great day for a parade... the 2014 championship edition

Been a little busy at work since I played hooky on June 16th to go downtown and cheer on my TWO-time Stanley Cup Champion LA Kings, so here's a bunch of the photos I took two weeks ago on an awesome Southern California Monday-Funday :)

Ranger Hater Juanita and Me waiting for the Parade

Jeff Carter (77), Marion Gaborik (12) and Mike Richards (10)

Trevor Lewis (22), Drew Doughty (8) & Alec
Martinez (27) with the Campbell Bowl

Tanner Pearson (70), Tyler Toffoli (73), Martin Jones (31),
Jeff Schultz (55) and Dwigtht King (74)

Jarret Stoll (28), Matt Greene (2), Willie Mitchell (33) and Justin Williams (14)

Conn Smythe Trophy Winner Justin Williams (14)

Jonathan Quick (32), Dustin Brown (23), Anze Kopitar (11) and Lord Stanley's Cup

Jonathan Quick (32), Dustin Brown (23) and Anze Kopitar (11)... with confetti 

KOPI!

QUICKIE! 

The party bus... Alec Martinez (27), Drew Doughty (8) and Trevor Lewis (22)

Team photo with lots of trophies :) 

random (biased) thoughts on saturday morning olympic pucks

It's 8:30am PT and I'm currently on a social media blackout as I watch the USA vs. Russia hockey game on Tivo. The second period just started and there is no score. But I have some thoughts thus far that I will add to this before I hit "publish." (Warning: this post will be heavily weighted towards comments about LA Kings players in this game -- there are three: USA's Jonathan Quick and Dustin Brown, Russia's Slava Voynov.)

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First off, during the intermission, they showed highlights of the Slovenia vs. Slovakia game that probably no one outside of Slovenia and Slovakia watched today. But Slovenia, who is competing in their first Olympic hockey tournament, won. It was their first Olympic win.

We care about this because the one NHL star on Team Slovenia is LA King Anze Kopitar, whose dad is the team's coach. Kopi scored one of Slovenia's three goals today.

Yesterday I was complaining on Twitter about how Kings Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty are all of the sudden goal scoring machines in their Team Canada uniforms, and it would be nice if they'd score some goals in their Kings uniforms.

Kopi has been the Kings' only goal scoring machine of late. So to him I just say: Yay Kopi! That goal was a beauty!

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Now back to USA vs. Russia.

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As the first period was going on, I thought, if this goes well for Team USA, all of the world will now know the awesomeness of my former Baby Goalie. (That is my pre-Stanley Cup Championship nickname for LA Kings/Team USA starting goaltender Jonathan Quick, who, until he grew a beard during the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, looked like he was 12.) Since he is now the "former" Baby Goalie, we will refer to him by his real nickname now, "Quickie."

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Still no score. Russia is on their second powerplay. USA defensemen and the goal posts are really helping Quickie on this one. Phil Kessel just took a shot to the hand. Ouch. He's off to the dressing room. Uh oh. 

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I may have just jinxed Quickie. Oh look... that ass Putin is here watching the Russians score their first goal. Blech. 0-1 Russia. But Kessel is back from the dressing room. That's good. His sister is playing for the Team USA women, by the way.

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The commentators just said, "Jonathan Quick has been huge for Team USA." Yes, yes he has. That's because he's very used to playing for a team that can't score goals. 

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Wow. A Russian just leveled Dustin Brown. Is that what they call karma? :-P 

The NBCSN commentators that annoy me* say that was a bad, selfish penalty since Brown was nowhere near (like 2 zones away from) the puck. Agreed. But it's now time for a Team USA power play. Come on guys!

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Team USA scores!! 1-1 Uh oh... off Cam Fowler's skate. But he didn't kick it in. The goal is good! Whoo-hoo!

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End of the 2nd. Still tied 1-1. Shots - USA 23, Russia 21. 

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Now into the 3rd period. Uh oh. Brownie apparently broke the rules. He doesn't agree but the refs don't care. Another power play for Russia.

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Thank god NHL fans aren't obsessed with these annoying horns. I would shoot myself. 

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Quickie makes a big save and now we're back to even strength.

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Is it just me, or does it sound like the crowd is chanting "Go Kings Go?" If so, then I will believe in my mind that the chant is for Quick and Brown, not Voynov (although in reality, it's the reverse.) 

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Team USA on the power play. Please score a goal! Please score a goal!  (If Jeff Carter was on Team USA in his Team Canada jersey I bet they'd score a goal....)

