Wednesday, May 30, 2012

3 more wins (knock on wood. no jinxes. no whammies)

Thank you Anze Kopitar... and as always, Jonathan Quick (and Colin Fraser too). But mostly Anze Kopitar :)

 

PS:  Love the inside-the-net cam.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

nauseous optimism... a study in knocking on wood (no whammies. no jinxes)

One week ago today, the Los Angeles Kings, the hockey team I have cheered for and suffered over since circa 1989, won the second Western Conference Championship in franchise history, earning itself a trip to the holy grail of all sports championships, the Stanley Cup Finals, which start tomorrow.

When Dustin "Pancakes" Penner scored with a little over two minutes remaining in the first overtime to clinch the Game 5 win over the Phoenix Coyotes, I screamed in the middle of my living room, where I'd been pacing for the previous 17+ minutes of sudden death overtime. Then I updated my Twitter and Facebook statuses. Then I kind of just stared at the TV in stunned silence listening to the commentators... until I started pleading with Dustin Brown -- through the TV -- to not touch the Clarence Campbell Bowl when he accepted the Western Conference Championship trophy on behalf of the Kings.

He didn't... thank god. To do so, could have been catastrophic in the superstitious world of sports. I'm pretty sure the Kings of 1993 -- the only other Kings team to ever reach the Finals -- touched that damn bowl when they won it in Toronto after an amazingly awesome Game 7 victory over the evil Maple Leafs, and we all know what happened after that.

It's that dreaded superstitious fear of all the cards crumbling down at the worst possible moment that brings me to the point of today's musing... This is all a little too good to be true for a team and its fans who, a year ago, were elated to just make the playoffs... and who this year almost didn't. Let's review a few of the amazingly awesome things they've done since April 11:
  • The Kings are 12-2 in the 2012 Playoffs so far.
  • The Kings are the first No. 8 seed in NHL history to eliminate a No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds.
  • Round 2 vs. the St. Louis Blues was the first time the Kings have ever swept a playoff series.
  • The Kings have won 10 straight road playoff games – an NHL record spanning more than one year 
  • The Kings are the first NHL team to win eight straight road games in a playoff year.
  • The Kings are the second No. 8 seed to advance to the Stanley Cup Final (EDM -- 2006). Will be the first to try and win the whole thing.
(Factoids courtesy of the amazingly awesome and always entertaining @LAKings Twitter feed)

So as someone who has spent 23 years always eventually being disappointed by the Kings, you can't really blame me for knocking on wood -- or any product made from wood (a guy I work with knocked on a paper sugar packet for me at lunch the other day ;) -- anytime the Kings do anything good. Or anytime anyone says anything good about them. Or anytime anyone thinks farther than one game ahead of now. I'm really nervous about this.

The good thing about not making the playoffs is you have weeks, sometimes even months to prepare for the end of your season. In the playoffs, things can be going great and then with one goal (or one illegally curved stick) it can all crumble. And the farther into the playoffs you get, the more invested you are, both emotionally and financially if, like me, you are a season ticket holder now paying as much for one ticket as you paid for two during the regular season. And therefore it hurts a hell of a lot more when it doesn't go the way you want it to.

I still remember sitting in my parents living room crying in front of the TV on June 9, 1993 as the Montreal Canadiens scored four goals to end the Kings season and win the Cup. (And I still hate Canadiens goaltender Patrick Roy and his damn cocky winking eye more than any other athlete and eyeball in history.)

If you're thinking right about now that I'm a freak, I would a) tend to agree with you and b) like to point out that I'm not the only person who feels this way. It's kind of a given that any true Kings fan be a glass-half-empty type -- it's an emotional self-preservation thing -- as this great LA Times article on Saturday explained so well.

All that said, I am willing to admit that I'm nauseously optimistic about our chances against the New Jersey Devils. Their goalie Martin Brodeur, while good, is old (40!). They've played more games than the Kings during the playoffs so hopefully they'll be tired and beaten up. And while they have some great scorers on the team (one of whom the Kings tried in vain to sign last summer -- Ilya Kovalchuk), the Kings are on a roll and have gelled as a true team at the exact right time.

Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown are the Kings' leaders and leading scorers and they will be the focus of the Devils' defense. But Dwight King -- a rookie who had just come up from the minor leagues when I spent a small fortune on a Staples Center suite for my birthday to watch the Kings lose to Calgary 0-1 a mere three and a half months ago -- has five goals in the playoffs. Jeff Carter scored a hat trick in Game 2 vs. Phoenix. Drew Doughty is on fire the last few games, defensively and offensively, finally earning his $7m paycheck. Mike Richards, Penner, Justin Williams, Jarrett Stoll... there are four lines of guys who can score goals and have finally learned to forecheck and carry the puck. And the Kings are solid on defense, having strong, smart veterans paired with brave, quick newbies on each change up... all six of whom have a plus rating.

And then there is the guy who stops goals... Jonathan Quick is the sole reason the Kings made the playoffs this year. And if he stays on his game, then I firmly believe we can win the most treasured of all sports trophies, Lord Stanley's Cup. (And Quick will win the Conn Smythe Trophy for MVP of the playoffs, followed by the first Vezina Trophy [Best Goaltender in the NHL] awarded to a King.) He is awesome. Please dear god let him stay that way for four more wins!

Yep, that's the catch. There's still so much that could happen in the next four to seven games. Everyone is congratulating me and saying I must be so excited about this. I want to be. But as I said above, the best I can muster is nauseously optimistic.

Until the Kings win four more games, there will be no celebrating. Just a continual set of deep breaths and a lot of knocking on wood ... or on sugar packets... whichever I can get to faster ;)

GO KINGS GO! (Knock on wood. No whammies. No jinxes.)

Sunday, May 20, 2012

the sandley cup

This is AWESOME! It is a giant sand sculpture the Kings commissioned at LA Live, near the Starbucks. Check it out if you're in the area. If you can't make it, here's the 360.





scenes from game 4

We're not going to talk about the actual hockey game today cuz I'm still pissed off at:
  1. the ref for calling a penalty on Justin Williams for goalie interference in the 1st period when Mike Smith the Goon... I mean the Goalie... no I actually do mean the Goon, was actually interfering with Williams. 
  2. Shane Doan, aka The Other Goon, for scoring on the power play that followed, and then scoring another goal that no one in Staples Center even saw. (Thanks a LOT for paying attention Toronto. Sheesh!) 
  3. the Kings for being half asleep today. HOWEVER, as today's hockey buddy Diana pointed out, it's better they lose a game now rather than later. They are 11-2 in the Playoffs, and are still up 3-1 in this series. This is not the end of the world and may actually be a good thing... It may have been just the kick in the butts they need to remember not to believe all the hype that is surrounding them now. They still need to focus and play their game, one game at a time.
Anyhoo... due to a Bike Tour running through LA today, everyone showed up at the game early to avoid gridlock. Here are some scenes from Staples Center, before the game:





Here's the finish line of the AMGEN Tour of California Bike Tour... right next to Staples Center on Figueroa.












This was the scene on Chick Hearn Drive between Staples and LA Live. Yes, that's a Bike Valet area. 

The Great One's statue decked out in current Kings garb

  

Then the most exciting part of the day (since the game sucked) was randomly running into former LA King Tony Granato on the concourse! 

Tony was one of my fave players (along with Luuuuuc and Blakey, who were also at the game, but not randomly hanging out with the masses) back in the good old days (aka the last time the Kings made it this far in the playoffs). 

If you don't believe me, here's a photo of us back in said day (literally like 20 years ago... eek!) taken at an autograph signing in Manhattan Beach. I think we've both aged well ;)

Saturday, May 19, 2012

scenes from game 3


Thursday, May 17, 2012 -- Scenes from Section 206



The Key 3

He even stops shots in warmups

Hand, don't fail me now!

