NHL Arena Blog

Trip Notes: Phoenix turned out to be another super quick trip. I had originally planned to spend 4 days in Phoenix with my mom so we could visit the grandparents. They usually spend their winters a couple hours from Phoenix. Unfortunately my grandpa had gotten sick almost a couple months earlier and hadn't got better. He has spent the previous 6 wks in a Salt Lake City hospital. Since my grandparents weren't going to be there, my mom decided to cancel her ticket. Since my parent's friend Rich had already hooked us up with free tickets, I kept my ticket and shortened my trip to be there one day. After arriving early Thursday afternoon, I headed strait to the nearest In n' Out burger. I can't go to Phoenix without eating there. ;) Checked into my cheap hotel, the Days Inn near the airport, then headed to the game. Left town at 6 the next morning. I wasn't even there 24 hours.

Arena Notes: Left my hotel an hour and a 1/2 before the game started and got stuck in rush hour traffic. It took me a ½ hour to get there from the airport area. Normally it's maybe a 15 min drive. It was easy to find.located right off the highway. The best part..the parking was FREE! When I first parked I thought somehow they had missed me or I parked in the wrong lot. Turns out they don't charge for parking. How awesome is that? If only all the other arenas would follow suit! Glendale arena isn't near much other than the new Cardinals stadium from what I noticed. They have temporary lights in place and fences blocking off areas that are still under construction. None of it causing any inconveniences. After picking up my ticket at the VIP will call, I headed inside. Rich not only hooked me up with a ticket, he hooked me up with a great ticket! My seat was on the lower level near the blue line. Excellent seat! It also gave me access to the club levels Lexus club. That was a very nice room. The rest of the arena was also very nice. Glendale arena opened in 2003 and holds 17,653 hockey fans. I don't believe they have a mascot. Before becoming the Coyotes, they were the Winnipeg Jets. The two retired jerseys are from the Jets days, 9 - Bobby Hull and 25 - Thomas Steen. Gretzky's #99 is also retired.

Game Notes: Sean Burke took advantage of familiar surroundings and made the most of a rare starting opportunity.
Burke made 26 saves in his eighth start, and Vincent Lecavalier netted a short-handed goal to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Phoenix Coyotes 3-1 Thursday night.
Burke started for the first time since allowing six goals on 17 shots against New Jersey on Nov. 25. And he was doing it against the Coyotes, for whom he was 97-78-29 in 211 games between the 1999-2000 and 2003-04 seasons.
"I kept a house here and I plan to retire here," Burke said. "It was a big game for me."
Burke admitted to being a little rust early, but he recovered and carried a shutout into the third period.
"Burkey's a pro," Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said. "He's not happy with the amount of time he's getting. But he's going to do his best in the situation."
Fredrik Modin and Ruslan Fedotenko also scored for the Lightning, who rebounded from a 4-2 loss Wednesday at Anaheim to win for the 11th time in 14 games.
"It was a good response," Tortorella said. "That's what we were looking for. Losing games is one thing. We just didn't like the way we lost."
Geoff Sanderson scored and Curtis Joseph made 25 saves for the Coyotes, who have lost two straight after a season-best, three-game winning streak.
"I thought we had a pretty good first period," Phoenix captain Shane Doan said. "It wasn't great but it wasn't bad. They played a solid game. When they got the opportunities they buried it and we didn't." Modin gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead 6:03 into the first period when he took a pass from Brad Richards to the left of the crease and flipped a wrist shot past Joseph.
The Lightning made it 2-0 at 8:46 of the second as Cory Sarich cleared the puck from behind the Tampa Bay net and Lecavalier gained control at the red line. Skating down the left side with Rob DiMaio on the right on a 2-on-1 rush, Lecavalier looked across the ice for the pass before firing from the left circle for his 14th goal.
"There was no defenseman so I cheated a little bit and got the puck," Lecavalier said. "The defense chose DiMaio so I decided to shoot."
Fedotenko extended the lead to 3-0 with a power-play goal 17 seconds into the third period.
"The third goal was a senseless goal against for us," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said. "We shouldn't have given up that goal. That was the backbreaker for us."
Sanderson's goal off a long rebound pulled the Coyotes within 3-1 with 16:16 to go.
More Game notes: Coyotes C Dave Scatchard was hit along the boards by Evgeny Artyukhin with 4:19 remaining and left the game with an apparent knee injury. Scatchard will be re-evaluated Friday and is day-to-day. ... Coyotes G Brian Boucher, out with a pulled groin since Phoenix's first preseason game, was recalled from San Antonio of the AHL after a two-week conditioning stint. Boucher, who set an NHL record with five consecutive shutouts in 2003-04, was 2-2 with a 1.18 goals-against average for the Rampage. David LeNeveu, 2-5-2 with a 3.20 GAA in nine games, was sent to San Antonio to make room for Boucher. ... LW Steve Gainey also was recalled by the Coyotes. ... Lightning RW Martin St. Louis recorded an assist on Fedotenko's goal and has seven goals and 13 assists in his last 12 games.
(*Game notes taken from espn.com*)