All of Staples was abuzz with the real reason a capacity crowd came out for two bottom-dwelling teams. As far as you could see were fans donning Robitaille jerseys. Old school forum gold and purple jerseys, the black and white Gretzky-era jerseys, and current Crown and Shield jerseys. I even spotted an old school Campbell Conference All-Star jersey during warmups. It was appropriate to see all the jerseys, because Luc was the only player in Kings history to play in the most variations of the Kings jersey.

During warmups, every King player was wearing a number 20 jersey. His number was behind both goals, banners stretched across several sections, and a big Thank You Luc was placed under the Kings bench. The giveaway tonight were little Luc banners, and Team LA had special items commemorating the event.

At center ice, a big stage was placed with his name and number, where the Master of Ceremonies Bob Miller stood. As soon as the lights went out to show the video montage of Luc's career, the fans were calling out "LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUC!" Season Ticket holders lined the red carpet running out to center ice, all wearing different Luc jerseys. As names from the past came strolling down the carpet, the fans lustifully cheered (in some cases booed). Wayne Gretzky got the loudest response. Luc's dad fell to the ice, but was O.K. Miller made the comment that "They say Luc couldn't skate either."

As the second video montage ended, Miller introduced Luc to the throngs, and the place exploded with "LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUC." Derek Armstrong said he could still hear Luc's two favorite words: "I'm open!" Matty Norstrom skated over from the bench and stated that even though he was known as "Lucky Luc," there was nothing lucky about him. Jim Fox recalled Luc's first training camp, and how he knew Luc was something special. He also spoke of Luc's love for the game, and how it transcended fellow players, coaches, and fans. Barry Melrose recalled a story about Luc and some other Kings taking out Alexei Zhitnik from Russia out to a gentlemen's establishment. Luc was "thoughtful enough" to bring a camera so he could send pictures to his mother back in Russia. He also spoke about Luc's loyalty to his team and friends. He also said that when fans came to see Luc, they never felt cheated. "Every time I watched Luc Robitaille play, he reminded me of why I love this game so much," he said.

The Kings presented Luc with a Steve Holland painting. Holland's art regularly appears on the covers of the King's “Game Night‿ magazine. Also the Kings' private offices at the Staples Center look like a one man gallery of his work. He was the artist who painted the picture for Wayne Gretzky when he retired. Luc also got a 2007 Toyota Tundra truck for his home in Park City, Utah. He also received two Polaris snowmobiles custom designed by West Coast Choppers' Jesse James. Noticed the excitement on Luc's sons' faces, Miller cracked that they might be more excited for the snowmobiles than him.

After a third video montage, Luc took the microphone. Luc said that it wasn't about scoring or winning trophys. It was just about playing hockey. Ever the gentleman, Luc went down the line and thanked every friend who came out. It took quite a bit, as there were close to 30 past players. He recalled many funny stories involving former players. He commented how he was scared to death of Marty McSorley, because he wasn't so sure what he was going to do.

He summed up his speech, which went about a half-hour longer than alloted: "I lived the dream. I heard your chants every time I touched the puck. And I'll take this until the day I die."

With that, the standing-room capacity of Staples gave Luc a roaring round of applause and more booming "LUUUUUUUUC" calls as he went and hugged his family. Then, he ushered his wife Stacia and their two sons over to the face-off circle. There, his two sons helped raise his jersey high into the rafters, as it was lifted from the ice high above Staples. There wasn't a seat in the house occupied.

Posted by Matt Murray at 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There was actually a game played Saturday night, after the hour-long retirement ceremony of Luc Robitaille.

Michael Cammallari fed Alexander Frolov early in the first to give the Kings an early lead. It was Frolov's 24th of the season, and brought all the butts out of the seats. Adding to his team-high 47 points, Frolov has settled on the line with Cammy and Armstrong, and that line has been very productive.

Anze Kopitar had one hell of a goal, when he scored short-handed to make it 2-0. Kopitar checked Travis Roche just as he was trying to get rid of the puck, and took it into the length of the ice, deking Mikael Tellqvist out of his skates for his 13th of his season. It was a tremendous goal that received a tremendous ovation from the sold-out Staples Center crowd.

A late goal by Josh Gratton brought the Coyotes to one. It was Gratton's first goal of the season.

First period: Kings 2, Coyotes 1

The Kings and Coyotes went back and forth to start the second. However, Lubomir Visnovsky was injured midway through the period, and hobbled over to the bench. The fans all held their collective breath, as he has been solid on the blueline. However, several shifts later, he returned to the ice.

During each stoppage of play, they showed a highlight from Luc's career. And there has been a lot of stoppage. Two times, the crew had to come out and fix the glass. Assorted scuffles and commercial breaks really dragged the game on. Considering the actual game didn't start until 8:30, The fans, all 18,346 of them, seemed to be in good form.

Second period: Kings 2, Coyotes 1

Whether it be the late start or each period found the Kings slower and slower, the Coyotes scored twice in the third period to put a downer on the evening's festivities.

SEan Burke had to be replaced by Yakuta Fukufuji midway through the period, due to dehydration. And the Coyotes feasted on the rookie's inexperience in the net at the NHL level.

Ladislav Nagy struck first when he snapped in a wrist shot from the top of the right circle to tie the game. Then Travis Roche got the game-winner from right above the right circle, when his shot ricocheted off defenseman Mattias Norstrom's skate with under two minutes to play.

Third period: Coyotes 3, Kings 2

Posted by Matt Murray at 6:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So today is the day that Luc Robitaille's jersey gets hoisted to the rafters of Staples Center. Technically, it's not really in the "rafters", but rather on the wall. But that doesn't sound very impressive. "Tonight, the Los Angeles Kings honored the greatest left winger of all time by putting his jersey... on the wall." Walls are for paintings, clocks, dart boards. Jerseys should hang in the middle of the arena. But this is a holdover from the Fabulous Forum, which doesn't make too much sense. There's nothing but room in the middle of Staples, minus the huge scoreboard.

But I digress. Luc's retirement ceremony has allowed sportswriters to wax poetic about the man, myth and legend. Here's a few that I found interesting:

First, Wes Goldstein from CBSSportsline.com wrote a nice piece on Luc's career, starting with how he got his nickname "Lucky."

"Tiger Williams started calling me that after (his first game)," recalled "Lucky Luc," who will have his No. 20 retired by the Kings on Saturday. "I was a kid, living in the biggest house at Marcel's (Dionne), driving his Mercedes and then I score a goal right away, so he thought I was lucky."

Sports Illustrated did a nice photo gallery spanning Luc's career over on SI.com, the hardest image is one of Luc hoisting the Stanley Cup... as a Red Wing.

At KingsRadio.net, over two hours of audio interviews with Luc and others talking about No. 20 can be heard. Jimmy Carson, Tom Webster, Pat Brisson, and Detroit play-by-play announcer Ken Kal are included. Also, Luc's most recent interview on KLAC with Money and Petros just yesterday.

TSN.ca has a nice write-up of Luc. In it, Luc recalls on some of the first celebrities he met:

"Chad Lowe came to see us after a game with his brother Rob," said Robitaille. "And Melissa Gilbert was with them. I was a big fan of Little House on the Prairie. She came in the dressing room with those guys, and she saw every guy walking around naked in the dressing room and I'll never forget, she stepped backward about five feet so fast. "We were like, 'Hey, that's the girl from Little House on the Prairie."

Someone uploaded a Luc retrospective over on YouTube.com from Fox Sports last season. Another notable entry was this photo flashback of Luc's career. Two nice bits of video that are a nice reminder of just how great Luc was.

Posted by Matt Murray at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)