San Jose Sharks In The Playoffs

(Getty Images/Stephen Dunn)

Choke Artists

Read more...

Thanks, NHL Media

So the NHL media dudes voted and Drew Doughty was not included in the Rookie Of The Year balloting. The three who were chosen were Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks, and Kris Versteeg of the Chicago Blackhawks. Now I'm not insanely annoyed at this travesty, but I am curious to know where he ranked overall. I'm sure Doughty would have been recognized had he been playing in a big hockey market in the West or just in the East or, at least, been talked about more. It is disappointing that he didn't get national recognition but we Kings fans know just how awesome he is. When you're a difference maker on a game-to-game basis, knowing that you're gonna be around for many years to come is all I really need.

Thanks Donuts!

Read more...

Utter Ridiculousness & A Solid Showing

On Monday the 16th, the Kings faced the Atlanta Thrashers at Staples Center and it was a wild game. Having the emotional and physical highs and lows with 6 goals for and 6 goals against caused me sheer exhaustion. If I ever wanted to know what it was like to be bipolar, I got a good taste of it. This game was basically a must-win with the worst case scenario being the Kings getting a single point, but when the Thrashers scored the first three goals in the opening 8 minutes, it looked like the Kings were toast. But they came back, but then the Thrasher went ahead, and back and forth and back and forth with broken plays everywhere. Heading into the third period, the Kings were still down a few goals with the shots far in their favor. The goal to tie the game came with only 5 seconds left from Anze Kopitar and caused Staples to erupt.

The overtime was just as exciting and just as dominated by the Kings. After five minutes of stress, the shootout began with Atlanta's Erik Christensen getting the game winner. Once again Jack Johnson got an opportunity in the shootout without scoring. I'm sooooo curious to know why he's getting opportunity after opportunity. The Kings scruffed up one point in this game and looked like they cleaned up a bit for the next game against the Ducks.

Side note: This game was also celebrating Armenian Heritage Night and the arena was in full swing. Zach Bogosian is the first Armenian player in the NHL so the Kings celebrated that fact since there is a very large Armenian population in the Los Angeles area. Here's an interview from the Thrashers website with Bogosian. Also I met up with James Gralin, blogger of the Colorado Avalanche persuasion. He is on a west coast swing of the hockey teams and he went to two Kings games. Go to his blog, Jerseys and Hockey Love, to get an outsider's point of view and take a peek at his pictures!

(Getty Images/Victor Decolongon)

Too cute

Tonight's game against the Anaheim Ducks was a different beast altogether. The Kings never trailed in the entire 60 minutes and ended the game without having any brain cramps. Interestingly enough the Kings only tossed 26 shots on Jonas Hiller while Jonathan Quick saw 31, but I kind of see this as the Kings playing a more efficient game, especially compared to that strange game on Monday. Overall the game was a bit boring, but as long as it ended with the Kings grabbing two more points, I could be satisfied. There wasn't too much going on overall, but there was a fight (Wayne Simmonds and Mike Brown) and a scuffle at the end of the game with Quick getting mixed up in it but only because the scrum began with him getting taken down behind the net.

(Getty Images/Debora Robinson)

Wow, what a waste of space.

At the end of today the Kings have 59 points (tied with the Minnesota Wild) and are 3 points out of the 8th position. Tomorrow the Kings go into the Shark Tank where the Sharks have been tearing it up. They are 24-2-3 at home, but the Kings have been riding a hot streak on the road. Games against the Sharks are always unpredictable, so this one will definitely be exciting.

Read more...

Ahead of Dallas! Kings 4, Ducks 3

The Anaheim Ducks were in Staples Center, the arena was "sold out," and the hecklers were heckling. These games against the Ducks are always questionable; usually one team has a bad game and the other pounces on all the loose pucks and blatant opportunities. Other times the teams actually seesaw in terms of their momentum from period to period, which was the makeup of this game. The Kings scored the first three goals of the game on five shots (I think it was). Bobby Ryan stepped up and scored a hat trick, but Alexander Frolov shut them down by scoring the game winner off a rebound in front of the net. The Kings are two points richer by beating the Ducks 4-3 and I was satisfied with their efforts.

Anze Kopitar was back on his game notching the third goal of the game and looking so much better than he did in the game against the Philadelphia Flyers. In that game, Greener put it best when he said that Kopi looked hungover. He had nothing in the tank last week, but tonight he looked like his usual self and scored his much-needed 11th goal of the season. Before that goal, Wayne Simmonds started off the second period with a goal only 37 seconds in! Needless to say, we were all shocked and I was feeling pretty good about this new line of Kopi, Simmonds, and Frolov. I'm not sure if any of the lines tonight will remain for the next game, but perhaps this line will see more shifts in the future.

The penalty box was kept annoyingly warm by the bodies coming and going through the game. The Kings took seven penalties and Ryan scored one of his three right after the Kings had killed a 5-on-3. Not only was that frustrating, but it was compounded by the fact the Ducks had only taken three penalties of their own! The roles were reversed here and I did not like that feeling of constantly having to kill off penalties when the Kings REALLY needed to come out with a win. Halfway through the game, it was announced that the Dallas Stars had lost to the Detroit Red Wings and that the Phoenix Coyotes had won their game against the Tampa Bay Lightening. So this meant that if the Kings lost, they'd stay 5th in the Pacific Division. But they were able to pull out the win, thanks to my favorite Russian who got assists from two of my favorites, Teddy Purcell and Kyle Quincey.

