From letsgosharks: The Poppy Pin
You may have noticed Sharks head coach Todd McLellan and his staff adorning a certain accessory behind the bench on Saturday night, and again last night when the Sharks squared off against the Nashville Predators. It was a simple red flower, hung neatly on each coach’s left lapel. The red poppy, or replica of the flower, probably means little to most American hockey fans, but for a Canadian, it represents something more than just a way to dress up a suit.
The red poppy is worn by many Canadians wear the poppy during the two weeks prior to Remembrance Day. The Canadian holiday, also known as Armistice Day or Veterans Day as we know it in the U.S. , always falls on November 11th. It was on the 11th of November (the 11th month of the year), at the 11th hour of the day, when World War I officially ended.
Canadians celebrate their veterans with a public holiday, but more symbolically, with the red poppy. In the United States , war veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice are traditionally honored on Memorial Day, whereas American honor all veterans, living or otherwise.
While not all the provinces celebrate with a statutory holiday, Canada ’s federal government partakes in several traditions on Remembrance Day, including the reading or singing of “In Flanders Fields”, a poem written by Canadian officer and physician John McCrae during World War I after McCrea witnessed the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer.
The leading passage:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
refers to the flowers that grew prominently around the battlefields and military burial grounds around Flanders, or what is present day Belgium . “Red” represents the color of blood that flowed so prominently in the war that was supposed to end all wars.
The Montreal Canadiens have the lines:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
inscribed in both English and French in their locker room above photographs of famous Canadian players, reminding current players of the teams history, and the importance of honor in the team’s culture.
This particular passage is also inscribed upon the base of the flagpole at the American Cemetery , Madingley, in Cambridge , England.
via letsgosharks
And here is Carey Price’s Remembrance Day mask:
The 10 biggest hockey upsets of the last decade – Puck Daddy – NHL – Yahoo! Sports
6. Los Angeles Kings (7) upset Detroit Red Wings (2), 2001 Western Conference quarterfinals
The Wings were a 111-point team taking on a 92-point Kings squad, and the difference in the standings was evident in the first two Detroit victories in the series. But Los Angeles won Game 3 before the series was turned on its head in Game 4: The Kings rallied for three goals in the final 6:07 to send the game to overtime, where rookie Eric Belanger(notes) scored to knot it at two games apiece. LA would win four consecutive games to eliminate the Wings, including Adam Deadmarsh’s series-clinching tally in overtime of Game 6.
via The 10 biggest hockey upsets of the last decade – Puck Daddy – NHL – Yahoo! Sports.
Via Dennis-Kane.com: McSorley’s Stick
I have mixed feelings about this. No, wait — I don’t. It just makes me hate Montreal more. I guess I’m not surprised. But it is kind of disgusting.
“There’s been a lot of water under the bridge, and I know for a fact it wasn’t blind,” says Robitaiile now, meaning the Habs already knew the stick was illegal before the measurement took place. ”But I don’t think anyone will ever admit to it.”
The story is this: A policeman whose job it was to make sure nobody goes onto the visiting team’s bench at the Forum during the intermission breaks was either paid off or acted out of hometown loyalty, but for whatever reason decided to look the other way while a Habs trainer looked through the Kings’ stick rack and found the illegal stick.
The policeman later on, close to death, didn’t want to take the guilt of his secret to his grave, and confessed to Robitaille during a phone call.
Robitaille, for his part, doesn’t admit publicly to the phone call because he doesn’t want to use the policeman’s name which would serve no purpose now. And he didn’t want to be accused of sour grapes. “Actually, there’s beena couple of people who told me,” said Robitaille.
Gallagher makes a strong case that the Habs must have already known. “Consider, had the stick not been illegal the Habs would have received the penalty and Montreal would have kissed off any chance of coming back. Did Demers have that kind of jam to make that kind of call based on what one or two of his players might have thought on the ice?”