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Whoo-hoo!! Joe Pavelski scores on a beauty of a pass from Patrick Kane. Team USA leads 2-1! I normally hate Patrick Kane, but not this week.

10 minutes to go. Quickie be a wall. Quickie be a wall....

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Argh! Brown gets another penalty. Knee on knee hit. You really must stop doing that Dustin. Oy.

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AHHH! Russia scores. Quickie was looking around the wrong side of the giant Russian screening him. And we're tied again. I can't take this. 7:16 to go. (BAD Brownie!!)

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They're chanting "Go Kings Go" again ;) 

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Russia just scored again. Argh. Right over Quick's shoulder, after he'd just made an amazing save too. Wait... the ref is reviewing. Was it deflected with a high stick? NO GOAL!!!! Ahhh! But on NBCSN's replay it didn't actually hit that stick. Wow. That should have been a goal. Putin is gonna be pissed. OH, wait. The in-goal camera is showing the net was slightly off its peg. In international play, that means no goal. In the NHL, that goal would've counted. 

(It also counts in the NHL if the puck goes out of play into the net above the glass and no official sees it, and then bounces back in and off the goaltender's back into the net... just in case you were wondering. No, I'm not bitter.) 

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Russia takes a penalty with 1:32 left. Still tied 2-2. Wow. Wow. Wow. Both USA goals have been on the power play. Could this be Miracle on Ice, Part 2? (No because this USA team is not that outmatched, but it still adds some drama.)

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And we go to Overtime. AHHHH! I do believe our remaining power play time carries over with these international rules, though right? Oh NBCSN commentator dudes who annoy me, please confirm... Yes, 29 seconds of power play carries over. Come on guys! Score a goal (And by guys, I mean the American ones. It would be awesomesauce if it ended up being the Dustin Brown one.)

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Power play is over. Now back to 4-4 for OT. "Go Kings Go!" These Russian fans are so nice to Quick and Brown.

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Patrick Kane just had a breakaway and missed. Argh.

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I think we are going to a shoot out. (No jinxes since we're currently in USA's defensive zone with 6.2 seconds left.) Yes. We're going to a shoot out. Quickie BE A WALL. I'm serious this time. In international play, you can use the same 3 shooters over and over. Interesting... I guess that means Dustin Brown won't be getting a chance here.

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TJ Oshie is up first for Team USA. Scores! That was the slowest shoot out approach I've ever seen.

Now Malkin for Team Russia. DENIED by Quick!

James Van Riemsdyk for USA. Denied. USA still up 1-0.

Pavel Datsyuk for Russia. DENIED by Quick! USA still leads 1-0. 

Joe Pavelski next for Team USA. Score and we win. No pressure. Denied. 

Alright Quickie. No pressure. Be a wall. Kovalchuk next for Russia. He scores. Ahhh. Tied 1-1.

Now Russia gets to go first. Kovalchuk again. Denied.

Oshie for Team USA. If he scores, we win. Denied.

Datsyuk up for Russia. Scores. ARGH. Russia 2-1. 

Last shot for USA if we don't score. Oshie again. Scores! Thank god. 2-2. Knocked the water bottle off.

Kovalchuk again. Scores. Russia 3-1.

Oshie again. This poor guy. Scores! 3-3. 

Datsyuk for Russia. Denied! Ahh! Good Quickie. Good Quickie.

Come on Oshie!! Denied. Ahhhh! This is making me nauseous. 

Kovalechuk. Denied by Quick!

Oshie again. Round 8. SCORES!!! Team USA WINS 3-2!!! AHHHH!!! That was AWESOME!!!!  (Take THAT Putin!) 

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Now I have to go read 11 hours of my Twitter feed. Bye!

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* This is mostly because they are not Bob Miller and Jim Fox, and include Jeremy Roenick. No real offense to Doc Emrick. You're pretty good. You're just not Bob Miller. 

things that make me smile

... Reliving the LA Kings' Road to the 2012 Stanley Cup.

