• 15Oct

  Rangers Extend Winning Streak to End the Kings’ Streak

  Hockey No Comments

  One of the teams had to end their winning streak last night when the Rangers hosted the Kings in Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately for Kings fans, the team that extended their streak was the Rangers. The Rangers remain tied for first place in the Atlantic division and the NHL (with the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins). The Kings remain in first place in the Pacific division, but drop from 2nd to 5th in the Western conference.

  Definitely not the best game to attend as a Kings fan, but there were up sides to not getting credentials from the Rangers. I got to talk to more fans (Kings and Rangers alike). I also didn’t have to talk to the Kings after the game and somehow I don’t think they were in the best mood – especially with their upcoming flight to Detroit immediately following the game.

  As a Kings fan, I was definitely in the minority at Madison Square Garden, but I did see quite a few Kings fans. I talked to almost all the Kings fans I saw before the end of the game. One of the fans hasn’t lived in LA for years (he’s spent most of that time overseas serving our country), but he still manages to follow his favorite team. One of the fans is from Philadelphia, but he’s been a Kings fan most of his life. Apparently, he really liked their earliest purple jerseys and chose the Kings as his team as a result.

  Everyone watching the game saw Brian Boyle (a former King) score his first goal in a Rangers jersey. Considering how little the Kings face the Rangers, it’s pretty surprising that he scored his first goal of the season against the Kings.

  Special teams were definitely a problem for the Kings last night. The Kings’ penalty kill (tied for 27th in the league going into last night’s game) was already struggling, but the power play had been tied for 4th. The Rangers fan next to me turned to me to say that the Kings were making the Rangers look good near the end of one of the Kings’ last power plays of the game – and he was right. I couldn’t keep track of all the times the Kings passed the puck to the point without looking to see if there was someone there and cleared the zone for the Rangers (the Kings did this when they weren’t on the power play, too). Los Angeles was 1-7 (14%) with the man advantage and only stopped one of the three Rangers power plays. If I had to guess, I’d say the Kings will spend a lot of money working on their power play and penalty kill in upcoming practices.

  Erik Ersberg was in goal for the Kings, since they face the Red Wings tonight in Detroit. His save percentage of 81% is definitely not what he would have wanted, but two of the goals scored against him were scored on the power play (one with a two man advantage), which clearly made his job more difficult.

  The Kings hadn’t had a four game winning streak since about 2 months before the end of the last season and hadn’t started out with a record of 4-1-0 since the 1992-1993 season (the year they went to the Stanley Cup Finals and lost to the Montreal Canadiens) and ties with the best 5 game start in Kings history. It’s too early to be super optimistic if you’re a Kings fan (especially since Kings fans have seen their team start out well and finish way out of the playoffs before), but I do think that the team Dean Lombardi has put together is on the right track and will finish in the playoffs this year.

  Tags: Brian Boyle, Canadiens, Dean Lombardi, Erik Ersberg, fans, Hockey, Kings, Madison Square Garden, NHL, penalty kill, Penguins, playoffs, power play, Rangers, Red Wings, special teams, Stanley Cup, Stanley Cup Finals

• 09Sep

  The Best Way to Enjoy a Rookie Preseason Game

  Hockey No Comments

  Preseason games often have a lot of fighting. This is true even more in rookie games, since everyone seems to be trying to get noticed. (This is common knowledge, a friend of mine who barely watches hockey even asked me if I thought a game might break out at the fight tonight – I said I wasn’t expecting it.) Fighting is always a big crowd pleaser, but when there seems to be as much fighting as 5 on 5 hockey without it, serious hockey fans can get a little frustrated… a possible problem when the only fans who will attend a preseason rookie game are the most loyal fans.

  Tonight, the Toyota Sports Center was packed with fans who watched their team’s rookies lose to the Coyotes’ rookies (who rode out to LA on a bus) 6-1. The Kings scored the middle goal of the game and the crowd went wild. Of course, the fans also cheered for the fights, but their team had a lot more fights than goals and the fans need to find entertainment value in the game.

