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.

Ever since the NHL announced that there would be an entire HD channel dedicated to HD games and that at least 7 games would be televised in HD each week, I was excited. I love days like today when there are two games on the HD channel. It’s great to see how other teams’ stations televise their HD games. It’s been particularly interesting and appealing this season, since the Kings and Ducks (the only teams televised in the LA/Orange County area’s sports channels) both chose to start off the season with the very poorly received rinkside view and are not televising any games that are not home games (which I normally attend for both teams) in HD.

Tonight I had the added bonus of the first HD game being the Penguins/Hurricanes game. Seeing your team play in HD is always better, but when they win it’s hard to beat. Crosby (4 assists) and Sabourin (94.4% save percentage) both played great games. In spite of the score, Carolina played pretty well. They outshot the Penguins 36 to 22. What really killed them were their special teams. The Penguins scored on 2 of their 3 power plays, while Carolina only scored on 1 of their 5 chances.

Nabokov just made a great save in the Sharks/Blue Jackets game. Since I’m caught up to live and I hate watching commercials, I’ll have to watch something else then get back to the game. There were definitely a few other games that were closer than the Penguins/Hurricanes game, but so far it looks like they made great choices when they chose tonight’s two games for the Center Ice HD channel.

Jonas Hiller stopped all 29 of the Kings’ shots and got his first NHL shutout tonight, ending the Ducks losing streak at 3 games. In my opinion, Hiller (with a save percentage of 90.8% & record of 2-1-1 before tonight’s shutout) has looked a lot better than Giguere (save percentage of 90.5% & record of 7-6-1) this season. Will tonight’s shutout give Hiller a bit more of a chance to play? Time will tell.

The Kings managed to keep the Ducks from scoring on their 2 man advantage (which they had for almost 2 minutes), but could not score against Hiller. Clearly, it’s impossible to win if you can’t score. Terry Murray thought the 5 on 3 power play the Ducks had seemed to take the wind out of the Kings’ sales. Murray attributed it to being the turning point of the game for his team.

Though Erik Ersberg stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced (a save percentage of 92.3%) and looked fairly strong in goal tonight, he got his second regulation loss of the season. The Kings were clearly frustrated by both of their losses this weekend. They have the day off tomorrow. They’ll start working on turning things around on Tuesday and hope to come out strong when they play the Capitals on Thursday.

In spite of the fires in southern California, the sold out Honda Center was pretty full. Most fans made the effort to get to the game to see the Ducks and Kings match up. I was impressed by the crowd, given the circumstances and the fact that the Ducks had lost a couple games.

Wednesday & Thursday’s games with the Capitals in southern California (Wednesday against the Ducks, Thursday against the Kings) should be exciting. The Capitals haven’t been to southern California in three years. Though Alexander Semin is really shining this year, I’m sure most fans in attendance will be looking forward to seeing Alex Ovechkin in person. At least with the NHL schedule changes, the Capitals should be here every other year, but seeing Ovechkin in person is definitely exciting for those of us who don’t get to see him very often.

Home viewers were surely happy that the entire game was not shown in the rinkside view format tonight. Fans were very vocal about hating the rinkside view and in spite of public comments to the contrary, apparently, FSN West/Prime Ticket does care about fans watching the game.

For the first time since Jason LaBarbera won four games more than a year ago (October 19 – 27, 2007), Erik Ersberg has led the Kings to a 4 game winning streak and hasn’t lost a game in regulation out of the 5 games he started. (Ersberg is 4-0-1 in his five starts with the Kings this season.) Terry Murray has been very clear about Jason LaBarbera being the Kings’ number one goalie, but one has to wonder how much longer that will last. LaBarbera started the first ten games for the Kings, but hasn’t played since then. It’s a bit sad to watch this happen, since Jason is a great guy who didn’t get the chance he deserved years ago when he was hot and was benched half the time so Garon could play. I know fans that would skip games if they found out Garon was going to be in goal, since they expected a loss and only attended the LaBarbera games, but he wasn’t given a chance to prove what he was capable of accomplishing. While I wish Jason had gotten the chance he deserved a few years ago, it’s impossible to go back in time and make that up to him. I’m very happy that Ersberg is being allowed to prove what he can do in the NHL. Ersberg had a save percentage of 92.3% tonight, stopping 24 shots.

