This weekend I had an opportunity to road trip with my friend from NC and follow the Coyotes on part of their four game road trip, I saw games in Raleigh and Atlanta.  I will tell you about my experiences at both arenas; the facility, the fans, and the game.

RBC Center:

We are definitely spoiled in Arizona, there really isn’t a bad professional arena (now that the Cardinals are out of ASU). The RBC Center, built in 1999, was previously called the Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena. Catchy name I know, however it is a nice arena. The few problems I have with it are overshadowed by the positives. For one the Ticket booths are indoors… why this wasn’t thought of at Jobbing.com Arena is beyond me. The parking lots around the Center are well mainlined and close parking was had for $10 for all cars. Their scoreboard is huge and has great HD picture. Our seats were in the lower section about 5 rows off the ice, the thing I really liked about that is the lower sides have their own bathrooms and concessions. They are sectioned off from the lower ends and general admission; this is nice, especially since you spent $90+ on a ticket to have the shorter lines is a real plus.  Concessions were great as it was $1 hot dog night and the beer was reasonably priced. The problems I have with the arena are that even though it was built in ’99, the exterior and the walkways are very nice and modern; the interior however feels about 20 years older. I don’t know why I feel this way, perhaps it’s the fact that the upper deck is only about 15 rows deep all the way around, or it was the odd covering on the celling. Either way it made it feel dated.  Their mascot, Stormy, is the oddest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s an "anthropomorphic ice hog" according to Wikipedia… I guess because you can’t have wind and rain or a flag as a mascot. Overall it was an awesome game and the fans sitting around us were great. Even though we were howling at the top of our lungs for every goal, we didn’t get that ‘not those jerks again’ attitude from the fans. Hanzal and St empniak, almost made me lose my hat, and Briz’ was brilliant, I almost wish I had sat on the other end to see that performance for two periods.  An excellent experience, I especially liked the John Deere Zambonis.

Philips Arena:

This is an odd one; the arena is right in the middle of downtown, and next to CNN Headquarters. Space is definitely at a premium, which may explain the ‘lopsided’ arena. The lower level is even all the way around, the section it starts getting weird is on the second and third level. The ends have seating but only the east side has seats. The whole west side is a wall of suites from the 200 level to the press box. The 400 level, where I was, is a narrow strip above the 300’s on the East Side. We missed part of the first period (Damn Daylight Savings time) the seats we were sold were literally broken, and on the floor. This wasn’t a problem since most of our section was empty, so we moved to the last row of the 300’s. Walkway wise it reminded me of the signage and architecture of the Pringle chip on McDowell, Veterans Memorial Coliseum, not good. The beer was reasonably priced at $7.50 for an import draught, as was the eats. The fans weren’t nearly as nice as Carolina’s; we all howled at the Yotes first goal, after the dirty looks and stares were over we were told by an 8 year old to "shut the hell up", nice!  The arena was only about ¼ filled and between the 2nd and third period they dropped t-shirts, connected to parachutes, from the rafters. They dropped at least 75 if not 100 in two minutes; it was an impressive display, especially since almost everyone in the lower level got a free shirt. The main scoreboard is relatively new as the old one is prominently displayed in the lobby of the arena. The other LED boards on either end of the ice however appear to be from the late 80’s, 4 colors and missing many LEDs. The one very unique thing was the two thrasher heads suspended above the ice, they shot out 20’ flames for every Thrasher goal, very impressive! Thrash, the mascot looks like the Warner Brothers Roadrunner on LSD. Is it just me or thrashers logo looks like a Bowl of Soup? Aucoins game winner in the SO was fantastic and LaBarbera was great between the pipes. It was a great game, the fans on the other hand were not so. 

Well, I promised awhile ago that I was desperately seeking pictures of Ilya Bryzgalov's Olympic mask.  When I saw his Olympic mask,  I could have sworn it was the same mask he sported all of last year, as it looked pretty basic and similar.  Well, I was wrong.

Bryz's ( Bryz'z ? Bryz' ? Bryzzzzzzz?) new mask is mainly maroon, like last year.  But upon further review:

The first thing I noticed was the grafitti-style 'Bryz' on his chin guard, which I find pretty sporty. The electricity theme also stands out up close, but is a bit difficult to see from the stands. Also, you'll notice that on each side is artwork done by his kids, then painted on.   The giant Coyote logo is on his forehead once again, only covered by tape at the Olympics.  No Russia mask, just a new Phoenix Coyotes mask.

Now his 'old' mask ( or the mask he used through 2/3 of this season) is something I personally liked a little better. It incorporated more black, and was a little more flashy, IMO.

Tons of color highlight this mask, with a coyote howling at the moon on the left side, and a desert landscape with a road sign by his right.  I love the addition of blacks, grays, and different shades of red.

So there you have it, I suppose.  The question is, 'Which one do you like better" ?

With it being St. Patrick's day and all, I got to thinking:  Does anyone know what happened to the Coyotes official anthem singer this season? 

During the last few lean years, Patrick Lauder has been there represent'n at nearly every single game!  This year when the team's finally kickin' butt, he only shows up once or twice a month!

He was there on the 6th, and they still introduced him as the team's official anthem singer.  But then on the 10th he's gone again.  Seriously... nobody else but Patrick should be singing "Oh Canada" at our games.  Where did the Coyotes find that singer they used for the Canucks game???

