Coyotes – 0 / Blue Jackets – 2 – Post Game Wrap-Up – Ummmm….no…

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I attended the Coyotes home opener Saturday night and man what a scene it was! 18,000+ people all decked out in white excited to see another season of Coyotes Hockey to get underway. I haven’t seen this much excitement for people attending a hockey game since I attended Game 5 of the 2006 Western Conference Finals in Anaheim, CA (the game where the Edmonton Oilers punched their ticket to the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals).

I personally knew people who were attending the game and were excited, in some cases, to take their kids to their first Hockey game…..a sold out hockey game.

When it came to the game, I focused on watching the Coyotes and didn’t focus on the Blue Jackets (I did that when I got home and watched the repeat of the game). I had planed on writing a laundry list of problems with the game like going 0 for 7 on the Power Play, squandering many chances to get on the scoreboard (the PP does need work), to defenseman Ed Jovanovski having an absolutely HORRIBLE game.

As I said on the AZ Vibe Twitter feed during the game, this was a completely different Coyotes team from what we saw from the previous games this season. The Coyotes as a whole weren’t all ‘there’ during the game for whatever reason.

That said, when I got home and watched the replay of the game (focusing on the Blue Jackets) I saw another story.

Sure, Blue Jackets goaltender Mathieu Garon played a pretty good game. I’ve seen Garon play before in Los Angeles and Edmonton. Garon played like he did against the Coyotes numerous times prior to the Jackets game against the Coyotes. When Garon has a good, competent team playing in front of him he’s a damn good goaltender. I didn’t agree with numerous other people saying he was ‘spectacular’ in net. How Garon played against the Coyotes is what Garon brings to the table for any team he plays for.

There were three things that stuck out to me about the Blue Jackets in their game against the Coyotes:

1) The Blue Jackets did their homework on the Coyotes. It was clear to me that the Blue Jackets crashed the slot/crease in their defensive zone and didn’t allow the Coyotes to set up any sort of set plays they have established in the previous games on the road. Other teams will be watching the video of this game to formulate their game plans against the Coyotes.

2) PK – The Blue Jackets PK (as well as the Jackets in their defensive zone) was nothing short of spectacular. They shut down just about every type of way that the Coyotes could generate offense in the Coyotes Offensive zone. I’ve been reading and watching many articles about the Jackets and they have improved across the board since they hired Ken Hitchcock as their head coach (there’s an article below from the Columbus Dispatch about their improved PK).

3) Disciplined – The Jackets were a VERY disciplined group that rarely made a game changing or goal costing mistake in their defensive zone or in transition. They played the game with confidence, discipline and patience. Their lone goal (the second goal was an empty netter) was the result of exploiting a mistake/weakness in the Coyotes transition game which led to an odd man rush and eventually a goal (the Coyotes were another story).

As for how the Coyotes played based on what the Jackets brought to the table. It’s possible that this was a contributing factor to the loss or perhaps the ‘yotes were nervous playing in such an atmosphere. I will say that Shane Doan was one of the best players on the ice Saturday for trying to shock some life in to the Coyotes during the game. He’s clearly been one of the most steady and consistent performers for the Coyotes this season.

One thing for Coyotes fans to note is that you’re not going to see the true face of this team until about 1/3 of the way in. That’s what I believe is the time needed to pass before fans can start judging where the team is at and where they’re going (finger pointing and other activities that fans do with their hockey teams).

My final thoughts for the game centered around my wondering the following things about the NHL officiating:

1) Why did the Linesmen not allow any fights to take place? They stopped two scrums from getting out of hand that not only would have gotten the crowd into the game but would have turned the tide of the game. Unfortunately since the Linesmen during the game chose to be wet blankets, we never got to see any action.

2) Why are the NHL Officials not available to the media following a given game? Major League Baseball allows the Umpires to be available to the media following a given game but not the NHL. Why?

It was indeed a let down to see the Coyotes come out of a game with such an electric crowd with a loss. That happens in sports. Not much you can do about it.

When I got to my car to head home, I forgot the fact that a sold out game produces one other aspect to the evenings festivities….traffic…lots of traffic. Normally, I piss and moan under my breath at the fact that I’m pretty much stuck where I am at (in the outer rim of the Westgate City Center Parking lots). However, that pissing and moaning quickly went away once I realized one simple fact:

This was a historic moment for the Coyotes and their fans.

Many of the fans in attendance have never gone to a game like this before and lots of them went home happy. Many of the fans are new to the sport and some will soon be life long fans of hockey.

For me, it was the fact that I believe that the Coyotes have finally turned a corner in this franchise from all the incompetence and mismanagement to a franchise that has shown the fans that they indeed have laid the foundation for a winning tradition in the City of Phoenix.

Notes during the game:

Did you know that it was Shane Doan’s birthday the day of the Whiteout?

Did you know that famed Guitarist Joe Satraini wrote the goal song for the Coyotes?

Pictures from the game
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Some video I took at the game of a goal that was not allowed by the refs. This video was shot not for the game footage but to get a feeling what it’s like when 18,000 fans go nuts over a goal being scored at the Jobing.com Arena.