Phoenix Coyotes « Psycho Lady Hockey

Phoenix Coyotes Category

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

Reading Between the Lines: thoughts on the showdown at the Arizona bankruptcy court.

The NHL is maintaining that Coyotes’ majority owner Jerry Moyes was not in control of the team at the time that he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (the move which led to Jim Balsillie’s bid for purchase and relocation of the team), and thus that the filing is not valid (which makes you wonder why Moyes would proceed in the first place). I’m not a lawyer or anything, but that seems pretty black and white. If this document exists then the filing wasn’t legit, and the NHL will win on May 19th. You would think that the league would be happy or at least confident in knowing that they possessed such a valuable document; but that’s not the case. Instead, Bill Daly and Gary Bettman have mounted a full on campaign to villanize Jim Balsillie which seems to be geared towards turning the other 29 NHL owners against him. Why bother you ask? After all, if the filing wasn’t legit then the process will not even get to the owners vote on relocation.

On the other side we have Jim Balsillie who has continued progress toward prepping Hamilton for the arrival of the desert dogs. While the league has been scrambling like the Republican party of the Obama/McCain faceoff last fall, Balsillie has been working out agreements with the city of Hamilton for the permanent use of Copps Coliseum. Both parties seem to be working towards the same event, an event that occurs well after these bankruptcy proceedings – and that is the vote on relocation. Sounds like the league doesn’t have an ace up their sleeve after all. Don’t be surprised if, much like in the Obama/McCain election, Phoenix will lose.

As for the owners, perhaps the league is trying to cast a negative spotlight on Jim Balsillie as a way to confuse them from questioning their actions regarding Jerry Moyes. Bill Daly has been putting words into the mouths of the other 29 owners, stating that he doesn’t believe that they will take too kindly to the way Mr. Balsillie has gone about acquiring his hockey club. The truth of the matter is Balsillie made a bid, and with that bid he has stated that he is willing to pay a lot of money for the Coyotes franchise but only on the condition that the team be moved to a viable market. If this doesn’t fly with the league, then they don’t get his money plain and simple. This isn’t a charity venture it’s a business venture. There is no gun being held to the proverbial head of the National Hockey League.

It’s my feeling that the owners should be more concerned with the behaviour of the league in how they have dealt with both Balsillie and Moyes. The league apparently has the right to strip owners of their authority when they do something that the league doesn’t like. As an owner investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a team I would not feel secure in that role any longer. I would also not feel secure in a league that cries about enforcing the “rules” when they change the rules as it suits them. I would not want to do business with an organization that feels they can “insert clauses” as they see fit and blow smoke up the behinds of fans and owners alike.

I’m not sure why anyone would listen to Bettman’s radio show. You can’t trust anything coming out of the mouth of the league. After all, only a matter of weeks ago Bettman was in Phoenix claiming that everything was fine and that Jerry Moyes was controlling team! They seem to be lying to us worse than a politician desperate for votes. Trust no one. http://makeitseven.ca

Posted in jerry moyes, jim balsillie, National Hockey League, nhl owners, NHL relocation, Phoenix Coyotes | No Comments »

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

Memories of Copps Coliseum & how I celebrated my graduation.

I was asked what I had planned to do to celebrate finishing my last exam ever at U of T on Wednesday. Truthfully, I hadn’t thought of anything. There was more important business afoot! Surprise, surprise; the major bombshell that Jim Balsillie had made a formal bid for the purchase and relocation of my newly beloved Phoenix Coyotes to, essentially, my backyard hit on the night before my final exam. How much studying do you think I did that night? None. That’s right. Actually none. If the NHL playoffs weren’t enough of a distraction, then the excitement of this news definitely put me over the edge. I stayed up the entire night just sitting and thinking about the future of the Coyotes. This was what I wanted. I had formed online communities a week earlier trying to rally hockey fans to start considering another Canadian team. Was I going to be getting my wish? Was this all a part of the mystical Arizona prophecy that led me to turn my life completely upside down at the trade deadline?