“Similarly, the Montreal players have all said they had no prior knowledge of the situation, but then they wouldn’t have needed any if the Habs trainer had been able to communicate directly with Demers after checking the Kings’ stick rack.”
“And why would Montreal players ever admit to such knowledge, given it would diminish their accomplishment of winning the Cup in the eyes of the public? It’s certainly not in their best interest to admit anything.”
Gallagher says “In a way it’s the NHL’s dirty little secret, the scandal that never seems to get out because it’s so old. But according to those who heard Robitaille tell the story of how he knows, it’s a public-relations bullet the league dodged, which would have made the NFL’s Patriots spying scandal look like a kindergarten squabble by comparison.”
via Dennis-Kane.com | Rated By My Wife As The Best Site In The World.
How Often and Does It Matter 2.0
Kings are 4-1. At 3-1, we determined that the Kings actually make the playoffs less frequently when they are at 3-1 or better after four games. But what about after being 4-1 after five games? Are the odds any better? (The list shows season/record/yes-no-playoffs?)
1970-71 4-1 no
1980-81 4-1 yes
1988-89 4-1 yes
1992-93 4-1 yes
Three out of four, or 75%. When they did not start this well, they only made the playoffs 54% of the time. So the odds are with us. (Incidentally — and I declare this a jinx-free comment — the Kings only reached 5-1 twice, in ‘80 and ‘92, and they’ve managed 6-1 never. The best start in franchise history is 10-1-1 in ‘80. As of today, we can call it the third best start in franchise history.)
Ground Breaking for the new LA Forum, 1966
Get a load of what Inglewood LOOKED LIKE IN 1966.
The Oldest Picture of the Kings I Could Find: Long Beach Arena, Kings/North Stars, 10-15-67
They won 5-3. It was their second game. Undefeated as a franchise to that point.
From the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection: “Dionne With Rookies”
That’s the name of the photo. The rookies are Luc Robitaille and Jimmy Carson.
Kings Franchise All-Jersey-Number Hall of Shame Squad
Even more subjective than the last post, but a kind of obvious companion to it. I did not consider anyone pre-black-silver-Chevron era, because my memory is not good enough to recall people I disliked pre-…(um)…Mikko Makela. And it wouldn’t be fair.
Again, the rules are: to qualify, you have to be, according to me, the lamest person in Kings history ever to wear a given number.
I noticed as I was compiling the list that there are really only two catagories of shame. (1) Veterans who played great for someone else and sucked for us; (2) draft picks and prospects that didn’t pan out. Seven defensemen, four goalies, 27 forwards. So you’d have to cut about 14 forwards and a couple of goalies to get down to a properly shameful squad of 22. I would cut the future Hall-of-Famers or other sorta-stars who came to LA to suck: Roenick, Ronning, Fuhr, Carter, Tocchet, Stevens, Ferarro, Parrish, Klima, Straka, Heinze. Gotta cut two more. Okay, Klima, Tambellini. And two goalies have to go. Knickle and Fuhr. Okay, so here is the full expanded roster, with the opening night line-up following:
|
1 |
Rick Knickle |
|
3 |
Denis Tsygurov |
|
5 |
Aki Berg |
|
6 |
Maxim Kuznetzov |
|
7 |
Cliff Ronning |
|
8 |
Rene Chapdelaine |
|
9 |
Ilkka Sinisalo |
|
10 |
Alyn McCauley |
|
11 |
Anson Carter |
|
12 |
Sylvain Couturier
Marko Tuomainen |
|
14 |
Kyosti Karjalainen |
|
21 |
Kai Nurminen |
|
22 |
Rick Tocchet |
|
24 |
Mikko Makela |
|
25 |
Kevin Stevens |
|
26 |
Ray Ferraro |
|
28 |
Guy Leveque |
|
29 |
Roman Vopat |
|
31 |
Grant Fuhr |
|
32 |
Roman Cechmanek |
|
33 |
Jan Vopat |
|
37 |
Mark Parrish
Patrice Tardif |
|
39 |
Dan Cloutier |
|
41 |
Brandy Semchuk |
|
42 |
Tom Preissing |
|
44 |
Lauri Tukonen |
|
47 |
Ladislav Nagy |
|
50 |
Donald MacLean |
|
51 |
Jeff Tambellini |
|
55 |
Pavel Rosa |
|
57 |
Steve Heinze |
|
62 |
Scott Barney |
|
77 |
Rob Cowie |
|
82 |
Martin Straka |
|
85 |
Petr Klima |
|
97 |
Jeremy Roenick |
And now, your opening night roster:
MacLean/Makela/Sinisalo
Karjalainen/Nurminen/Tuomainen
Couturier/Nagy/Leveque
Tardif/R. Vopat/Tukonen
(Semchuk: healthy scratch)
(McCauley, IR)
Berg/Tsugurov
Kuznetzov/Cowie
J. Vopat/Preissing
(Chapdelaine)
Cloutier
Cechmanek
Now, you can’t tell me that’s not a bad team.
