Howlin' Hockey - A Phoenix Coyotes blog

Paul Bissonnette has been a healthy scratch for the last 13 games. He’s watched the game from the press box. When you consider what a fan favorite he is, it is disheartening. He is the centerpiece of the new Hockey The Hard Way tv commercials (set to Swan Lake). He is on the billboards for the same promotion. Paul was sent out into the community for the Phoenix Coyotes website series “Professor Paul.” Biznasty has 224,101 followers on Twitter at the time of this article. He is a major part of  Sauce Hockey advertising campaign. There are t-shirts with his image and phrases such as “Hands Like Feet” and “4L4L” fourth line for life. Paul knows who and what he is. He calls himself the grocery stick. Sits between the forwards and defense.

After scoring his first goal of the season against the Buffalo Sabres at the First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-US PRESSWIRE

Paul donates his time, money, and energy for charities such as the homeless and fire departments. He brings kids to games from local shelters after taking them out to dinner. He never says no to a kid looking for a picture to be taken or an autograph to be signed. When the team comes out of the tunnel for warmups, his name is second only to that of Jesus being yelled by the fans.

So I ask this of GMDM and Coach Tippett,

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Jeremy Roenick joins the Ring of Honor at Jobing.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE

The following pictures come from US Presswire. Fansided Network, owner of this site, has an agreement for the writers to use these images. Not only are the images from ice level, they are fantastic. It shows it is worth it to get a good camera body and spend the money on lenses. Enjoy.

Former Blackhawk Captain Adrian Aucoin (33) shows current Chicago Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews the meaning of the respect. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE

Smitty shuts the door on Toews. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE

Last night, the Coyotes beat the Blackhawks 3-0 to give them their fifth straight win and move them into eighth place in the Western Conference. Considering before this homestand they were tied for 12th and going in the wrong direction, this turnaround could not have come at a better time. 56 games played, 26 to go. 10 days ago, the talk was of which players would GMDM sell or trade off to give them a chance to win the Stanley Cup. The talk was that this team had peaked over the past two years and the ownership issues have overwhelmed the players. Questions were raised on the goaltending and if the Coyotes should have paid Bryz his hostage money. Fan confidence was low. Player confidence was lower. The locker room was not a place where visions of Stanley Cups were made. Mike Smith has just been pulled from the Anaheim debacle after Cogliano’s hat trick.

Five straight and convincing wins over winning teams that are talented have changed the dialogue. It has changed the dialogue from who should GMDM send off to “We have what we need to win.” It has changed the players attidude. Fans responded with a sold out Jobing.com. What have we learned about this team?

Tonight the Coyotes played host to the 10th place Calgary Flames at the Jobing.com arena. The Coyotes entered the day in 9th place but tied in points with Minnesota Wild (Minnesota has game in hand). The Coyotes end the day in 8th place and 2 points behind LA Kings for 7th place. How did they accomplish this feat? Team defense, back check, keep Jarome Iginla off the score sheet, trick one of the flames to shoot on net and hit Alex Tangay in the face with the puck (forced him to leave the game and come back with a cage for a couple of shifts before back to a shield) and ending it in dramatic fashion. How did we get here? You have to go back to the beginning.

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Last week, the Coyotes were tied for 12th in the West. I sat with my wife and discussed the future of the team. Mike Brophy, opinion writer for Rogers Sportsnet and not my favorite, was on NHL Home Ice Sirius XM and talked about Shane Doan. He thought it would be best for GM Don Maloney to trade Shane at the deadline to let Shane chase the Stanley Cup. His reasoning was that Shane could come back to the team next season as he will be an unrestricted free agent. His next line was that 11 fans would miss him in the desert. Scott Laughlin, the host of Power Play on Home Ice, started backpedaling and asked for the angry emails to be directed to Mr. Brophy. Of which I sent one and the courageous Mr. Brophy did not respond.

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Saturday night the Sharks will take on the Coyotes in a game that you could call a must win for the Coyotes. For several reasons, not excluding it is Buck Bash (get hot dogs, soda, and beer for a dollar) night. And you don’t want to disappoint drunk Coyote fans. For serious reasons, we need these two points. Here are the standings as of Friday night 8pm from the NHL.com site.

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And here I thought Goldwater had folded their tent and moved on when Winnipeg got their team and Goldwater’s source of funding from hockey fans in Canada has stopped. From this morning’s Arizona Republic by Lisa Halverstadt.

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I ran into some lads from Vancouver recently. We talked about where we were from, and when I said I am from Phoenix, they asked if I knew hockey. I showed them I was wearing my Coyote t-shirt, and they said it was the first time they had met or seen a Coyote fan. When we talked hockey, they were amazed I knew anything. Their knowledge of what is going on in Phoenix is:

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