When I walked away from Jobing.com Arena after the Coyotes final game of the 2008-09 season, I was troubled to be facing the six long months of the off season without any clue as to what to do next in my quest to find my supposed destiny with “the Arizona connection.” I thought about what would happen if I just walked away. If I gave up on following some prediction blindly and had a reality check. School is over. Now the real world begins. Real jobs, real responsibilities, real clips on my wings. My traveling road show would surely suffer. Things would have to be different and I knew I would have to spend the off season figuring out what to do next. If hockey was a part of this “higher plan,” I thought, then if I walked away mountains would move. The team would be relocated to Hamilton. (Yes, I actually said that to some of my friends after the game in Anaheim in March). Was this the off season epiphany that I was hoping for? Were the mountains moving?

I will admit I had an internal struggle coming to terms with being a Phoenix fan for the last two months of the season. Mostly because I knew why I was there. I knew that I had decided to take a huge personal and financial risk and blindly follow two years worth of psychic predictions to various ports in the continental U.S . I felt crazy even by my standards, and I didn’t like the feeling. However, when I started hearing things about the real financial situation in Phoenix, I realized that this really was my team, and I wanted them here at all costs!

So, when I finished writing my final exam Wednesday night, and “Don’t Stop Believing” finally stop playing in my head, I thought about doing something to celebrate my domination of U of T in true Psycho Lady fashion. I decided I would drive over to Copps Coliseum and do some positive “visualization.” I’m not going to lie, I drove out to the 427/7 a couple times last week (the site of the purposed Vaughan arena should an NHL team move there). I’ve already proven that I believe in one form of crazy, so why not just go all out and go “The Secret” on the ass of the Coyotes. It’s the most I can do anyway. Stay positive that is. I won’t even talk to anyone who wants to argue the negative side of this situation!

As I drove to Hamilton I was reminded of all the times I had ventured to Copps Coliseum. This first time was during the lockout of 2004-05. I was 19 years old and a wreck at the loss of my beloved NHL. I had two options: huddle in a corner until the NHL was restored or explore a brand new league. I felt a little old for the OHL, so the AHL was the next best thing. At that time the Toronto Marlies still called St. John’s home, so the nearest team was the Hamilton Bulldogs. At the time I was still a die-hard Leafs fan, so the fact that the Bulldogs were affiliated with Montreal didn’t sit well with me as a loyal servant of the blue and white.

The first game was against the Cleveland Barons, the former AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks. The Bulldogs were wearing their Hamilton Ti-cats jersey. I remember thinking that this was their actual jersey and how ugly and bizarre it was. The following year I would go to Cleveland for four games. The drive home was impossible. We drove around downtown Hamilton for probably close to an hour. The one way streets confused me and I couldn’t find my way back to the 403. It was funny that this time around I still had the same Tim Horton’s navigational marker.

During the lockout, the St. John’s Maple Leafs played special games at the ACC. I would go to those games too, but I also went to see them make an appearance at Copps. The arena was packed and if you squinted your eyes, it looked just like the heated Toronto/Montreal rivalry of old! These preliminary games ultimately led me to the beginning of my road trips. Eventually, I turned to the Milwaukee Admirals, the, then, defending Calder Cup champions. Over the next three seasons I would return to the Chiclet coloured seats of Copps Coliseum for every Admirals road game. But by the second half of 2006-07, I moved up to the big leagues and that’s where I’ve stayed.

My final trip to Copps was in the off season after the 2006-07 season. The Flyers didn’t make playoffs, so now I was in baseball mode. My friend and I went to the Jays game wearing matching Red Wings jerseys. The fans and Ace (the Blue Jays’ mascot) were not impressed with us. We decided to flee to Hamilton because Grand Rapids (Detroit’s farm team) was in town for a playoff game. However, by the time we arrived at Copps, we were greeted by an amusing McDonald’s employee who regaled us with the tale of his latest antiquing adventure. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the game.

I’m sure the correlation between my Phoenix “magic” and the news that the team could possibly be moving to Hamilton hasn’t been lost on my readers, but aside from this coincidence, the 2008-09 season has been one of coming full circle. This season witnessed a shift in my fan allegiance as well as my return to brunette-dom, Detroit (the site of my first solo NHL trip in 06-07), and Team Canada (the WJC being the subplot to the events of my senior year in high school, which ultimately led to me writing my book and becoming an even bigger hockey nut. It’s worth noting that this season was also a graduation year for me as well). So, will the movement of the Coyotes to Hamilton be a return to the rink that started it all? Is this to be the end of my traveling road show? Truthfully it would be nice to settle down as a season ticket holder, root for my home team, and become a (somewhat more) normal girl. Besides, I’d love nothing more than a 40+ game season! Anyway, a girl can dream, can’t she? Here’s to the future! http://makeitseven.ca

Picture 1: My last game at Copps Coliseum in Decemeber 2006. Milwaukee Admirals @ Hamilton Bulldogs. Still a blonde! (I’m the one in the black!)

