And Now It’s Ten…
The Phoenix Coyotes truly played their hearts out last night. Many teams fold on the second game of a back-to-back, especially when the first game went to overtime and a shootout. In past years, I would have expected that circumstance and it usually happened.
And we forgave them. Because hockey is difficult, it’s a grind, players are hurt, [insert excuse].
But Dave Tippett took out those excuses early on in the season, and the team is finding success. The will to prove the landscape wrong is motivation enough.
And they earned their 10th straight win at home setting a franchise record.
What is significant about that statistic is that the Winnipeg Jets did not accomplish that task – the Phoenix Coyotes did. I admire and respect history, but based on the past summer, I’m a little sour about all things Canada lately.
So the team did something that its previous incarnations was not able to do – win 10 straight at home. We can be happy about it today as tomorrow those San Jose Sharks roll in to disrupt the party.
On the broadcast though, we heard a telling chant, especially when the Vancouver Canucks tied the game in the second. Usually, I don’t get into what country is better, what city is better, or what team is better because people like who they like. If they want to run down the Phoenix valley, fine. We like it here, most of us chose to relocate here, and we like to see our teams do well. It’s just that most of the time we have been handed bitter disappointment so it’s been difficult to fight back and for me, it’s a stupid argument to get into.
However, when fans of Canadian teams visit now, be careful. The fans will no longer be passive and just take it; sometimes the chants will not be pleasant. In fact, it might be downright rude.
The excitement of the maketiseven campaign and Jim Balsillie caused that ruckus. Blame him for whipping the country in a frenzy to expose the viewpoint from the North that people down here “don’t get” hockey.
They do and they understand. The folks in the building now have a chip on their shoulder and they will shout back.
I can’t blame them one bit.
So here’s some advice (much of it unsolicited). Expect that when the fans cheer for the Phoenix Coyotes, there will be a passion that might have an edge to it. People here are now tired of being bullied and told how awful they are.
It’s not like past years where the visiting team’s fans would show up, act pompous, spend money to help our economy, and then go back up home talking about the losers we are.
People in the Phoenix Valley want the visitors to recognize that the product on the ice is different, and the fans are now too. Respect is earned, I grant that, but for the past four plus years we have been reminded over and over how bad our location is, how bad our teams are, and how much better elsewhere is.
So, just expect a push back. Just like the Coyotes did to the Canucks when they thought they could physically will the Coyotes into submission because “they played last night.” They hit back too because the fans in the building last night helped them to do so.
I always wondered if the media stuff was exposed when the Coyotes were doing well. Then, the team lost its focus because no longer were we talking hockey, but the distractions instead. When John Tortorella was with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he had a skill to take the heat for his team. Gretzky didn’t have this skill. Tortorella thrived on the conflict whereas Gretzky sometimes avoided it.