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Posts Tagged Dave Tippett

Phoenix Coyotes Slow Start

Nov 17

Posted by EB in Guest Article | No Comments

HWB is reaching out to local fans bringing their thoguhts and opinions about their home team to HWB readers. Here is one of them from guest writer Jenna @ Hipchecks.com.

The Coyotes season has not been off to as great of a start as we thought it would be. I am thinking we need to change the marketing campaign from Don’t Blink to Don’t Panic. As several people have pointed out, this is not the worse start. It’s not great and there is still a lot of hockey to play yet.

The biggest problem seems to be the penalties. I don’t know what they have in the penalty box this season but it must be pretty good since the guys love to take a 2 minute rest. Beyond that, we can’t string together a consistent 60 minutes and we seem to have lost our physical edge. The Coyotes are a much better team when they play aggressively. They seem to have forgotten how to finish a check.

The Coyotes are finding ways to get a point here and there but I would much rather take the win in regulation. The team seems to be starting to gel a bit now. Tippett put the Czech line back together for the win against Chicago and Wolski has remembered he has skills. I am hoping we can string together some wins. LaBarbera put up a good game Wednesday and gave Bryz a much needed rest. This could be a turnaround point.

Enough about the on ice problems, what about the attendance? Personally, I think it sucks right now. I can give you all the excuses in the world for. Trust me, I know them all and have recited them quite a bit. I can also tell you I have yet to buy a single game ticket. I used to be a season ticket holder. Why haven’t I bought a ticket? I can’t afford it. I have not received a raise in three, going on four, years. The economy is brutal right now.

A couple of the players have made comments about the attendance. Paul Bissonnette stated on twitter that he thought it was dress like a seat night while Ray Whitney gave extensive quotes to some news story. The difference is Bissonnette was making a joke and has made it apparent how much he appreciates the loyal fans. Whitney just threw us all under a bus. Maybe if Whitney could score a few more fans would show up. Just a thought.

The fact that we don’t have an owner doesn’t help attendance either. It’s very unstable right now. I know I have talked to a lot of people that are waiting for the whole mess to sort out. There is no easy answer. With an owner, we can have a real marketing department with a real budget. There is almost no advertising now except at the market that already watches the game. We have guys that should be out in public. Shane Doan is like the Steve Nash and Kurt Warner of hockey. He is already in the community a lot but he is no where near the Steve Nash or Kurt Warner level in Phoenix and he should be.

Speaking of the ownership situation… Did anyone see the interview with Hulsizer during the Chicago game? It was quite positive. He has already talked to the coaching staff about making the transition and he referred to the assistant GM as “our GM”. He is already thinking about the team as his. I also liked the way he spoke about hockey and owning a team. It’s not about the money for him. He is very passionate about this sport and wants to see it prosper in Arizona. He said a deal is imminent. I believe we will hear the big announcement by the end of 2010.

If you would like to write a guest article about your home team, please contact any member of the HWB team and we would be happy to make that possible.

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More NHL Award Finalists Announced

May 7

Posted by Eddie in News | 2 Comments

Two weeks ago I wrote about the first few finalists that were announced for various NHL Awards. Since then, some more finalists have been announced. The NHL Awards Show will be June 23 in Las Vegas. Here’s a preview of the award finalists as well as my picks for who could take home the hardwood. Part three will feature the Vezina, GM of the Year, and other awards.

Hart Trophy: Most Valuable Player (voted by Professional Hockey Writers Association)

Ted Lindsay Award: Most Outstanding Player (voted by NHL Players Association)

Finalists:

  • Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
  • Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
  • Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks

I get to hit two birds with one stone on this award because both the NHLPA and the PHWA agree on who the finalists for Most Valuable Player should be. All three players have cases for why they should win the award. Ovechkin and Crosby tied for second in points with 109 points. Crosby also led the league in shootout goals with 8, as well as posting a 80 percent success rate in shootouts. Sedin has already won hardware this season as he won the Art Ross Trophy with a league-leading 112 points. Crosby has one Hart Trophy has he won in 2007. Ovechkin has won it each of the last two seasons and is looking for his third in a row. Each of the last three seasons the same player has won both awards. Don’t expect that to happen this season.

My Heart Trophy Pick: Ovechkin

My Ted Lindsay Award Pick: Sedin

Jack Adams Award: Coach of the Year

Finalists:

  • Joe Sacco, Colorado Avlanche
  • Dave Tippett, Phoenix Coyotes
  • Barry Trotz, Nashville Predators

With awards like this, it usually doesn’t go to a coach who wins the Stanley Cup or even the Presidents Trophy. The last Stanley Cup winning coach who won the Jack Adams Award in the same season was JohnTortorella in 2004. It’ll usually go to someone who overachieves or leads his team to the playoffs when they weren’t expected to at the beginning of the season. These coaches are deserving of the award in their own way. Tippett took over the team from Wayne Gretzky a week before the season began and took a team that finished 25th in the league last season to fourth place in the Western Conference this season before losing to Detroit in game seven of the first round. Trotz is the only bench boss Nashville has ever had and has led the Preds to the playoffs in five of the last six seasons. Not bad for a team who has to compete with conference powers Detroit and Chicago more than most other teams. Sacco was a rookie coach who came out on fire in October. His 10-1-2 start was the second-best 13 game start for a coach in NHL history. He also led the Av’s to a second place finish in the Northwest Division.

