Cinderella Search

The team everyone ignored is poised to move on to round two tonight, provided they can again defeat the hated Red Wings.

Feel sorry for the Kings not getting within spitting distance of the Cup since 2002?  Try 1987.  That’s a looooooong time ago, my friends.  I had just turned 21, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest were actually being played on American radio and I was either sporting a mullet or poodle head (no, you don’t get to see photos).

Not very long ago, the only time you heard about the ‘Yotes was how terrible the team was, how terrible their coach was (sorry G-Man) or whether or not the team would be moved to either Hamilton or Kitchener.

Not so any longer.  The team once considered worse than the Leafs has held their own in a first round match up that’s nothing less than David and Goliath.

After Sunday’s defeat in Detroit, Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard grumbled about how the Coyotes had been “lucky” to get deflected goals to win.

Hah.  Sounds like a pouting little kid who dropped his lollipop in the sandbox.  Go watch the game highlights.  Howie’s asleep on his heels and the puppies took full advantage.

Said Phoenix’s Derek Morris of Howard’s comment, “”I think everybody thinks they are better than us.  We’ve been hearing it all year. Everybody’s counted us out. But the proof is in the pudding. We go out there and we play hard and we believe in ourselves.

“Everybody else can say whatever they want. Whether they’re lucky goals or not, we’re doing a good job of getting there to create these goals and we’re getting rewarded for all our hard work.”

Did I read that right?  Did a 32 year old defenseman use the word “pudding”?

Fortunately, the Coyotes will have Shane Doan back on the ice tonight to lead the lads to victory.

And even if they don’t advance, this year’s Phoenix Coyotes is truly a Cinderella story.  The guys managed to concentrate on their game even with a maelstrom of chaos and uncertainty swirling all around them and they came out stronger than ever.

It must be that dry desert air, the high chaparral and that iconic cowboy “do or die” tough guy attitude.

Go ‘Yotes, Go!  Send those damnable Red Wings home to that miserable, cold city with their tails between their legs.

As one fan said on the Coyotes’ Facebook site “Wings. The other white meat.”