all-star spectacular

For the second time since the opening of Staples Center, the LA Kings got to host the NHL All-Star Weekend this year, Saturday January 28th and 29th. 

Being me, I of course had to be there for both the All-Star Skills Competition on Saturday and the All-Star Game on Sunday. 

Here's a photo essay of the weekend-o-hockey-fun!

Saturday: Fan-Fair and the Skills Competition

Oh, hey Drew Doughty. You look a lot better up there than Crybaby Crosby does ;)

Because it's LA, we of course had an All-Star Weekend Sand Castle  :) 

My favorite All-Stars, for obvious reasons

In honor of the 20th Anniversary of Wayne's World, a pop-up Stan Mikita's All-Star Cafe was set up in front of the Fan Fair. They gave away free donuts (that tasted like Krispy Kreme) and hosted autograph sessions and player/celebrity panels every few hours. 

We just happened to arrive at the All-Star Cafe in time to catch the Great One (aka Wayne Gretzky) on a panel with Brett Hull and David Boreanez, talking about the All-Star Celebrity Shootout game Saturday afternoon they were all participating in. (Wayne was not as grumpy as he looks in this photo, I swear.)

We also caught Hall of Fame hotties Mike Modano and Chris Chelios signing autographs. (And I was super-annoyed when some lady who just showed up for the free donuts asked me who they were!)

The NHL Fan Fair had food, kids stuff, autograph lines I wasn't going to wait in, collectibles and a really cool display of all the NHL Awards. Here are the awards with LA Kings on them (minus the Stanley Cup.. you had to reserve time to see that up close).

The Norris Trophy for Best Defensemen, won by Rob Blake in 1998 (photo on right) 

and Drew Doughty last season.

The Selke Trophy for Best Defensive Forward, won by Anze Kopitar last season.

The Conn Smythe Trophy, for NHL Playoff MVP, won by Jonathan Quick in 2012 

and Justin Williams in 2014.

The Veznia Trophy, for Best Goaltender, never won by a King (yet... Jonathan Quick has been nominated twice). But I include it here because, seeing it close up, I noticed that is has a goalie net in the middle of it, which I think is pretty cool :)

The Jennings Trophy, given to the goaltender with the fewest goals against, 

won by Jonathan Quick in 2014

The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, for the player exhibiting the best sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct, won by Wayne Gretzky multiple times, and Anze Kopitar last season.

Inside of Staples Center decked out (see the walls below the restaurant) for the weekend with logos from all the teams and the names of the four divisions competing.

The pre-Skills Competition intros.

Jeff Carter (#77) and Drew Doughty (the 2nd #8), being from the host team LA Kings, were the last players introduced before the four fan-voted Captains.

Sunday: All-Star Game

Dreeeeew and Carts during warmups.

Prior to the game, the members of the "NHL 100" (who had been introduced in a ceremony Friday night) all walked onto the ice and were introduced one by one. This was probably the coolest moment of the weekend...seeing that caliber of talent all in one place at the same time, in their jerseys. #chills

The current All-Stars went down that line as they were introduced (they skated out from under that triangle thingy), shaking hands with each historic player. Then, after the anthems, the members of the 100, all dropped a puck to a current All-Star to start the game, performing the largest, most talented puck-drop in NHL history!

The final score of "Round 1" which sent my Pacific team to the Final Round against the Metropolitan division, who ended up beating them 4-3 (cuz they were coached by Gretzky ;p).

oh christmas tree... the hockey edition

My friend Diana is posting an ornament a day this month on Instagram for the 25 days leading up to Christmas. (That will equal about 1/100th of the ornaments on her tree -- ha!)

I like that idea, but not enough to do it everyday for 25 days. ;) So I'm officially kicking off my own abbreviated version of showing off my tree -- six themed days of ornaments, showcasing the collections that have manifested throughout my Christmas tree over the years.

Tonight, in honor of the Los Angeles Kings' 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sucks.... I mean Sharks... here are most* of my hockey-themed ornaments:

 

Hockey-playing S'mores Snowman! 

Autographed Rob Blake Kings Ornament

Scary Wayne Gretzky Hallmark Ornament from
the year he was an evil Ranger.

One of the most important ornaments on my tree...
It's been placed front and center the last two Christmases : )

*Note: I have a bunch more hockey ornaments on my parents' tree, but my mom won't let me take them from the "Family Ornament Collection" to my own. Maybe I'll take pics of those this weekend :)

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 

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 ;)