Prepping for Avs

Here is the game preview from NHL.com.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?id=2008020081

The Kings defeated Carolina 4-3 on Friday, when Michal Handzus scored his second goal of the game with 1:39 remaining in overtime. Los Angeles, which allowed the first two goals Tuesday before beating Anaheim 6-3, rallied from a two-goal deficit for the second straight game.

"Last year in a game like this, we would have just folded the tent and not done what we did tonight," said Kings goaltender Jason LaBarbera, who stopped 23 shots Friday.

"It's fun coming to the rink this year. It's a fun group to be around. Everybody's enjoying each other, and that makes such a huge difference when you go on the ice."

Here's an article about the Kings via spectorshockey.net

It's about how the Kings are having terrible attendance this season.

Kings Need to Win back Fans:
http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/Spector

the Kings will be well positioned to win against the Avs if they score more goals than they give up.

I think part of the problem is AEG's tendancy to get in the way. (in reference to the article) Instead of letting their stars shine (Kopi, Brown, O'Sullivan, Johnson, Frolov) they are promoting Ice Girls, Cuba Gooding Jr. (come on, the whole Jerry Bruckheimer thing is sooooo played by now, and why doesn't he stay at the Ducks games with his Posse), and the entire circus atmosphere. Why do we need to have these constantly shifting "Motto's" as well? Power = Pride = Passion, or We Are The Kings, or Play Like Dave Taylor Is Watching. Its a little silly. If ownership really feels compelled to have a motto, pick one and stick with it. Sic Semper Tyrannus, for instance, or Que Pasa?

Of course if tickets were $6 dollars for entry and you could still sneak down to take the empty Loge seats while sneaking in a few 16 oz. tallboys in your jacket, I think more people would be willing to go. I wonder what would happen if the Kings returned to the Forum or to the Sports Arena (haven't been to the redone version). I think many older fans don't like Staples much, and this crap ice is not helping make me a believer.

Finally, if the team sucks for that long, of course people are going to lose interest. Add to that an ownership group that caters to corporate fans, a year lost to salary issues forced on the league by owners like AEG, and a continued escalation of the costs of attending and it makes it all the more remarkable that anyone still makes the journey downtown. Oh yeah, and its been 40 years without a cup while the Ducks get one in just over 10 years.

Paul Stastny, Wojtek Wolski and Marek Svatos.

Its amazing that Colorado always seems to find these great young players. Hejduk, Tanguay, Neimenen, Drury, Skrastins, Hinote. Great scouting or great GM that finds HIS kind of player?

They've never really settled on a netminder since Roy, though.

Cristobal, you are always so quick to criticize anything and everything the Kings do it makes me wonder why you are even a fan of the team. The Kings have done an excellent job of drafting over the past few years in my opinion with Lombardi and even before that. Drafting great young players like Frolov, Brown, Kopitar who I believe are at least as good as Colorado's young guys of Stastny, Wolski, and Svatos. Our team is quickly coming together and next year with Bernier in net I believe we will be a real force in the West. This year we will have to see with how our young guys develop and play and how the goaltending with LaBarbera goes(he has looked pretty good but still gives up some weak ones too often as seen by the Anaheim game although the Carolina goals were not his fault). Our team is probably the best young team in the league in terms of youth and talent when looking at the next couple seasons.

The young and hungry Kings will defeat the old and well fed Avs Monday.

Critobal; the more of your comments I read, the more I wonder. Have you ever been to the staples center for a kings game?

Rob - 3 times. All losses. One a shutout. Last time was 05-06 season.

You know,
I had 3 tickets to the Ducks Kings game last tuesday, and i got them for 9 bucks a peice. I called at least 4 of my usual game buddies and every single one of them said "no way dude, im not giving anymore money to AEG until the kings start winning... not even 9 bucks". So ya, I'd say things are bad, but management has put it on themselves... raising prices after consecutive losing seasons?? give me a break. Plus the way money is right now.. people arent too willing to throw away cash on the kings...

Wow, where did all this negativity came from suddenly. Someone needs to tell me where someone can go in L.A. to see a sorting event that does not cost an arm and a leg when you add parking and food.

I stopped being a B-ball fan 10 years ago a few years after the whole gangster culture took over and a seat cost more than a plane ticket. I stopped being a baseball fan after all the strikes and attitude. You can't go to a Dodger game without having the F bomb dropped by multiple low-lifes sitting next to you every other minute. I stopped being a pro football fan after the Raiders, Rams and NFL deserted LA. I became a hockey fan after going to a game about 12 years ago and seeing how amazing it was to watch live. Also, for the most part, the players are not mostly criminals yet.

