NHL: Humbug and Bah Humbug Again

Let me be the first Coyote fan to wish Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province a Merry @#$%^$*&# Christmas and Happy #$%^& New Year, and to thank him for making my holidays so "merry." Let me tell you, Phoenix in December is nearly impossible to ruin, with temperatures in the seventies, with snow close enough to drive to, look at and say "Yup, that’s snow all right" and leave behind whenever you choose. Phoenix on Christmas Day could very well be spent on the back nine at Scottsdale Country Club. But not this holiday. Oh no. Not this year. Uh uh. All thanks to Tony Gallagher. No Christmas cookies and spiked egg nog for that guy, no way.

On December 24th, Mr. Gallagher from the Province reported that banks securing the loan to Steve Ellman and Wayne Gretzky for the purchase of the Coyotes had backed out of the deal, and that Gretzky was supposedly scrambling to obtain private financing before the deadline of December 31st to keep the team in Phoenix. Otherwise, the team will revert back to Richard ("My Name is Really Dick") Burke after December 31, who will immediately turn around and sell the Coyotes to Paul Allen, that ass from Microsoft, who in turn will move the team to Portland.

The immediate effect of this news, this rumor, was all the air leaving my lungs. Secondly, the cats had to hear language that certainly hurt their little innocent ears. Poor Roenick Kitty. He may still be hiding under the Christmas tree. And of course, I will restrain from ever using another Microsoft product as long as I live if this turns out to be an accurate story. Not Word, Not Windows, Not Excel. Not this kid.

Having grown up watching "All the President’s Men" every Fourth of July (a unique family tradition), I spent the better part of the Christmas holiday checking all news sources for some kind of verification of this mystifying story. There has been nothing. I have checked, not only for myself, but for Coyote fans wanting to know what the f**k is doing on, ESPN, CNN, Fox Sports, the local newspapers, NHL.com, and a variety of Canadian sites, none of which have a word on this story. Either the Vancouver Province has the scoop of the month, or there is something else going on here.

This story raised many questions, the very least of them being how a bank can pull out of a deal such as this without tremendous legal ramifications, whether the deal was so faulty to begin with that the financing was that shaky, why the NHL would approve the sale of the team to Ellman and Gretzky if the paperwork wasn’t in order, and last but not least, will Bettman now step in to do something to save this deal, or leave Wayne Gretzky to spin in the wind with a situation that he dragged Wayne into to begin with.

And most disturbing and probably least surprising is the fact that Richard Burke would, immediately, and I am quoting, "immediately" turn around and send the team to Portland without a blink of an eye, a twinge of remorse, pocketing a profit of $23 million. (I’ve told you before, and I will say it again, a bag of frozen pucks, and a tall bridge over deep water. Uncle Vito is on 24-hour call.)

Far too much to think about for what was supposed to have been a carefree, work-free holiday weekend. My role for this month has been as Grinch as it is, but now I wonder—who do I turn into if I become a "Bah Humbug Scrooge" as well? What is it that you get when you combine a Grinch AND a Scrooge? And if my team DOES move to Portland, will I just spontaneously combust and not have to concern myself with such questions anyhow?

The Coyotes will always be my team, whether they end up in Portland or Timbuktu, whether they are called the Coyotes, the Sea Gulls or the Timbuktu Camels. And Roenick will always be my boy, because after a decade it just comes as naturally as breathing. But it's certainly hard, lately, to be a Yotes fan.

Of course, all of this became a moot point early this morning, when the news finally broke locally about the "delay" in the sale of the Coyotes. Steve Ellman and Wayne Gretzky acknowledged Wednesday that Japanese banks will require them to get financing for $20 million of the loan necessary to close on the team from another source. The Ellman group stated that this would not be a problem, but that this financing could not be obtained by the deadline of December 31st.

In the meantime, on the Los Arcos front, after meeting with Ellman representatives Wednesday, City Manager Jan Dolan said Ellman was expected to sign off on five conditions set by the Scottsdale City Council regarding the Los Arcos development which were imposed by the Council last week. Scottsdale will consider whether to hold a special City Council meeting next week Tuesday to modify its conditions about the sale deadline of December 31.

Richard Burke agreed on Wednesday to give Ellman and Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leading scorer, an additional 45-day extension to close the deal, which puts the closing of the deal close to February 14, 2001, Valentine's Day. Ellman will make an additional payment of $5 million dollars to the NHL today as part of the extension agreement. Mr. Burke was quoted as saying that ''The most important thing is to keep this hockey team in Arizona." And that, of course, is just the point. The second most important thing, however, is for Mr. Burke to step up and put an end to the rumors about this team going to Portland. And I'm not holding my breath for that one.

The Drought is Over, Let the Rains Begin

Roenick hadn’t scored a goal since November 18th (my birthday, and still no hockey stick, Jeremy) and Tkachuk since the 20th. As the front line struggled, so did the team, with the defense and the goaltending of Sean Burke keeping the team from a losing record and within a few points of first place San Jose, preventing a slide that will prove disastrous come February or March, with more ties and losses tallied up than wins.

As the first line of Roenick, Lemieux and Tkachuk began to jell, and shots on goal increased, it was only a matter of time before those shots began to find the net. Monsieur Lemieux was the first to end the drought, Tkachuk’s hat trick sent more flood water over the dam, and Roenick’s performance against Atlanta blew the dike wide open.

As the Yotes finished up the longest home stand in team history, they remain only a few points behind the first place Sharks, even though in the tight Western Division this puts the team in third, and sometimes fourth, place. It might be fortunate that the team now heads out of town. Holiday turkey, in-laws, even hockey players can only take so much abuse.

Los Arcos, Los Arcos, Wherefore Art Thee?

You have to read the Scottsdale Tribune every day when you live in the Valley of the Sun, when you are a Coyote fan, because if you don’t, you will be hopelessly behind in the continuing saga of "As the Hockey Arena Turns."

Ellman threatens, Scottsdale City Council retaliates. Ellman financial officers meet with City Council, everybody makes nice. Scottsdale City Council has meeting and imposes strict guidelines on The Ellman Companies that may or may not nix the development project. Ellman Companies threaten to move arena project to nearby Salt River-Pima Indian Reservation or the Town Lake area of the City of Tempe. Rumors fly that the sale will go through but the arena project will fail, and that Ellman will turn around and sell the team himself to Paul Allen of Portland. And then, of course, the newest stories about the sale itself falling apart coming from Vancouver, which have been denied by the NHL and temporarily put to rest by the latest sale extension. Only goes to prove one thing; you can’t tell an arena project without a score card.

Jo Namio is Keeper of the Roenick Shrine -- http://members.nbci.com/roenickchick