  However, I still think the best way to enjoy a preseason game of any kind is to sit with good friends who also really know the game. That way, you can discuss the players fighting, potential pronunciations (though most of us figure we’ll learn the names of the guys who actually make it – most of the guys in the rookie tournament won’t be in the NHL this coming season and many won’t be on the Kings when they do), the give-aways, the hits that take players out of position, the break-out player moments, and (in tonight’s case) maybe even how the other team is outplaying your team.

  I personally enjoyed the second period of tonight’s game the most and it had nothing to do with the Kings scoring their only goal a little more than half-way through the period, though as a Kings fan that was a definite plus. No offense to those I watched the 1st & 3rd periods of the game with, since we had a lot of fun talking; however, Bob Miller sat next to me for the 2nd period and hearing his stories more than made up for the quality of the game and the fact that the Kings’ rookies weren’t doing too well against the Coyotes’ rookies. Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty & HockeyTalk.biz kept telling Bob he needs to write a second book (an idea I fully support), since he has so many great stories that didn’t make the cut for the first book. Those who were lucky enough to catch Bob Miller’s One Man Show at Hockey Fest at the end of last month got to hear a few of the anecdotes that didn’t make the cut for Bob Miller’s Tales from the Los Angeles Kings. I’m sure many of the Kings fans would join us in pre-ordering Bob’s next book if/when we’re given that chance.

  Tags: Bob Miller, Coyotes, fans, fighting, Hockey, Kings, NHL, preseason, rookie camp, rookies, Toyota Sports Center

• 30Aug

  Hockey Fest 09 Highlights

  Hockey No Comments

  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.

  Tags: Anze Kopitar, Bob Miller, book, Charlie Simmer, Dave Taylor, Dean Lombardi, fans, FSN, Hockey, Hockey Fest, Jim Fox, Kings, Marcel Dionne, Matt Greene, NHL, NHL Awards, rinkside view, Ron Hextall, Ryan Smyth, street hockey, Teddy Purcell, Terry Murray, Triple Crown line, Wayne Simmonds

• 28Aug

  LA’s First Hockey Fest Starts Tonight

  Hockey No Comments

  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.

  Tags: Bob Miller, fans, Hockey, Hockey Fest, Kings, LA Live, NHL, street hockey

• 10Aug

  The NHL on DVD

  Hockey No Comments

  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.

  Tags: Bill Guerin, Blu-ray, Chris Kunitz, DVD, Evgeni Malkin, fans, goals, HD, highlights, Hockey, Kings, Mario Lemieux, Maxime Talbot, NHL, parade, Penguins, playoffs, Sidney Crosby, Stanley Cup

• 12Jul

  Perfect Sports Weekend for July

  Baseball, Hockey No Comments

  Typically, July is a very boring sports month – all around. The NHL & NBA have finished their finals, it’s the middle of the MLB season, NFL & college sports haven’t started …

  However, living across the country from your favorite baseball team makes any time they’re in town fairly exciting (especially if you, like me, don’t have the MLB package). I love being able to see the Yankees in HD and I’m lucky enough that they’re on ESPN and Fox fairly often, but when they’re in Anaheim (as they were this weekend), it’s great to see them in person. Granted, they often lose, since Anaheim is the only team with a winning record against the Yankees in the last 13 or so years, but it’s still good to see them play. In their first two games this weekend, the Yankees scored 14 runs against the Angels. Very good, actually… except for the fact that the Angels scored that many on Saturday alone and 24 on Friday and Saturday. Today’s game was a lot closer though the Angels still won. The Yankees had been one of the hottest teams in baseball before meeting up with the Angels, so hopefully they’ll get back to that after the All-Star break.

  This weekend was also the LA Kings’ development camp for their young players who haven’t made it into the NHL yet. It’s always good to see the players who’ve been chosen. I don’t follow that much minor league hockey, so I never know if I agree or disagree with the rankings before the draft or have much of an opinion on how various teams did in the draft. The development camp puts it into perspective a bit, since you can see the players in person and judge them for yourself.

  It was nice to see the large turnout today at the development camp in El Segundo. Everyone says it was about as crowded Friday and Saturday, too. Since Friday was during a work day and Friday and Saturday had great weather and (as always in southern California) plenty of options for fans to spend their time, it’s great to see how many of them chose to spend time inside to get a glimpse of the Kings’ future. Hockey has the shortest off season, but it can still seem to drag at times. Development camp is definitely a way to get a good hockey fix in person.

