Did that Kings game really happen last night?

A few thoughts on last night's epic 6 to 5 collapse by the Kings in game three of their playoff series against the Sharks:

•I was sitting in the Kings attack twice end of the ice. And guess what? All six San Jose goal were scored in front of me -- five in the second period and the final one in overtime.

•The 4 - 0 Kings lead was a bit of a deception. The Kings picked up a couple of cheap goals early and San Jose's defense and goalie looked very s-h-a-k-y before settling down.

•A four goal lead in hockey is nothing like a four touchdown lead in football. Football possessions generally take time and smart teams with leads know how to employ the running game to take a lot of time off the clock. In hockey, it can take five seconds for a team to regain possession of the puck and score.

•A lot of people in my section were beyond disgust with the play of winger Dustin Penner, who they accused of tepid effort and poor puck management skills. That didn't show up so much in the media coverage.

•That was the loudest and most crowded Kings game I've seen in my three years of going to games. That said, I'm inclined to agree with Mercury News columnist Mark Purdy that Staples Center is generally a pretty quiet place for hockey games. A lot of the noise at Kings games, including last night, comes from music and videos cranked up to rock concert levels. I have no idea who the Kings are marketing to -- seemingly 16 year old boys. It's funny, because I don't see a lot of 16 year old boys in the stands. Mostly I see adult guys, including some who managed to find dates.

As I've said before, at some point the Kings organization will realize that the most exciting thing about a hockey game is...a hockey game and all that other crap is just nonsense.

--S.H.

A few hockey notes

•My team had a game on Wednesday night -- which ended about 10:30 with a GLORIOUS 3-2 win in OT after we tied it with 90 seconds left in regulation. It took about 70 minutes to play the game; a few of us stood around talking about on the sidewalk outside the rink until 1 a.m. or so.

Time to Play Game: 70 minutes. Time to Talk About Game: 150 minutes.

After arriving home shortly after 1 a.m., I then stayed up until 2:30 watching a recording of the Ducks game.

•We were on a power play when one of our opponents tried to clear the puck and instead whipped it over the glass. Unfortunately, no delay of game penalty in our beer league -- I was told it's not part of USA Hockey's rules. It is, as you know, in the NHL rulebook. It would have given us our first 5-on-3 opportunity. Bummer. 

•Speaking of the Ducks -- and the Kings -- it would be nice if one of those teams could get to the second round of the playoffs. After one game in each series, please ignore my speculation about what it would take for both teams to play eachother in the second round.

Hey Kyle Clifford -- courtesy of the Ducks, your face looks like a watermelon after it has been stepped on by an elephant. Maybe you should work on your hockey skills and stop the fighting silliness. 

•In my never-ending quest for the perfect post-hockey beer, I recommend Stone Pale Ale. Not the best, but a good one. I don't think it has a great finish, however. More about my great taste in beer in future posts.

--S.H.

Hockey notes of the day

•The Pasadena ice rink -- all 150 feet by 90 feet of it -- is adding two stick times on Tuesday nights -- at 6:30 and 7:45. There are also stick times at 7:45 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. It can be crowded but at least it's a chance to get out there with the puck and skate a little.

•If you are hoping to see the Kings and Ducks meet in the second round of the playoffs, they both obviously need to win their first-round matchups and also have Detroit beat Phoenix and Chicago topple top-seeded Vancouver. This seems u-n-l-i-k-e-l-y.

•I got a note from a regular reader praising the Weekend Warrior hockey camps held throughout the U.S.; he had just attended one back east and wrote that it really improved his game. There is a camp coming up from May 12 to 15 at South Lake Tahoe. I perused the website and it looks great for basically anyone who can already skate -- you get a ton of ice time and a structured environment to learn the game. It's not cheap -- $725, not including lodging or travel there. 

--S.H.

A few Friday hockey notes

•If you correctly found much of the NCAA basketball tourney a bore -- all those fouls, free throws and timeouts are NOT exciting -- the college hockey finals are tomorrow pitting Michigan against the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The game is at 4 p.m. tomorrow (Pacific time) on ESPN. Set your DVRs.

