Darren Pang appears courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com

I want to pass along my gratitude to every Phoenix Coyotes hockey fan.

I moved my family here to the desert four years ago with the intention that we would be here for a very long time, and of course, never expecting what has transpired in the last three months.

I am a hockey guy that does hockey on TV. It is pretty simple. That is what I get paid to do and have done for the last 20 years. When there is no certainty of a TV contract, then things get a little scary and that is what has taken place here in Phoenix. I am sure that this will all get resolved at some point in the near future.

This is no one’s fault, except for the sudden bankruptcy filing, and I can tell you for certain that no one was prepared for that happening, at least not inside the organization.

With the current situation, I had phone calls from other teams and an opportunity to do national studio NHL work as well, but was really having a difficult time as to what to do as I have gained so many great friends inside the Coyotes family and socially as well.

I have been working side by side with one of my closest friends in Dave Strader, and it feels empty to leave behind a friend and partner. Todd Walsh is a fixture in Arizona and always manages to say the right things at the right time and bring the viewer so much closer to the game and to the players. He is as solid as they get. The great thing is they will always be friends, and I am sure the text messages throughout the season with be flowing, especially when we are about to meet up!

Being on a broadcast team doesn’t just mean the TV group, and I would really be missing out if I didn’t thank two terrific people who love the game and bring it to the people for the entire 82-game schedule, and they are radio personalities Bob Heethius and Tyson Nash.

The gang at FS Arizona is a close group and Mike Roth and Mike Connolly have such passion for the game of hockey, and I will always be grateful. They always stick their necks out for the good of the broadcasts, and that is a very good thing.

On the production side, it started with Graham Taylor as producer when I got here and it went to Andy Bock after one season, with Graham getting back in the “big chair” again last year. They are great producers that love going to and producing the game…chasing me around for production meetings…and getting all fired up for another game and a couple of stories later. Thank you guys. The happy bus was always the best place to be!

To Liz, Meg, Mitch, Derek and everyone else involved in production, you know how much I think of you all, both personally and professionally. Thanks.

Dave Vest manages the content of this Web site, and is as good as it gets. My many thanks Dave, for being a real pro and great guy.

I am a very lucky person. I was asked four years ago by Mike Barnett, Doug Moss, Cliff Fletcher and Wayne Gretzky to come and join the Coyotes. I moved my family after 20 years in Chicago. That is never easy, as you can imagine. We feel as though Phoenix is a place we will want to maintain a residence, as we love it here.

I am an avid golfer and am a member at Blackstone Country Club in Peoria. We moved here to the Northwest Peoria area because it is growing by leaps and bounds, and close to Jobing.com Arena, yet easy to get to Scottsdale as well.

We have met some great people socially and through our church, Copper Hills, and their Pastor, Brad Klassen and his wife Elfie. Both have been great friends and will always be, and I know how much my wife, Lynn, will miss them and all their hiking pals!

To be leaving a person as great as Wayne Gretzky is terribly difficult, not to mention his business manager Darren Blake, his coaching staff and trainers to go along with Don Maloney and his staff, is not easy. Wayne, as you all should know by now, is an even better person than he was a player, and that says it all about him.

The Coyotes are one of the very few teams that have full-time security travel with them. Not only does Jim O’Neal, aka The Inspector, take care of all of us, he is simply a tremendous friend. Thanks Jim! All secure pal!

To be able to join the St. Louis Blues and their President, John Davidson, makes me feel really fortunate. I grew up as a broadcaster admiring and emulating JD and we had the honor of working the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics together as well as several national games on ABC. He is a tremendous person and the Blues organization is outstanding and on the rise. I am looking forward to working with John Kelly and Bernie Federko on the Blues broadcasts.

We will always have a bond here with the great fans of the Coyotes. I believe in this team, the great players and character that is on the team, led of course, by Shane Doan.

We will see each other often and I will be keeping an eye and a Holy Jumpin out for you!

All the very best,

- Panger

Darren Pang appears courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com

Darren Pang appears courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com

With veteran goalie Jason LaBarbera now in the fold, the first thing that comes to my mind is the size of the tandem Grant Fuhr and the Coyotes coaching staff have to work with.