This is a great retrospective video series they've been showing during intermissions at games this season. I'm mostly posting it here for me so I can watch them all in one place whenever I want to, but hopefully the hockey fans amongst you will enjoy it too :)

Stanley Cup Moments Episode 1: Stoll's OT Winner

Stanley Cup Moments Episode 2: Penner's OT Winner

Stanley Cup Moments Episode 3: Scuderi Hit

Stanley Cup Moments Episode 4: Daryl Sutter Hired

Stanley Cup Moments Episode 5: The Trade Deadline

Stanley Cup Moments Episode 6: Brown Hits Sedin

Stanley Cup Moments Episode 7: Kings Sweeps St. Louis

Stanley Cup Moments Episode 8: LAX Arrival

Added 3/30/13
Stanley Cup Moments Episode 9: Kopitar's OT Winner

Added 4/5/13
Stanley Cup Moments Episode 10: Carter's OT Winner

Added 4/8/13
Stanley Cup Moments Episode 11: The 5-Minute Major

Stanley Cup Moments Episode 12: The Final Minutes

Added 4/12/13
Stanley Cup Moments Episode 13: The Stanley Cup

Added 4/16/13
Stanley Cup Moments Episode 14: Looking Back

Added 4/20/13
Stanley Cup Moments Episode 15: The 16-4 Playoff Record

Stanley Cup Moments Episode 16: Quick Wins the Conn Smythe

Added 4/23/13
Stanley Cup Moments Episode 17: Champagne Shower

Added 4/26/13
Stanley Cup Moments Episode 18: Championship Parade

great day for a parade

Today was the LA Kings Stanley Cup Victory Parade, an event I never thought I'd ever live to see ;) It was great to see all the players so relaxed and having so much fun after working so hard for the last two months. It was also great to see that really pretty shiny Cup in their hands :)

Here are a few pics from the day:
(The majority are on my Facebook page. If we're friends, go check them out there)

My "money shot" -- Dustin Brown lifts The Stanley Cup, while Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Quick hug it out. Awww.

I was taking pics of Mike Richards, Drew Doughty, Dustin Penner and Jeff Carter and didn't even notice Luuuuuc Robitaille standing right behind them until now :)

President of Business Operations Luuuuuc Robitaille addresses the team and fans 

Team photo with the hardware :)

Today was a celebration for every player who's ever worn a Kings jersey, and all the fans who cheered for them over the last 45 years. It was also for all the personnel who've worked within the Kings organization over the years to mold the team that won that Cup on Monday.

That's why this photo -- taken at the 9-11 Memorial by Kings fan Dave Krasne in New York, and posted today on Twitter with the message, "As a Kings fan in NYC, I couldn't let Mark Bavis or Ace Bailey miss the festivities" -- is so poignant.

Mark Bavis and Garnet "Ace" Bailey were LA Kings scouts who perished on one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center on 9-11. (The Kings mascot "Bailey" is named after Ace.) There is a rumor that the team is petitioning the NHL to put Mark and Ace's names on the Cup. I hope they succeed.

la kings = 2012 stanley cup champions!

I don't really know how to put into words what I'm feeling tonight. I just watched the LA Kings win the Stanley Cup for the first time in their 45-year history, live from Section 206 at Staples Center. I expected to cry at the game when it looked like they'd win. Well, they looked like they'd win in the first period after taking advantage of a 5-minute major penalty and scoring three power play goals. I didn't cry then. I cheered. I didn't cry at the end of the game either. Instead, I started shaking with about 10 minutes left in the game. My hands, my legs... and I'm still not sure my hands have completely stopped shaking. But I didn't cry till I got home and watched my favorite current King, Captain Dustin Brown, lift the Cup, kiss it and hand it off to 35-year-old, first time Champion Willie Mitchell...



Seeing their faces close-up, hearing them speak. So happy! They worked so hard. And they did something truly remarkable. The Kings were a 75-1 long shot to win the Stanley Cup at the beginning of the season. Since then, they fired one coach, and hired another. They struggled to score goals and barely made the playoffs, scraping in as the 8th seed just two games before the end of the regular season. But once they got there, they knocked off the #1, #2 and #3 seeds in the West.

Then they took a 3-0 lead against the Eastern Champions, and one of the best goaltenders -- Martin Broudeur -- to ever play in the NHL. Games 4 and 5, which they lost due to bad luck and stupid mistakes, nearly broke me as a fan. All my doubts -- ingrained over 24 years of disappointment -- about their ability to win came back. I actually thought about selling my tickets tonight -- they were going for $1,200 to $9,999 each on stubhub.com, and I knew I couldn't sit through another three hours of nervous nausea like I'd experienced in Games 4 and 5.