•As I wrote recently, I think the fate of the Kings post-season rests with winger Dustin Brown, a guy known for his checking game who should be focusing more on his offensive game. I was in attendance Wednesday night when Brown uncorked this super sweet rush, ending with a beautiful pass to Jarrett Stoll, who tapped the puck in for the score. 



•A Non-Hockey Opinion: Dodger Stadium sucks. It's a nice ballpark in a lousy location -- on top of a hill surrounded by acres of parking lots -- and completely disconnected from the city it intends to serve. The team and city should have worked together to build a true downtown ballpark years ago that would have helped downtown L.A. become an actual destination and make it easier for people to reach the ballpark without having to sit in traffic and pay $15 for a space. I also think that having acres of parking lots makes it hard to patrol the place and increases the likelihood of something bad happening, such as the tragic beating of a Giants fan that left him in a coma.

A few random hockey notes

•I'm going to the Kings game tonight against Phoenix, which means the boys are unlikely to clinch a playoff spot because I'm there.

The last two games I've attended, the sound system was turned up louder than a Who concert and it was nearly impossible to talk to the person next to me. Hey L.A. Kings management: I'M PAYING YOU TO WATCH PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY NOT BE STUNNED INTO SUBMISSION!!

The more Kings games I go to, the more clear it is that their marketing department must be run by 15-year-old boys.

I'll save you the trouble of clinking on the link--here's the photo.

•Twitter is mostly stupid, but following Coyotes player Paul Bissonnette makes it somewhat worthwhile -- the rare pro athlete who doesn't talk in cliches. One recent tweet:

BizNasty2point0 Who is the blonde ice girl for the flames? Someone tell her i love her and she got more ice time then me tonight. #IfYouLikeItPutARingOnIt

AustinJohnson19 @BizNasty2point0 http://cdn.nhl.com/flames/images/upload/2009/10/bigcountry_ice_crew.jpg Which one is she? 

 

BizNasty2point0 Second row down and farthest right. Shes got curves. I like a little meat with my potatoes. someone get me her name, need to #Creep

 

•If your team is looking to design a jersey, here's a decent online customizer (although it runs a little slow on my laptop): http://www.athleticknit.com/customizer_popup.asp. Can't wait to see the fight my team has selecting colors and a logo -- which I assume is the fight every team has when it comes to uniforms.

 

--S.H.

 

Well said, Terry Murray!

I was doing some light grazing this morning on the cliches and quotes that dominate LAKingsInsider.com, when I came across this gem from Kings coach Terry Murray on his team's 6 to 1 drubbing at the hands of San Jose on Monday:

MURRAY: “We weren’t in positions. Whether it was on the checking part of the game, without possession, or if we had possession we were not in the proper lanes. Our centermen were not there, our wingers were not in position, our defensemen were looking up and they’re almost seeing the seat of the pants. There’s no way to get the puck up the ice, unless they get their feet going and get to the red line themselves. It got a little bit better in the second half of the game, but early, my goodness, structurally we were really broken down.”

This sounds like some of the guys on my team -- including me -- when we pick apart our latest defeat or narrow victory. It's refreshing to see we're not the only ones to fuck up the breakout, which has often been the bane of our existence.

I particularly like the "seat of the pants" part. That's one of our common mistakes: the centers and/or wings don't put themselves in good position to take a pass. Oftentimes that means coming back toward the D instead of skating to the other team's blue line and waiting for a long stretch pass that will never arrive.

Here's a website with animations of a variety of breakouts. Some of them are probably beyond the abilities of a novice or beginner's team -- but they seem worth learning and trying. 

--S.H.

Dustin Brown must read this blog!

Yeah, right. But playing a more disciplined game focused on scoring -- as I suggested in the previous post -- resulted in Brown scoring two goals in the Kings 2 to 0 win over Edmonton last night.

And he missed an empty netter by a couple of inches that would have given him a hat trick.

Of course, one dude on the LA Kings Insider blog took exception with my view that Brown should worry less about smearing people on the boards and more about scoring. His point:

I disagree with what you said. DB has drawn countless retaliation penalties on other teams due to his huge hits, those PP chances win games. Checking is what he does, it's in his blood. Would you tell Ovechkin not to check anymore? I don't think so. Brownie is who he is, a 25 goal- 25 assist-50 point checking machine. His checks also inspire his teammates and get them fired up for the game. He's never going to be a 40-40-80 guy, he just doesn't have the great skill like other players. With that being said I think he does a great job with the skill that he has and has been a great leader these past few years with an extremely young hockey team.

