Celebrating hockey in LA with temperatures in the high 90s – especially when a street hockey tournament is a part of the festivities – may seem a bit odd. However, Los Angeles hockey fans are used to attending hockey games in warm weather. (I’ve been comfortable in shorts as late as the second week in November…) I know from talking to them that those playing in this year’s street hockey tournament were definitely feeling the heat. I’m sure they all wished the skies would cloud over and the temperature would drop. In spite of the heat, teams competed all day in two divisions. A team even came in from San Francisco to participate in the tournament.

I didn’t attend the Friday night kick off party, but those who did seemed to think 1,000 – 1,500 hockey fans showed up for the event. Some fans I know thought the prices for Hockey Fest were too high to spend given the economic climate, but clearly many fans had no issues with the price for the weekend.

Many of the NHL trophies were presented in the event tent at Hockey Fest. They were very well presented and encased in separate glass cases so guests could walk all around each trophy to find their favorite players engraved on each one. I had seen all the trophies (along with the Stanley Cup) together at the NHL Awards party, but I hadn’t been able to get close enough to see all the names on each trophy and the awards from 2009 have been added by now, too. Having most of the NHL trophies in one spot in southern California was definitely a treat for hockey fans in the area. The Kings also had a lot of areas set up for fans to shoot pucks (and even find out how fast their slap shot is moving), a beer garden, two autograph locations, a few vendors, and a team store. I was very surprised that the only locations for purchasing Kings and Hockey Fest merchandise required a paid admission. Since the street hockey competition was open to the public without a ticket, I would have thought they’d want to sell merchandise to those hockey fans, as well. Perhaps they’ll consider that next year.

Kids definitely aren’t afraid to ask whatever they want to know and the kids only press conference where children were allowed to ask Anze Kopitar, Matt Greene, Wayne Simmonds, & Teddy Purcell anything they’d like definitely led to some amusing questions and answers. At times, it seemed the guys had gotten together to practice their comedy routine and perfect their answers to the kids’ questions. Matt Greene repeatedly mentioned that he didn’t have a girlfriend (and even tried to claim that he couldn’t get one), going so far as to quickly say his cell phone number when talking about hoping to get a girlfriend someday. The kids asked questions about Kopi’s number choice (which I found out years ago hadn’t actually been chosen by him – or anyone – specifically because of his draft number… it was just the luck of the draw), why he wears the tinted visor (looks cool), their favorite jersey logo, favorite goalie (Greene pointed out that they didn’t like goalies very much as a general rule), and even if Kopi still lived with his parents. Teddy Purcell mentioned that he looked up to Teemu Selanne, even though he knew he’d get booed.

In their interview after the event, Kopi and Teddy joked that they’d worked on their routine for a couple weeks, but then more seriously answered that they were just trying to keep things light and fun for their young fans.

Marcel Dionne was incredibly entertaining (as always) with the Triple Crown line. It’s not that Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer weren’t good, just that they barely got a chance to speak. The fans were clearly happy to see the Triple Crown line back together again for the first time in a long time and hearing the guys talk about their history with the Kings and describe the clips shown.

The Hockey Operations talk with the fans was very similar to Dean Lombardi’s breakfasts with the GM and state of the franchise events. Lombardi, Ron Hextall, & Terry Murray continued their tradition of being up front with fans and openly answering questions as clearly as possible. They talked about the goaltending situation (though fans only asked about Quick & Bernier), the team’s playoff potential, the need to go to the net (and Ryan Smyth’s addition to the team), why they wouldn’t bring Heatley into the Kings’ locker room… Lombardi even mentioned that maybe they can get some of the Ducks fans back. (As we know, many Ducks fans are former Kings fans who switched to the Ducks when they were created or when they started doing better than the Kings 7 years ago.) This segment ran long, since the Hockey Ops guys wanted to answer as many of their fans’ questions as possible and an hour just wasn’t enough time for this one, even though it looks like the Kings are on the right track.

