Front Page Power

Back when the Los Angeles Kings were terrible (as recent as last season)... the Kings marketing department wouldn't so much sell the Kings team but rather the particular team they happened to be playing that night. Seen the front page of the Atlanta Thrashers website lately?

I still can't get over seeing "NHL Scoring Leader" and "Kopitar" in the same sentence.

It's true... the Kings have turned into a road draw. I never thought I'd see the day. But lest you think that Kovalchuk vs Kopitar is the only battle going on tonight in the great state of Atlanta. No... it's also the battle of the under 20, studly defensemen as 19-Year-Old Drew Doughty takes on 19-Year-Old Zach Bogosian. That particular storyline only made the front page of NHL.com.

'When Kids Collide' sounds like a Dateline NBC special.

It's the 20th game of the season for the Kings. 1/4 of the season gone. And the Kings are the 6th best team in the NHL.

As always, check out the incomparable HildyMac at Wazzupwitchu for all your Thrashers (and Blues!) needs.

Keeping Up with The Joneses

So I sit down on the couch, ready to watch exciting Los Angeles Kings action for the first time in 2 games... and when I turn on the tv... (oh just show the screengrab already, this joke is getting so old!)

Note that it is at :00 of the entire broadcast.

Sure it was annoying at first... but then Fox Sports West HD found suitable replacement programming.

This better be in HD.

Eventually, the game came back on and this time... the Kings didn't disappoint. They played an even, consistent game and kept their composure when the Hurricanes came storming back. (Ha, get it?) So, when it comes to victories over opponents with 12 or more losses in a row, the Kings are looking pretty good right now!

Kings 5, Hurricanes 2

"Naw, that's cool guys. I'll just stay over here.
I mean, it's not like I was in net when we had points in 8 straight games or anything."

Well if there was one thing to learn from this game it's that Sean O'Donnell or Davis Drewiske might be on their ways to becoming a healthy scratch. Randy Jones exploded into the Kings lineup with an assist and a game winning goal. And make no mistake, that goal he scored was not an easy one. Jones was at a really tough angle to be able to put that puck in. It just shows what a total genius Dean Lombardi is.

"You know Drew, the girls in the NHL are so much better than the ones in the AHL."
"What's the AHL?"

And Randy Jones has taken an award away from Ryan Smyth... which award you ask? Why it's the "Kings Player that Most Looks Like a Muppet" Award.

Another Dean Lombardi waiver wire steal.

Half Season Ticket Holder Buddy and I were talking last week about why NHL broadcasters don't just show the overhead goalie shot first when replaying a goal. Ok, maybe one close up of the goal and then the overhead angle. But enough with going to a replay using the angle that is the farthest away from the goal already! I still have no idea how Jarret Stoll scored that goal.

Membership has its privileges.

My favorite part of the night was Hockey Hall of Famer Bob Miller busting out his Members Only Hall of Fame Jacket during the broadcast... and totally playing it cool by not mentioning it. I like to imagine Bob in his hotel room, once a year, putting on his Hockey Hall of Fame Blazer and then staring into the mirror, Silence of the Lambs style.

He puts the biscuit in the basket.

Game by game, 19-Year-Old Drew Doughty just gets better and better with his one timers from the point. Alexander Frolov must have been watching the segment where Rich Hammond talked about how people on the internet are unhappy with Frolov's game.. cause he sure woke up in the 3rd period. And sure, Ersberg got the win, but he was hardly tested by this weak Carolina team. The next game Jon Quick starts will be his 65th career... basically a full season for a #1 NHL goalie.

64 Games - 32W 25L 4OTL SV%.908 GAA 2.59

32-25-4 isn't bad for a first season. Everyone was up in arms about Columbus Blue Jackets rookie goalie Steve Mason last season and he went 33-20-7 in 61 games. On a playoff team. It's important that Quick gets his rest throughout the season and this game was the perfect one for him to sit out. And if Ersberg decides that he has forgotten how to play in the NHL, the Kings can always call up Jon Bernier from Manchester. I wouldn't mind seeing a bit of a competition between Quick and Bernier for the 1 and 1A goal spots. It's good to have this kind of a goalie problem... instead of having goalie problems like these:

Is there anything better than the white mask
during a goalies first game with a new team?

And this is why hockey in the deep south is awesome:

Oh man, greatest episode of Mad Men ever!

And also because of signs like this one:

Today, I'm eleven

on 11-11
I'd be in Heaven
with a Canes win

Man, that is one involved sign. And the chance to use this particular rhyming scheme only comes once a lifetime.

