Weekly Hockey Roundup

Since last Friday here are posts that I hope you didn't miss:

What the S*** @Battle of California
Last Thursday night the Flyers played a preseason game in Canada. As Wayne Simmonds (former LA King!) went on the ice for a shootout attempt some asshat in the stands threw a banana at him. If it wasn't a racist act, then it was the hugest coincidence ever, so yes, everyone and their mother assumes it was. I never wrote a post about it because (a) I couldn't figure out a way to put all my angry thoughts into nicely formed sentences and (b) Rudy Kelly at Battle of California said it best with this post.

Canucks' Mason Raymond Unsure When He'll Play Again @Vancouver Sun
I came across this article through Puck Daddy and absolutely had to read it because I remember watching the hit during the Stanley Cup Finals and thinking it was such an awkward hit. Even after watching several replays I couldn't quite figure out what happened. I thought maybe Boychuck got his stick up in Raymond's boys. As Raymond struggled to get off the ice with help from his teammates you could definitely tell that something was very wrong. It didn't seem like Boychuck needed to finish his check, but he did and unfortunately Raymond was in a very unusual position that left him vulnerable to an injury. Such a strange situation. Hopefully Raymond will fully recover and be back on the ice.

Boston Bruins Stanley Cup Engraving @Days of Y'Orr
It still makes me sick that another effing Boston team won a championship, but it's the Stanley Cup so I couldn't help but get a little teary-eyed looking at the awesome (hand?) engraving. I think it's a little odd the players' names aren't at the top since they were the ones working their arses off to win that Cup.

The preseason is almost over. It feels like it's lasting for-GD-ever. It started to feel way too long when I heard that players were being suspended for 5 preseason games. I think this is the first time ever that I even realized teams played that many preseason games.  Earlier this week I saw this tweet from Alix of The Humming Giraffe  at the exact moment I was thinking of how tired I was getting of preseason games.

Seriously, it's such a snooze.  I can't wait for the season to begin!!!

Hoping the Regular Season is Better Than the Preseason

I tried watching Sunday's preseason game on live stream through the Kings website, but the quality was so poor* and I got sick and tired of watching gross overweight dudes get way too excited to be featured on the jumbotron and gyrate to arena music. (I missed getting the screenshot by a nanosecond!) Besides, I was too busy fretting over the Steelers/Colts game because I was *this* close to winning my first fantasy football week. Instead I lost by 0.40 points. But back to the Kings preseason game.

Based on Rudy Kelly's pre-game analysis I felt pretty good about the Kings' chances to destroy the Junior Ducks, but instead the Kings somehow managed to lose 3-1. I cringed when I read the AP post-game report:

The Kings went 0 for 6 on the power play.

Oh goodie, just like old times!

Offseason acquisitions Mike Richards and Simon Gagne played with captain Dustin Brown on the second line and the three were a combined minus-6

Uhhh, excuse me?

And the recap failed to mention that the first line of Penner-Kopitar-Williams was a combined minus-3. So our top two lines were on the ice for every single goal against. Lovely....just lovely.

(AP Photo)

Westgarth got a little banged up so send him some love

So, uh, here's hoping the regular season is better than the preseason when the Kings will have to play against a real lineup.  Otherwise, this could be a loooooonnnng season.

*I actually really appreciate that the preseason games can be viewed via live stream.  I'm just a little confused as to why the quality isn't better.