottsdale, we noticed the nicest Mercedes Benz we had ever seen parked just two spots from our buddy's front door. With the awe-inspiring Benz having dropped our jaws to the floor, we were at first oblivious to the tall, skinny and very well-dressed man walking towards the Benz.

Suddenly, my buddy elbowed me in the side, mumbling something that sounded like "Cliff Robinson...Cliff Robinson." I looked up from the Benz and sure enough, there was Uncle Cliffy strolling towards us after exiting an apartment owned by a person who could be best characterized as "a lady of the night."

Instead of telling the two hungover and wake and bake idiots to get away from his car, he flashed a sly grin, said "good morning, fellas" and got into his Benz. After a quick wave he was gone, leaving us to go completely apeshit over having seen Cliff Robinson up close and personal, post-dirty-Scottsdale sex romp.

I don't know if Cliff was married at the time and I don't really care. Who am I to judge a guy who led the 1999 Suns in scoring? This was Uncle Cliffy, who along with Monster Mash, was my favorite Sun at the time. This sounds silly, but at that point in my life, seeing Cliff, in my element no less, was an all-time great moment for me.

Of course, he went and fucked up a good thing in Phoenix by getting arrested not far from where I saw him, resulting in Colangelo jettisoning him to Detroit, ushering in a rebuilding era...that's turned out pretty well so far.

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With 18 new players, the Sun Devil Baseball team embarks on the 2008 season by hosting the DeMarini Invitational this weekend at Packard Stadium in Tempe. Despite all of the newcomers, the Devils are ranked #1 in the country by Rivals.com and the USA Today Coaches Poll. Tonight, ASU hosts Miami of Ohio at 7pm. Saturday afternoon the Devils host Vanderbilt at 1pm and Sunday ASU will face two-time defending national champion Oregon State at 3pm.

While there are plenty of new faces on this squad, the returning players are outstanding. Brett Wallace, Josh Satow, Petey Paramore, Mike Leake, Kiel Roling, and Ike Davis have all been named to various preseaon All-American teams. The pitching rotation may be thinner this year going in, but the bats should be as big as ever. Returning Pac-10 Player of the Year and Pac-10 Triple Crown winner Brett Wallace leads the charge at the plate and will be moving across the field to play third base this season.

If you've never been to a Sun Devil baseball game, you have been missing out. With one of the nicest college stadiums in the nation and five national championships--third most by any team in the country--ASU went 35-3 last year at home.

If you can't make it out to Packard this weekend, tonight's game is covered on SunDevilSportsNetwork.com and the weekend games can be heard on 1440 AM.

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As high as ASU's hopes have gotten, you can't say this wasn't expected. In the season preview, I wrote the following:

"With all these new faces, we can expect to see an influx of talent and energy but a lack of experience. This will result in a season full of ups and downs and flashes of brilliance."

Well, we've seen all that and then some this year. Sweeping Arizona, beating top-10 ranked Stanford, overtime wins, close victories, then horrible shooting nights and inexplicable losses. Thursday night, Washington State's defense made the Sun Devils uncomfortable all night, holding ASU to just 33 percent shooting in a 59-47 loss. The 16-9 Devils will need a win on Saturday at Washington to keep postseason hopes alive as UCLA and USC come to town next week. Saturday's game can be seen on FSN and heard on 620 AM.

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Well at least for this I can be positive maybe even upbeat.

So far we have the team from Colorado on the rocks. 3 times we have managed to take the 2 points and run. But Friday night will be a test. Smyttie, Small Paul and maybe even Joltin Joe may be back in the line ups for the AVs. The team has managed to hang tough despite having Smyth, Sakic and Stasny out of the line up at the same time. Key games from stalwart secondary players has kept them in the hunt. The middle of February has not been kind to the Avs (they are on a nasty 5 game slide). Look for the renewed vigor that having Stas back will bring and if Sakic decides he’s ready it will be a real dogfight.

Both teams are very evenly matched. Sitting 9th and 10th in the conference and 4th in their respective divisions. While the Avs struggle on the road the Yotes are struggling about the same at home so no clear advantage for either team in this tilt. GF% are Yotes=17th and AVs=18th but the Yotes have a slight advantage w/ better %’s in GA, PP and PK numbers.

