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HEAD COACH
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Jim Schoenfeld
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ROSTER
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C - Jeremy Roenick, Bob Corkum, Mike Stapleton, Juha Ylonen,
Daniel Briere, Trevor Letowski. LW - Keith Tkachuk, Greg Adams, Jim
Cummins, Mike Sullivan, Louie DeBrusk. RW - Rick Tocchet, Dallas
Drake, Brad Isbister, Shane Doan, Steve Leach. D - Keith Carney,
Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, Teppo Numminen, Oleg Tverdovsky, Deron
Quint. G - Nikolai Khabibulin, Jimmy Waite.
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INJURIES
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12/28 - Jeremy Roenick, c (concussion, one week); 12/28 -
Keith Tkachuk, lw (broken rib, indefinite); 1/08 - Dallas Drake, rw
(ankle, day-to-day).
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TRANSACTIONS
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12/29 - NHL suspends Dallas Drake, rw, for four games
for boarding Doug Bodger, d, of the LA Kings; 12/29 - recalled
Louie DeBrusk, lw, from Las Vegas (IHL) and Steve Leach, rw, from
Springfield (AHL); 12/31 - recalled Trevor Letowski, c, from
Springfield.
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GAME RESULTS
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12/22 at Detroit W 6-2
12/23 at Chicago L 4-3
12/26 at Los Angeles W 2-1
12/28 Los Angeles L 4-2
12/30 NY Rangers W 3-1
01/01 Dallas L 2-1
01/05 Florida T 2-2
01/07 Edmonton L 7-1
01/08 at Anaheim L 4-1
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STANDINGS
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Pacific Division GP W L T PTS GF GA
Dallas 39 25 7 7 57 115 76
Phoenix 37 22 10 5 49 100 76
Anaheim 40 16 16 8 40 100 93
San Jose 40 13 17 10 36 91 95
Los Angeles 41 15 22 4 34 96 108
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TEAM NEWS
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by Bob Chebat, Phoenix Correspondents
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All has not been well for the Phoenix Coyotes since the beginning of
the new year. Since losing their top line against the LA Kings on the
Dec. 28, the Coyotes have been able to muster up only one win, have
been blown out twice on back-to-back nights, and have gone seven
straight games without a power-play goal.
Left winger Keith Tkachuk was only back in the lineup for one period
when he suffered a broken rib against the Kings. Later that evening,
Doug Bodger took center Jeremy Roenick out of the lineup in what many
claim to be a clean hit, but my biased view saw an elbow go to the
head help the situation. Roenick went on to miss the next two games.
A few moments later, Dallas Drake charged Bodger from behind and was
suspended four games as a result. Just like that, the Coyotes lost
their number one line.
Tkachuk was leading the Coyotes in goals upon exiting with 17, and
Phoenix is missing his presence in front of the opposing net. The
Coyotes are a collective 2-6-1 without their captain in the lineup.
Jeremy Roenick is the leading scorer overall, and made his presence
felt to the Florida Panthers in his first game back with a goal and
a fight with Ed Jovonovski, but missing the captain is something
the Coyotes have not been able to adjust to on a nightly basis.
In other news, Roenick, one of the assistant captains on the team,
has not liked the effort he is seeing from teammate Oleg Tverdovsky
at practice. The Arizona Republic reported that the two came to
blows a few times at one of the practices after the tie with
Florida. Tverdovsky joined the franchise when they were still in
Winnipeg as part of the Teemu Selanne trade. He has been less than
spectacular as a member of the Coyotes, and thanks to some
derogatory comments he made before the playoffs a few years back,
is booed every time he touches the puck in Anaheim.
When the Coyotes were in the midst of their 14-game undefeated
streak, they did it by limiting their opponents scoring chances and
by holding them to two goals or less for a stretch of 17 games. One
problem the team had throughout that same stretch was scoring
goals. Only three times this season have the Coyotes scored more
than four goals, two of those games were against the Colorado
Avalanche and once against the Red Wings. Aside from that, their
games have all been close, and they have had difficulty putting
their opponents away. If this team wants to make a legitimate run
in the playoffs, veterans like Rick Tocchet and Greg Adams -- along
with youngsters Daniel Briere, Shane Doan and Brad Isbister -- are
going to have to start helping out Jeremy Roenick and Keith Tkachuk
put the puck in the net. Otherwise, it will be another first round
exit. Briere has been a disappointment in the goal production
category so far.
On the bright side, Juha Ylonen, another youngster now in his second
year with Phoenix, has developed into one of the best utility players
on the team. He does a great job of killing penalties, digs in the
corners and creates scoring chances for his teammates. Ylonen has
four goals this season, quadrupling his total from the 1997-98
campaign.
Hope you all had a great holiday, and for game-by-game updates,
please visit my Unofficial Coyotes Web Site at
http://bizbud.com/coyotes.
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