Speaking of Purcell, I mentioned before that I was glad he was now getting consistent time on the second unit of the PP. He seemed to have a bit of spark when he actually had the room to operate and get plays going. Because of this, I guess I just assumed that the number of minutes he would log would rise, but it appears that I was a bit preemptive in my thinking because he only had 13:51 of TOI tonight. Bah.

The goaltending was interesting as well. Jean-Sebastian Giguere let in two goals on three shots and was promptly replaced by Jonas Hiller who was basically just plain better than Giguere. I guess I'm not too surprised; the young almost always replace the old and feeble, right? Jonathan Quick did pretty well this game but made some egregious errors at times. Some were rookie mistakes, yes, but he didn't seem as aware as he has been. Hopefully he'll get his head in the right place soon. The Kings faceoff against the New Jersey Devils next and I'm pretty happy knowing that if Quick isn't back on it by Saturday, that the Kings have a reliable goalie on the bench who is patiently waiting his turn.

Read more...

C'mon Really?: Ducks 3, Kings 1

This Freeway Faceoff BS has got to go. I'm sick of the Ducks. Period. It seems like every game starts out and the Kings are playing at the same level as the Ducks, but as the game nears its ending, the Kings just can't finish it out. The Ducks score the go-ahead goal halfway through the third period and the Kings spend the rest of the game trying to generate the necessary offense. But the unfortunate thing is that the offense has been struggling as of late; so where's the scoring gonna come from?

Good question.

I have no idea. Dustin Brown has stalled a bit; Anze Kopitar is a little dry in that department. Alexander Frolov is the Kings leading scorer and he's on the checking line! What do they have to do here? Once again, I have no idea. The only area the Kings really dominated was in the faceoff circle going 59%. Kopi did well by winning 13 of 19. But the more important stat of SHOTS ON is not happening. Only 18? I'm not sure what else to say; the game was a bit on the boring side with lots of free-flowing movement and without too many whistles.

This was Erik Ersberg's first game back in net after recovering from a slight groin injury. He looked like his old self, which is exactly what I was hoping for. He was setting himself solidly in front of pucks and moving well in the paint. At the same time, there were some rebounds that were getting away from him, but all-in-all, not too bad. The two goals against him were both on the PP and the defenders were looking a bit off around Ersberg. Since all three goals up to the game's end were on the PP, I was hoping the penalty that Brad Festerling took near the end of the game would help get the Kings energy levels back to normal and maybe they'd be able to tie the game up. Alas, the Ducks penalty killers were looking good and the Kings were going no where except back to their zone to retrieve the puck.

As a whole, I am unimpressed with this showing by the Kings and I hope Thursday's game where the Ducks are the visiting team proves to be better. Perhaps two points to help move the Kings up the standings, maybe?

Read more...

Boo Ducks; Ducks 2, Kings 0

The whole crosstown rivalry with the Anaheim Ducks is something that I don't get too caught up in, but that doesn't mean that I don't hate the Ducks more than any other team in the league. I do hate them the most, and, for the second day in a row, I'm bummed that the Kings have dropped a game. But the Kings didn't get shutout by a poor showing; they displayed their usual solid play but were actually less able to generate chances when compared to the game yesterday against the Preds.

There were four PP opportunities for the Kings with one being a 4-minute penalty but they weren't able to get anything going on any of them. The 4-minute penalty was actually played better by the Ducks than the Kings, which was... mildly.. frustrating... especially since the penalty came from an incident with Ryan Getzalf's stick accidentally making a beeline for Patrick O'Sullivan's face. This boy already has lost 4 or 5 teeth, he really can't afford to lose anymore; so when I saw him spit something out of his mouth that looked like a tooth, I definitely flashed back to last year when he took a puck in the face and had to have emergency dental work. But, whatever happened didn't seem to affect him too much since he was back on the ice before the end of the first period.

Once again Erik Ersberg looked solid in net. He was doing his usual thing of not getting rattled inbetween the pipes. Both Ducks' goals were even-strength goals with the first by Corey Perry. I haven't taken another look at the goal but I remember wondering where the D was on that rebound. Oscar Moller was the Kings player that was there for the initial shot, but the rebound couldn't have gone anywhere but in the back of the net. Bret Hedican's goal came with less than five minutes to go and was the game sealer. Terry Murray didn't pull Ersberg with two minutes to go and I wanted Brian Hayward to shut the hell up. You obviously know why he's not pulling Ersberg, so shut up about it! Ugh!

(Debora Robinson/Getty Images)

Is this the aftermath of a hit? Hilarious either way.

One surprising note, Wayne Simmonds got only 8:53 of TOI! Yeah, he's an ugly, ugly skater, but he had been getting around five more minutes than that on average. Drew Doughty logging 28:27 of TOI is... just... beastly... although he didn't record any hits. Actually the Kings were definitely outhit overall, 22-14. Boo. It appears that I've lost interest in this recap, so I'm just gonna... stop and go do something else.

Read more...

