How did I get 24 days into the hockey season and not have a post yet? The easy answer that most people would say that I didn’t post because the Kings haven’t played well. Or, in the words of Annette, they’re stinking up the place.

I guess part of the reason I didn’t blog is because I don’t quite know where to put this season yet. Last season, with the fast start and good players, it was easy to have sugarplum visions of playoff prowess. This season, it is hard to imagine that Anze Kopitar and Patrick O’Sullivan are the savoirs to lead the Kings to the playoffs. So, where does the season go from here? I hope upwards. After watching some very disappointing hockey against the Wings and the Ducks, the Kings seemed to have found some footing for this season. Sure, they lost Saturday, but there was something about the game that gives me hope. First, the Kings had played Columbus the night before and were on the last game of the road trip. Last year’s team would’ve called it in and headed home for the next couple of games. Last night, the Kings played hard and almost won. Now, almost winning is not a desired result unless the Kings want a top 5 pick but the game from start to finish was good. Blake played like he should. The Kings crashed the net. The Kings took bodies the entire game.

The Kings are now 3-8-2 and I’m hoping this beginning is the bad streak that all teams endure at some point in the season. The Ducks sucked through November last year and made it to the conference finals. Maybe the Kings can do the same thing. We’ll see.

So tonight’s the night, hope it will be alright…. or something like that. First game with the formerly Might Ducks now just Ducks. As I read, the Ducks have reduced the stupidest name in sports by 50%. The only name that might be as weird as the Ducks is the Penguins.

Go Kings Go!

…..it must be time to start the hockey season. Last night, the new NHL season started with three games. I watched two of them on Tivo (which makes the games much shorter) and cheered when Buffalo won and booed when Dallas won. Overall, the games were fun to watch since they count now. The only thing that was missing were the Kings.

So, here are a few more pictures from Las Vegas. First up, Annette with Craig Conroy. Craig is the happiest person in hockey, maybe the world. As I said before, he was in the moment for the 15 seconds he was with Annette.

Second up is a picture of Annette with Alexander Frolov. Frolov has this great expression on his face. It is like a canary in a coalmine type look. I would love to know what he was thinking.

Next Michael Cammalleri. I guess I stunned both of them when I took the picture. It seems that neither is smiling. I think when I took this picture, Annette didn’t know where I was and both spun around I snapped the picture.

Last picture here but the first taken was of Sean Avery. Both Annette and I like Sean as a player. He’s hard working, a little brash, and talks a bit of trash. When he was interacting with us, and anyone else, he didn’t smile. He seemed very focused on something else. Maybe he just got chewed out by the coach.

All in all, a good hour or so of talking to some of our favorite players. I think one of the reasons I like hockey is that the players are very friendly, at least in LA. Edmonton or Vancouver might be another story since the sport is much more popular in Canada.

Both Eric Belanger and Tim Gleason were traded today to Carolina for a stud prospect (Jack Johnson) and a defenseman that I can’t remember his name. Wow. In some ways, I’m not surprised but it sad to see them go. Both were very friendly players. Strangely, these were two of the players Annette had here picture taken with on Saturday.

So, in honor of these two, here are there pictures with Annette. First is a slightly out of focus picture of Tim and Annette. I think the camera was fooled by the corner of the wall behind. The second picture is of Eric B. bending over to make sure that Annette was in the picture.

Finally, Frozen Fury 9 has come and gone. Now, I’m anxious for the real season to start!

During the weekend, we were able to get down to the MGM Grand Arena and wait outside for the players to come out after the morning skate. We didn’t have a Sharpie (bad planning) but we did have our small digital camera. As a result, I took Annette’s picture with Craig Conroy, Alexander Frolov, Tim Gleason, Sean Avery, and Eric Belanger. Rob Blake and Mattias Norstrom walked by but we didn’t get their picture. A few of interesting things about the experience. First, every player was gracious and friendly. No one was turned down for an autograph or picture. Second, Avery walked out with Norstrom and Blake. It seems that Avery now has two dads since the Kings have purposely put avery between Blake and Norstrom in the locker room. Maybe Avery will avoid the controversy this year and just play hard. Third, Craig Conroy has to be the happiest and niciest of all the Kings. He was all smiles for hte picture and really seemed in the moment. By this, I mean that for the 15 seconds or so it took to take the picture, he seemed focused on what Annette was saying. Annette commented that he had healed up nicely from last season. He understood what she was saying and said it was a rough two weeks for him. Annette was refering to the weeks when Conroy had taken a couple of pucks off the face and had a bloody/bruised eye last year and looked very scary. Lastly, it was strange when a couple players came out and no one recornized them. One of them was Sopel who was only on the team for the last 20 games last season. Overall, the players were fantastic. I wonder if baseball, football, or basketball players would be so gracious or even have the time. I’ll post a couple of the pictures later.

The MGM Grand, where the game was and where we stayed, was unusually expensive. Maybe it is just me but when I go to Las Vegas, I expect my food to be cheap. The buffet at the Grand was $21 a person on Saturday and the coffee shop had $12 entrees for breakfast. At home, I can get breakfast for less than $10. Nathans hotdogs cost us $20 for a fast food dinner. Next time, I’m staying downtown. =)

The gambling in Vegas was horrible. We lost lots of money on video poker, craps and slots. Fortunately, we made some of back on a good streak at Blackjack on the way out of town at Whiskey Pete’s.

How did this happen? On Mondays, I now create things like this flower arrangement instead of watching Monday Night Football. What a long strange trip its been. I guess that once you are married, you do things with your wife (or husband) that you wouldn’t have done otherwise. For me, it is taking a flower class at the local junior college. Annette loves flowers. Last year, I discovered that we could take classes about floral design and we signed up for a class. What I thought was a one-time class has now turned into a second class. If I’m not careful, I will amassed enough units for a Floral Design and Management associates degree. Armed with this degree, I could work in a flower shop or start my own business in floral arranging. Ok, maybe I won’t do that but I can help Annette out with any flower business that comes our way.

Thank god that the Kings camp opened today. I’ve been Jonesing for hockey every since the Stanley Cup was hoisted in NC a few months ago. 9 Days until our Frozen Fury game and 3 or so weeks until the Kings opener in Anaheim on October 6th.

Here’s to a good Kings season.

Las Vegas is a town known for its drinking but this might be a little too much. In court this week, a man appeared drunk in court. What is most unusual about this case is that it was one of the lawyers. The Las Vegas Journal has the full report. I guess in Las Vegas you need to give your lawyer a field sobriety test prior to giving him a retainer.

So, while my wife’s car was in the shop for two days, I ended up driving a Hertz rental car. One of the gadgets that this car had was a GPS map. This toy would give you driving directions to whatever address that you programmed in. For the first few hours, I was typing in my destination even if I knew the way to the location. Then, I had an inspiration. I could use the previous renters destination that was stored in the GPS as my own. Today, I spent the entire day driving to Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles but never getting there. The GPS became very annoyed with me whenever I missed one of my turns. In fact, at one point, in a fit of frustration, it demand that I enter my destination. I think this was because I had entered my work parking lot and it was obvious to the GPS I had no intention of going to Roscoes. Oh, well, maybe another day.

Frozen Fury in Las Vegas is only 11 days away. Go Kings Go!