The Kings have gotten a point in each of their last 5 games and have been continuing to outshoot their opponents as they have most of the season. After the first game of the season, where the Kings were outshot 41-13 in San Jose against the Sharks, they’ve only been outshot by 3 teams and two of those were games the Kings won and only got outshot by a few goals.

Clearly, defense has been a priority for Terry Murray since the moment he was named the head coach of the Kings. It may have taken the Kings a while to get adjusted to the new system, but they seem to be doing a good job with the system now. The Kings have been enjoyable to watch almost every game this season. They’re young and play with energy the Kings fans haven’t seen in their team this consistently in years. Hockey is exciting at Staples Center and in spite of the economy; I hope more fans will come out to see the Kings play. Staples Center has been pretty empty, in spite of the attendance figures. Though it seems FSN will no longer be using their “rinkside view” the way they did in the first games of the season shown using this gimmick, it’s still better to see hockey in person. Apparently, in spite of what he originally said, Tom Feuer does want the hockey fans to watch. Hopefully, the fans will be happy with the changes. The next telecast to feature FSN West/Prime Ticket’s “rinkside view” takes place this Sunday night at 5 p.m. when the Kings play the Ducks at Honda Center. It’s also available in HD, so check it out to see the improvements. I’ll be at the game, so I’ll probably only watch portions of it when I get home, but I hope to see a better presentation and hear more positive feedback from everyone who watches the game.

David Booth, who scored his first NHL point against Jean-Sebastian Giguere & the Anaheim Ducks on December 12, 2008, got his first NHL hat trick tonight in Anaheim. Booth’s three goals were the only goals the Panthers scored tonight, but they were all Florida needed to beat the Ducks.

Craig Anderson made 44 saves and had a save percentage of 97.8% in the win that broke the Panthers’ 6 game losing streak and ended their 5 game road trip on a positive note. The Ducks out-shot the Panthers 45-26, but Giguere couldn’t hold off enough of their shots. In the Ducks’ last two games, Giguere’s had a save percentage of 82%. The Ducks were all pretty sluggish in their last couple games and it’s clear that they need to do something to get the team going back in the right direction. The crowd at the Honda Center reflected the recent performance. Though the attendance announced was 16,951, there were a lot fewer people at the game.

In other sad news for southern California residents who wanted to watch the game at home, FSN Prime Ticket opted to show the game only in standard definition. Anyone out of the area who has Center Ice could get the game in HD from Fox Sports Florida. Of course, the bright side of the southern CA fans not getting tonight’s game in HD is that they did not have to put up with the “rinkside view” they hate so much. Most people I’ve talked to would choose to watch the game in standard definition the traditional way to watching “rinkside view” in HD, which is a very strong statement. Most HD viewers get spoiled with HD and will choose what they watch partially based on what shows/games are available in HD.

Derek Armstrong, Dustin Brown, Kyle Calder, Denis Gauthier Jr., & Bailey (the mascot) of the LA Kings were on The Price is Right (CBS) yesterday. It’s been advertised all season and the ad (with the guys either bidding almost nothing or choosing not to bid on a Ducks jersey) is great. Click below if you haven’t seen the ad yet.