Bob Miller’s one man show was just as enjoyable as expected and one of my favorite events of the weekend. Miller showed a lot of clips from throughout his career and told many amusing stories. If you haven’t read his book yet, I still highly recommend reading Bob Miller’s Tales from the Los Angeles Kings. Even if you’re not a Kings fan, if you love hockey this book is well worth reading! Bob’s segment also went over (by a half hour), but fans clearly didn’t mind extra time with their beloved broadcaster. They clearly appreciated the time he spent on his presentation and could have listened to him a lot longer. One of the most exciting parts of this talk was that Bob mentioned the number of games he and Jim will be doing for FSN this year (65 out of the 82 games) and that all of these games will be aired in HD. I’d tried to get information on the FSN HD schedule for the Kings games this year, but hadn’t found a clear answer. I’m sure all Kings fans who have HDTV will be thrilled that FSN has increased their HD games from 10 to 65 this year – especially since they got rid of the horrible rinkside view before the end of last season. There were many times last year when the HD game of the night on Center Ice was the Kings game and those of us in southern California couldn’t get it, since it was blocked out in our area. Though I definitely prefer listening to Bob & Jim over other announcers, I would have given them up for the HD feed if I’d had the choice and this year fans of the Kings will get the best of both worlds.

Any new event presents a lot of unforeseen challenges to the host. I think the Kings staff did a wonderful job with their first Hockey Fest and hope it’s a tradition that continues for southern California hockey fans. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what they include next year.

Tonight’s Kick Off Party for Hockey Fest 09 starts a weekend celebrating hockey at LA Live. Eddie Kowalczyk of Live will perform, the current Kings and some alumni will be there, and the Kings Care Foundation is making an announcement.

Tomorrow’s event officially lasts from 9-6, though the TeamLA street hockey tournament starts at 8 and the last game begins at 6. Hockey Fest is from 9-3 on Sunday. There will be autograph tents set up, a kids only press conference, the Triple Crown line will reunite, EA Sports is debuting their new game, Bob Miller’s One-Man-Show, a team used equipment sale, and much more.

Hockey Fest is the largest hockey event in LA since the 2002 NHL All-Star Game (and surrounding events). Though it’s definitely more interesting for Kings fans than other hockey fans, there are many aspects that will appeal to any hockey fan and it’s a great way to get ready for rookie camps starting next month. Isn’t it amazing that rookie and training camps are almost here?

For complete information on the Hockey Fest in LA & to purchase tickets, see the Hockey Fest 09 Schedule on the LA Kings website.

The United States Men’s National Volleyball team qualified for the 2010 World Championships in Italy on August 15-17. They finished the qualification tournament at the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine campus in Irvine, CA 3-0 without even losing a set to Guatemala, Panama, or the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic only lost to the United States and will go on to another qualifying tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico later this month.

Having seen The Dominican Republic dominate in their matches against Guatemala and Panama, I was looking forward to a more interesting match with the United States. They did put up more of a fight than either of the other teams (the Dominican Republic was even ahead at the first technical timeout of the second set), but they were no match for the United States (who won the sets 25-16, 25-19, & 25-15).

Guatemala didn’t win a single set, though they made The Dominican Republic beat them 27-25 in their third set on Sunday and looked good at a couple points against Panama. Matches that are sweeps are definitely not as exciting as close matches, but the US team was definitely a lot better than the other teams in this qualifying tournament. I’m sure they’ll do well at the world championships, though clearly the other best teams in the world were not in Irvine with the US team.

I’m a huge fan of NHL hockey, so you’d think I’d own a lot of NHL DVDs (NHL’s Greatest Moments, The Vintage Classics series, specials on various Penguins and Kings, Stanley Cup DVDs, etc.). However, if you own any NHL DVDs, you know what I know. NHL DVDs are not well put together. I own the Pittsburgh Penguins: 10 Greatest Games 10 DVD set and just had to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup Champions DVD. Every time I see a DVD the NHL releases, I know not to expect much. However, there’s always this hope that they’ve learned since the last DVD or DVD set they put out and that this DVD will be different. It’s not.

