One Fan's Perspective

Since moving out here, and adopting the local hockey team, we have been fortunate enough to see our share of hockey games.  I still remember our first game (or one of them) where the promotion was something like a hockey beach towel/blanket that the first 10K or so received (we somehow go to this game every year…we have a collection of these things now.  They changed the design to a fleece blanket, which is a vast improvement).  The blanket/towel thing was good enough then, but viewing the packed house was cooler still.

Fans would display this item before and during the game, and the view from the lower bowl was pretty amazing.

The game on Saturday night was something special.  Honoring Shane Doan, one of the most loyal and hardest working hockey players out there, was definitely a big deal.

Besides honoring Doan, there was a scene that I witnessed Saturday night that brought me back our first visit to the arena.  The packed house where the Coyotes fans outnumbered the visitors.

It was by far, one of the best game the Coyotes have played since the lockout.  Besides the penalty calls (and lack of them for obvious infractions), having the team kill off a 6-0n-3 with 45 seconds remaining was short of spectacular.  Seeing the crowd display their fleece blankets during those waning minutes brought us back to our first game.

So, Coyotes’ head coach Dave Tippett has this team playing extremely well.  Many people are seeing that Tippett’s coaching prowess and comparing this experience to Wayne Gretzky’s tenure here.   I saw a fan almost having his head ripped off for stating his thoughts about Gretzky’s coaching to a very drunk L.A. Kings fan wearing the jersey from circa 1992. Luckily, the drunk fan had a friend (who was also drunk) push him away from certain jail time.

Usually, about this time in the season, when the Coyotes are showing that they are a good hockey team, something from the press comes in to derail the party, hoping to distract this team.  What we’ve seen though, is this team cannot be distracted, or Tippett tries his best to keep the distractions outside the locker room.

One can say that tonight’s game is a huge game for the Coyotes.  What does Tippett say?

“Every game for me is the biggest game of the year; (today) is the next one”

quoted in Arizona Republic

He has done a masterful job keep the team focused on the job at hand.  Besides many of the criticisms leveled at Gretzky (some fair, some not), the problem with having such a high profile coach is that when something goes awry, (Rick Tocchet gambling, Jeremy Roenick leaving the team for a beer, the ownership issues) the media is all over it.  I can only think that some of those distractions found their way into the locker room.

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.

I liked Gretzky while he was here, but it is clear now he didn’t have his coaching chops.  He couldn’t keep the distractions away and that’s the main difference.

So today, they face the number one team in the West the San Jose Sharks.  This will be a good test as they face adversity on the road.  I don’t buy the idea that this team will implode by the all-star/olympic break.  However, they do have to prove that they won’t.

It’s up to the team and Tippett’s staff to not allow that to happen.

Tags: Dave Tippett, Hockey, Jeremy Roenick, John Tortorella, Los Angeles Kings, NHL, Phoenix Coyotes, Rick Tocchet, Shane Doan, Wayne Gretzky by pbcoyotes
No Comments »

Two years, approximately from the day he was placed on leave from the NHL and the Phoenix Coyotes, Rick Tocchet can return to the bench. According to the Arizona Republic, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman felt that a two year absence from hockey was an appropriate punishment.

Head coach Wayne Gretzky was quoted as saying that he’s glad it’s finally over.

When Tocchet left the Coyotes in 2006, the Coyotes were a .500 team and with the other tragedies and difficulties that Gretzky dealt with that year, he must have felt that life was piling on him. I think if Tocchet was around last year, the Coyotes would have been a different team.

He has the ability of getting the best effort out of players. Tocchet worked hard on the ice and there is no doubt about it. No one would ignore what he would have to say.

Now Tocchet will be entrusted of helping to teach younger players how to win in the NHL.

In order to come back, Tocchet cannot gamble, legally or illegally, which leaves another run at the World Series of Poker out and place himself for evaluation for the NHL substance abuse program to determine if he is a compulsive gambler, which I think is a great idea.

The jokes about Tocchet’s gambling issues will never cease and many will take cheap shots at him, which he probably doesn’t care about. Clearly, this was a mistake that he has learned from, and if others cannot be creative enough to find something else to write about will still do.

I think he’s paid the price and we can all move along now that there is nothing more to see here.

Tags: Hockey, NHL, Operation Slapshot, Phoenix Coyotes, Rick Tocchet by pbcoyotes
1 Comment »

Rick Tocchet avoids jail time and only receives probation for two years. The scandal that put unwanted attention on the Phoenix Coyotes, the Gretzkys, and Tocchet himself, can be now put to rest.

It’s over.

For his role in the gambling ring, Tocchet has not been involved with the NHL for more than a year.

In my mind, there was no question that Tocchet was good for the team and for Gretzky. He was unafraid to keep players accountable, much like the bulk of his NHL career.

Rick Tocchet vs. Brad May

It’s a shame, though, that Tocchet allowed himself to be involved with this situation. With the veterans that played with the Coyotes last season, he might have made an influence or might have been able to press the right buttons getting them to produce where Wayne Gretzky, Barry Smith, or Ulf Samuelsson could not.

In addition, he had the opportunity to work with one of the legendary players of the NHL. He could have helped the franchise by teaching and by influencing the current crop of young players that will appear for the Coyotes next season.

Instead, he blew it up by helping a friend in an illegal betting scheme that allegedly had mob ties. Vegas is five hours drive, or a one hour flight from both Los Angeles and Phoenix, why not go there to bet on sports?

Of course, the odds must have been better through the gambling ring that Tocchet and James Harney ran, but there are distinct choices to be made where getting caught is potentially a disaster. Tocchet and Harney did get caught and for Tocchet, it could have been so much worse.

Who knows what is in store for his future with the Coyotes franchise. My personal feeling is that he won’t be back and Eric Duhatschek from The Globe and Mail has a similar view. If the betting scandals now working their way through the NBA didn’t happen, I’m still not so sure he would be able to return.

For the measure of Rick Tocchet as a player and as a coach, he would still be a solid addition behind the Coyotes bench. However, with the distraction that the whole ordeal comes with Tocchet, it may be better for him to stay away even longer.

Tags: Hockey, NHL, Operation Slapshot, Phoenix Coyotes, Rick Tocchet by pbcoyotes
No Comments »