My counterview: maybe he could score more if he tried. I don't think he should stop checking, but I think he could expand his game. Why limit yourself to 25-25-50?

--S.H. 

It's Dustin Brown time

Does the Internet really need yet another blogger/expert/idiot weighing in on Anze Kopitar's injury and how it will impact the Kings' post-season chances?

Did the Internet really need the video of me carving my holiday prime rib? No! But it got it anyway.

So here's my decidedly non-expert take on the Kings: I think the next few weeks will offer a good chance for Kings captain and winger Dustin Brown to transform his game, and for the better.

As many of you know, Brown has earned a reputation for his big-time hits on opponents. Although hits are a meaningless statistic -- and have little to do with actually winning a hockey game -- Brown's checking game has come to define him because big hits are part of the hockey mythology.

The above screen shot from the Kings website neatly sums it up: Dustin Brown smears people. (And sometimes he hits them in the head. The fact that this is being celebrated on the Kings website also might tell you how much individual clubs care about protecting -- or not -- players from head trauma.)

The funny thing about it is that Dustin Brown is also an immensely talented skater, shooter and stickhandler. He hustles. He has heart. He is, by all accounts, a good guy. He didn't end up as team captain by accident.

Local hockey needs Kings and Ducks in the playoffs

The Kings had a nice win over San Jose last night in a shootout, although they should have beat them in regulation -- instead, in typical Kings fashion, they gave up a goal in the last few seconds of the game and ended up giving the Sharks an unnecessary point in the standings.

Still, as of this morning, the Kings and Ducks are both in position to qualify for the playoffs with eight games apiece to go. Rather amazingly, both teams have never made the playoffs in the same season, despite the fact that more than half the teams in the NHL make the playoffs.

I'd love to see it happen. Having both teams in the post-season would likely attract some people to the sport and perhaps they'll notice that pro hockey is about 1,000 times more exciting than anything the NBA, NFL or MLB can cough up. It would be even better if the Kings and Ducks would somehow play eachother in the playoffs, but at this point that's (extremely) unlikely to happen unless both teams reach the second or third round.

Nonetheless, it would be equally great if both teams use the visibility that comes with the playoffs to promote local adult hockey -- specifically get more adults involved in the game. That would mean finding the few programs around town that cater to adult novices and then emphasizing to audiences that they are nothing like the NHL: nearly all beginner leagues that I'm aware of prohibit checking and fighting is minimal. It's fun to watch the pros do it, but I also think it probably scares many people from the sport unnecessarily.

It would also help if both the Kings and Ducks got more involved in adult programs. I know the Kings are doing okay at the gate this year, but the more people playing the sport could only help build their fan base. The Kings have the perch to take the lead on this locally and help, at the least, get more people playing the game. 

--S.H.

Solution for the Kings is same solution for every team!

I don't spend a lot of time reading quotes from players on LAKingsInsider. Most of them are riddled with the same boring cliches.

But I had to laugh when I read this one from D-man Drew Doughty on the Kings' loss to Anaheim on Monday and their recent slump:

DOUGHTY: “We know, as a team, we haven’t been creating as many chances as we’d like, and we’ve got to get back to the basics. Getting pucks to the net and getting guys to the goal, that is the only way we are going to be able to score goals. We just need to focus on getting our shots on target, first of all, and having a body in front.”

I hear the same thing from both my own big mouth and others on my team, win or lose. It's not exactly rocket science -- keeping a guy in front of the other team's goal -- but we have to remind ourselves to do it time and time and time again.


--S.H.

Good drill for those looking for a healthy vomit

I went to a Kings practice in early 2009 and saw them run this drill -- I was just starting to skate and didn't really know what I was seeing. Courtesy Rich Hammond at L.A. Kings Insider:

– Dean Lombardi was a happy man this morning, because Murray brought out his favorite drill, the “pit” drill, in which Murray drags a net into a corner of the rink and has players battle 2-on-2 in tight quarters. “I run that drill at the end of the practice just so that the players can get some kind of physical contact under their belt,” Murray said. “I don’t want to let it run too long. I’m going with three reps per pair only. It’s very early, but we’re getting into the time when we have to start thinking about exhibition games, and that’s the kind of play that’s going to happen.”

