The L.A. Kings played their opening game at home here in Los Angeles last night, and how sweet it was to watch them easily beat the St. Louis Blues 5-0.
Home sweet home. Ahhh, there’s nothing like it. After bouncing around Europe for the first two games, and then forced to play east coast teams on their turf after finally returning to the U.S., the Los Angeles Kings were home. Their exuberance was matched only by the sell-out crowd that came out to see them in their opening game here in L.A.
For some reason I still haven’t figured out (being a newbie and all this season) why the Kings played their first two games this season in Europe. They played U.S. teams, but those teams seemed to be made up of players from Europe for the most part. At least from what I could tell.
To add insult to injury, those games were designated “home” games for Kings, but they got little encouragement from the stands, as the cheering was reserved for the other teams! It was insulting, I tell you. They figured nobody loved them over there, and they were right. Even so, because of the depth of the Kings’ team this year, they managed to split the games and come home with a 1-1 record.
Finally our boys got to put their boots on U.S. turf as they returned to the states to play in New Jersey and Philadelphia. When they lost the first game here in North America to New Jersey in overtime, the fans began to get to worried. Thankfully, the urge to one-up Philly after the Kings got one of their star players, Mike Richards, led the Kings to a victory there.
So, they finally arrived home in Los Angeles with a 2-1-1 record. This means (‘cause I finally learned this!) they won two, lost one in regular time, and lost one in overtime. And this is a team that is supposed to be so “deep and wide” they’re expected to do exceptionally well this year. But the guy they paid $56 million for before the season started, Drew Doughty, was out with an injury for at least ten days.
Well, when the L.A. Kings took the ice last night, a mighty roar went up in the stands in that sold-out stadium. Finally they were getting the respect they deserve, and they responded like gangbusters. Anze Kopitar, Jarret Stoll , team Captain Dustin Brown and Simon Gagne all scored, with assists from, oh heck, pretty much everyone else on the team. Gagne scored twice, the first goal and the last goal, to bring the final score to 5-0.
Kings’ hot goalie Jonathan Quick told the L.A. Times that the fans cheering in the first ten minutes really picked the team up. I could feel this even through the TV screen, the love was that strong. The energy, the emotion, the support from the fans motivated the Kings’ team to the tune of five goals total, with three scored in less than five minutes in the first period! Now they can put the jet lag behind them, and the sky’s the limit.
Welcome home, Kings from a newbie fan!!!! Oh yes, and GO, KINGS, GO!!!
~~~
This article is published on Associated Content from Yahoo! HERE :
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9051151/la_kings_20112012_finally_home_the.html?cat=9
L.A. Kings Hockey for Women 
tracykingslover
October 19, 2011
yeah! I got to finish the article! 🙂
Mary, just you wait until I take you to a game. Looking at my schedule, the first game i think I could talk hubbbypat out of going will be Nov 12 vs. Minnesota Wild. Put it on your calendar.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Noreen M Brown
October 19, 2011
Thanks Mary for letting me know who scored the goals last night. If you read my latest blog you’ll see why I’m so grateful. Old people are pitiful, aren’t they?
MaryAReed
October 20, 2011
LOL, that article is hilarious.
Looking forward to going to a game in November! :):):)