Kukla's Korner Hockey
Category: Phoenix-Coyotes
Glendale Should Not Be Supporting A Sports Team
by Paul on 05/21/12 at 03:02 AM ET
Comments (14)
from Amanda J. Crawford of Bloomberg BusinessWeek,
Glendale officials are negotiating an arena lease that would give a potential buyer of the team $17 million a year to manage the arena, while they work to close a $32 million budget deficit for the coming year. The city fired 49 workers last week and is considering a sales-tax increase that would make its rate one of the highest among major U.S. cities, according to the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit Tax Foundation.
“They said under the worst conditions financially we would make over $100,000 on the arena” each year, said City Councilman Phil Lieberman, who has served for 20 years. “How could we go wrong? It would cost us nothing.”
The losses underscore the risks cities confront when they offer incentives to lure professional sports teams and develop nearby properties in anticipation of an economic surge, said Timothy James, an economics professor at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University in Tempe.
’Big Hole’“They’ve got a big hole in their budget to keep the ice hockey team in town,” James said. “It’s not like a road system or hospital where there are benefits everyone gets. It’s a sports team. It should be able to stand up on its own.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Phoenix Coyotes | KK Hockey | Permalink
Coyotes’ Winning Formula
by Paul on 05/20/12 at 07:36 PM ET
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,
All of L.A.’s loyal supporters - including that new hardcore puck daddy, David Beckham, who his children in tow - were at Staples Centre in anticipation of a coronation. Even that much-sought-after trophy, the Clarence Campbell Bowl, was in the building, along with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, who generally presides over these ceremonies.
But the Coyotes, using a formula that coach Dave Tippett describes on a daily basis as “hanging around the game” hung around this one long enough to put the Kings to sleep. It was their usual classic formula, opportunistic on offence, steady on defence, Smith there to bail them out as needed. It would still take a comeback of epic proportions for Phoenix’s victory to be more than an historical footnote, but the Coyotes now live to play another day - and L.A.’s path to their first Stanley Cup final in 19 years is on hold, for the moment anyway.
“A loss is a loss,” assessed Kings’ forward Justin Williams. “We’ve had a good run, but the next game, Game 5, we’re going to have to come back with a lot of spunk, because they pushed us tonight.”
Doan, for one, appeared unwilling to have the Coyotes’ season end, on the road, in four quick easy steps, which is how it was looking. He elevated his game, as did his centre Antoine Vermette, who had a strong day in the face-off circle and won the most important draw of the night, cleanly and precisely, from Mike Richards to set up Doan’s second, insurance goal.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes | KK Hockey | Permalink
Phoenix Coyotes Force A Game Five, LA Kings Now Lead Series 3-1
by Paul on 05/20/12 at 05:52 PM ET
Comments (2)
Just when you think the Phoenix Coyotes are running on fumes, they play their best game of the series and defeat the LA Kings 2-0.
Game 5 will be in Phoenix on Tuesday night and if the Coyotes can pull out another win, anything can happen.
Shane Doan had both goals today and here is the game winner and enjoy Bob Cole of HNIC with the call…
Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Shane+Doan,
Open Post- Game 4 WCF, Will The Kings Sweep The Coyotes Today?
by Paul on 05/20/12 at 02:30 PM ET
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Game time is just after 3:00pm ET and can be viewed on NBC, CBC and RDS.
Is this it today, will the LA Kings be the Western Conference representative in the Stanley Cup Final?
I can’t see Phoenix winning so the Kings will sweep the series with a 3-2 win today.
Let the on-ice celebration begin, but not too long, remember there is an NBA game to be played in the evening.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes | KK Hockey | Permalink
Kings Need To Stay Focused
by Paul on 05/20/12 at 10:42 AM ET
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from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,
For core Kopitar, Brown, Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick, this is all new. They had never won a playoff round before, let alone had a chance to get to a Stanley Cup finals. Sunday will test their ability to focus.
“You continue to try to harp detail on them,” Sutter said when asked about his team’s ability to not look ahead. “Hopefully they have the preparation skills to do that.”
Sutter later added: “You have to be able to channel all that, because if you don’t, it doesn’t work, right? There has to be discipline and control. I’m not a rocket scientist, they are people.”...
“Everyone talks about getting to the Stanley Cup finals, but I can only speak for myself, playing in that game tomorrow is pretty fun as well,” Brown said. “It’s one of those things where you have to really enjoy the journey. We’re one game away from the Cup finals. These games are tough, though.”
The Kings, to a man, say they’re just trying to enjoy the journey while staying in the moment.