The thing that impressed me about the drill was how physical it was: Kings defenseman Matt Greene and center Anze Kopitar were just checking the hell out of one another in front of the net. I remember thinking: these guys are teammates?

We do some one-on-ones and two-on-twos occasionally during our Wednesday night clinics and it's by far the most taxing drill we do. If you want to get in game shape, do these. And just be sure you are near a spot on the ice without plexiglass -- to prevent am embarassing pukage on the ice.

Now that's how you market hockey

I think I may have mentioned before that I think the local marketing efforts by the Kings and Ducks is pretty dull and humorless and lacking in any kind of imagination. I'm guessing the marketing is handled by those who have actually studied marketing, perhaps the main reason such efforts suck.

So check out how it's done by the Boston Bruins. The above and below are just a pair of their TV ads. Click on either to watch on YouTube and you'll find links to other great commercials in the sidebar. The ads are brilliant because they are a nod to hockey culture and make you think you're missing something by not being a Bruins fan.



--Steve Hymon

See you in October, Kings

Well that didn't last long. I bought two tickets to game 6 of the second round series on Saturday, thinking that action would certainly cause the Kings to beat the Canucks. Instead, I get my $180 back. 

I'm no hockey coach, but a few words of advice for the Kings:

Get some speed.

Sign Doughty and Johnson long-term. Same with Simmonds.

Put a leash on Quick so that he never leaves the crease ever again. Even I know a goalie shouldn't be kicking at pucks, dude.

Get more speed.

Do the above and they go deeper in the playoffs next season.

--Steve Hymon

Canuckians!?

If you are watching the Kings playoff game tonight you probably saw what Jack Johnson had to deal with while serving time in the penalty box: brain-damaged Vancouver fans wearing aqua green skin-tight body suits.

Can you imagine ever seeing this at Staples Center? Another question: it's one thing for one dude to decide to do this, but what are the odds that nutjobs like this live in the same city?

Then again, this is Canada we're talking about, although Vancouver isn't exactly Winnipeg.

If you want to come out and give shit to opponents of my beer league team, please wear a skin tight fire engine red suit. 

UPDATE: I just read these guys are famous up north and have even created nicknames for themselves. Here's their website.

--Steve Hymon

Who do you want Kings to play in the playoffs?

Thanks to the NHL's liberal rules that allow a majority of the team's leagues into the playoffs, the Los Angeles Kings are almost certainly going to the post-season barring a catastrophic collapse in the next two weeks.

But how good are the Kings?

Throughout the season I've been trying to keep an eye on the transparent standings published occasionally by the New York Times. The transparent standings are a bit old-school, as they separate how a team performs in regulation from how it does in overtime.

The NHL standings, on the other hand, only show wins-losses-overtime losses. The standings do not show how many wins were the result of winning the skills competition at the end of overtime -- i.e. the shootout.

In the transparent standings, as of Friday morning, the Kings have a record of 30-25-18 in regulation, meaning they win 41% of their games in regulation. But they've excelled in overtime, going 12-6, including a 9-5 record in the shootout.

One team the Kings should be scared of is the Vancouver Canucks. They are 40-25-10 in regulation time for a win percentage of 53% in regulation. The Canucks are 6-4 in overtime as of Tuesday and 3-3 in the shootout. But who cares about the pedestrian OT stats? More often than not, the Canucks only need 60 minutes to put teams away.

How can anyone ever watch baseball again after that?

The final score of the Winter Olympics' gold medal hockey game on Sunday may be disappointing to those of us who badly wanted to witness Canada get whooped on their home ice.

Yet, it was such a thrilling game hat it's hard to be too bummed that the Frozen People of the North got the medal they needed to validate their when-will-my-balls-thaw existence.

At least you weren't stuck on the subway in Vancouver yesterday; check out the above video to see how that went.

My observations on the game:

1. There should not even be a discussion over whether the NHL should send its players to the Winter Games in Sochi in 2014. The past week earned more publicity for the sport than the NHL can ever generate on its own with less-than-brilliant marketing techniques such as ice girls and strobe lights.

