Wings Run Coyotes out of the Playoffs, and Possibly the Country...Again

As the horn sounded to end last nights sweep of the Phoenix Coyotes in what could be the last game ever played at Jobing.com Arena, Shane Doan had to choke back tears as he interviewed with Fox Sports.

This situation is all to familiar to Doan, being the only remaining Coyote to once don the jersey of a Winnipeg Jet.

The Detroit Red Wings finished off the Coyotes season last night by completing a four game sweep of the sixth place team after a hard fought Game 4.

The Yotes put up a strong fight holding the game to a 3-3 tie until over midway through the third, when Danny Cleary put a fluke goal past Ilya Bryzgalov from behind the net off of his right pad. The Coyotes still had a push and a chance until another unfortunate bounce put a Todd Bertuzzi wraparound off of Dave Schlemko's skate and into the gaping Coyote net with under six minutes to play in the third.

That was about all she wrote as Patrick Eaves would catch a breakaway with an empty net and polish off the Coyotes 6-3 for possibly the last time ever.

Speculation has been circulating like crazy about whether the Coyotes will stay in Phoenix or pack their bags and head back to Winnipeg. The Jets entered the NHL in the 1979-80 year and stuck around until the 1995-96 season when expanding United States teams caused Winnipeg to eventually drop to the NHL's smallest market.

Despite government funding and a major grassroots effort, the city of Winnipeg just could not support an NHL team even with the loyal fan base they had built and with commissioner Gary Bettman trying to "expand hockey to non-traditional areas" Shane Doan (who was the Jets final first round draft pick in 1995) and the Jets packed up and headed for warmer weather following a final first round playoff exit to the hands of who else but the Detroit Red Wings. 

The Red Wings coming off of a devastating Stanley Cup Final sweep to the hands of the New Jersey Devils the previous year were out for revenge. The Wings tore through the Jets in six games and with home ice advantage, closed out the Jets for good in front of a sold-out Winnipeg Arena. Shane Doan joined with the rest of the team saluted their fans for one final time, or so they thought.

In their new home in Glendale, Arizona the Coyotes managed to put a solid team on the ice with players such  as Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk, and Rick Tocchet joining in, the Yotes put together playoff teams five of their first six years.

They could not however pass the first round of the playoffs and with a disaster of an arena in America West Arena seating only 16,000 (second smallest in the league) the Coyotes failed to make any money in over ten years.

The NHL ultimately took over the Coyotes silently as it filed for bankruptcy. Bettman's efforts to keep his beloved "non-traditional" hockey team lead to the NHL making a bid for the Yotes against Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie who had planned to take the team to Hamilton.

Courts eventually ruled in favor of the NHL and for two more seasons Phoenix would attempt prove worthy of an NHL squad, and two more years would fail against who else but the Detroit Red Wings.

The future of Phoenix for now is unknown, but as the final minutes of last night's game ticked off of the clock the fans of Arizona stood tall and applauded loudly for their Coyotes.

Doan and the rest of his team joined together at center ice to salute the crowd for 15 years of NHL hockey in the desert and headed off the ice to hope for the best but prepare for the worst, a new era of snow and cold in Canada.