From the dressing room
-- Blake will be the captain of the 2007-08 Kings. That won't be made official until the end of camp, but it's unofficially official, if you get my drift. I was just confused as to why he was wearing an ``A'' tonight. Even after I got the explanation, I'm still not sure why he was wearing an ``A.'' But I'll let it go... No word on alternate captains yet.
-- Zeiler is fine, after he got rocked in the first period by Matt Beleskey. Zeiler said it was the hardest he had been hit in three or four years and he felt fortunate not to end up with a concussion. He had a slight cut on the inside of his lip but didn't have a headache after the game. ``I'm usually the one giving the hits,'' Zeiler said.
-- Crawford pointed out Jack Johnson, Brian Boyle and Wayne Simmonds as three young players who he found particularly impressive. Crawford said of Boyle, ``Boyle showed that he will be able to play defense in this league. It's going to take some time but I think he's close.'' Boyle, for the most part, expressed relief about getting that first NHL game (albeit preseason) under his belt. ``I just tried to be as calm as I could with the puck,'' Boyle said. ``I tried to think less and just relax. ... If I think too much, it's just going to cause more problems than good.'' I asked him about the 5-on-3, when he went out with Blake and blocked a shot. ``Rob Blake was just kind of telling me where to go,'' Boyle said. ``We hadn't really practiced it. I'm just glad he hit me (with the shot). I don't think he got all of it.''
-- Dan Cloutier was in good spirits after the game and said he performed pretty much the way he expected. ``I thought the thing I would be rusty with would be plays with traffic in front, and that's how they got two of the goals,'' Cloutier said. ``I was seeing the puck well from the outside, or if they had open shots. I could see those. As long as I keep improving every time, it will improve my chances to be better.'' Cloutier pointed to one save, when he slid across the goal crease, as an example of his improved health. ``It's more natural now,'' Cloutier said. ``I don't have my hip locking up on me when I move.''
-- Crawford, on the goaltending: ``They did make some good saves. I didn't like the way (Cloutier) handled the puck behind the net and the carelessness of our defensemen with the puck behind the net. Anaheim is a good forechecking team so you have to prepare yourself for that. But it was a very positive night for our goaltenders.''
Inside the box score: Calder had two goals, Matt Moulson had a goal and an assist and Derek Armstrong and Lubomir Visnovsky each had two assists. Jack Johnson had a plus-two rating and Brian Boyle was minus-two but did have an assist and blocked five shots. Alexander Frolov took a team-high six shots on goal. The Kings outshot the Ducks 33-28 and won 30 of 65 faceoffs. The Kings were 2 for 10 on the power play and the Ducks were 1 for 4.
That's all from Anaheim. I'll be out of town until Monday so I'll leave the blog in Matt's capable hands.
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About the bloggers
J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra@inlandnewspapers.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews
.com.
Vincent Bonsignore is a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News. E-mail Vinny at vincent.bonsignore
@dailynews.com.
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Great job as always, Rich!
Thanks a lot Rich!
YUCK! That's bad news about the captaincy. Another bad decision by Crawford. Army would be the better choice.
Thank you very much Rich.
" Blake will be the captain of the 2007-08 Kings. That won't be made official until the end of camp, but it's unofficially official, if you get my drift."
Rich,
Can you promise that Matthew, when he relieves you of your duties, give us fans these kind of inside tidbits? I can't thank you enough for your coverage of the Scott Parse, Jack Johnson, Brian Boyle, Michael Cammalleri, AND the madness that was July 1st through the 4th.
thanks a lot, rich! as it has already been said numerous times, you do great work and we really appreciate it.
Why would Armstrong be a better choice as captain?
Matt & Rich,
Thank you for this, and ALL the excellent work!!!
I made it to the game tonight and I must say that my opinions of the player differ from Crawford's.
I must first say that the best player on the ice tonight for either team was , by far, Calder. His two goal were highlight reel goals and both were scored on the backhand. He was also tough and gritty along the boards and came out with the puck more than not in these battles.
Boyle, IMO was a bit cautious and looked like he was just trying not to make too many mistakes, not that I can blame him. Although he blocked a lot of shots, he did not seem to play with a lot of intensity, and made some bad passes across the ice rather along the boards. Overall I was satisfied with his play, but i would not say that he was impressive. Wayne Simmonds looked good-running around hitting anything wearing black and had intensity all night. He definitely needs to get stronger, most of his hits had little impact on his target. Jack Johnson looked fine, but I would not say that he was impressive. Cloutier needs to get faster from side to side, and needs to work on keeping his eye on the puck, especially when he is being screened. Aubin looked better than Cloutier and was the best goalie for either team, although that's not saying much. Our #1 line in this game, which consisted of Army, Fro, and Calder, was by far our best line and had some good chemistry. IMO they should be our #3 line when the season starts. Considering the players we had on the ice I give the Kings overall performance a B. That being said it was just great to be watching some live hockey again.
I hope we're not going to spend all winter on this blog arguing over who should be team captain?
Whether any Kings fans like it or not, it's not our decision who does what on this team. It's Crawford's. If you don't like it, get the Kings to fire him.
All Crawford has done is win a Stanley Cup. Can't imagine why we'd want him around. :p
And for the record, I have no problem with Blake getting the C.
LA Kings 2010-2011 Stanley Cup Champions!!!;
Ill go ahead and trust the opinion of the Stanley Cup winning coach in this case over you.
Hey Rich, Great work. In all honesty you the best thing to happen for us Kings fans. With that said I want to point out something that was in an L.A. Times article this morning. NOw I'm not a big fan of the L.A. Times anymore, and this is why.Their writers need to get their facts straight. Their almost as bad as Fred Rogan. Really though just check out what TWO of their columnist were able to come up with.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/hockey/nhl/kings/la-sp-kingsduxrep14sep14,1,7616359.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-nhl-kings
My favorite part of this whole thing was that, apparently, Wayne Simmonds Didn't play last night, and won't be playing until Saturday, hopefully. LOL.
Crawford thought Boyle looked good??? i must've been at a different game. i was really disappointed after all i have been reading on his development. he definitely does not play like he's 6'6" 220lbs and was the one guy i thought looked the most out of his element last night. then again, i'm no hockey coach/scout.
I didnt think the new jerseys looked all that bad.It could be worse we could have seen the return of the burger king logo. At least we dont have a slug logo like Buffalo or a duck for a mascot. GO KINGS GO!
Thanks for everything Rich.
Could you try and get some of the coaches insight on Trevor Lewis. We were at the game last night and thought he was very impressive. He looked like a seasoned vet.
Thanks for all the great information.
Does management not know our teams history? Would any other former Captain be chosen to sport the "C" after already taking it off DURING a season. Blake made his choice once already. Why should he be the teams C again?
Funny....last I heard, Blakey didn't want the job. So does this mean he will be a true leader and role model by showing up to practices on game days and not leaving the ice early?
I agree...Army would have been the better choice, he at least deserves an "A"....no one else out there is more of a leader than Army is. I've seen it.
Whomever said that Blake didn't want the job had their "facts" wrong. From the time Norstrom was traded, Blake said that he wanted to be the next captain.
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