Vbrat and Rhino (both former AVs) have led the battle in the previous outings and hopefully the Avalanche won’t be able to contain da Brat again in this joust. Talk about former players coming back to bite you in the keister! DMo was also an AV and has been plenty destructive to their top line. Vbrat has five goals, an assist and a shootout point in our 3 wins AND even scored in overtime during the last contest. While Rhino has 4 goals and 2 assists on the series so far including a hattie night.

We are about 5-for-14 on the power play against these guys and that may very well be the difference in this game. This is the last contest between the two for 07-08 and in order NOT to jinx us I will simply say… there is a possibility that brooms may be needed after this game, which has not been done since the 90-91 season, when both teams were still Canadian based.

Do I really need to say this? Discipline! Special teams! FORECHECKING!!!  C’mon we all know the drill… no forecheck = no win! Major shelling no matter which widget they stick in goal! Scoring committe, wake up, stretch, sniff the ammonia tubes repeatedly if neccessary, but be ready to go from the giddyup! Both of our goalies have had good success against these guys and they are really going to have to bear down to keep these guys contained… can you say rebound control Yotie fans? I hope our net minders can not only say it but DO it.

With Parker, McLeod, Hanan and Laperriere on the ice (all pretty good at pissin ya off and all will chuck the nucks) DC AND Boynk are going to have to stay cool and save the passion for puttin pucks on net…. well unless severely provoked… and look for that to happen for sure. These guys are going to be desperate, we need to want this game really badly in order to take another 2 from them. So let’s go out there and send them home empty handed… we can even let them keep the brooms if they like.

LET’S GO COYOTES!!!!

See all you faithful at the Job… PS… Hanzal if back in the line up! The BigKids line has had the Mighty Finn in the middle and has been holding their own… thanx to Kapi’s opportunistic lil heart and Dwin’s unrelenting play at wing. So look for TGO to have more flexibility and craftiness in the rotations.

onyxstarr@coyoteshipcheck.com

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When I can follow my sainted mother’s advice (Keep your yap shut if you can’t find a damn thing nice to say) I will finish this one… right now it is too full of vitriol and ichor to post for public consumption……. and of course I would never deprive you of BTinAZ’s pics… so it will go up… soon

ok back…

This game blew chunks in so many ways I cannot begin to describe. When your captain drops the gloves less than 2 minutes into the game the least you can do is respond. We did not in anyway take his lead and get some life. We were flat and disorganized and played like bush leaguers.

The Flames not only out played us, they ran rings around us all night. The players who had been leading the charge all disappeared. Every, single, one of them. Dwin and Carcillo were the only 2 players who continued to battle all night. That is  unacceptable. Getting beat is one thing… rolling over and playing dead is another and although we haven’t seen much of it this season… we can’t keep doing this.

Carcillo is definitely on a (s)hit list. Not only with other team’s players (such an easy PP draw for them since he’s almost certain to respond w/ force to any and all provocation) but also on the ref’s part too. Daniel was pummelled, elbowed and sat on through out the night and never recieved a single call no matter how blatant the infraction( oh yeah Nolan and Kipper I AM talkin about both of your shameless antics).

The cap of the crappy night was the disallowed goal. The NHL should take a good look at that call and tell that asshat not to have any more opinions, just call what he sees not what he wants to see or whatever the hell that was all about.

We did not need any help to blow that game, we were doin THAT just fine on our own with our crappy play. We need to sit down and figure out how to keep the game simpler at home. How to bring some of that road warrior mentality into our own building.

The season is called a marathon for a reason… for 60 games its a long distance endurance run and the last 20+ games its a sprint. We are in that last leg and cannot seem to find a consistant kick. I hope we can do so soon. If we don’t well… plan A goes back into affect.

You guys do remember plan A right? Slow rebuild w/ youth and gain experience over the next several seasons until all the pieces are in place for a true Stanley Cup run? Oh yeah THAT plan A! We are actually in plan X mode right now folks (how can you plan for what is happening w/ the Yotes this season? hope yes, plan…umm not even close) … our youth have exceeded expectations and our vets and xtra bit players have performed beyond the norm and so we find ourselves waaaay ahead of the curve here in this strange 07-08 season. So don’t lose sight of the main objective (which appears to be building something of a dynastic team lol) to contend for the Stanley Cup now and for many years into the future.

We are young and have many, many trials and tribulations ahead of us. I refuse to let this horrid game cause doubt. If NHL hockey was easy, every one