“Experience is experience, right? It’s awesome for the young guys,” Sutter said. “They haven’t had it, most of them hadn’t even won a playoff game. So why not experience the experience? It’s the best part of it. Why shouldn’t they be able to do that. It’s the only way you get it, otherwise you go watch another team play.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes | KK Hockey | Permalink
Coyotes Must Beat Quick
by Paul on 05/19/12 at 04:06 PM ET
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,
It doesn’t matter how well the Coyotes defend at this stage of the game. If Phoenix wants to avoid a sweep in Sunday afternoon’s fourth game at Staples Centre, they’ll simply need to score more goals. All the talk about diving and embellishment is just window dressing. Somebody on the Coyotes’ side needs to get more pucks behind Kings’ goaltender Jonathan Quick, a Vezina Trophy finalist, who is winning the netminding duel so far in the series.
According to Coyotes’ coach Dave Tippett, the first period of Thursday night’s third game – in which Phoenix actually held an edge on the shot clock and played its most inspired hockey of the series – was really the only time they made life hard for Quick.
“Until we continue to test him for an extended period of time,” said Tippett, “he hasn’t had it very tough down there.
“They’ve done a good job of protecting him, but I don’t think we’ve created enough around him.
“That’s the thing I’m most critical of our group about – finding opportunities.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes | KK Hockey | Permalink
What’s With All This Embellishment Talk?
by Paul on 05/18/12 at 09:53 AM ET
Comments (8)
from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,
“Personally, I’ve talked about this in a lot of meetings with [GM Don Maloney], our general manager, that the game is turning a little dishonest and it’s embellishment by players,” Tippett said. “When it’s done well, it’s very hard for the referees, very hard, because if you fall down near the boards or you drop your stick or you throw your head back, you’re putting the referee in a very tough situation.”
No doubt Tippett was referring to the dropped stick on Radim Vrbata’s slashing penalty late in the game which all but killed any chance for Phoenix to tie it. Kings center Anze Kopitar’s stick was knocked loose by Vrbata on the play. Or did Kopitar drop it?
It capped a frustrating night for the Coyotes, who were penalized six times for 12 minutes while the Kings had two minors for four minutes.
“You know, not just our game tonight, you see it all through,” Tippett continued on the subject of embellishment.
“If everybody else is doing it, you better do it, too. We saw more than one penalty out there for us and against us that were called that I thought were plays where there was embellishment. It’s too bad it has to go that way. It’s too bad you get to this point in the season that that becomes a factor, but it’s the reality of our game right now.”
Kings coach Darryl Sutter seemed surprised when told of Tippett’s comments.
“Embellishing? I didn’t see that,” Sutter said. “We didn’t complain last game.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes | KK Hockey | Permalink
The Los Angeles Kings Are One Win Away From The Stanley Cup Final
by Paul on 05/17/12 at 11:42 PM ET
Comments (2)
The Kings defeated the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 tonight and now lead the best of seven series 3-0.
The Coyotes came out in the first period and fired 11 shots at Jonathan Quick but only had 8 the remainder of the game, 4 in each of the last two periods.
The Kings played the same game we have witnessed throughout the playoffs; tight checking, key saves and at times a dominating forecheck.
The game winner was scored by Dwight King, his 4th of this series (the Coyotes have 3 goals total), early in the 3rd period.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Dwight+King,
Coyotes Have More To Give
by Paul on 05/17/12 at 10:41 AM ET
Comments (2)
from Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic,
When the playoff beards are shaved and the sticks, gloves and helmets are tucked away for the summer, this season will be remembered as one of the better in Coyotes history.
The list of “firsts” continued to grow, from captain Shane Doan’s hat trick to a division championship to a Western Conference finals appearance.
With outside expectation dim and internal feasibility challenged, the accomplishments are staggering. But after the Coyotes fell behind 0-2 to the Los Angeles Kings and were completely outmatched in doing so, those accolades seem irrelevant.
“We have a lot more to give in here,” goalie Mike Smith said after Game 2, in which the Coyotes were tagged for a 4-0 loss that featured a slew of penalties stemming from their frustration. “When you get beat and you play well, you can tip your hat to the other team. When you get beat the way we’re getting beat right now, that’s a lot more frustrating, and I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if we think we accomplished enough by getting here.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Phoenix Coyotes | KK Hockey | Permalink
Hanzal Suspended For One Game
by Paul on 05/16/12 at 06:39 PM ET
Comments (0)
Mr. Shanahan explains…
Filed in: NHL Teams, Phoenix Coyotes | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Martin+Hanzal,
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