Both LaBarbera (6-foot-3, 225 pounds) and Ilya Bryzgalov (6-3, 199) are imposing figures, leaving very little room for shooters to see any net.

LaBarbera has made a living combining a few terrific qualities, most notably he is a very hard-working person that endears himself to his teammates. I have said this many times. When your goalie has a great team-first attitude, the players want to battle for him. He will stay on the ice until the last player is off at practice, willing the puck to hit his large body.

A few years ago, LaBarbera got “stuck” in the minors while with the Los Angeles Kings. He could not be recalled, as he would have been plucked on “re-callable waivers” and the Kings didn’t want to lose him, therefore he stayed in the American Hockey League, and was that league’s best goalie.

He is fundamentally sound in net and has the proper mind-set to be a backup, as he was last season, watching one of the best in Roberto Luongo in Vancouver.

This is a good signing that appears to leave Josh Tordjman and Al Montoya on the outside looking in. I feel for both, as I have been there myself. This move will really test their confidence and self motivation, but as we all know, a spot in the NHL can be an injury away, or a hot streak in the minors.

Montoya played really well in his brief NHL stint at the end of last season with the Coyotes. He needs to visualize and capture his performance in the San Jose game as his standard. He proved he can stop the big boys.

- Panger

Darren Pang appears courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com

THORNBURY, June 23, 2009 – Today, the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic presented by Samsung announced 12 new celebrity golfers who will tee-off with the Great One when the tournament returns to Thornbury, Ontario, July 6-12, 2009.

Celebrities taking part include:

• Wayne Gretzky
• Janet Gretzky
• Damon Allen
• Donovan Bailey
• Mike Cammalleri
• Cassie Campbell
• Javier Colon
• Brett Hull
• Ed Jovanoski
• Catriona Lemay Doan
• Bob McCown
• Darren Pang
• Gino Reda
• Steve Stamkos
• Marty Turco

“I’m excited to see so many great athletes and personalities getting on board and joining us this year,” said Wayne Gretzky. Everyone had a great time last year and loved sharing the course with the Pros, as well as all the fans.”

Tickets, and further information, are now available at www.gretzky.com/golf.

For more information, including media credentials, please contact:
Mark James
Cohn & Wolfe
647-259-3269
mark.james@cohnwolfe.ca

-30-

ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT

Coming to Thornbury, Ontario, July 6-12, 2009, the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic presented by Samsung will provide fans with the opportunity to watch 160 professionals play with celebrities and amateurs in a pro-am style tournament. As an official Nationwide Tour stop, players will be competing for one of the year’s largest purses at $800,099, with all four rounds televised LIVE on the Golf Channel. Two courses will host the tournament – the Georgian Bay Club and The Raven Golf Club at Lora bay – with proceeds from the tournament to benefit the Wayne Gretzky Foundation. Further information, including tickets and volunteer opportunities, can be found at www.gretzky.com/golf.

Darren Pang appears courtesy of the Phoenix Coyotes

The Stanley Cup Final begins on Saturday.

The playoffs have been outstanding, although they lost a little momentum in the Conference Finals as Detroit beat Chicago in just five games and the Penguins swept a gritty Carolina team in four games.

I have been sitting in a studio at TSN for the entire playoffs, learning plenty about what it takes to build a winner, to get to know players and their ultimate roles on a winning team, and which players you can count on when the game is on the line.

I am now heading to Detroit for the Final to work alongside Mike Milbury between periods on NBC, and just the anticipation of seeing a mature and professional Sidney Crosby advance to his second straight Stanley Cup Finals is going to be exciting.

The Penguins have an advantage for sure as the Wings are banged up a little, and with the Final going back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday, you have to think the healthy Penguins will jump all over the Wings to get a head start on the series.

Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, Nik Lidstrom and Kris Draper are injured, so who knows how well the Wings will start the series? The cast of Henrik Zetterberg, Dan Cleary, Johan Franzen and Game 5 hero Darren Helm have been outstanding, as have defensemen Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart and Nik Kronwall.

The MVP for Detroit has been Chris Osgood, hands down. I have been so impressed with his ability to focus and to let any doubt from outsiders slide off his back. He was very average in the regular season and at one point his GM, Ken Holland, had him take 10 days off for a little “clarity” to get ready for the playoffs. They have had a long-standing relationship and that trust is something that can’t be underestimated.