Picture 2: My friend, Ace, and I at Skydome (Rogers Centre) before my last trip to Copps Coliseum in April 2007! Ace isn’t a Red Wings fan.

Posted in 7th Canadian NHL team, copps coliseum, hamilton, NHL relocation, Phoenix Coyotes | No Comments »

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Message in Canadian film lost on Commissioner Bettman.

Sources tell me that Gary Bettman reportedly claims that his favourite movie is Canadian action-comedy Bon Cop, Bad Cop. Is this actually his favourite movie? Unlikely. Bettman is the type of guy that passive aggressively asserts his authority when confronted with any noun (both proper and non) that questions decisions or mistakes he has made in the past. Ask this guy a question about any entrepreneurial misadventure that he has supported and he literally huffs and puffs on his precious radio show in a weak attempt to save face. Come on, could this man really love a movie that so well articulated the Canadian experience of all that is Bettman? The man who has taken away not one, but two of our beloved franchises, and refuses to give them back even when the economy is screaming, “Make it seven in Canada or die?!” The man who has stopped our beloved game from being played on three separate occasions, and for an entire season in his most recent tyrannical campaign!?

For those of you unaware of this cinematic masterpiece, Bon Cop, Bad Cop is about a crazed Montreal hockey fan that resorts to killing a series of members of the “mock” NHL community after commissioner Harry Buttman endeavours to relocate the Montreal franchise to the United States. Maybe the motive behind the creation of this fictional scenario was lost on this man of certified intelligence. Maybe he wasn’t aware that the key messages were A) Canadians love hockey enough to kill for it, and B) the whole world believes that Bettman hates Canada and will stop at nothing until Canada loses its game for good.

Once again, business mogul and patron saint and savior of Canadian hockey, Jim Balsillie has reached deep into his pockets to rescue a formerly Canadian hockey club from complete destruction. Balsillie offered to buy the Phoenix Coyotes for $212.5M (book value $143M). However, the man is not a fool. Hockey has failed in the desert, no, it has gone beyond failed. Who in their right mind would throw hundreds of millions of dollars at a team that is:

1) Losing $20M a year.

2) Losing fans because the team hasn’t made the playoffs in seven years.

3) Losing fans despite building new fabulous arena because location was an inconvenient 20 minutes from town. (I know my fellow Canadians are laughing at this statement!)

4) Attracting minimal fans based on star power of head coach alone. A coach that has failed to bring the team to playoffs during entire stint as supreme bench boss. A coach that would have been removed if he wasn’t Wayne Gretzky. A coach that will eventually step down, and then what? The Coyotes run out of shiny assets,

just to keep it on barren soil? No, doesn’t make sense does it?

Of course, Bettman viewed Basillie’s attempt to rescue a struggling club from bankruptcy and move it to a market which will surely prosper (in other words his attempt to rescue the league) as a personal attack on his manhood. Bettman is like the hard headed male who would rather drive around for hours than stop at the nearest gas station and ask for directions. It’s like he would rather the league lose more money (let’s not forget he allowed the league to lose $1.8B over 10 years) than admit he made a mistake with one of the franchises born under his vision! This is why he chooses, even now during the current recession, to pursue the idea of expanding the league to even more inhospitable markets than admitting to a mistake (even if it means that terminal clubs burn holes in the league until the league is beyond repair)!

Would Bettman have come to a decision to relocate to southern Ontario on his own? Maybe eventually, but ONLY if he came to the decision ENTIRELY on his own. The fact that Bettman feels that his authority is being undermined, and that he didn’t come up with the idea for the move on his own is the very root of the problem. Much like the smoke he has blown on the southern Ontario market (stating the market was only a ‘probable’ success) and the Coyotes’ strong financial stability in Phoenix only mere weeks ago, Bettman huffed on the Balsillie situation, “This is not about whether or not we want a franchise in southern Ontario and whether or not Mr. Balsillie would make a suitable owner that the (NHL) owners would approve.” Really? Because I thought that was exactly what it was about? Let the league suffer just to keep all the Bettman pawns in play. Bettman likes to pick and choose when the issue is business and when it isn’t. If this is about business, then why isn’t there another team in southern Ontario already? If he’s concerned with the financial security and prosperity of the league, then why isn’t he exploiting markets which will bring home the bacon? The issue is simply, “I don’t want a team in southern Ontario and I don’t want Jim Balsillie as an owner because he will prove just how wrong I was about hockey in the desert!.” It’s not about business, it’s about pride.

