Weekly media column version 01.27.12

Staff photo by Brittany Murray
At a booth in the Redondo Beach Cafe, Daryl Evans can camp out near a wall of Kings' memorabilia that includes his signed jersey. And his protein smoothies on the menu.

What's in today's media column: A feature on former Kings' "Miracle on Manchester" hero Daryl Evans (linked here), and the Top 10/Bottom 5 list of the game analysts in Southern California.

What's not in today's column: A couple of footnotes to the "Miracle on Manchester" game.

Did you know: Evans was assessed a 10 minute misconduct penalty, as were a handful of others, after a scrum broke out with 9:56 to play and the Oilers up, 5-2. Evans happened to be on the ice and grabbed another Oilers player -- and back in those days, everyone who didn't go back to the bench was given penalties. The incident occured when Wayne Gretzky was either pushed or took a dive into the corner, leading to his teammates coming to his defense.

Here's a video clip of that from the Kings' telecast, with Bob Miller and Nick Nickson describing it:

So with less than 10 minutes left, and Evans out for at least the rest of regulation, you'd have thought they'd have gone back to the dressing room and started to hit the showers.

"I didn't think it was over," said Evans, who just witnessed the two teams slug out a 10-8 game -- the Oilers' victory to open the series. "Maybe I was just a naive kid coming out of junior hockey, but we were only town three goals. If could get another ...

"Being so young at that time (21 years old), I learned to appreciate what actually transpired. Now looking back, wow, it's really something special. Just look at the personnel at that team - and that's the best thing that ever happened to that team. We made them. We taught them a lesson they didn't like and made them dig in their heels and go other way. Maybe it was a defining point in franchise history for both teams."

Here's how it played out:

And there's this video tribute that the Kings put together when honoring Evans earlier this year as part of their "Legends" series:

More of Evans in the community:

== A skate and strategy session with a youth group:

== Visiting with a long-time fan at last week's 5K run at Staples Center -- someone who's proud to say he saw the "Miracle on Manchester" first-hand:

== Part of another blood drive:

== And helping out a young fan with ... a fishing pole?

Coming up next Friday: The best and worst of the play-by-play guys. Scully vs. the field. Who's got the best odds?

Photo credits: Los Angeles Kings, Kings Care Foundation.