America West Arena - Phoenix Coyotes

Trip Notes: Tracey, Cynthia, and I took our first road trip....to Phoenix. We drove strait through...well, Tracey and I did while Cyn slept. Ha. The one time Cyn did drive we almost ran out of gas. We got off at an exit hoping there'd be a gas station. We drove a long ways without finding anything. We had less than a mile's worth of gas left when a cop pulled us over for running a stop sign. Luckily he was a nice guy and escorted us to the nearest gas station. That was close. Made it to Phoenix around 6 am. When we went to check into our hotel we were given an unpleasant surprise that they had given it to someone else...even after we had paid for it. Since the World Series was in Phoenix that weekend, hotel rooms were hard to come by. Luckily after stopping at a few, we finally found one. Stopped at Cyn's sisters house for a couple days after the game. She lives a couple hours outside of Phoenix.


Arena Notes: The arena was in the process of being remodeled. Bathrooms were labeled with pieces of paper. Game wasn't sold out due to the world series going on around the same time so it was between 1/2 and 3/4 full. Looking past the remodeling it was a nice arena. Located in downtown Phoenix it was near lots of bars and restaurants.

Game Notes: Appropriately, this one took on a World Series feel.

Rookie Krystofer Kolanos scored early in the third period and Sean Burke stopped 29 shots for his 27th career shutout as the Phoenix Coyotes blanked the Colorado Avalanche, 1-0.

Across the street in downtown Phoenix, the Arizona Diamondbacks will host the New York Yankees on Saturday night in Game One of the World Series, which is supposed to be a pitchers' duel.

At America West Arena, Burke and Patrick Roy treated fans to a goaltenders' duel, combining to stop 50 of 51 shots. Burke turned aside 22 over the final two periods to beat the winningest goalie in NHL history.

"He's been outstanding all year," Coyotes coach Bobby Francis said of Burke. "I think he looked at the guy playing the other end and he responded."

The Avalanche couldn't even beat Burke on a penalty shot as Greg De Vries hit the goalpost in the opening minute of the third period. Burke came out to challenge De Vries, forcing him into a snap shot.

"The defenseman, he isn't used to being on that spot in a breakaway," Burke said. "So I tried to force him."

After defenseman Danny Markov was whistled for holding De Vries on a breakaway, the Avalanche defenseman snapped a shot from near the left hashmark and watched as the puck rang off the right post.

"It was a good shot, it just went off the post," Colorado coach Bob Hartley said. "It was one of those things. It was a good effort."

The Coyotes later got the break that eluded the defending Stanley Cup champions as Kolanos scored from behind the net 3:14 into the third period with Roy facing the crease.

Roy thought the puck was in front of him, but Kolanos ended up with it behind the net and made a move to the goalie's right before banking a shot into the net.

"Roy is probably one of the best goalies in the world right now, and he's in his prime," Kolanos said. "I was able just to slide it through his pads."

"I lost sight of the puck and the next thing I know, it banged off my leg and it was in," Roy said.

That was enough for Burke, who was at his best in the second period, turning aside a snap shot from Rob Blake with 12:40 to play and smothering Stephane Yelle's shot from the low left faceoff circle with 8:09 left.

"They're a group of guys who are always going to have a strong game," Roy said. "Sean Burke is one of them."

Colorado pulled Roy for an extra attacker in the final minute but suffered its second shutout loss in five games and failed to extend its winning streak to three.

The Avalanche went 0-for-7 on the power play after entering the game with the fourth most efficient unit in the NHL at 20.4 percent.
The Coyotes were 0-for-4 with the man advantage but moved over .500 at 4-4-2-1.