Anyone know what's going on?  Why isn't Patrick singing, and why are the Coyotes subjecting us to so many nasty-bad renditions of the national anthems?  Maybe Travis or one of the other connected bloggers can get the scoop from Doug Moss for us.

As the Sundogs enter the final six games of the regulation the team is not quite mathematically eliminated from the postseason, but there must be a great aligning of the stars to keep Arizona from missing the playoffs for the second straight year.

The team has continued its up and down play, and their performance on the road has been far better than that at home for the majority of the season. The last twelve games have been divided evenly between home and road and have yielded a record of 7 wins and 5 losses. The powerplay and penalty kill struggled but over the last five games they have appeared to click.

Unfortunately, it really appears as if it's going to be just too late right now for Arizona. The team has really seemed to gel of late, and new goaltender Doug Groenestege has been a real force in net. The season is just going to most likely run out before the Sundogs can climb into that last playoff position, as they trail by 9 points currently.

Sundogs' forward Chad Hinz was severely injured during a game against the Rapid City Rush. He was boarded violently, resulting in a fractured vertebrae in his neck. He is out for the season, but fortunately is also out of the hospital. Good luck Chad, we really miss you on the ice.

The trip is over, which is great for both players and fans. The team went 7-5-0-2 on the road this trip. Pretty good since most of the games were close ones. Most of them decided by one goal margins. This is one of the better road trips we have had in a few years.

Right now we are sitting 10 points behind the fourth place team. It will be interesting to see if we do make it into the playoffs. The guys just need to take it one game at a time and not sit on the lead during games. Which they have a tendency to do during games, when they have the lead.

The next few games:

• Wednesday March 3, Houston vs Rampage(FSN)
• Friday March 5, Rampage @ Houston(FSN)
• Saturday and Sunday March 6 & 7, Rockford vs Rampage
• Tuesday March 9, Peoria vs Rampage

(FSN) means the games will be shown on FOX Sports Network. I think it's nice to finally have some games televised.

I have been very busy the past few weeks, hence no post to write. I was helping family the last two home games before the guys left for their month long road trip. Then went on vacation, just got back yesterday the 9th.

So far on the road trip the guys are doing good, but we need to do a bit better. They are 3-1-0-2 with 8 pts gained on the trip so far. Next three games are this weekend starting Firday. Friday and Saturday's games are against Peoria while Sunday's game is against Chicago.

The Sundogs have continued their inconsistent play and remain at the bottom of their division. Two more home losses to the Odessa Jackalopes were followed by a road loss to the same team. After that, Arizona won two straight; one against Odessa on the road and then one against Amarillo on the road. Arizona came home for three straight against the Rapid City Rush and lost all three, the first in OT and then the next two in regulation. The Sundogs have now lost 17 games this season by one goal.

Defenseman Jon Landry has left the Sundogs to play for the Cologne Sharks in the German Elite League.

Captain Chris Bartolone saw his consecutive regular season game streak snapped at 232 when he was placed on the 14 day IR retroactive to January 23. Barts was slew-footed in the game against Odessa, a penalty that went uncalled, and hit his head pretty hard on the ice.

Brian Burke being Brian Burke, gets the ball rolling.

Phaneuf (with extras) to Toronto

Stajan and Hagman to Calgary  ( with D Ian White)

Possible Ducks/ Toronto goalie trade with Giguere for Toskala.

There should be more to come, but unitl there are some verified updates, it looks like the only solid players in the Trade are Stajan/Hagman for Phaneuf.  Check the comment for more, once things have been confirmed as cemented in stone.

Hey Dion, isn't Elisha Cuthbert from Toronto?  I hope the restaraunts out there don't serve leftovers.  ( Get it? Anyone? Anyone? ) Eheeehhhhhhhhh!

Is it just me or does it always seem like Todd Walsh is talking at a funeral?  I mean, the Yotes just won in a shoot out vs. Calgary and as he begins to interview Korpikoski, he sound somber and depressed.  THE COYOTES WON!!!  It never bothered me during D'backs games because I never noticed his boring, monotone voice.  I'm not asking for Todd to be replaced; just be more enthusiastic.  He speaks so quietly, you can barely hear him at times.  I needed closed captioning at the Shane Doan ceremony back on 12/26.  Hey Todd, if you are reading this, please pep things up a bit...actually, a lot.  Thanks!

First I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates. I've started the last push for the specialization on my Master's degree while also having to deal with my sister and niece moving in. As a result my time has been spotty and I've fallen short. I'll try and keep up better in the future.

Now, back to the Sundogs.

Arizona has been on a roller coaster ride for the last twelve games. Four straight losses then turned to four straight wins and then four more losses in a row. The last loss was at home to the league-leading Odessa Jackalopes on 1/20/10. The Sundogs fell 4-2 but showed some great effort. The Sundogs are still in last place in the southern conference, but only 9 points out fifth place, the final playoff position.

The Sundogs' roster has been active for health reasons and coaching moves. Currently Torren Delforte, Cedric Bernier, JF Perras, Matt Hanson and Matt Foy are all on the IR. Arizona traded F Jason Reese to the Whicita Thunder in exchange for F Marc Belanger. Arizona has also added forward Chad Hinz, defenseman Andrew Winnik, and goalie Doug Groenestege to the roster.

Goalie Kyle McNulty was given Oakley/CHL Goaltender of the Week honors for the week ending January 10, 2010.

Defenseman Jon Landry represented Arizona in the CHL All-Star game and scored one goal and got an assits on another.