Poised and waiting

The Starting Lineup

Rob Scuderi
Drew Doughty
Anze Kopitar

Dustin Brown
 


Justin Williams
Jonathan Quick


60 minutes of play later, LA Kings Win 2-1 on goals from Kopitar and King, to lead the Western Conference Finals 3-0. 
They need just 5 more wins for greatness. 
(Knock on wood. No jinxes. No whammies)


Tuesday, May 8, 2012

cotton candy + cupcake = mmm

I love cupcakes. I shouldn't (they're not exactly health food), but I do. A few friends of mine and I even started a club (called "Club Cupcake"... duh!) and always celebrate our birthdays and Christmas with cupcakes. We take our favorite flavors from our fave cupcake meccas to restaurants for dessert and then make the wait staff bring us plates to display them on before we dig in. (Yes, we're "those people" ;)

Anyhoo, long ago, I decided to start a list of my favorite cupcake places in LA on Yelp, via the reviews I'd write. I got as far as writing a review for my #1 fave place, Martino's in Burbank. The reason I haven't gotten any farther is because I'm having a hard time deciding on my #2 fave cupcake in LA. You'd probably be surprised to know Sprinkles is not even in the running. I hate those. The cake is dry and the frosting is too sweet. Nope, my #2 and #3 is a toss-up between Big Sugar Bakeshop in Studio City, and Crumbs Bake Shop in Larchmont. 

I haven't had Crumbs in a while, so Saturday night after going to Village Pizzeria, we headed into Crumbs. I bought a blueberry muffin for my Sunday pre-LA Kings game #4 breakfast, and then sat there trying to decide on which cupcake I wanted. 

They had vanilla with chocolate and sprinkles, which is my classic, go-to cupcake. 

They also had something that looked like mint chocolate chip ice cream frozen in time on top of a cupcake. (The website calls it the "Grasshopper.")

But in the end, I went with the Cotton Candy cupcake cuz it looked so pretty :)


I was a little scared when one of my friends asked what was in it after mine was already wrapped up and the Crumbs dude said cream cheese frosting (I HATE cream cheese). But luckily, all the sugar and pink food coloring masked those potentially ill tasting chalky cream cheese effects. I have to say this is one of the most yummy cupcakes I've ever had... great moist cake, sweet (but not too sweet), soft frosting and sprinkles! And the thing about Crumbs that might give it the edge over Big Sugar is their cupcakes are super-sized, which doesn't help in the diet department, but does make it worth the $3-$4 they cost.  

PS: The blueberry muffin was also delish. Super moist with juicy blueberries :)

Sunday, May 6, 2012

what a game!

The Los Angeles Kings swept the St. Louis Blues this afternoon to advance to the Western Conference Finals for only the second time in franchise history. The last time was 1993 and the Kings ended up beating the Toronto Maple Leafs to go to the Stanley Cup Finals vs. the evil Montreal Canadiens. We won't talk about what happened then. We are going to talk about what happened today.

Jordan Nolan (Um, who? He's a King. 4th line. Came up from the minors in Feb, March?) scored a goal and got in a fight.

Then the Blues scored a goal.

Then Dustin Brown closed the first period with a beautiful goal, top shelf over the left shoulder of Blues' goalie Ell-i-ott!

That was the end of scoring until the final minutes. Jonathan Quick was his normal amazingly awesome brickwall, stopping some crazy shots.

With two minutes left, we, the long-suffering community known as LA Kings fans, stood and waved our white rally towels and got loud.... really loud.

"@JonathanQuick32:  Never heard a rink as loud as the StaplesCenter for the final 2mins! Thank you LA King fans! #goosebumps"

Then, St. Louis pulled Ell-i-ott! The open net beckoned. Anze Kopitar got the puck just outside the Kings' blue line. Brown was booking it up the other side of the ice. Kopitar passed the puck to him, and Brownie buried it in the back of the empty net, cementing the 3-1 victory. Staples Center went NUTS!

Listen....



"After Brown's empty-net goal, that might have been the loudest I've personally ever heard Staples. That includes three NBA Finals." -- Rich Hammond, LA Kings Insider Blogger/former Daily News sports guy

KINGS WIN... historically.

  • First time the LA Kings have ever swept a playoff series.
  • LA Kings are the first No. 8 seed in NHL history to eliminate both a No. 1 and No. 2 seed.
  • LA Kings are only the third No. 8 seed to have ever advanced past the second round (Edmonton in 2006 and Montreal in 2010)

Then, as fans in Staples Center continued to go NUTS, the two teams met at center ice for the thing that makes hockey the classiest sport around, the handshake line. They'll battle and fight and swear and talk crap about each others' sisters for two weeks, then, when it's all over, they shake hands like gentlemen, wishing the victors well in the next round.


Haven't seen this since it was called the Campbell Conference Finals. Here's hoping.... GO KINGS GO! (Knock on wood. No jinxes. No whammies!)