Heading In The Right Direction: Ducks 1, Kings 0 (OT)

On election day my Los Angeles Kings faced the dreaded Anaheim Ducks. Freeway Faceoff? Please. The Kings went into this game on a 4-game losing streak and the Ducks have been doing... well (boo), but the latter did not leave with two points easily won. The Kings fought and grinded and did their best to get any pucks past JS Giguere's mattress pads; alas, after 61 minutes, the game was done. Overall, the boys stood up to the Ducks and did a commendable job. I was definitely wary at the start of the game since the Ducks were doing everything they could to clog up the neutral zone, which caused the Kings to take the first half of the first period trying to get their legs under them. It was honestly getting a bit boring with the Kings not being able to get across the offensive blueline without chipping in the puck and chasing after it. The puck possession was a little questionable since the passes were going all over the place.

I forgot to check the stats sheet last night, so no numbers for this post.

Things I didn’t like:

• Matt Moulson being reassigned to the Manchester Monarchs. What the eff!
• Peter Harrold skating as a forward.
• Brian Boyle on a line with Peter Harrold.
• Patrick O’Sullivan having to skate with these two yahoos.

First, Erik Ersberg looked solid. This isn’t to say that I think he’s leaps and bounds better than Jason LaBarbera. I just thought that the Swede was square on almost all of the shots that came his way. That being said, there were some tense moments when he was flopping around when a rebound was snagged by a Duck, but, other than that, he looked good. But one game isn’t going to convince me; I basically won’t have full confidence in Ersberg unless he pulls a Ty Conklin from last year. I need to know that he can stand up to teams who are prepared to face him in the net. If other teams know his tendencies in net and he can STILL shut them down, then I’ll give him my full vote of confidence. But, of course, I’ll be cheering for him to be successful for every game. I’m obviously not going to turn on him if he has one bad game.

Second, the goal to end the game in overtime basically sickened me; a slapper from Chris Pronger with a screen in front of Ersberg. Vomit inducing indeed. It was such a shock when it went in; it felt like it just happened way too quickly. But no clichés here, the Ducks scored and the Kings grabbed a point. They’re still last in the standings and, of course, the Western Conference, but by no means are they out of the race. It’s the beginning of November for Christ’s sake! I’m so focused on the Kings working on their consistency that I haven’t even been watching the standings all that much.

In conclusion: keys for Thursday's game against Florida? Umm, win?

Read more...

Kings 6, Ducks 3

The Kings put a great effort on the ice last night. It’s no secret that the individual talent on the Kings’ roster has seldom translated into a winning formula as a whole, but last night showed us a glimpse into what that’s supposed to look like. There are positives that I could talk about with every player on the Kings bench; that is, except for one lone soul (if you were watching the game, you should know exactly who I’m talking about).

This game was to see who would have to occupy that unfortunate spot of dead last in the Pacific Division, which is where the Kings were for much of last season. I came into the game fully content with the possible result of the Kings being slotted in that 5th position. None of my daydreams yesterday had the Kings winning 6-3 over the Ducks. Then again, I wasn’t expecting the Ducks to look like a group of disorganized high school kids. They continued their physical brand of crap while taking 13 total penalties. Two were fighting majors and two were coincidental minors (Ryan Getzlaf and Denis Gauthier canceling each other out). So the Kings had 9 PP opportunities and converted on 3 of them. The Kings took 9 total penalties with 5 being actual PKs. Once again my boys killed all of the penalties against them and haven’t given up a goal while being shorthanded yet! They’re 14 for 14 and I’m loving that stat. They looked solid last night and I was very much impressed. Jarret Stoll has continually impressed me with his scrappy efforts, and he definitely improved on his faceoff percentage going 60% (won 9, lost 6).

Another notable on the PK was Michal Handzus. He looks so much stronger and looks less afraid to get his nose dirty. He’s actually taking the body now, which he rarely did last season, so I’m pretty happy with how he’s been doing on an individual level. He registered an assist and had 18:18 of ice time. Going back to Stoll, he had plenty of TOI at 20:39. At first I was wondering why he always seemed to be out there, but then I realized it was basically a game of specialty teams with all the penalties that were being called.

The awesome thing about the goals by the Kings was that the 6 goals were scored by 6 different skaters. I think Matt Moulson had the prettiest goal while Patrick O’Sullivan had the slickest goal. I honestly didn’t think Moulson was going to gain control of the pass from Dustin Brown and have time to get the shot off before the angle to the net got too sharp. But gain control he did where shot it from the left side over J.S. Giguere’s left shoulder far side. If that goal doesn’t make Kings fans notice my boy, I don’t know what will. The shot was so pretty and perfect that he couldn’t have made it any better. Giguere literally followed the puck with his eyes all the way to the back of the net. Perfect. Sully had a fantastic game last night. He had a bit of the time on the PK, more time on the PP, and ample time at even strength so it seemed like he was everywhere on the ice. He was so effective in everything he did that I believe he’s earned his spot back on the top line with just one game. I knew he had it in him; it was just a matter of when.