The Kings are off until Friday when they take on the Atlanta Thrashers as the Kings tear through the 2nd tier of the Southeast Conference on this road trip (ie... every team in the Southeast Conference except Washington.)

The Passion of the Drew

The passion... to pass the puck off the boards... not up the middle of the ice.

Hopefully the Kings will regain their passion tonight versus the San Jose Sharks. And as ridiculous as it is for Kings fans to think the season is over after one game... it's even more absurd to think the Coyotes are playoff bound after one game.

The Old Gray Lady

When I set out to start this blog just about a year ago, I had one goal in mind. No, it wasn't to provide witty analysis and hilarious screencaps of the inner workings of the Los Angeles Kings. (although that has been a great bonus) No... my goal... as it is with any hockey blogger that sets out to put their thoughts on their favorite team to an internet bulletin board for a handful of people to read... was to make it into the New York Times. And that goal, my friends, has been achieved.

Ha-ha-ha! He is right! Heidi Androl is so ridiculous!

I was asked by the awesome Slap Shot Blog at the New York Times.com to be the Los Angeles Kings voice for their Hockey Night in Blogdom series. So, here it is... the Western Conference preview. With a special appearance by yours truly.

In other, less cool news... the Los Angeles Kings have set their roster for the 2009-2010 NHL season.

Doughty - Doughty - Doughty
Doughty - Doughty - Doughty
Doughty - Doughty - Doughty
Doughty - Harrold - Doughty

Doughty - Doughty
Doughty - Doughty
Doughty - Doughty
Martinez

That's right. The Kings are going on all-out blitz to make 19-year-old Drew Doughty the NHL's most marketable player. Okay, fine... here is the real line-up:

Smyth - Kopitar - Williams
Purcell - Stoll - Brown
Frolov - Handzus - Simmonds
Ivanans - Lewis - Harrold
Richardson/Clune (IR)

O'Donnell - Doughty
Johnson - Scuderi
Drewiske - Greene
Martinez

Quick

Ersberg

Of course, this won't be the opening night line-up due to O'Donnell's suspension, but this is pretty much the team you'll be looking at all season. Until Frolov gets traded.

Yup, it's gonna happen Kings fans.

Is there an NHL player with worse luck than Richard Clune? (Hmm, I can think of one.) Last preseason, he impresses the management and then suffers a freak chest bone breaking incident during a fight. This year, he impresses again and then suffers a groin pull and now will start the season on the sidelines.

Just a quick stretch to the right and OH MY GOD THE PAIN!! NOT AGAIN!! WHY MEEEEE!?! WHY!

It's a shame because Clune seems like a great little agitator, something the Kings have been missing since they parted ways with fashion icon Sean Avery. As I look over this line-up it's hard to not be pleased with it. It's a good mixture of scoring potential and solid defense. That 3rd line of Frolov, Handzus and Simmonds will be definitely one to watch this year as I feel Simmonds is ready to "tear shit up" in the NHL this season.

NHL... get ready to be my bitch.

And the other thing I look at with this roster is the lack of that one player that all you do is make fun of. (Although Rudy Kelly at BOC makes a great case for one player.) Last year you could take your pick... Calder, Gauthier, LaBarbera. Since, I'm actually the one Kings fan who enjoys watching Peter Harrold play, I guess for me, this year it's gonna be Brad Richardson. But I'll reserve my judgment till opening night. Which is in 4 freakin' days!!!

Act Like You've Been There Before

Act like you've been there before... it's one of my favorite sayings... especially when making fun of a friend. It basically means that when you get the phone number of that hot girl you've been after or you score a game winning touchdown... act like you've been there before. For example... last week Columbus Blue Jacket Jason Williams scores this shootout goal (the first one, although the 2nd goal is nice too):

Cool as a cucumber.

And then last night, to secure 2 points in a victory against the Minnesota Wild, 19 Year Old Drew Doughty does this:

I have a feeling if 19 Year Old Drew Doughty had been in the league for a few more seasons, he could have played off this goal as intentional. I mean, seriously, how is a guy that looks like this going to act like he's been there before?

Kings 2, Wild 1 (SO)

Is there anything more exciting in pro sports than a Jarret Stoll - Mikko Koivu faceoff battle? Those guys were going at it all night. 2 great points earned. 1 shitty point given up to the Minnesota Wild. 4 points out of a playoff spot.

Another huge game tonight, against the Philadelphia Flyers who are coming off a big win against the Washington Capitals yesterday. And since San Jose is the only other Western Conference team to play tonight, it would be prudent to win this game and pick up 2 points. No word on when Captain Brown may return, but hopefully he'll make a special appearance tonight.