The few, the proud, the Arizona based Coyotes fans, don’t be fooled. Bettman is not resisting Balsillie in your best interests. If he wins this battle, the team is not safe. Eventually he will realize that nothing can be done with your club and the team will be moved. Except the team will not be moved where the team will be loved; it will be moved to somewhere like Vegas or Kansas City where they will, once again, be neglected and will eventually have to fold. (The only good thing about this is that Bettman would likely lose his job if he caused all this drama for no greater good in the long run.) If you love your team, then set it free. Let your hometown heroes flourish within the league, instead of condemning them to unemployment. Remember, they were our team first. We will take good care of them.

In the world of Canadian cinema, the evil Commissioner learns his lesson after being kidnapped by our beloved Montreal based hockey fan and serial killer. He retracts his decision to relocate Montreal and implements a clause to keep all Canadian teams in Canada stating that he has realized that we Canadians really, really, love our hockey. It’s a shame Bettman didn’t heed this lesson because this ongoing protest against a seventh Canadian club is becoming, not only a petty battle with a billionaire tycoon, but a full blown war with a nation.

Support Jim Balsillie’s move to rescue the Canadian born Phoenix Coyotes and relocate them to southern Ontario! MakeItSeven.ca

Posted in 7th Canadian NHL team, Bon Cop Bad Cop, NHL relocation, Phoenix Coyotes | No Comments »

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Phoenix Coyotes for Toronto’s second NHL team!

With the second round of NHL playoffs beginning tonight and only a matter of weeks before hockey takes a vacation for the summer, many people have asked what I plan to do in the off season. Truthfully, I was planning to run features on past road trips, etc from the time before Psycho Lady Hockey came to be until free agency began, but this morning an article in the Toronto Star provided me with a new raison d’être.

The Star ran an article on the Coyotes’ dire future in the desert. Apparently, there are many parties interested in moving them or another struggling sun belt team to Southern Ontario. Of course, this makes the most sense financially. A team in the GTA would make $100M a year easily (though, officials have said it is more realistically between $400M and $600M a year)! As it is the residents of the Golden Horseshoe are supporting not only the Leafs, but also the Sabres, and I even know some that have invested in seasons in Ottawa and Detroit! Clearly we are desperate for more local hockey! A team where we can actually invest in season seats without being placed on a waiting list for five years! Vaughan seems like the perfect place!

However, I’m not an idiot! I know Bettman is completely against moving another team to Canada even if it means the league collapses on itself. He’d rather move, nay EXPAND, the league to Kansas City and Las Vegas. Apparently, Bettman doesn’t mind that the Kansas City Scouts only managed to survive in the N for two years, and Vegas?!?! Come on, who has time between booze, black jack, and bad Elvis impersonators for hockey??! It’s like Bettman wants to self-destruct! Why take the easy guaranteed money that a stable second Toronto based team will generate, when you can test the waters in shaky and previously failed territory! The Atlanta Flames only did well when they moved to Calgary! And what happened when Atlanta was granted another club? Well, I think you all know the mess that is going on down in Georgia with the Thrashers.

So, I have become committed to the movement of the Phoenix Coyotes to the Greater Toronto Area. If you are a disgruntled Toronto, Canadian, true blue hockey fan, or simply a fan of the soap opera that has been Psycho Lady Hockey since the trade deadline, then support this cause! Maybe we won’t get anywhere, but as the great Gretzky once said, “You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take!”

Stay tuned for further discussion on this topic. I have one more exam to go so be patient with me! In the mean time you can join the fan page on facebook! If you have something to say on the topic, then feel free to comment on this post, or email me at psycholadyhockey@hotmail.com!

Picture: Gretz and I contemplate a new game plan!