With Sully on the top line, the subsequent shift of players was unexpected for me. Moulson was moved to the 2nd line left wing, which I was stoked about, but that meant Alexander Frolov was moved to the 3rd line left wing. As much as I didn’t expect that, I think that just gets our 3rd line moving that much more to have a big body that is always searching for ways to get the puck to the net as opposed to shutting down the opposition. I thought that all four lines the Kings rolled out looked great together. The defensive pairings were a bit of a different story. With Jack Johnson out, the pairings obviously changed and after some time in the second period I noticed that Peter Harrold was getting an ungodly amount of minutes (17:55) with almost four minutes coming on the PP. This fact coupled with Drew Doughty not having been out on the ice for quite some time, I voiced my concern. Whereupon, ½ of KingsCast and I tried to get some information from people watching the game on TV at home, but there was nothing until the 3rd period when we found out that Doughty was having “flu-like symptoms.” I was so relieved that it wasn’t a substantial injury because we would have basically been screwed if he AND Jack were out. But the flu isn’t bad, he just needs some shuteye and he’ll be back in no time. Going back to Harrold, for how much he was fumbling and bumbling around, he had way too much time on the PP. None of his passes were landing; he couldn’t outmaneuver past Ducks or even clear the damned puck at some points. It was so frustrating to watch Harrold stumble around while the rest of the roster was working smoothly. He definitely stuck out like a sore thumb when he was on the ice.

I must take a minute to address the fight between Raitis Ivanans and George Parros that occurred less than two minutes into the game after the first Ducks goal. I’ve never seen anyone land that many kidney shots in succession as Ivanans dished out to Parros. It was fantastic and got the crowd amped up. Conversely, Chris Pronger had 4 hits in the game, which all seemed to be against Oscar Moller. Hey, D-Bag, you’re an ugly monster and Moller is an 18-year-old kid who you are twice as big as. There’s really no need to plaster his face against the glass whenever you can. Stop being a prick. And I saw you raise your elbows while skating by Moulson. You elbow him and I’ll shankify your ass.

I could honestly go on and on and on about how great this game was, but I won’t. I will end by saying that I’m glad the Kings now have a decisive win under their belts after losing two games against a solid Sharks squad. This performance is very promising for the Kings as I’m sure Terry Murray knows the boys have it in them to not suck on a game-to-game basis. Good job, guys!

Read more...

Preseason - Kings 1, Ducks 2 (SO)

The Kings faced off against the Ducks last night for the first time this preseason, and, I must say, it was crappy. The defensive pairings were subpar and the forwards couldn’t land their passes to make decent rushes out of their own zone. There were noticeably more people attending this game compared to the first preseason game held at Staples, which meant that more people were subjected to the horrible defense of the Kings.

Let’s actually start with the forwards. Oscar Moller and Matt Moulson swapped ice time with each other to be on the top line with Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar throughout the entire game. It was nice to see Moller getting big minutes and with the top two skaters, but there were times when he was just out of position. He obviously wasn’t making an obscene amount of blatant errors, but it was apparent that he was on a tryout with the top offensive pairing. There weren’t as many penalties in this game compared to Frozen Fury, so it didn’t seem like a night solely devoted to specialty teams. That’s not to say the reffing was fantastic or anything; in fact, it was straight up horrendous.

• I thought the checking of Kyle Calder headfirst into the boards was grounds for a penalty, but the refs thought otherwise.
• I thought the times the Ducks interfered with Jason LaBarbera while he was still in the blue paint was grounds for multiple penalties, but the refs didn’t think that was a big deal.
• I thought the holding penalty against Kopi during the OT frame was the biggest piece of nonsense, but apparently those are supposed to be called.
  

Okay I will preface this by saying I don’t play hockey on a daily basis, so I probably don’t have the authority to critique the refs, but… honestly. Since this game wasn’t televised, I’ll lay the scene out. It’s in overtime where the Kings are on the power play. Some Duck grabs a hold of Kopi’s stick and holds it across his midsection. Kopi notices this and puts his left arm up in the air to show that he’s not hooking or holding the Duck. The latter then proceeds to try and get himself tangled up in Kopi’s stick somehow and then magically trips and falls. Whistle blows and Kopi is sent off the ice for holding.

Really?

There is then a minute of 3-on-3 skating, which creates so much ice that it’s ridiculous. But just like in the regulation periods, the Ducks spend most of their time in the Kings’ zone. I am baffled as to how the Kings just couldn’t get anything going into the offensive zone. Sometimes they couldn’t even get into the neutral zone, but when they did, the Ducks blocked passes and shut them down around their blue line. The only way the Kings could really create chances were if they played the dump-and-chase card. I hate the Ducks so much.

(Noah Graham/Getty Images)Jarret Stoll on the point? I guess I can live with it

The defense... needs work. I shouldn’t have been toooooo hard on the guys since both Jack Johnson and Tom Preissing sat up in the press box. I really think that one or the other should have dressed for the game since having both players out created a weaker defense. In Jack we could have had a physical puck mover out there or a positionally sound veteran dman in Preissing. Too bad we had neither player and had to resort to putting two 18-year-old dmen on the PK at times. Pretty scary stuff. There were also some ridiculously huge defensive breakdowns, especially in the first period. Davis Drewiskie, wow. I can’t really describe this one play that almost resulted in a breakaway for the Ducks, but he did get better as the game went along, thank god.