But I also knew if they won tonight and I wasn't there, I'd slit my wrists. So I drove to Staples Center, for the 9th time in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, this time with my Dad because if they were going to win, I wanted a family member there with me to experience it. (My little brother had come with me to Game 4.) I was wearing what I wore last Monday when they won 4-0. I ordered the exact same drink and food. And I sat in the exact same seat -- row 7, seat 8. And tonight, I watched my Kings completely eviscerate that future Hall of Fame goaltender... scoring 6 goals (5 with him in net) before it was all over. They came out hard. These were the Kings of Game 3, not the Kings who let nerves get to them in Games 4 and 5. And because of that, these Kings ARE the 2012 Stanley Cup Champions!


Here are some of the sights of Game 6 -- the game when the Kings were finally crowned Champions!

From the awesome pre-game video:

After goals by Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter and Trevor Lewis during the 5-minute major boarding penalty (Rob Scuderi really took one for the team with that hit. So glad he wasn't seriously injured and came back to play. He's really gonna feel that tomorrow, but something tells me he won't care :)

Jeff Carter scores goal #2 for him and #4 for the rest of us :)

Me and Dad during 2nd intermission... kinda grainy cuz I had to pump up the color levels to make us visible under the super-bright florescent lights.

The final stats

Dustin "Pancakes" Penner (who said he'd mix pancake batter in the bowl of the Cup if he won it again ;) passes Lord Stanley's Cup to Jonathan Quick.

Conn Smythe Winner, Stanley Cup Champ and most likely Vezina Trophy Winner Jonathan Quick hoists the Cup!

Drew Doughty celebrates!

The Captain presents the Cup to the Kings elusive owner Phil Anschutz at the bench.

Luuuuuuuuuuc Robitaille finally lifts the Cup as a KING!! (He won it as a player, but had to go to Detroit to do it)

Willie Mitchell with the Cup, surrounded by press, players and their families

The photo I've been waiting 24 years for! (Love that Luc and former King/now special assistant to the coach Bernie Nicholls snuck in there on the right :)

And this just makes me smile.. Dustin Brown with one of his three mini-me sons (photo stolen from the awesome LA Kings twitter feed :)

1 more win (knock on wood. no jinxes. no whammies)

I was really nervous today. My brother is coming to LA from Vegas for Game 4 on Wednesday. Everything has fallen into place thus far for us to possibly witness history together in Section 206, Row 7 on our mom's birthday, June 6th. But the Kings had to win tonight for that to still be possible. So I was slightly uneasy all day.

But once this beautifully amazing goal was scored in the 2nd period by Anze Kopitar, with the awesome assists from Dustin Brown and Justin Williams, I was able to breathe for a while. This gave us a two-goal lead.

 

Two more goals came after this. At which point it hit me: This is really happening. The Kings have a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals. They are actually, more than likely (knock on wood. no jinxes. no whammies) going to finally -- after 45 years -- win the Stanley Cup!

AHHHHHHHH!

This is REALLY happening! The Kings need to win ONE MORE GAME. Please let that happen on Wednesday so I'm there to see it. (Knock on wood. No jinxes. No whammies.)

These statements were heard around me in Section 206 tonight in the 3rd period. They helped me believe what I was seeing ;)

"This is total domination."

"We are seriously going to win the Cup!"

And from the 7 or 8-year-old sitting next to us in a giant Kings crown + a kids-sized Dustin Brown jersey: "Trying to get a slapshot past Jonathan Quick? Ha. Yeah, right." :)

I've never heard Staples Center louder than tonight. But something tells me it might be a tad louder (Knock on wood. No jinxes. No whammies) on Wednesday night...

Scenes from Game 3

The calm before the storm

The man (previously known as Baby Goalie ;) mentally preparing during warm-ups

Glow-stick-o-rama before the game starts

The Great One was on-hand for the ceremonial puck drop at center ice

1:49 remaining in Game 3. Kings lead 4-0. Everyone was on their feet chanting "We Want The Cup!"

The Final Stats.
The LA Kings are the first team in NHL history to lead 3-0 in all four series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

Madness on Chick Hearn Court, between Staples Center and LA Live. NHL Network's camera on a crane only helped excite the crowd, switching chants between "We Want the Cup!" "Go Kings Go!" and "Marrrrr-tyyyy"

For my fellow-Disney peeps, even Wreck-It Ralph joined the party :) 

"The Sandley Cup" sculpture has been updated since I last saw it :) 

Best promo of the night -- text to a number, reply with your name and email, get a psuedo-autographed pic of The Great One at center ice back in your inbox 

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.

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.)

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.