The Penguins are here because they belong here. They took Detroit to six games last year but ran out of steam.

Your best players have to lead when it matters most and for me the best player in the playoffs has been Sidney Crosby.

In the first round against Philadelphia, when their backs were against the wall and they were trailing in Game 6, it was Sidney that got things going and changed the momentum, and the same thing can be said for that brilliant series against the Capitals that ended in a Penguins blowout…in Washington, no less….against Alex Ovechkin. Great players do those things and cement a reputation.

He has had plenty of help as Evgeni Malkin is coming into his own right now. His speed, patience with the puck, and power was too much for the ‘Canes. They had no answer.

The wingers for Crosby have been very good as well, with Bill Guerin having a career playoff in points with 15. After starting the postseason slowly, Chris Kunitz has turned it up patrolling Crosby’s left wing. He has history going against the Wings, with all those battles while playing for the Anaheim Ducks, and the animosity he has against them will find its way in the locker room, for sure. It is never a bad thing to have leaders like that in such a heightened environment.

The Penguins have a solid core of defensemen and combine solid shutdown guys when you talk about Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, and they will see plenty of Zetterberg and Franzen. They play a solid “Dot to Dot” game, where they keep the puck carrier on the outside, and don’t over commit.

Marc Andre Fleury has really evolved in the net. He has matured as a goalie and a teammate, and has made the key saves at the right times in these playoffs, as he did last season. He is just fun to watch because he is a very athletic and active goalie that makes playing the position look like fun. He is always smiling on the outside, but is fiercely competitive on the inside, much like Osgood. Both are candidates for the Conn Smythe, in my opinion.

Here are my Conn Smythe favorites:

1) Crosby
2) Malkin
3) Osgood
4) Franzen
5) Zetterberg

Enjoy the Finals.

- Panger

Darren Pang appears courtesy of the Phoenix Coyotes

Darren Pang appears courtesy of the Phoenix Coyotes

I have had a really great experience again working the playoffs for TSN in Canada and for NBC in the United States. It has given me the competitive view on the strengths and weaknesses of the clubs that have advanced in their “Quest for the Cup.”

Here is my take on the Western Conference Finals between Detroit and Chicago.

The keys for Chicago:

• Stay out of the penalty box. The PP’s of both teams are incredible, Nos. 1 and 2 in the postseason. The Hawks got in the “kitchen” of both Calgary and Vancouver with their constant chirping after the whistle. Adam Burish vs. Jarome Iginla and Dustin Byfuglien vs Roberto Luongo are good examples in both series. Detroit won’t bite, let alone nibble on this tactic. Don’t waste energy.

• Challenge in the neutral zone. The key to Detroit is its entries into the offensive zone. The Hawks forwards are quick and they do a great job of “cutting the ice in half” as their weakside forward will attack the puck in the neutral zone.

• Composure in the defensive zone. The minute you don’t trust your partner in your own zone is the minute the Wings will spin you right round, baby right round…so stay composed and trust your position and teammates. No running around chasing pucks.

The keys for Detroit:

• Keep your foot on the pedal. The Hawks have been as good as the Hurricanes at coming back when the game seems done. They are a resilient group with great youthful enthusiasm and skill. If you have a lead, keep adding to it. Wayne Gretzky was the best ever at putting the dagger in as deep as it could go.

• Attack the Hawks “D.” The Wings have four lines that can go all the time, so the pressure has to be put on the Hawks “D.” Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith get pucks out of their own zone in a hurry and have great chemistry. Brian Campbell has defensive liabilities below his own goal line, but has been good as the playoffs have gone along.

• Get four lines rolling early. The Hawks will use their four lines and they can all skate, so the pace will be furious. The Wings have the same depth, and have received added skill and speed in the likes of Darren Helm, Jiri Hudler and now Justin Abdelkader to go along with Kris Draper who returned for Game 7 vs Anaheim. The Wings have the advantage of playing Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk together, as they did when they lacked offense in the Anaheim series when it was tied 1-1.