Barbs was in net for the entire 65 minutes + shootout. I thought he looked okay, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t nervous as all hell whenever the Ducks got a shot on. For some reason I was super stressed out over this game. I know it’s just a preseason game and it’s not worth any points, but, damnit, I hate losing to them. Although, if this were a regular season game and you asked me if the Kings deserved the point for the shootout loss, I would have said, "hell no." The only real positive for me was that Moulson scored the lone goal for the Kings. He received the pass while standing with his back to the net to the right of the goal mouth. Since he’s a lefthanded shot, all he did was pivot to his right and stuffed the puck into Jonas Hiller. Other than that, the game was pretty bad.

Read more...

"I'm Not A Puck Bunny" Podcast - Episode 9 & 10

Finny and I have combined the end of the season episode (9) with our first playoff episode (10).

In Episode 9 we recap the last two games of the season for the Kings and Ducks. We touch on the NHL draft lottery and I wrap the end of the Kings season with the team awards and updates. We finish off with a quick mailbag with a question about our knowledge of hockey.

In Episode 10 we are joined by Cat and Acid Queen as we take a look at the 1st round matchups in the playoffs. I also tell the listeners which team I will be following throughout the playoffs and which I've picked as my Sweetheart/Dark Horse team (although if you listen closely, I actually say an interesting combination of those two words). Acid Queen and I focus on the Eastern Conference while Cat and Finny take a look at the Western Conference.

We then present our picks for the HLOG Squee Cup, which is our fun bracket to go along with our official brackets. To check out who we each picked, ya gotta listen to the episode. =)


Check us out at our respective blogs and at http://imnotapuckbunny.podbean.com/

You can listen from the player under my picture to the left, subscribe to it on iTunes, or you can go to the above link and either listen from the site or download it.

As always please direct any questions, comments, complaints, thoughts, ideas, or rants to: imnotapuckbunny@gmail.com.

Read more...

"I'm Not A Puck Bunny" Podcast - Episode 8

In Episode 8 Finny and I are joined by Sherry of Scarlett Ice as we talk about the Ducks and the Kings nearing the end of their season. The game recaps are followed by a birthday wish to Mr. Hockey and some swooning over highlight goals from the night of Tuesday, April 1st. Then we finish off with another quirky edition of Off Ice: Awards Edition where instead of choosing the traditional end-of-the-year awards, we make up our own to give out to our respective teams.

Check us out at our respective blogs and at http://imnotapuckbunny.podbean.com/

You can listen from the player under my picture to the left, subscribe to it on iTunes, or you can go to the above link and either listen from the site or download it.

As always please direct any questions, comments, complaints, thoughts, ideas, or rants to: imnotapuckbunny@gmail.com.

Read more...

"I'm Not A Puck Bunny" Podcast - Episode 7

Here is Episode 7 sure to make you get up out of your chair and boogie on down. Finny and I discuss the Ducks and Kings since McP is busy with life at the moment. We then discuss injuries around the league and the situation that occurred during a playoff game last Saturday in the QMJHL involving Jonathan Roy, among many other players.

To end the podcast, instead of an Off Ice or mailbag, we give you our own version of Mic'd Up at the Kings/Ducks game on Wednesday 26th. We get sound bytes from KMS2 of Purple Crushed Velvet and RudyKelly and Earl Sleek of the Battle of California.

Check us out at our respective blogs and at http://imnotapuckbunny.podbean.com/

You can listen from the player under my picture to the left, subscribe to it on iTunes, or you can go to the above link and either listen from the site or download it.

As always please direct any questions, comments, complaints, thoughts, ideas, or rants to: imnotapuckbunny@gmail.com.

Read more...

"I'm Not A Puck Bunny" Podcast - Episode 6

What's this? Another podcast? Episode 6? Hard to believe, huh. =) Once again Finny and I bring our collective brains together to discuss all things California hockey. McP has been MIA for the past couple of days and we have no idea what she's up to, but we hope that she is okay!!

For this episode we recap the games from last week and look ahead to next week. We then go to the penalty box and review all of the suspensions that have gone down in recent days, and then we have some friendly banter about how we feel about Chris Pronger and his suspension for the Stomp heard around the hockey world. We then discuss the season opening in England our teams, which was sparked by the news that the NHL will open the 08-09 season in Sweden and the Czech Republic. Then, instead of our usual fare of Off Ice, we go into the mailbag and then ask each other the following questions:

1) What was your earliest hockey memory?
2) Who was the first NHL player you ever met?
3) If you had to live in another hockey city, which would it be?

Check us out at our respective blogs and at http://imnotapuckbunny.podbean.com/

As always please direct any questions, comments, complaints, thoughts, ideas, or rants to: imnotapuckbunny@gmail.com.

Click me to listen!!

Updates: So upon listening to the final product, there are some items I would like to address/correct:

1) During the Ducks recap, I said that Kings prospect Teddy Purcell was in the AHL playoffs. I actually meant AHL All-Stars game.
2) During the Kings updates where I discussed the Ontario Reign, it sounded like I said “ACHL” but I really said “ECHL.”
3) When I spoke about the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, I sounded like a little kid who was speed reading. I definitely did not realize this until way after the fact. So...don't mind me...
4) In my shoutouts I thought the song playing in the background was “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and I said Boy George, but I definitely meant George Michael.

