Flyers Hunting For Coyote Meat Tonight
With Philly being such a large city, you can find almost anything you want to satisfy your palate. You can find meals from any culture, from every corner of the Earth. Hockey is a man’s game, and steak is a man’s meal. Tonight, we have a rare meat on our plate: the desert dog itself, the Phoenix Coyotes. If you don’t prepare it the right way, it won’t be enjoyable.
The Marinade
The purpose of a marinade is to add some flavor and to tenderize tough meat. I prefer marinading vs. any other meat preparation process because it’s fast (30 minutes to 2 hours) and it works. Coyotes are a wild animal, that is fast and agile. It’s a hunter, and so I expect the meat to be very tough, much like Phoenix’s defense. The Coyotes win by having a tough defense. They haven’t given up more than 3 goals in their last 9 games. We can soften them up a bit by getting pucks into the corners early and throwing a few hits. It’s the typical thought process of wearing down the opponent through physical play and taking the game to them hard. We need to establish physical play, or else the offense simply won’t generate a ton of chances.
The Seasoning
Seasoning is a mixture of salts and spices either sprinkled or rubbed onto the meat shortly before it goes on the flame. These are the things that add a lot of flavor and really give the meat a nice kick. The most basic things are salt and pepper, but you can add pretty much anything you like. The Flyers can add flavor to tonight by controlling the transition game. While Phoenix doesn’t score a ton, they usually put it in the net enough to eke out close wins. We have to limit their chances, and get out on the breakout as quickly as possible. Our offense is predicated on turning play from our end to their end very quickly. The simple seasoning to make sure this works is solid passing and limiting turnovers in our own end. Take care of that, and the offense should have ample opportunity to create chances.
Fire up the grill
The purpose of the grill is self explanatory. It’s time to char the meat and get it ready for eatin’! Typically, you want some high heat to sear the meat, and then turn it down to let the inside get done right. The Flyers can translate that onto the ice by getting a lead first. If Phoenix is down, the heat is on them to answer. They have to push forward more and try to even things up. If they forecheck harder, that exposes them to our counterattack. Sounds simple enough, but be wary of flame ups. If they take a lead, or things are even, they’ll be patient and stick to their system.
Serving
Never, ever take the meat off the heat and cut into it right away. If you don’t let the meat rest, the juices run, and there goes all the flavor. Don’t let your hard work go to waste. In a hockey sense, it means playa full 60 minutes. And if you get a lead, don’t blow it. Get the 2 points, and send everyone home happy. Phoenix is good, and they are playing very well right now. But they aren’t some elite team, and they are in the middle of a raod trip with a hard traveling schedule. Take advantage of it.
Notes
- Rain, snow or sunshine, it’s always grilling season. Early October, holiday season, or the playoff push, you always need to come to play and get 2 points.
- No matter what you grill up, have a side of Peter Luger Steak Sauce with it. Almost every supermarket has it now. Just ask someone. Trust me. This is completely unrelated to the hockey side of things; it’s just a damn good sauce that goes well with almost anything.
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