Chicago - A message from the station manager

Goodbye Wings, Hello Kings

By Steve Rhodes

Let us review/preview.
1. The game-winner.


–
2. Travelers at Midway missed it.


–
3. The pretty goal. Watch the passing.

–
4. The disallowed goal. It’s not that it wasn’t a penalty, it’s that it should have been a delayed penalty with the Hawks on the attack or at the least a Hawks power play because Saad didn’t merit a coincidental call.


*
Or, as Pat Iversen wrote for SBNation: “So, to summarize: the Detroit Red Wings temporarily avoided elimination because their defenseman took a penalty. Wrap your mind around that.”
–
5. Hawks-Kings Series Preview.
6. Vegas Insider Odds To Win The Cup.
7. Betting lines not yet set.
8. Hockey’s Kings Are Center Of A Los Angeles Counterculture.
“Kings fans tend to come largely from far-flung suburban communities like Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley and spend lots of time on the Internet (team research shows they spend more time on the team’s official Web site than any other fan base in the NHL except Vancouver’s). The fans seem to prefer the cheap seats to the expensive ones on the floor, which sometimes go empty. They also trend toward the dark: recent topics on a Kings fan forum range from Russian metal bands and horror films to fantasy video games.”
True, that was from 2010, but still. And in last year’s run-up to their Cup win, the Kings’ Twitter feed gained notoriety for its wit and candor.
(Hence, from its description box: “Just a quick note, we apologize for any future tweets that may offend you.”)
(A lot of that wit was directed at the pattern of goofs by mainstream media who didn’t seem to know that a hockey team was in town, that a hockey team in town was good, that a hockey team in town was contending for the Stanley Cup. or what hockey actually was.)
9. Last word on the Red Wings from the Lifetime movie script doctor Mitch Albom:

In the closing moments of “Rocky,” the gutsy fighter and his slick rival clench together at the bell, their epic battle now complete.
“Ain’t gonna be no rematch,” one gasps.
“Don’t want one,” gasps the other.
This fight is over. The Blackhawks win Game 7, in overtime, in gut-wrenching fashion, final score, 2-1, on a goal by Brent Seabrook that just grazed Niklas Kronwall’s shin and flew past Jimmy Howard.

Ain’t gonna read no further.
10. First word on the Kings from Reuters’ Jahmal Corner:

The Los Angeles Kings are taking a much more tension-filled route toward the Stanley Cup finals this year than the squad that came out of nowhere in 2012 to steamroll their way to a maiden championship.
The Kings survived Tuesday’s do-or-die Game Seven by holding off the visiting San Jose Sharks in a 2-1 nail-biter that put Los Angeles back in the Western Conference finals for a second consecutive year.
It was the kind of challenge the Kings never faced during their remarkable 2012 playoff run when they practically breezed to the Cup title as an eighth seed that grabbed a 3-0 lead in each best-of-seven series and went 16-4 in the postseason.
The Kings never faced an elimination game during last year’s remarkable run, yet this year’s squad seems to be enjoying their current march just as much even though they fell behind early in the opening round before being pushed to the limit by San Jose in the second round.

Blackhawks in seven.
–
Comments welcome.

Permalink

Posted on May 30, 2013