Apparently yesterday was a long day for me. In any case, I hope you enjoyed the podcast!

Read more...

"I'm Not A Puck Bunny" Podcast - Episode 3.5

Finny and I got together to record a Trade Special episode that is available for your ears.

We recap what the Kings and Ducks did at the deadline and grade our respective GMs' performances. We then look at the big trades that went down and who were the winners of those trades. From there we move on to discuss those players who were rumored to be moved but actually remained with their teams and trade surprises.

Please feel free to email us any questions, comments, and/or thoughts at: imnotapuckbunny@gmail.com.

You can check us out here.


Click here to listen!!!

Read more...

Trade Day Reactions and Player Transactions

Kings trade defensemen Brad Stuart to the Detroit Red Wings for a 2008 2nd round pick and a 2009 4th round pick.

Gone, but not forgotten.

I am upset with the trading of Brad Stuart. I knew it was coming; it wasn't a surprise, but honestly, it hit me in the stomach like a sack of pucks. He had been doing well in recent games and has proven to me that he wasn't as terrible as he had been at the beginning of the season. There were many other players that I could have parted with without feeling any separation pangs (i.e. Brian Willsie, Kevin Dallman, Ladislav Nagy, Scott Thornton (but I'd keep him over the 3 others mentioned), and Michal Handzus (was anyone else aware that he got a no-trade clause when he signed with the Kings??). But I also understand that these players aren't attractive to GMs because they do not produce like other players (read: younger) on the team, which obviously means that they wouldn't bring us anything useful in return. Obviously Stuart was the man to go and take one for the team because he DID get us 2 picks. This still upsets me.

Brad, if you re-sign with the Kings for next year, that would make me smile on the inside and out. I hope to see your long bombs from the blueline and throw downs along the boards soon. But I'm glad you went to Detroit because now you have a chance to win big, and we all know the saying, "Go big or go home."

Update 02/28/08: Here is an article from the Detroit official site on Stuart's beginnings with the team.


Kings trade Jean-Sebastian Aubin to the Anaheim Ducks for a 2008 7th round pick.

This makes me laugh.


Kings assign Teddy Purcell to Manchester.

This makes me roll my eyes in disgust.

Read more...

I Guess Brad Stuart Doesn't Suck....

Kings versus the Ducks. Freeway Faceoff = LAME

Pre-Game:
I stood at the glass during the warmups with my signs. I'm not sure Rob Blake saw my sign for him, but I definitely caught Matt Moulson taking a few peaks. I actually had to use both sides of one posterboard (ghetto-rig it, as I liked to say). Staples is lame and only allows signs UP TO 11x17 in size. Anyhoo, this is me with my signs up for Moulson.

That's right, Moulson. You look at me.

Well, I know Calder saw, so maybe he told Blakey.

First Period:
- Tommy Lasorda dropped the puck and Blake and Pronger share a civil handshake.
- Listen Kings, Fro may be strong on the puck, but not when he's surrounded by 4 Ducks. Please help him.
- If it was physically possible for Giuliano to stay out on the ice for the ENTIRE PK, I'd say DO IT. He freaking rocks out there and I honestly get antsy when he's not on the ice during that time.
- There were a total of 7 penalties during the first so there were some stressful moments. Especially with Vish hitting the crossbar on a rush. ARGH!
- Kings Goal - Anze (19) takes the puck to the net on the PP at 16:16 and the Kings are up 1-0. What??? What was that?? The Kings got on the board first?? I think the world just ended....
- Ratti and Parros go at it and it's a pretty even match up, I must say. I'm gonna venture a guess and say that hockeyfights.com will say it's a tie. Both go off for 5 minutes.
- At the very end of the period, there's a scuffle at center ice and a Duck grabs the puck with two trailing Kings and puts it past Barbs. BUT the goal was put under review and it was found to be in the net AFTER the period had ended. Awesome.

There's Handzus actually NOT losing faces off like there's no tomorrow.

End of the First Period:
- Attention all men with stupid girlfriends: Don't bring them to hockey games!!! Teach them the game from your freaking couch. There was a butter-faced blonde sitting two seats away from me saying the stupidest shit. I thought I was gonna stab my own eyes out.
- So are these really my Kings? They're looking good, being aggressive. Please show up for the 2nd!!!

Second Period:
- Kings Goal - Army tips in the puck at 4:21 and Teddy Purcell has his first NHL point with an assist!!!!
- At this point I'm wondering, "Does it really say Kings 2 Ducks 0????"
- Kings Goal - Fro takes a wrister to the net at 9:53. This goal started in the slot with Moulson passing it downlow to Army, who passed it across the front of the net to Fro. Freaking fantastic.
- The Ducks pull Giguere and put in rookie Hiller.
- Sully needs to get stronger on the puck in the corners. He's getting outbattled constantly.....
- Ratti and May are being a little lovey-dovey tonight, what with all the man hugging.
- No penalties in this period, and the Kings are looking mighty fine.

End of the Second Period:
Here is a video that Finny from Girl With A Puck and I made during the intermission.