- Panger

Darren Pang appears courtesy of the Phoenix Coyotes

NHL Insider and Phoenix Coyotes Analyst, Darren Pang was a special guest on TSN’s Off The Record.  Watch as Darren provides host Michael Landsberg with a special gift from Wayne, a collection of No. 99 Estates Wines.  View Clip

A week or so has passed since the season ended for the Coyotes and I left Phoenix to continue broadcasting in the playoffs on TSN and NBC.

That wasn’t what I had in mind when the 2008-09 season started, as I felt very confident in our chances to progress and take that next step to the postseason.

Make no mistake; I enjoy doing the playoffs and being in the heat of the action. Why wouldn’t I? That’s what I came here for. I came to be part of a winning team. I came to the desert to be broadcasting Coyotes games in the playoffs.

We will.

Here are five keys to the Coyotes getting into the Stanley Cup Playoffs next year:

• It is an 82-game schedule no matter how you slice and dice it up. For the past several seasons, the Coyotes have been a pretty competitive team for 60-68 games. Not an 82-game team. When adversity hits this team, the record falls. It’s time to get playoff tough…in the regular season.

The regular season is about preparing for the grind of winning the Stanley Cup. The Coyotes can’t fall in love with 5- and 10-game segments, and then fall out of love with the same group of players after a few losses. There has to be consistency. There has to be belief. It starts now.

• Accountability is a prominent word when talking about the good to great teams. There is character on the team when there is accountability in the room. Check your egos at the door when the first day of training camp begins. This is not about individual accomplishments. This is about winning as many 10-game segments as you can, especially in February, March and April. This is about believing in the dream and in the process of accomplishing the dream. It will be about not accepting poor play, from the players in the room to the coaches on the bench.

• Specialty teams win hockey games. Period. The Coyotes can not be in the bottom five in both the PP and the PK. There is no excuse for that. Wayne Gretzky has said it many times about key moments in games when the PP has to step up. Too many one-goal games were lost because of it. The PP needs structure, as it had late in the season with the likes of Matthew Lombardi, Scottie Upshall, Keith Yandle and Shane Doan on the ice. The trades brought hockey sense and chemistry, and now we have to add to the skill level.

• There has to be no negotiation when it comes to mistakes that get made, no matter who the player. I was between the benches for NBC for Game 2 between Washington and the N.Y. Rangers and the phrases you hear from players and coaches are all the same. Here they are:

“Get the puck deep”
“Chip it in and chip it out”
“No one-on-one late in the period, don’t turn the puck over”
“Take a hit to make a play”
“Close the gaps, hold the line”

There are many more, but these are staples in our game. If you can’t follow these simple sayings as an NHL player, you shouldn’t be in this league.

• There is NO entitlement. With the movement the Coyotes have made toward the draft picks and the youth, there appears to be entitlement. That can not be the case. The message at the exit meetings for all the young players was simple: Here is what you have to do in the off-season to be on the team next September. If you don’t do that and get better in these areas, then the AHL is waiting for you.

There are ZERO guarantees to be on the big squad. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Simple enough. We need an extra layer of skin if we are going to be known as a tough team to play against and a team that will compete for the Stanley Cup, not just the playoffs.

Do me a favor and watch as many playoff games as you can. Check the phrases that I have listed above. You will see them all. When the season starts, see how we are doing. Remember that in October, November and December, the teams that have gone a long way in the playoffs don’t quite have that intensity just yet. It will be in the later months that the Coyotes will have to play like men. That’s when the little things will be the biggest of all things.

Enjoy the playoffs.

- Panger

Take a listen to this chat I did with John Davidson, who is now President of the St. Louis Blues.  I caught up with JD while his Blues where in town to play the Coyotes recently.  We started talking by remembering the special moment that marked the end of an era — Wayne Gretzky’s last game ever in the National Hockey League.

Click to listen:

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- Panger

Thought you might enjoy this piece that ran during our Coyotes/Ducks Broadcast.  We put this segment together that features Wayne and Darren Pang on the great career of Scott Niedermeyer.  By the way Maple Leaf Fans – did you know who missed joining your team because of a trade with the New Jersey Devils?

Click to hear:

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- Todd

I love my job.  Goaltending has been my life since I was six years old, and even though my first career went by rather quickly, it has been my second career that has given me the opportunity to sit down and talk goaltending, break down goaltending and watch goaltending on the television side.