Jump On The Bandwagon

Remember on Saturday, how I mentioned that it would be 2 days before the MainStreamMedia and the Hockey BlogOsphere would be chiming in on the playoff chances of the Los Angeles Kings?
"Man, it is exciting to be a Kings fan right now. How long until the MainStreamMedia and the Hockey BlogOsphere start chatting up the possibility of the Kings grabbing that 8th spot. I give it 2 days."

Well... it's been 2 days. Let's check in, shall we?

Starting with the BlogOsphere... 2 from PuckDaddy at Yahoo.

"Don't look now but a recent 6-1 surge and 3-1 start to a five-game road trip has put young Los Angeles into the thick of the playoff chase." - PuckDaddy 2/7/09

And a feature about The Royal Half's favorite 19 Year Old defenseman, 19 Year Old Drew Doughty.

"We're a very good team that just underachieved in the first half of the season. We're better than a lot of teams that are in the playoff race right now."

They have been since Jan. 1, going 8-5-1 overall and 3-1 on a long road trip that ends on Long Island Tuesday night. Powered by two good offensive lines, solid goaltending from Jon Quick and a growing confidence from its young core, the Kings are three points out of the eighth seed."

And here comes the MainStreamMedia:

The Hockey News - Kings of the Castle
"The Kings have more than enough hope for the future; what they need now is a playoff berth to accentuate the learning curve of the young players already driving the team."

Scott Burnside at ESPN
"For our money, seeing the youthful Los Angeles Kings sneak in would probably be the biggest boon for the league. Having Los Angeles back in the playoff picture after a five-season absence would do wonders for the West Coast market (especially if Anaheim continues to flounder its way out of the playoffs). And it just might happen given the inability of any of the teams in the bottom half of the bracket to separate themselves from the pack.

The Kings have won three straight and six of seven, including wins over playoff-bound New Jersey, Washington and Chicago, and begin the week just three points out of eighth place."

And the Kings have finally made the first page of the TSN Power Rankings. Number 14 with a bullet!
"The Kings have won six of seven behind the quality goaltending of rookie Jonathan Quick and a return to expected production levels from first-liners Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown."

And last, but certainly not least... 22 Year Old goaltender Jon Quick was selected as the NHL's First Star this past week.
"Quick stopped 95 of 100 shots in posting three consecutive road victories, lifting the Kings (23-21-7, 53 points) within three points of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. He stopped 29 shots in recording his third shutout of the season in a 1-0 victory at Ottawa Feb. 3, made 41 saves in a 5-4 victory at Washington Feb. 5 and concluded the week by making 25 stops in a 3-1 victory at New Jersey Feb. 7. The 23-year-old Milford, Conn. native improved his season record to 10-6-0 with a 2.38 goals-against average and .920 save percentage in 18 games. He ranks third among NHL rookie goaltenders in victories behind Steve Mason of Columbus (19) and Pekka Rinne of Nashville (14)."

It seems that Dean Lombardi's Master Plan is all coming together.

Drew Doughty Dating Digest

Breaking news on the recent story of whether or not 19 Year Old Drew Doughty and music sensation Taylor Swift are dating or not.... at Talk-Sports.net, a website dedicated to gossip about which pro athletes have girlfriends or not (what a country, the internet rules!), an anonymous poster has said the following on Jan 24th....

OMG! An anonymous source posting on a hearsay gossip site has said that Drew and Taylor are dating. IT MUST BE TRUE.

But wait... there is more. Another poster chimes in:

I know! I can't believe it myself.

And then even more info is revealed.... anonymously... through a 3rd party....

"He would not date her?" HE WOULD NOT DATE HER? I don't know "Anonymous Rookie", have you seen this?

I'm pretty sure 19 Year Old Drew Doughty would hit that if he had the chance.

Talk-Sports.net also has intel on the dating habits of other Kings players. There is a crazy thread going on about Patrick O'Sullivan and Jack Johnson. Okay, I'm overwhelmed. I'm going back to Scoreboard Watching.

Is 19 Year Old Drew Doughty dating Taylor Swift?

The Royal Half prides itself on serious hockey journalism rather than celebrity gossip. But it's hard to ignore this breaking story.

Drew Doughty's best score may not be on the ice.

I use Statcounter so that I can get a sense of where all 6 of my readers are coming from. And one of the bonuses is that you can see what Google searches people have made to end up at your blog. Over the last 2 weeks, I have received an alarming amount of searches based upon the dating habits of 19 Year Old Drew Doughty and previously unknown to me country superstar Taylor Swift.