The behind the scenes footage they’ve shown in games (which is available through Kings Vision at the official Los Angeles Kings website) is also very entertaining. Unfortunately, the actual appearance on the show wasn’t as good. It was great to see the Kings on there and hear the (half-hearted and clearly forced) “Go Kings Go” cheer from the crowd, but I’d heard that day’s show referred to as “hockey themed” and the only thing hockey themed in the entire show was the showcase the Kings did. The prize package was an amazing one for any hockey fan, but the people in the showcase showdown were clearly not hockey fans. The idea of going to Switzerland for the 2009 Men’s World Ice Hockey Championships didn’t even appeal to them. I can understand the ice box at Staples not being appealing to someone who likes hockey (you can’t really see the game, but I guess it wouldn’t be bad to watch one game from there – it’d be better than that horrible “rinkside view” FSN is forcing on the fans), but when the idea of going to Switzerland for the world championships doesn’t appeal to you, it’s clear that you’re not a hockey fan. Any Kings fan would have loved the prize package, but the guy who won the other showcase was thrilled that he didn’t win the Kings showcase, even though he got a snowmobile and lives in Florida. Of course, a Kings prize package for someone who lives in Florida would be a bit annoying even if the guy was a huge fan of the Florida Panthers (in town to play the Kings tonight and Ducks Sunday) or Tampa Bay Lightning.

I always figured the showcases that are not won are used in future showcases for the show, but does this prize package just go away and give the Kings advertising without having to spend any money on prizes? If so, it worked out very well for them. The guys looked like they had a lot of fun (I haven’t talked to them about the experience yet, I wanted to see the show first), it’s just too bad more of the antics didn’t make it on the air.

I remember seeing an article in one of the Canadian newspapers about how The Price is Right should have had more important players from different teams on the show if they wanted to have a hockey themed show. While I agree with this, there are a couple problems with that idea. A. The show wasn’t hockey themed, B. The showcase that was hockey themed was more LA Kings themed than general hockey (you wouldn’t get a prize package from a team of your choice, you’d get a Kings prize package, same thing with the tickets), and C. The Kings are local, so they were around when the show was filmed.

The Price is Right with the Kings was a bit disappointing after the amusing previews, but it was good to see hockey showing up in a TV show, just as it’ll be great to see Luc Robitaille on Bones (Fox) in January.

The Kings don’t appear on US National TV at all this season (unless you count the NHL Network airing CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada), but they did make it onto the Hockey Night in Canada schedule. CBC does a much better job with HD than FSN, so it’s good to watch some of the highlights at home after the game from CBC’s coverage. (Initially, I was annoyed that FSN chose to make all their HD games home games of the Kings or Ducks, but once I saw the terrible “rinkside view,” I was thankful that I wouldn’t have to watch that for an entire game, since I’d be seeing the games live.)

Tonight’s game was a rough loss for the Kings, but it still demonstrated how much fun their young team is to watch this season. The Kings play with a lot of energy and it’s good for the rest of North America to get the opportunity to see them play. Hockey Night in Canada is watched by a ton of viewers. Hopefully, they stuck around to watch the second game and were able to enjoy this entertaining game.

It was fitting that Oscar Moller got both of the Kings’ goals tonight, since it was his 10th game in the NHL and the first game after he was told he was staying in LA and not being sent back to juniors. Moller now has 6 points in his first 10 NHL games, leading the Kings rookies and near the top of the NHL rookie list.

In the beginning of tonight’s broadcast, Kelly Hrudy mentioned that he thinks Dustin Brown might be the most underrated captain in the game today, since “he’s gritty, he hits hard, and he has a great scoring touch.” I have to agree with Hrudy. Dustin Brown is definitely an extremely underrated player. I think that’s true of many players who fight hard to stay in front of the net, but Brown has the distinction of typically having the most hits and not having many penalty minutes. Most of the guys who battle to be in front of the net seem to rack up a lot more penalty minutes.

Tonight’s show was also Marc Crawford’s first Hockey Night in Canada broadcast in LA since being fired by the Kings after last year’s next to last place finish as head coach of the Kings. He was actually at the game Thursday night, but Hockey Night in Canada did not broadcast that game.