Ridiculous August Lull Feature: Kings All Jersey Number Team
My utterly subjective opinion on the best, most-distinguished or otherwise most-something-or-other King to wear each number.
Via Greatest Hockey Legends: Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne
Lafleur was not eligible for the NHL draft until 1971, but Montreal wanted him badly. In May 1970 they made their first move to secure the 1st overall pick in ‘71. They traded Ernie Hicke and their own 1st rounder to lowly Oakland.
As the 1970-71 season progressed, the Habs gamble was working well as the Seals toiled and threatened to finish dead last, giving Montreal the top pick. To make sure the equally terrible Los Angeles Kings did not fall beneath the Seals in the standings, the Habs basically gave away Ralph Backstrom during the season to prop up the Kings and make them good enough to finish strong.
Mission accomplished. The Seals finished last. The Habs draft first, landing Guy Lafleur essentially for the price of Hicke and an aging Backstrom.
While there was no doubting Montreal had wanted to pick “The Flower” all along, another Francophone player was the obvious #2 choice in the 1971 draft – Marcel Dionne. Dionne may be best remembered as an LA King, but it was the Detroit Red Wings that drafted him in ‘71. He would play in the Motor City for four years before an unceremonious departure to California.
In hind sight, some might argue Dionne may have been the better player, and should have been chosen 1st overall by Montreal. He found near-instant success in the NHL, unlike Lafleur. He had a longer career, and he dwarfed Lafleur’s career stats. And he did it all with very little supporting cast. Mind you, he never had any luck whatsoever in the playoffs.
Oh, how I love that the Habs made a trade to improve another team, in order to get the pick they wanted in the draft.
via Greatest Hockey Legends.com: Trading Places? Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne.
Via Habslegends: Ralph Backstrom and the Super Street Skate
After 13 seasons and 6 Stanley Cup championships in Montreal, Backstrom went to GM Sam Pollock and requested a trade in 1970. The Habs sent Backstrom to Los Angeles, one of his requested destinations, in exchange for Gord Labossiere and Ray Fortin.
“It was very refreshing for me to play in Los Angeles. It was one of the most enjoyable times in my hockey career. The environment, the lifestyle everything seemed to be new and different,” says Backstrom.
It was in California that Backstrom first began experimenting with the first inline skates.
“A friend of mine, Maury Silver, had a concept back in 1971 when I was playing for the Kings,” recalled Backstrom. “His idea was to put wheels on the bottom of my skate boot instead of the blade. I remember taking my blade off and trying out the wheels. As a matter of fact I would train during the off-season with the so called super street skate.”
Backstrom and Silver’s “Super Street Skate” was the forerunner to the inline skate. While neither were involved in the evolution to the inline skate, Backstrom would later go onto be a big part of the success of Roller Hockey, serving as the commissioner of Roller Hockey International.
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