Ersberg interview
I chatted today with goalie Erik Ersberg, who missed the first two days of training camp with flu symptoms. I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice to say, Ersberg is feeling better and hopes to build upon his strong play at the end of last season. Here, Ersberg talks about his work this summer and gives his thoughts on the upcoming season...
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Question: You got some good reviews for your work at Bill Ranford's camp this summer. How was that experience?
ERSBERG: ``It was fun and there was a lot going on, so it helped me. I used to get back on the ice in Sweden around August, so it's a good start, to know you're doing all the stuff right. I just have to keep on doing that stuff.''
Question: The success that you had at the end of last season, how much confidence did that give you?
ERSBERG: ``It was a great experience. I always believed in myself and that I could play at this level, but to show people around here, too, that I could do it, was a great feeling. Good for your confidence, obviously.''
Question: The next thing would be proving you can do it over a long period of time. Have you thought about what that might take?
ERSBERG: ``Yeah, I've just got to work hard and try to get better every day. I believe I have what it takes and I just have to show it, day out and day in. Time will tell, I guess.''
Question: With eight goalies here, how competitive is it among you guys to get noticed?
ERSBERG: ``I guess it's different. You can take it differently. Sure, there's a lot of guys, but I can only focus on me and do what I do. I can't look around and say, `What's he doing over there?' That's not going to help me, so I'm just going to focus on my own stuff and hopefully that will be enough. There's great competition, that's for sure.''
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Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.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.
Ersberg is an amazing goalie. If he continues the way he played at the end of last season, I'd LOVE to see him as our starter, with Babs backing him up, and Bernier starting in Manchester. Sounds great, doesn't it?
I predict it'll be Erik and LaBarbera left standing at the start of the season, with the one showing the most consistency getting the most starts. It'd be nice if Erik could pick up from where he left off... Bernier needs more time.
There is no rush for Bernier to be a starter in L.A. Ersberg has proven he can play here.