  Hockey Fest in the end of August at LA Live is really the next major event for hockey fans in southern California. The more I hear about Hockey Fest, the more interesting it sounds. I think it’s something all southern California hockey fans will be able to enjoy (yes, even the Ducks fans). Of course, southern CA hockey fans who haven’t visited the Science of Hockey exhibit at the Discovery Science Center should check that out to kill the time in the off season.

  Kat
  Contact Kat

  To read more of my thoughts on the NHL and other sports, check out Press Box Perspective.

  Tags: development camp, Ducks, ESPN, fans, Fox, Hockey Fest, Kings, MLB, NHL, Science of Hockey, Yankees

• 18Jun

  2009 NHL Awards in Las Vegas

  Hockey No Comments

  The NHL Awards will be in Vegas for the next three years. I know the traditionalists don’t like that the awards will be taking place in the US, but the nice thing about the awards moving to Las Vegas is that flights to Vegas are almost always very inexpensive. It’s also a great tourist destination, perhaps making it easier for more fans to attend the awards to see their favorites walk the red carpet. Some of the events surrounding the awards are open to the public. Tickets to the actual awards were very expensive, but the red carpet was free and (of course) the players have been seen in and around the casino and hotel by many fans.

  There were a lot of fans outside getting pictures and autographs from their favorite NHL stars and I saw a group of girls following Alex Ovechkin around yesterday when I arrived to pick up my credentials. A lot of fans seemed to travel from outside the Vegas area for a vacation including their NHL stars.

  Most of the awards presented tonight weren’t particularly surprising. I was a little surprised that some of the awards were won by large margins when I thought they might be a bit less of a blowout, but in the end the winner wins and the runner up doesn’t – whether the runner up was 3 points behind or over 700.

  Some of the presenters seemed to have more issues reading their lines than in previous years, but they got through the show.

  It was particularly nice to see Tim Thomas win the Vezina Trophy. I’ve never thought Thomas got enough credit for how well he plays and it’s really nice to see him recognized for his amazing performance.

  Hopefully, the awards will be advertised a bit better next year and even more fans will be able to make it to Vegas to enjoy the NHL Awards.

  Tags: Alex Ovechkin, fans, Hockey, Las Vegas, NHL, NHL Awards, Tim Thomas

• 12Jun

  Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 Thoughts

  Hockey No Comments

  What a game. I don’t know about all Penguins fans, but this Penguins fan has a sore neck. It’s amazing how stressful just watching a game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals can be… When watching the horrible game 5 at Diesel on the south side in Pittsburgh, Bryan Trottier mentioned that he was just watching this year as a fan and that it was very stressful to be a fan watching your team in the Finals. Hearing that from a guy who won the Cup six times (4 with the Islanders, 2 with the Penguins) as a player and once as an assistant coach (with the Avalanche) was pretty surprising.

  In Pittsburgh, it would have been simple to pick a bar for watching game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals and you probably couldn’t have made a bad choice. Every bar was surely filled with fans wanting the Penguins would win and the fact that the NBA wasn’t playing tonight didn’t matter as much to Penguins fans in Pittsburgh as it did to hockey fans in southern California. Here, most people care more about the Lakers than they do two out of town teams in the NHL Finals. Heck, even if the Ducks or Kings were in the Finals, I’d bet a lot of money that more people would care about the Lakers being in the Finals.

  I went to my favorite local sports bar (The Corner Office) with a friend figuring there were bound to be other hockey fans there watching the game and I was right. I left work a half hour early and we just barely got there in time to get one of my 5 favorite booths in front of the big screens. There was another fan in a Penguins jersey (also Mario Lemieux), a fan in a Red Wings jersey, one in a Red Wings t-shirt, etc. More people in the bar seemed to want the Penguins to win, but there were fans on both sides. The Corner Office even put the sound on for the game, which I didn’t expect. Could we hear it most of the time? Not really, but the bar tried and I think that was really nice of them.