So, I still go to lots of games and I even take my son. The fans who sit in my section are not usually profane (except for the inane Redwings suck chants) and even when we lose, which lately has been often, its fun to go. I do agree that a new slogan every year is lame. But lay off the ice girls.

Looking around the league, there are more than a few teams that can compete with the Kings for futility over the years. We can all bag on AEG but at least now it looks like there's light at the end of the tunnel. This is the first time I can remember where the players are volunteering up-beat assessments of the team. There are plenty of things going right at Staples. I'll be at the game tonight and I bet we win.

Jonny - I can't believe that your friends were unwilling to go to a kings-ducks game for less than the price of a movie. Regardless of who's in charge of the team, and whatever politics are going on behind the scenes, a true fan will go anyways, through thick and thin. I can understand if it's a financial thing, but 9 dollars?! If I lived in the LA area I would kill to go to these games. This is an exciting time for the Kings even if this year won't necessarily result in playoffs. I think your friends need to rethink what they are really fans of: winning? or a team that's being built to win for years. If it's just winning, then there's plenty of other teams they can be fans of.

Not related to this story, but to keep everyone up to date...

Manchester:
Bernier won on Friday, beating Lowell and making 29 saves. Quick lost to Lowell on Saturday 2-1, making 39 saves. Bernier lost to Springfield on Sunday, 24 saves. The Monarchs don't have a player in the top 20 in goals or points.

Ontario:
The Reign played their first game Saturday, beating Bakersfield 2-1. Zatkoff made 29 saves.

Reading:
Daniel Tayler is on loan to Reading I guess. He lost the Royals first game, 5-2 to Elmira. Taylor made 33 saves.

Notable Junior prospects:
Loktionov has 4 goals and 6 assists for Windsor in the OHL. The Spitfires are 8-1. Teubert has 5 goals and 5 assists and is a +8 in 11 games for the Regina Pats in the WHL. Regina is 6-4-1-2. Linden Rowat is one of Regina's goalies. He's 2-0-1-1 with a 2.65 GAA and a .908 save %. Martin Jones is playing for the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL. He's 5-1 with 1 shutout, a 1.51 GAA, and a .931 save %. Calgary has the most points in the WHL with 20. Their record is 10-3-0-0.

I keep an eye on most of these kids pretty regularly, so if you want frequent updates, or want to know about specific players, let me know. The Kings also have a bunch of kids in college and over in Europe. Those kids are harder to track because sometimes the stat reporting on the internet by those leagues isn't the greatest, plus some leagues have websites in other languages.

Brian S.
Great post. I totally agree with you on all counts, especially concerning the other local sports venues and the negativity of our fellow posters of late.
Being a 4-year season ticket holder and life-long fan, and being fortunate enough to see this talented young team in person every home game, I can tell you that I haven't been this excited about seeing them play in years. And we have the best fans in L.A. After the O.T. goal Friday, the barn went nuts. It sounded like a packed house even though the population was sparse.
So come on guys, get positive. Success begets more success.
And leave the ice girls alone............

Cristobal...as I stated before, the Kings are not alone with bad ice.

You have been to 3 games? I've been to 300 and something games, if not more. I've been around this team since before you were a sperm. The never ending complaining is getting REALLY old.

Wow it's obvious now w/ Rich's poll and these comments that most of you guys are not the average fan or even understand the average fan.

Cristobal is usually pretty negative but he's right that it's only natural to expect some drop off in attendance. The team has gotten younger and less experienced so unless you are a hardcore fan there isn't much of a draw. Now doubt I would go to a hockey game over any other sporting event. But here in SoCal there are so many other options than just sports. For example, a couple decent game tickets w/ drive & food is about the same as a couple lift tickets to nearest ski resort. With the latter I get an all day event. Biggest reason though I'm not going to games as much is we've got a little one now but I hope to take him to at least one game again this year. So in fairness it ain't really anything the Kings have done.

On the Avs it's funny reading that Denver Post piece is like reading a review of the Kings. Goaltending unsure, guy fighting to regain form. Only major difference is Avs have some high profile veterans up front and in back. I prefer the Kings youth though so maybe the Avs are what the Kings were 2-3 years back.

The Diehard tickets are $11.00 each for a full season. Find one or two other people to split the season with if you cannot go to all the games. So my son & I are getting in fairly cheap. We pay $10.00 to park & we eat before we go. Total price to see the Kings live - $32.00.

I think I have bought every kings ticket on ebay, for everygame that ive gone too. Most of them are season ticket holders who are trying to get rid of them. I've never paid full price, and I enjoy sitting on the 300 level. The tickets get e-mailed to me right away, and I've never had 1 problem with the tickets. You can almost always find a pair of seats for around 25 bucks or less... divide that by two. Nothing beats being at a live game.