Third Period:
- The Kings are still being aggressive in the corners and moving the puck and killing their penalties.
- Brad freaking Stuart is earning his paycheck tonight. I'm floored that he's putting shots on, throwing up hits, and taking names. Why can't you be this good every game, man!!!
- Ducks Goal - Rob Neidermayer scores at 16:48. Barbs just didn't close his legs fast enough and Rob N scored. Hmmm...that's what she said....
- The Kings finish the game just like they started: out on the hunt for duckies.

End of the Game:
- Kings 3, Ducks 1
- Shot total (because Staples couldn't fix their jumbo tron stat) - Kings 31, Ducks 32
- My Manchester Boys rocked it out there tonight.
- Hey Purcell! You need to start downing those protein shakes; you know, fatten you up a bit.
- The Kings come out with an unexpected win, which means the Ducks lost two nights in a row going into the All-Star weekend.
- I'm still in shock.

Read more...

Kings 2, Ducks 3

I'm not going to begin this game re-cap with the rage I was feeling at the end of the game. Rather, I'll let the rage build up to the Kings loss tonight.

Pre-game
- I was skeptical with watching this game on the Anaheim telecast because of the negative comments that I've heard about Brian Hayward's inability to call games. And I was getting annoyed with everyone calling Hayward “Hay-ze.”
- For the Kings: they are the least penalized team coming into tonight's game (and the Fro is still out).
- I want Bob Miller and Jim Fox.
- After seeing a lot of Ducks-oriented analysis, I'm glad they went to Patrick O'Neal with Brownie for a couple of minutes. The best part about the interview was when Sully walked by and ruffled Brownie's hair. AND that Brownie now has 85 hits. Sweet action.

First Period
- Both teams have their 4th lines starting the game.
- After learning that the Kings are the least penalized team in the NHL, they come in the first period and take 3 penalties.
- The first penalty – Army was called for boarding. Their PK looked a little messy during the first minute, but killed it well in the second half.
- Second penalty – Ivanans puts up a HIT but is called for boarding. I thought this was also a nice PK and Brownie puts up another good HIT.
- The intensity is picking up quickly and this camera guy SUCKS ASS. He must be stoned or something because he can't follow the puck to save his life.
- Third penalty – Sully is called for holding and the Kings again have a nice PK.
- GOAL 1 – Cammy passes to Calder (4) for the sweet goal.
- Parros and his mustache is called for boarding. I can't believe 3 boarding penalties have been called in this game, and it's only the first period!
- Sully breaking his stick leads to a short-handed rush by the Ducks. A little stressful, but Barbs held up and stopped that shot.
- GOAL 2 – Blake takes a shot on net and Brownie (10) deflects it in. Beautiful.

End of the First thoughts
- This play-by-play is definitely not as good as Bob Miller and Jim Fox.
- This camera guy still sucks. Why can't he keep up with the puck? If I was a Ducks fan and I had to watch this every game, I'd be PISSED.

Second Period
- Shot on goal to note: At the beginning, the Ducks passing got lazy and Moulson got a clean shot to the net right in the slot. Damnit, Giguere.
- Ducks GOAL – Getzlaf (9) deflected the puck between his own legs and through Barbs' legs as well. Shit.
- Beauchemin takes down Blake... GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!
- There was coast-to-coast playing coming from both sides that started to get messy and then became chaotic after a while.
- Half way point in the game – Anze hasn't done much of anything this entire first 30 minutes. Cammy is being shut down every time he touches the puck.
- Giguere gets a penalty for interference. I thought this was fine UNTIL Hayward said that this was “good acting by Calder.” Dude...SHUT UP! The Kings have an okay pp for these two minutes.
- So far Barbs is looking amazing in net.
- Bertuzzi swoops down in Bertuzzi fashion and slams Army drawing some blood.

End of Second Thoughts
- The game is physical and the Kings are trying to keep up. Why is Zeiler not putting up hits??
- Ivanans is getting physical even though he's got 4 freaking plates in his face! He's making me nervous.
- Stats LA – ANA: shots: 20-24 & hits 11-19.

Third Period
- To continue the trend of the commentators annoying me, they actually question Blake's ability to play in -back-to-back games! SHUT UP!
- Handzus is called for interference. Okay, Hayward sucks because he couldn't tell who the penalty was on until Handzus stepped into the box. Bob Miller would have been ALL OVER THAT. This PK was fine except for the two shots on the Ducks were able to get.
- Lubo - HIT!
- Anze – STILL not visible in this game. What is he doing? Cammy is STILL being shut down. Argh.
- Ivanans – stop trying to pick a fight! Don't get your face broken again!
- The penalties by Brownie and Moen causes a 4-on-4, which leads to Getzlaf's second goal (10). Vish lost an edge and fell, but what killed me was when Hayward said, “I don't know what he was doing.” And then mentioned something about “petite factor.” What the hell is that?
- Hits are coming from everywhere from both sides and the tension is getting higher and higher.
- Kunitz scores making the game 3-2 in favor of the Ducks.
- THIS is the point where my rage comes in.
- With two minutes left in the game, the Kings are on a 5-on-3 (which turns into a 6-on-3 with Barbs pulled) and the Kings can't set ANYTHING up. ONCE AGAIN, the Kings need to stop passing and get the puck to the net! I don't know how many times I yelled that at the TV, but you can't be passing it again and again when there are only 15 seconds left on the clock!!!