  Game 7s don’t happen every year in the Finals, but they are a lot of fun when they do. The Penguins/Red Wings series was an exciting one, in spite of the blow-out in game 5 (where the Red Wings won 5-0). The 7th game lived up to my expectations. The game wasn’t over until the buzzer sounded. It was exciting and Penguins fans everywhere went crazy. I’m sure many of them worried when Sidney Crosby went down, but Max Talbot was amazing and gets the Stanley Cup winning goal, which he definitely deserved. Marc-Andre Fleury made some amazing saves, including one highlight reel save that will even show up on ESPN over and over, I’m sure. Dan Bylsma came a long way in a short period of time. From assistant AHL coach to Stanley Cup Champion head NHL coach. It must seem like a bit of a blur for him, but he’s done an amazing job and deserves a lot of credit for the turnaround the Penguins made this season.

  Sidney Crosby may not have played much in game 7 (he didn’t even get to 10 minutes, due to his injury), but he was still the youngest captain in NHL history to lead his team to a Stanley Cup victory and raise the Cup. Evgeni Malkin became only the 5th player in history to win the regular and Stanley Cup playoff scoring titles (he also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP). Marc-Andre Fleury proved he can play with the best of them and Marian Hossa chose the wrong team. Of course, there’s always the question of whether the Penguins would have been able to keep the necessary players (like Brooks Orpik) or afford the late season additions that allowed them to win the Cup this year. The NHL Network mentioned that Maxime Talbot specifically said he wanted to meet up with Hossa in the hand shake line and tell him he picked the wrong team. Clearly, he got to do that and I’m sure he enjoyed it as much as he thought he would.

  The Penguins didn’t make the playoff run easy for the fans. The Washington series was rough, but the Finals against the Red Wings were even more difficult. Pittsburgh has two reigning teams (the Penguins and Steelers). A friend of mine mentioned that the pressure is on the Pirates now, which is (of course – if you know anything about baseball) hilarious, since the Pirates are most likely to become the team with the longest streak of losing seasons in MLB history this year. Of course, the other end of the state (Philadelphia Phillies) is the home of the reigning World Series champions. Three out of the four top professional team sports – not a bad year for Pennsylvania sports.

  Now, we can all look forward to next week’s NHL Awards ceremony and the draft.

  Tags: Bryan Trottier, Dan Bylsma, Ducks, Evgeni Malkin, fans, Hockey, Islanders, Kings, Lakers, Marc-Andre Fleury, Mario Lemieux, Maxime Talbot, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Penguins, Phillies, Pirates, playoffs, Red Wings, Sidney Crosby, sports bar, Stanley Cup Finals, Steelers

• 04Jun

  Not Staal?

  Hockey No Comments

  Another great game tonight in Pittsburgh and the Pens are now tied in the series with Detroit 2-2. Clearly, I’m very glad I was able to make the trip to Pittsburgh for the finals and lucky enough to have tickets and be a fan at games 3 & 4. I had an amazing time cheering for the Penguins and waving my towel (though I’ll never quite understand the need for giving out towels).

  I think Marc-Andre Fleury completely deserved to be #1 star of the game, since he had a 94.9 save percentage and 37 saves against Detroit. I understand Crosby being named #2, since he had the game winning goal and an assist. I have NOTHING against Malkin (in fact, I bought this great “Got Milkin?” t-shirt yesterday complete with a puck being dunked in a glass of milk), but I do question the decision to make him the #3 star of the game. Yes, he had a goal and an assist, but so did Jordan Staal.

  It’s my belief that Staal’s short handed goal at 8:35 in the 2nd period was the turning point of the game for the Penguins. Not only did he score the tying goal, but it was short handed! I’m not really sure how they could have skipped him in the 3 stars of the game. He is listed as the third top performer of the day for ESPN. At least he got listed there…

  I find it interesting that the team shooting the most has lost every game in this series, all games have been won by two goals (perhaps that’s why Kunitz missed the empty net…), and the scores have been the same by city so far (both Detroit games 3-1; both Pittsburgh games 4-2).

  As a side note… Does anyone know if they track missed empty net attempts? I don’t have time to look it up now, but it seems like the Penguins have more missed empty net goals than any team I’ve seen (in years). It’s clear that Kunitz is truly a Penguin now – he’s missed an empty net at fairly close range. Perhaps that’s part of the initiation to the team.

