I had an opportunity to choose which feed I took in tonight and used that chance to see what the Flames' media had to say about the team and the Kings.
Calgary Fan 960 Game Take
Here are some interesting points worth a mention:
• Kings are a fast skating team;
• Kings are atrocious at even strength and if their opponents stay out of the box, teams can near be assured of a win;
• Per former King, CBC Commentator, Kelly Hrudey, Kings controlled 30 of the first 40 minutes of play;
• Hrudey continued that the Flames could not keep up with the Kings and were back in the game due to stronger play from Kiprusoff for the first 2 periods;
• Hrudey also said Aubin was losing confidence, his teammates sensed it and the Flames smelled “blood” and were increasing shots to exploit the Kings’ vulnerable position;
• As to the Flames, Hrudey didn’t know what kind of team they had, looked lost in their own zone and haven’t learned to trust each other yet with 1/3 new faces this year.(This sounds an awful lot like something that could be said about the Kings.)
The Kings may not have won but this loss was different than the prior ones. Here’s my take:
• Started strong and went up 2 goals and nearly had a complete 1st period absent a late, back breaking timed goal at the 7 second mark;
• Scored 2 power play goals on the road;
• Played physical forcing 2 atypical Flames players to come to the defense of their teammates, Langkow who took on Brown unsuccessfully and ended up giving the Kings a power play and Tanguay who took on Thornton after Thornton continued his physical play by knocking Iginla to the ice;
• Labarbera played 20 minutes of shut-out hockey;
• Visnovsky stayed back when Labarbera was pulled and stopped 2 empty net opportunities for the Flames enabling the Kings a shot at tieing the game;
• Kings out shot the Flames.
Where the Kings of old resurfaced:
• Gave up 2 power play goals;
• Aubin let in another bad goal – a tie game absent that goal;
• Blake on the point with seconds remaining, Kopitar wins key late face-off and Blake cannot maintain possession eliminating chance of tie at the end of regulation;
• Gave up 3 unanswered goals;
• Penalty issues including a bench minor nullifying a power play
Dishonorable Mention
Before the game started, a Calgary broadcaster had a pre-game interview where he mispronounced Kopitar’s first and last name…. oops!
The errors continued when a different Calgary broadcaster twice said to Kopitar that it must have been great to play a game in his country, Austria. Anze seemed so classy to me when he said nothing until the mistake was repeated.
Anze also discussed the differences between Slovenia and Los Angeles and the big adjustments he went through learning about good restaurants, places to go where other athletes hang out and acclimating to a new country and life style amongst other things.
Honorable Mention
Kelly Hrudey won the Gemini Award for Best Studio Analyst on Hockey Night in Canada. He told the story of how it came about.
Hrudey received word of the nomination. For whatever reasons, I will choose humility; he thought it was a joke being played on him by his colleagues. Approximately 2 weeks later, someone confirmed that the nomination was for real.
He never found out when the Gemini Awards took place because he never considered himself a serious candidate. Kelly almost sounded dumbfounded at the whole thing, not seeing himself in the same light as his peers see him, considering the caliber of the competition. (Someone please buy Kelly a mirror please so he can see what others do!!)
The playoffs went forward and considering the work load, as my memory serves, he forgot about it. After the playoffs, his Mum and Dad called and asked him when the ceremony took place and were probably shocked to hear his response that he had no idea when they were or if they already took place. (Really)
He did not plan to attend, since again, he never saw the point because surely he was not going to win. A colleague asked him for an acceptance speech in order to be able to accept on his behalf. He remembered thinking, “Oh, I might actually win”, or something like that.
He never did attend despite being asked multiple times. In the future, Hrudey plans to take these accolades more seriously! Ya think????
Fan Check In
On a regular basis, I want to invite lurkers and fellow Kings’ fans to let others know they dropped by. Please join in. It is as easy as just typing “Here” and posting reply. That would be a really great way to dip your feet in and so other team’s fans can know that we Kings’ fans are present, passionate and involved.
Carla Muller
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