LaBarbera, on expectations
Here's what Jason LaBarbera had to say about his attitude entering camp and his reaction to the low expectations that people are putting on the Kings this season...
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Question: It should be an interesting camp for you, with all the goalies here. What's your mindset like coming into camp?
LABARBERA: ``Confidence. I'm excited. It's a different group. Right from the day I got here, a couple weeks ago, there was a better vibe around here. It's more enthusiastic and more exciting. I'm 28 but I kind of feel like an old guy around here. That's refreshing. I just feel more like I belong here. I just feel like I belong here more now. It's good. I just feel a lot better about everything right now. We all have something to prove, as individuals and as a group. Like I said, we're young but we're enthusiastic. Guys want to learn and get better. There's nothing but an unreal future for this group.''
Question: Outside expectations for you guys are pretty low. Does that provide more motivation for you guys, or do you even pay attention to that?
LABARBERA: I think, as individuals, you always have high expectations of yourself. We're going to have to learn, as a group, how to have high expectations. Obviously, in general there aren't a lot of expectations. There's enough pride and enthusiasm in this room for us to have high expectations. Obviously nobody expects us to win the division or finish first overall or anything, but I think every night we can surprise a lot of teams. I think, especially at the start of the year, teams might come in and maybe take us lightly, and we can surprise a few teams. Then come Christmas-time, teams won't want to play us because we are that gritty, hard-working, enthusiastic bunch of guys that we need to be. It's exciting. It's a challenge, 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.
I hope he has worked on his rebound control. That was the difference between him and Ersberg. He has great size and good position between the pipes but he plays like more of a blocker than a sponge. I hope he stays healthy all season and our boys dont let anybody spear him this year!
Hi Rich, first of all I'm jumping on the bandwagon right now and thank you for the great work you have done for all of the hockey fans all over, I know I appreciate your hard work along with a great, great number of other hockey fans. To answer Deano question about Barbs, I was impressed with : 1. Conditioning, skating and his very much improved glove hand and covering of the puck today. He made some excellent saves, (did you notice the action word was "SAVES" not "STOPS". He was moving very, very well, sure hope he continues the upgrading as ,it could make for a very, very interesting camp. Heck we might even have the goalies dropping the gloves. I have to say this, Clune doesn't give up an inch of ice for free, if he plays under control he could be another "Lappy". Hope to meet you tomorrow Rich. Thanks again.
I like LaBarbara. He had a 3.10 GAA last year (not so good) but his save percentage was .910 (not so bad). So that meant the Kings were giving up 33 shots on goal each game LaBarbara was in goal. This year, if his save percentage remains at .910 and the Kings can give up only 25 shots, his GAA becomes 2.25 and that is great.