Posted in Greater Toronto Area, NHL relocation, Phoenix Coyotes | No Comments »

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

The moment you’ve all been waiting for: Phoenix ’09

Don’t get excited nothing really happened.

The night before I left for Phoenix I decided to finally look at my itinerary before booking my hotel. What had I done!?! I was pretty sure that the flight I had booked was direct and getting me to Phoenix at 1PM, but now it was saying that I had a connecting flight in Charlotte and I wasn’t getting to Sky Harbor until 5PM! That sucked! To make matters worse my return flight Sunday morning was scheduled for 6AM! So, I’d have to be back at the airport at 4AM, which means I’d have to leave the hotel at 3AM to return my car and all that. Why was I booking a hotel for the Saturday night at all? I decided to just stay up all night after the game instead of getting a room for the second night. Fun. This trip was really all business.

Crossing the border was fairly painless. The major theme this time (crossing both ways) was that the border guards didn’t believe that the passport was mine. The blonde hair threw them off, so the Americans quizzed me on details in my passport, while the Canadians made me show another form of ID. It’s interesting that this has never been an issue before and now it seemed to be a major concern.

When I got to Phoenix a storm was brewing, which is strange because it doesn’t normally rain in the desert! The electricity in the air added to the intensity and mystical aspects of the mission. The sad thing was I had rented a convertible and didn’t get to drive with the top down! I was only in Phoenix for a short while, so I needed to make the most of it and find him, it, whatever it was that every psychic I have ever been to has been bent on me finding.

I walked and drove around Scottsdale the first night. I didn’t find anyone or anything specific, though I did notice that the Arizona men seemed to be going crazy for me. They obviously don’t see snow white brunettes very often; I guess I was appealing to them in some freakish/fetish sort of way. I suppose if I had more time it would actually be pretty easy to find a guy there. Maybe the psychics were on to something – I need to go where I am appreciated.

I found my reason to return to Phoenix next season at Jobing.com Arena a.k.a. my new favourite arena! This arena surpasses the Air Canada Centre. It had all the awesome features of the ACC, but with more glitz and an entertainment complex outside! My ticket came with all you can eat free food and access to a lounge, much like Prudential Center. But unlike the Prudential Center, this ticket was $100 cheaper and included drink tickets…yes, that means alcohol! What drives me nuts about VIP sections is that the bathrooms are nicer, and while this is a good thing for the most part, the downside is that “nicer” also means “darker” and this makes it challenging to do spot checks. (The rinks are too well lit to have bad lighting in the bathrooms!)

Phoenix actually won the game in an exciting shootout (that brings me to 2-4-1 on the season), and even Vince Vaughn was there to cheer on the Ducks! I’ve started to notice that Vince Vaughn is a fellow NHL whore, he’s popping up all over the place just like I do. I saw he was also at one of the Chicago playoff games the other night! Anyway, the Coyotes’ supposed “fan appreciation night” was not very appreciative. You had to scratch to win any momentum of appreciation. They didn’t even give away anything at the door. Not a puck, not a towel, that’s disgraceful. You get those perks at a regular run of the mill AHL game weekly! The Coyotes organization only gave away the players’ sticks. This is a big deal, but this limits appreciation to only the lucky few that drew the opportunity to meet a player and get his stick at center ice. Not good.

That night I drove all around Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Glendale trying to keep myself entertained. It was a full moon which illuminated both the mountains and the mystery of whatever was about to break the surface in my life. This trip was major in ways that are too early to divulge. I still wasn’t sure what I was meant to find, but it was becoming a lot clearer (I think). All I knew, and all I know, is that I am on the right track and that I have to keep to the course. Unfortunately, Phoenix doesn’t have another game for six months, and it seems Arizona is the key piece of the puzzle. Hopefully, something reveals itself in the off season. I would hate to have to wait another six months to find out how this story will end…or begin.

Picture: The Coyotes celebrate a SO goal! I’m hiding in the background!

Posted in hockey, hockey fans, magic, Phoenix Coyotes, Phoenix., psychics | 2 Comments »

Amy: Well said, nicely done. I agree wholeheartedly wi...
Not the doctor: @Doctorknowitall wayne gretzky is from brantford, ...
Dawnie11Marie: I just loved the article as a whole. Perhaps I di...
TheYotesDiva: Girl - I don't think I have ever agreed with you m...
Psycho Lady: And you seem to assume I'm talking about the previ...