  Saturday’s game should be amazing. It’s too bad NBC isn’t allowing the Penguins to show the game on the big screen outside. If you’re a Penguins fan, be sure NOT to record the game on NBC (or unplug the line that records that if you can – I know that’s not possible for those who have cable, but if you have DirecTV unplug the phone line) and go to a bar to watch the game. I’m all for higher ratings for NHL playoffs (especially the finals), but NBC’s reason for not allowing the game to be aired at the arena seems to be completely ratings based, so I think working to keep their ratings as low as possible is the best fans can do to show them how you feel about their enforcement of their contract.

  Tags: Chris Kunitz, empty net, Evgeni Malkin, fans, Hockey, Jordan Staal, Marc-Andre Fleury, Mellon Arena, NBC, NHL, Penguins, Red Wings, Sidney Crosby, Stanley Cup Finals

• 02Jun

  Being a Fan…

  Hockey No Comments

  It’s very different to attend a game as a fan. The last NHL game I had attended as a fan was game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Pittsburgh last year (May 31st, almost exactly a year ago). Same teams, same venue and also the only games I attended as a fan last season. Though I was kicking myself a little for not trying to get credentials worked out in case I could afford the flight back to Pittsburgh for the finals, a large part of me is glad. There’s something about being able to get your face painted and jump up and down and lose your voice cheering for your team. It’s a lot of fun. I’m not saying I don’t have a blast as a member of the media. I do. I’m very thankful for the access I have and really appreciate all the Kings, Ducks, Eklund, and many others have done for me in that area.

  I traveled all day to get to game 3 of the finals in Pittsburgh. (I left my house around 5 my time and had gotten very little sleep last night.) So, I’m not completely coherent, but we had a great time at the game tonight. My sister’s favorite player is Maxime Talbot. She predicted that he’d get a goal early and he scored within a minute or so of that comment. Naturally, she was totally thrilled that he got (and deserved) the number one star of the game. Not only did he get half of the goals the Pens scored tonight (true, one was an empty netter, but what a decisive empty net goal), but Talbot created a lot of other opportunities and hit the post once.

  It was nice to see that there were fewer blatant missed calls in tonight’s game. With any luck, that will continue.

  Jordan Staal had a very good game in spite of being absent from the score sheet. He did have 3 blocked shots. Evgeni Malkin increased his scoring lead from 2 to 4 points with his three assists (Sidney Crosby only had one tonight). I may not have a voice and my throat is definitely sore, but it was great to scream like crazy. I have a whole day to recover before I really need my voice again.

  I really like that they had a special moment to thank Versus for allowing the Penguins to show the game outside on their big screen in front of TONS of fans. NBC is not allowing them to do that (not even for the finals) and I think it’s a very sad statement. Personally, I think Gary Bettman should have tried to iron that one out. I understand that it’s in NBC’s contract, but the NHL keeps talking about trying to expand the game and gain fans. The party atmosphere OUTSIDE the Mellon Arena for the game looks amazing (if the pre-game atmosphere was any indictaion). The fans are great and that’s what it’s all about. The Pens aren’t charging for the service, so I don’t understand NBC’s issue. If I were a Pens fan who wanted to do that, I would make sure everyone I knew did NOT watch at home, so I could lower the ratings as much as possible. I’d tell everyone to go to one location (a bar that would have it on anyway – Pittsburgh doesn’t have an NBA team, the only thing people care about around here is the NHL Finals – talk about a switch from southern California where it’s all about the Lakers) to watch the game and fight the urge to record. I know many people (like me) even record the games they attend, so they can watch certain plays again when they get home.

  The Red Wings still lead the series, but the Penguins have definitely shown that they have life and I’m sure most Penguins fans are happy with the way the tide has changed a bit in Pittsburgh. Needless to say, Hossa got booed pretty much every time he touched the puck. I’m sure you could hear it on TV at times. Fans here in Pittsburgh have good reason for booing him and I’m not really against booing when it’s the other team’s player and with a good reason. (As many of you know, I always frown on booing a player on your own team.)

  I hope you’re all enjoying the finals as much as I am.

  Tags: booing, Evgeni Malkin, fans, fighting, Gary Bettman, Hockey, Jordan Staal, Marian Hossa, Maxime Talbot, Mellon Arena, NBC, NHL, Penguins, Red Wings, Sidney Crosby, Stanley Cup Finals, Versus

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