Oilers (5) at Coyotes (2)

Arizona Trip Day 3
Saturday, March 15, 2008

The Coyotes were honoring St. Patty's day at the rink so in honor of that...Wow...green!

The Coyotes play at Jobing.com Arena. Yes, Jobing.com. I've never heard of it, have you? Let's give it a hand. A hand for Job. It's submerged inside of an outside shopping mall and you could barely tell it's there from a few blocks away. Also it doesn't hurt that the University of Phoenix Stadium (another appropriate name) is right next door and it towers over everything. The thing is massive. I could see the place all the way across the valley.

So they are handing out free green Coyotes hats sponsored by Bud Light as we walk into the place. Pretty cool. Maybe if someone scores a hat trick I'll throw that on the ice. The stadium is state of the art and pretty nice. It's a "hockey only" arena and is built for it.The place holds around 17,000 - 18,000 and it was a sell out. The Coyotes were five points behind eight place in the playoff race. Unfortunately it was sold out due to many, many Oilers fans. I guess Canadians travel well. I'm wearing my dad's old time classic Colorado Rockies Hockey jersey at the stadium and I'm mentally keeping track of the comments I get for wearing it. Around 13 people knew what the hell I was wearing, the others looked on as they were hypnotized by the bright blue, yellow and red colors it radiated.

The Coyotes came out to practice in a green alternative jersey with a large white shamrock on the back with the number inside of it. Pretty cool. It would be better if they wore them in the game. Looking around the stadium felt like Christmas. With all the free green hats and the predominately red that the Coyotes normally support, it gave a holiday atmosphere. Also the air conditioning set to 5 degrees to keep the ice from melting gave it the holiday feel.

We had great seats to the game. It was on the Coyote defend twice end (2 periods of Coyote's goalie) right in between the top of the face off circle and blue line. We were in the first level, row X (seats go alphabetical upwards).

Buster

So in my endless journey of picking on mascots that my step mom likes, we come to Buster. The Coyotes have a mascot named Howler, who is a walking stuffed cartoon coyote. The Diamondbacks have the same dude, but named D.Baxter. So last fall when I visited, I conveniently combined the two and named him Buster. Kind of a tribute to Arrested Development.

One of them smiles more...but it's deceiving! Two coyote mascots for two professional teams? It's the same dude...Buster. You can't fool me!

So Buster skates out on the ice during the introductions waving the Coyote Flag wearing his green jersey. I whisper underneath my breath, "It's Buster!" And some one hears it and gives me a look.

On to the game...Coyotes come out flat. I mean flat. Ales Hemsky's (Oiler) line dominates on the ice and he scores a 1st period goal. The Coyotes passing is poor, shots don't hit the net, and when they should shoot, they pass. The 'Yotes just got out-hustled.

1st Intermission: Sumo Ice Hockey
Remember those Sumo suits people used to wear. Those were awesome. Well someone dug them out of the closet and decided to have a Sumo Ice Hockey game between intermissions. My first thought is...They need to bring this back. This is the best cheap entertainment ever. The Avs used to do this and then they went to the boring mini-mite pee wee hockey games. Yeah, little kids on ice playing hockey while the P.A. system pumps out that dumb Charlie Brown music. Crap I say! Bring back the Sumos! Unfortunately the Sumo game was just as exciting as the hockey game. No one knew what they were doing. Nobody was going around checking dudes and laying them out. Buster had to step in and take some people down. Ended up sucking. What a shame.

2nd period, Shane Doan lit up the lamp for the 'Yotes to give the home crowd some life. Only to be smacked back down as the Oilers score two more goals to put the game away.

2nd Intermission:
The 'Yotes dance team steps out on the ice and performs a simple dance routine. They didn't lay down the carpet, they simply went out in shoes and performed. Impressive. I don't see the Eagles Chicks doing that in the future. Step mom wonder how they were able to not fall down. I told here it was a special shoe...ready for this...Slippers! Hah hah.

3rd Period: Oilers tack on another goal and lead 4-1. With 8 minutes left in the game, we said, "screw this" and left. 'Yotes ended up getting a late goal only to have the Oilers drop in an empty netter for the victory.

Final Score:
Oilers 5
Coyotes 2

Random thoughts on the game:
- The 'Yotes use chicks in red skirts on ice skates to shovel away the excessive ice-snow build up around the boards. Pretty hot. All clubs need to adopt that.
- The 'Yotes dance team are available before the game to sign autographs. And during the game, each one stands at the top of the aisle and shakes their pom poms. When there is a break in the action, the run down to the glass and shake some more. Another thing all teams need to adopt.
- The 'Yotes need a fan base. This was the second game where the opposing team traveled well and "neutralized" home ice advantage.
- They're a good young team, but they need to bring a veteran leader aboard some how.

Overall Coyotes record falls to 0-2