I enjoy every facet of the game of hockey. I have coached minor hockey, been a goaltending coach for the University of Notre Dame when Dave Poulin was coaching and love the passion of coaching. But make no mistake; goaltending is what I enjoy most.

In 1995, I spent time with the Stanley Cup Finals goaltenders, Mike Vernon of Detroit and Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils. Both guys have similar off-ice demeanors. You can have a conversation with them before a game, after a game and I bet if the team said yes, I could have interviewed them between periods as well. They are that much in control and able to handle everything that is going on around them.

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur holds up the net after becoming the winningest goaltender in NHL history on Tuesday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.  I was in the broadcast booth and at ice level again in 2000 and 2003 when the Devils and Brodeur captured the Cup again. He never changed, no matter what the pressure felt like.

For Marty, it has been a longer journey as he has always been in the thick of things. The Devils have afforded him the victories. He has been the recipient of a great organization and a phenomenal system. That is not in doubt.

There are many out there that want to say that Marty would not have had a chance to break Patrick Roy’s all-time mark of 551 wins, which he did on Tuesday night, if not for the system in New Jersey. It is a neat argument.

Personally, I played on teams that were great defensively that didn’t give up many shots, but the one’s they gave up were of high quality, and at key times during a game. I had a hard time with no or little action. Many goalies have to have shots, give up rebounds and then get another shot to stay involved.

I grew up watching Ken Dryden and Rogie Vachon; opposite ends of the spectrum in size and the way they played. Dryden played for Montreal. It was a tight, defensive system. Vachon played for L.A., which was all offense and all over the place.

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur keeps his eye on the action against the Chicago Blackhawks at the Prudential Center on Tuesday night in Newark, N.J.  Dryden made one key save a period that could turn momentum, or lose it.

Vachon made spectacular saves, as they gave up a ton of shots. No one remembered the one goal he gave up that wasn’t great, as he had so many quality saves. He was better with many shots.

The microscope was always on Dryden. No excuses. His mental sharpness for a quiet time in the game was exceptional. The best ever…until Brodeur.

The best quote I have heard about Brodeur when it comes to the system or Brodeur comes from one of the greatest goaltenders of all time. I was on the team bus after practice and Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr and I were talking about the feats of Brodeur and I said he has the right demeanor and athletic ability along with the fact he has been in the right place, the right organization and the right system.

Fuhr says things the right way, quietly, but with confidence.

“The goalie has to fit the system as much as the system has to fit the goalie.”

Well said. What a perfect marriage.

Brodeur plays the position the way I love it to be played. He plays like an athlete. You ask any shooter in the NHL about going head-to-head with Brodeur and they likely start with this:

1) You don’t quite know what he’s going to do.
2) Is he going to poke check me if I try to deke him?
3) If I get that one-timer, will he stack the pads?
4) If I see room on the far post, is he just waiting to drag that far pad along the ice, like Bernie Parent used to do?
5) His glove is hanging low, so I should just fire it high glove…or is he sucking me in?

I have seen it all too many times. He has an uncanny sense about him. You want to know what it is really called?

It is called hockey sense. Goalies need to have it. There are some that are robotic and that is OK. But hockey sense is what it is all about.

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur reacts to posting his 552nd career NHL victory on Tuesday night in Newark, N.J.  Jacques Plante had it. Terry Sawchuck had it. Johnny Bower had it. Glenn Hall had it and so did Esposito, Parent, Dryden, Smith, Fuhr, Hasek and Roy. Some had it more than others.

Brodeur sees the play develop. He knows the right-hand shots and the left-hand shots. He sees the weak-side shooter as much as the puck carrier, and knows that he is on his strong side or on his back hand if he gets the puck. That is also what makes him such a great puck handler. He skates to the puck well, already knows where he wants to pass it, or place it for his defenseman. He gets there. He has composure. He will go down in history as the most complete goalie of all time, not just the goalie with the most wins and the most shutouts, but the most complete goalie of all time.

It has been my pleasure to sit in the locker room and just talk goaltending with Marty. He loves his position. He loves the game of hockey and he loves stopping pucks. He has a real respect for the greats that he has passed by. Records are made to be broken, as Wayne Gretzky likes to say, but after Brodeur passes 600 wins…and he will…I cannot imagine anyone getting close.

- Panger