I finally got around to watching my Pittsburgh Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup Champions DVD and it is horrible. First of all, though almost all of the playoff games were aired in HD (some not nationally, but most were recorded in HD somewhere), there is no Blu-ray option to purchase. The next big complaint I have about the DVD is that there’s not much on it.

There are only five items in the Bonus Materials section. The 2009 Playoff Overtime Goals is okay and they made some good choices. However, it’s less than 8.5 minutes long and a large portion of that time is taken up with the horrible graphics telling you that these are “LATE GOAL HEROICS” and the specific game and period info for each goal shown.

The Best of 2008-2009 bonus feature gets you the worst video compilation I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen compilations on YouTube). EVERY one of these highlights has graphics over them or black & gray bars above and below with distracting changes happening all the time, or fades to black all around the picture. This completely obscures the highlights they’re supposed to be showing in this section, which is a real shame. Whoever chose the highlights made some very good choices. All the clutter makes it very difficult to enjoy even a second of the one minute long (yes, the complete fade to black happens before the end of the 1.03 minute chapter) segment. I remember watching many of the highlights in their games and they were great. It’s too bad they chose so few moments and that then covered or surrounded their choices by constantly moving graphics to distract the viewer from the hockey highlights they’d like to enjoy.

The Bill Guerin Practice Wireless bonus is amusing. They put a mic on Guerin for a practice and included it on this DVD. It’s a little over 10.5 minutes long and is definitely entertaining for any Penguins fan. They didn’t put graphics over it or destroy the picture or the sound. The Game 7 Celebration (about 14.5 minutes) was also well done. They talked to the players on the ice, showed some of the locker room celebration, and didn’t destroy it by putting extra graphics over the footage. The Parade segment (about 11 minutes) was also shown well.

Unfortunately, that makes for about 35 minutes of good features, 8.5 minutes of good footage with WAY too much time spent on the horrible graphics telling you what you’re watching, and 1 minute of truly painful footage of highlights you can barely see through the overlays and annoying surrounding graphics.

The main feature has good highlights from the regular season through the parade with brief interviews in-between segments and is well done. It’s over an hour long and is well done. It’s a shame the rest of the DVD couldn’t be put together as well as the main feature. Perhaps they’re all done by different divisions, but I’d think someone would watch the DVD before releasing it. The older DVDs being bad is understandable, but technology has come a long way. Why isn’t the NHL using it to their advantage?

Fortunately, I still have the complete game 7 on my DVR, but I’m able to go back to DirecTV (as soon as I move, I can’t get it from my current place), I won’t be able to watch game 7 any more in HD. I’m sure the NHL will release a special edition 2008-09 Stanley Cup Champions box set, but I doubt it’ll be released in HD. Of course, until they release the set, I’ll keep hoping that someone will figure out that a lot of hockey fans have upgraded to HDTV and Blu-ray Disc. Though I prefer all HDTV to anything on a standard definition channel, I think the difference is most noticeable in sports – especially hockey. Anyone who has ever flipped from a game they’re watching in HD to a game that was only televised in standard definition knows what I mean. The quality is very drastically different and initially, it’s painful to watch – much more than switching from high definition to standard definition in regular TV. It’s possible part of the problem is the feed from the network in question being poorer quality than most of the television on normal cable these days, but I think the main issue is the fact that once you get used to being able to see the detail of a hockey game going back to the old way is like moving from being at the game to watching the game from a bar. It’s a huge downgrade.

Here’s hoping the NHL will finally realize that hockey fans want HD products and that most of us would be willing to pay a bit more for a high quality of product. I’d much rather be charged a bit more and have a DVD I want to watch over and over again, rather than a DVD that has a couple segments I like and a couple that are horrible (including one that is probably the worst clips segment I’ve ever seen assembled), all of which are in standard definition on DVD.