2. As my friend Scott pointed out in an extremely caffeinated phone call before the third period, did you happen to notice that the game was really exciting despite there being no fighting? Fighting isn't permitted in the international game and I didn't hear one person say they missed it. As I've written before, fighting may be fun sometimes, but it likely turns off more people than it turns on and gives a beautiful sport (which is plenty violent without fighting) a bad image. As long as fighting is allowed and encouraged by the NHL, the NHL will be treated as a minor league sport on par with tractor pulls, pig races and funnel cake eating contests.

3. Which, of course, is a shame. Can anyone who watched today's game imagine sitting in front of a TV for 2 1/2 hours watching a baseball game? Or golf? I think the only sport that comes close on excitement level is pro football and let's face it, today's game was at least 37.3 more times exciting than the Super Bowl -- which featured about 10 minutes of game action and three hours of nut-scratching (albeit nut-scratching in high def!).

4. I'm not so sure that Team Canada is better than Team USA. After two games plus part of an OT period, the U.S. had scored seven goals to Canada's six. The Canadians seemed to have a little more offensive flash throughout the Olympic tournament, but I don't think anyone can argue they were a dominant team. Yes, they slayed Russia. But Russia's goaltender had a mental meltdown that in the old says would have earned him hard time on the Siberian outpost.

Chew on this, desk jockeys

This one is for all those sitting at their work desks right now fretting about their stickwork instead of that incredibly important spreadsheet in front of them.

The video -- well, there's no point in me describing it. Just watch Mr. Ovechkin work his magic. And for what it's worth, I've had plenty of people pull that first move -- the ol' puck between the legs -- on me. Something to be proud of, eh?

The fact that I'm about to write the following is more than ridiculous but wouldn't a Kings-Caps Stanley Cup matchup be fun?

--Steve Hymon

Play pickup at Staples Center!

My apologies for posting this so late, but here's a neat -- and smart -- promotion from the Kings. The gist of it is the team is allowing for a pickup game at Staples after tonight's Ducks-Kings game.

Even if it's too late this time around, I hope the Kings can find a way to do this. Obviously the team shares Staples with the Lakers, Clippers and other events, but anything they can do to foster attendance among the local hockey community is ultimately good for the sport.

--Steve Hymon

You have to like Chad OchoCinco after this

This isn't hockey related, but I'm a huge Cincinnati Bengals fan -- yes, I know it's like having a disease although it's also good practice for being a Kings fan. So the Bengals finally qualified for the playoffs this year, despite losing three of their last four, including a 37 to 0 drubbing by the Jets on Sunday Night Football last week.

Bengals stud WR OchoCinco slipped and hurt his knee before the game. So he goes and gets an MRI but then declares to the press earlier this week that he tested the knee during an apparently acrobatic romp in the hay with someone and that he's healthy and ready to go.

All the details in the New York Post.

--Steve Hymon

Winter Classic should come to the Sierra or the Rockies

With the most recent Winter Classic, held in Fenway Park in Boston, being widely judged a success, a lot of attention is now turning where to hold future outdoor NHL games. A fun article on the Fox website proposes, among other ideas, a game between the Ducks and Kings at the L.A. Coliseum.

And I came across a Tweet proposing a game on the frozen ice of the national mall in Washington D.C. Can't you just imagine an errant slapshot clanging off the head of the Abe Lincoln statue?

Well, here's my brilliant idea: Instead of putting the game in another massive stadium in the Eastern U.S., move it to a truly scenic setting. And there are few more spectacular places than the Sierra Nevada or the Rocky Mountains.

The NHL could, for example, build a temporary rink with bleachers in the giant parking lot at Squaw Valley, scene of the 1960 Winter games -- where, by the way, the U.S. team beat the Soviet Union in the first version of the Miracle on Ice. Blyth Arena, where that game was held, was torn down in the early 1980s after the roof collapsed due to heavy snowfall (above is the view of the 1960 Olympic facilities, as seen from Squaw's slopes).

A game at Squaw could pit the perpertual contender San Jose Sharks versus pretty much anyone and be a treat to watch.