My Pick: Tippett

Washington goalie Jose Theodore is a finalist for the Bill Masterton Trophy.

Washington goalie Jose Theodore is a finalist for the Bill Masterton Trophy.

Bill Masterton Trophy: Perseverance, Sportsmanship and Dedication to Hockey

Finalists:

  • Kurtis Foster, Tampa Bay
  • Jed Ortmeyer, San Jose
  • Jose Theodore, Washington

This award is presented to someone who had to overcome some type of hardship, injury, or situation to perform at the level that is needed in the NHL. Each player has a unique story which made them a finalist. Foster overcame a severely broken leg suffered two seasons ago. After his surgery, he realized he was lucky to even walk again. He missed nearly a calendar-year of hockey before returning to practice in Febrary 2009. After rehab stints in the AHL he made his return in March 2009 when he was with Minnesota. Signed as a free-agent with Tampa over the summer, he recorded career-high’s of 34 assists and 42 points this season from the blue line. He also blocked 70 shots.

Ortmeyer’s situation is a little different. At some point each day, Ortmeyer must use a needle to inject a blood thinner directly into his stomach to combat a hereditary blood-clotting disorder that has threatened not only his hockey career, but also his life. The process is tricky and the timing must be precise. The blood thinner, Lovenox, needs to be in his system during the down time when he’s not on the ice and it needs to be out of his system when he plays or practices so that a hard check or a high stick does not cause fatal bleeding. He’s suffered blood-clotting twice in his career and almost walked away from the game. This season, he set career high’s in goals, assists and points. Theodore’s situation is more heart breaking. Losing his starting goal position is nothing compared to when he lost his son over the summer. His son, Chace, passed away two months after birth with respiratory complications related to his premature birth. He bounced back this season to have his best year since winning the Heart and Vezina Trophies in 2002 with a 30-7-7 record and a .911 save percentage.

My Pick: Theodore

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Phoenix Coyotes Win Game 7, Here’s Why

Apr 27

Posted by Matt in News | No Comments

Coyotes captain Shane Doan scares off opponents with the Doan face

Coyotes captain Shane Doan scares off opponents with the Doan face

While I’m not on the Phoenix Coyote bandwagon, like EB, and I root for my hometown Detroit Red Wings, I just don’t think they have what it takes to win Game 7 in Glendale tonight.

This series has been very well coached from the beginning. Some errors have been made here and there, but overall you have, arguably, the league’s best coach in Mike Babcock, going against a sure thing for coach of the year in Dave Tippett. The biggest difference I notice between the two, is how their respective players show up for every game. While the Coyotes are playing their hearts out every night, some Red Wings appear to only show up when they want to.

Mike Babcock often says he loves the playoffs because it keeps you honest. His team knows what they need to do, but lately its been a challenge for them to actually get on to the ice and do it. On the other hand, Dave Tippet’s squad knows how to bring it each and every game. They are playing high energy, physical, playoff style hockey. Plus, not only are they playing to keep their season alive, but they’re playing for their coach too. Somewhere along the line, this seems to have been lost for the Red Wings.

While coaching isn’t everything, some of the philosophies remain strong. Babcock is also a fan of telling the media that the Red Wings best players need to be their best players. This means guys like Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Lidstrom, and so on, all need to step up. When the only guys showing any urgency are players like Helm, Abdelkader, Eaves, and Miller, you have to question who is playing playoff hockey? They may not be all stars, but every shift they go out there and lay everything on the table. The same cannot be said about the Red Wings big names recently.

When it comes down to game time, the players decide everything. Right now, everything is going the way of the Phoenix Coyotes. Tonight’s home crowd is going to be rowdy, full of energy, and ready to celebrate a series clinching victory. Ilya Bryzgalov will be in a position to lead his team to victory. His all out effort, and save after save performance will give his players and the home crowd a giant boost from the get go. On top of that, the strong defense and penalty killing we saw in Game 6 will return tonight.

It’s not so much that Phoenix will be good enough to win, but more or less that Detroit will be bad enough to lose. Rookie goaltender Jimmy Howard faces a lot of controversy after calling the Coyotes latest victory “lucky.” In his first playoff series, and first game 7, I don’t think he has what it takes just yet. He has been shaky, at best, in four out of six games thus far. While he will come to play tonight, a soft goal or two will lead to the ultimate demise of the Red Wings Stanley Cup dreams.

Prediction: Ilya Bryzgalov outplays Jimmy Howard in a battle of the netminders, while the Coyotes defense and penalty kill will stifle the Red Wings once again. A close 3-2 game down the stretch will be sealed by an empty netter for the Coyotes, who will advance to play San Jose in round two. Final score, 4-2, and the Doan face haunts the Red Wings all summer.

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