These were all unique IP addresses, so there seems to be quite a number of people out there searching for an answer to this pressing question. I've looked around on the internet to see if there is an answer, but apparently TMZ doesn't seem to care about the Los Angeles Kings and the dating habits of its rookies.

If this is true... then Doughty should totally get Rookie of the Year.

Anyone out there see Taylor and Drew out on town together? If so, send your anonymous tips here. If Drew Doughty is getting chicks like Taylor Swift, can you imagine the scene when these 3 Kings rookies hit up the Manhattan Beach bar scene after a game?

Oh yeah, these 3 must be getting a TON of action.

Fast Forward to the Future

I like to consider myself a pretty dedicated hockey fan. I Tivo all the Los Angeles Kings games that I don't attend as part of the Half Season Ticket Package and watch them in full at home. Sure I'll fast forward through commercials and lame in-between period segments, but I'll even listen to what Jim Fox says in between stoppages in play just to see if he'll say "Wooooah!" But there comes a time in each season (especially over the last 6 years) that I just say "fuck it" and I start fast-forwarding through games in which the Kings are stinking it up, only hitting "play" when I see a goal scored.

Tonight was the first game all season that I sped through. I can't believe I made it this far.

Kings 1, Bolts 3

Maaaadsberg!

Not exactly the effort a fan would hope for from the Los Angeles Kings tonight. It's going to be tough to keep pace with the rest of the league after these 2 losses. It's obvious that none of the Kings showed up to play tonight, obvious because the Kings held a closed-door, players only meeting after the game. The team is now in 14th place in the Western Conference, yet still only 5 points out of a playoff spot. Are they going to be able to make up the difference? Only time will tell... meanwhile, at least I have the Kings broadcasts to keep me entertained.

I know exactly how you feel, Bailey.
I'm bored by Coach Murray's team too.

I had no idea who the hell Taylor Swift was when I saw her singing on Saturday Night Live this past weekend. And now I still have no idea who the hell she is.

City of Angels Angels.

The Kings also unveiled their latest marketing scheme, a Valentine's Day Kings Pack delivered to your home or your seat by everyone's favorite lovable team mascot named after someone who died during September 11th, Bailey!

Does he also deliver the divorce papers once you buy this for your wife?

Oh great... here comes Detroit on Thursday. Awesome. What's that? 19 Year Old Drew Doughty is injured? Sweet. Too bad I'll be in the crowd Thursday because I can't use the skip button at the game.

Line Cha-Cha-Changes

Wow. What a response to the drubbing the Los Angeles Kings took a few days ago. It seems like Coach Murray's Line Combinations of Fun™ paid off well tonight, as the forwards were all shifted around... as were the defensemen. Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown were finally split up and it seems that Coach Murray does read this site... just as I suspected. But let's be honest... as good as the team played tonight (and the team did look great out there), it really was the former first line of Kopitar, Brown and Patrick O'Sullivan that did most of the scoring while on the Power Play. I'm all for breaking them up during the game... as long as they get back together on the man advantage.

Kings 6, The Andy Murray Experiment 2

Your Los Angles Kings all-time winning coach.

How great is the defensive pairing of Kyle Quincey and 19 Year Old Drew Doughty going to be? Like for the next 7 years? Sean O'Donnell has done his job and helped Doughty get comfortable in the league, but now it's time to see what the Kings best 2 defensemen can do together. How good has Quincey been?

This good. Again, reminder... the Kings got Quincey for nothing.

Isn't it strange that Kyle Quincey and Ed Norton have never been photographed in the same place?

Heidi Androl was also in full effect during tonight's game and she was even wearing her 3rd jersey!

Oh Heidi, you could do so much better.


Ok, now you're talking.


Whoa! Way out of your league, Heidi!

I've been a bit fascinated with the Fox Sports West on-camera graphics this season. Well tonight, the viewers saw something new... the totally akin combination of exciting NHL action and Hitler Assassination Movie Thrillers!

I believe Sweden remained neutral in WWII.
Maybe they should have used St. Louis Blues defensemen Roman Polak instead?
Too soon?

Also, the St. Louis Blues finally figured out a way to contain Kings enforcer Raitis Ivanans.


You smother him.

Finally, I think that the Fox Sports West slo-mo camera is so slow, that it went back in time tonight. Because if you wanted to see what I looked like when I was a kid going to Kings games at the Forum...

A mirror image... except I would have been wearing a Bob Kudelski jersey.