End of the Game: Kings 2, Ducks 3
- The Kings give up a 2 goal lead and also give up 2 points to the Ducks.
- I don't even know...

Read more...

More like “High Coffee With Kings”

Original post date: Sunday, September 30, 2007

I would like to take the time to write on my morning on Saturday the 29th at Ummba Grill for "High Tea with Kings" hosted by Keith Korneluk and Chris Kaliszewski of KingsCast podcast. What an awesome season opener to experience. Not only did my beloved Kings stomp on the Ducks 4-1, the game was witnessed by many within the cush setting of Ummba Grill. The ambiance was LA hip and the fans clad in Kings gear (not “crownshirts”) gave the restaurant a more intimate feel. And when I say “LA hip” I'm referring to my assumptions of it since I have been away from So Cal for seven years (blast!). The Silent Auction gave it an official feel as well with items from a Sean Avery-signed puck to a Robitaille jersey, with the proceeds going to Kings Care, and now that I think about it, the same person is now in possession of both items. The most comical item from the lot was a Cloutier-signed puck that went for an astounding $1.50 as the minimum. That made me happy because really, if the minimum had been the standard $25 who would have bid on it?? The dollar fifty price tag gave the whole Cloutier debacle a final slap on the ass. See ya later dude. But I became sad when I was outbid on a signed picture of Anze and Blake. I ended up bidding $40 because some guy named Keith Korneluk decided that it'd be fun to drive up the bidding on that particular item, which I had to beat because I needed the picture. That was, until some random-ass chick decided that her daughter needed the picture more than me!! APPALLING!!! And how much did she bid? A whopping $100 that I wasn't comfortable matching. FUCK. So that basically took me out of contention and also made me pissed as well. Oh well, what can you do other than be annoyed. Unfortunately, according to hottie-Keith there are dozens of kids crying because of me. And I now realize that I've mentioned Keith three, no four times in this post so far. But it's ok since he and Chris can't go through a podcast without mentioning Cloutier numerous times. So I say whatever to that. I will, from now on, refer to him as KK because his name is too long and awkward to type out.

So going back to the title of this post “More like 'High Coffee With Kings.'” I say this because I had been up since 4AM at practice and headed over to Ummba Grill after and decided that I needed a jolt of coffee. By 10AM I had consumed 2 big mugs of delicious coffee and 1/5 of a Bud Light. I was feeling quite buzzed in the lounge outside watching the plasma TV and having a blast. I should also mention that the guy bringing out drinks with the bright smile was super nice to our group. But I have to question out loud, was it because our whole group was probably around his age range or just that KMS2 and I were looking flashy in our Kings jerseys? I'm gonna have to go with the latter on this argument.

Thoughts and musings:

1) The girl singing the national anthem. I don't think I've every actually talked during the singing of our nation's song, but dude...what the fuck... she couldn't carry a tune worth shit. It was so painful to my sensitive ears that I had to just start laughing at the ridiculousness of it. I thought it was just me, but after the first two lines of the song I hear KMS2 saying, “Could she sing ANY SLOWER????” But the funniest part about that whole thing was that when we heard that she was blind, one of guys in our group said, “Yeah, but is she deaf too???” Whereupon we all rolled on the ground in hysterics and that was the end of that conversation.

2) The lighting situation. I don't know if it had been elaborated on by the commentators, but really, didn't you guys have the whole freaking day to work on the lighting?? Why did you decide right before the start of the game to make this worthless decision? You made me wait a whole 15 minutes for the start of the season for something you could have done that morning? Bastards.

3) I totally agree that the Anaheim Fucks looked flat and unenthusiastic through the game. And why did they decide to pick it up in the last five minutes of the game? Did they think that they would be able to score 3 goals in five minutes? I don't care if you're the Stanley Cup Champions, you're still penises in my book. I have realized that my time spent up in northern Cali was focused entirely on hating the Sharks with every atom in my body and not really giving the Ducks any thought. I really didn't care when they won the Cup last year because that meant that the Sharks didn't. It was so bad that by the end of my stint up there (in a place that should be a different state), I was rooting with a fiery passion for any team playing against the Sharks. Fuck those guys. With Thornton, Marleau, and Cheechoo. Fucking annoying. And it really didn't help that Marleau and my old boss sort of resembled each other; I hated that guy. The only redeeming quality was that some of the younger guys were kind of cute and that Drew Remenda was good comic relief at times. But other than that, the Sharks can go suck it. I literally spent the last couple years of my life hearing people trash talk LA when they've probably never been and just go on stereotypes and follow the crowd. Let me say again, FUCKING ANNOYING.

4) I'm really glad that KMS2 got her signed picture of Anze. He's gonna be BIG and we're gonna watch his development through the next couple of years. I do hope he becomes a franchise player and helps take the Kings out of their proverbial rut... And Bernier!! I don't want to jinx anything....so I'm just gonna wait out the season and hope he becomes a goaltender that I can trust.

All-in-all, I had a fantastic time at the Ummba Grill eating, drinking, and being merry. The only downside to the experience: I didn't get Anze and Blake....

For an in-depth analysis of “High Tea with Kings” please see KMS2's post at Purple Crushed Velvet.

Read more...