[LINK] "Phoenix Coyotes worth getting to know"

[rfmcdonald]

Over at Facebook, Dave Bidini linked to an Arizona newspaper article about the state's Arizona Phoenix NHL hockey team, incidentally also the past and perhaps future Winnipeg Jets.

Sometimes we wait too long to meet our neighbors. Then a sign goes up in the yard and a moving truck arrives at the curb.

Don't let that happen with the Coyotes.

Here they are practicing on a quiet Monday morning in Glendale. The rink is freezing. The coach, Dave Tippett, is conducting a tightly focused practice. The team is coming off a huge victory over the Detroit Red Wings, and yet you can feel tension in the building.

For the most part, the Coyotes have done a remarkable job keeping their focus, ignoring all off-ice issues. Yet during a recent losing streak, team leaders noticed that the relentless threat of relocation was finally taking a toll.

"For the first time, I felt it was really affecting us," Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney said.

So with 15 games left in the season, Tippett is doing what he does best: spotting problems, fixing leaks, doing whatever necessary to lift a team that has spent less than $47 million in cash on players, some $12 million less than the NHL's $59.4 million payroll ceiling.

Inside the room, Tippett's stoic mannerisms often are mimicked by defenseman Adrian Aucoin, who has a reputation as one of the team's more-entertaining players. Aucoin specializes in impersonations and says the team's starting goalie is the easiest man to mimic.

"I just act with a silly Russian accent, and it's done," he said.

A few seats over, Ilya Bryzgalov is removing his bulky pads. Team captain Shane Doan has seen a lot of crazy goalies in his time but says Bryzgalov is the looniest of the bunch. In hockey, that's a good thing.

"First off, I want to say I have no comment on the Goldwater Institute or that whole thing," Bryzgalov said.

That bad?

"I throw up every day (thinking about it)," he said.

Bryzgalov begins talking about how rough it would be to leave Arizona, especially for veteran players with families in tow and children in school. Then he pretends to weep, burying his head in his hands.

Yep, he's crazy. And the best hope the Coyotes have at winning a playoff series.

Over here sits Paul Bissonnette, the social-network specialist and one of the team's more-compelling figures. It's a shame his on-ice efforts don't match his online production.

"I'd be upset to leave here, but I wouldn't be too upset either way," Bissonnette said.

Suddenly, teammates in the vicinity begin eavesdropping.

"It would be exciting to be the team that went back to Canada," he said. "C'mon, we'd be treated like gods. I mean, the big difference is the weather. The weather is awful, but you know that, and it's like everything would be opposite in Canada. The fans would be the opposite. The media would be different. There's no pressure from the media here, and it only comes from inside the room."