The Kings lost the Western Conference Finals tonight to the Chicago Blackhawks. I am sad but proud. They didn’t roll over and play like crap. They fought incredibly hard. The Hawks led by 2 for a long time. The Kings tied it and the game went into double overtime. It was harrowing. I believe part of the reason they lost was they were just plain worn out.
I’m glad that now they will be able to rest and recover. There was a lot of speculation that many of our top players were playing injured. Here’s an early run down of injuries from when they played the Sharks:
Justin Williams – slight shoulder separation
Dustin Brown – torn PCL ligament in the knee
Drew Doughty – bad ankle (from the series before the Sharks)
Anze Kopitar – nothing known yet, but I’m absolutely certain something was wrong with him.
All of the Kings played fiercely and have nothing to be ashamed of.
Now that the Kings are out of the running, I hope that at least I will be able to concentrate more easily on my writing.
A Hairy Hockey Tradition
Why do NHL players all look inexplicably scruffy during the Playoffs?
One might think they’re so pressed for time that they can’t shave. Plausible, but untrue.
Believe it or not, this is a tradition that started in the 1980s by the New York Islanders. During the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it’s customary for the players to not shave until they’re either eliminated or they win the Cup. (Some believe it’s all right to trim it after a loss in an attempt to change the luck.)
Here’s one of my favorite players, Dustin Penner, #25, of the LA Kings, with his beard. Bushy, ain’t he! (Photo by Lucy Nicholson Reuters)Dustin is well known for his luxurious Playoff beards. There’s even someone who tweets as @PennersBeard.
Penner has earned two Stanley Cup rings, once with the Anaheim Ducks, the other with the Kings last year.
Here’s what he looks like (somewhat) clean-shaven. What a hunk.
Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!
I have loved hockey romance since reading Rachel Gibson’s See Jane Score in 2003. I have loved almost all her Chinook series books. I loved feeling like I was seeing behind-the-scenes of the sport, a sport about which at the time I knew absolutely nothing. It didn’t matter. I still loved and enjoyed those books.
And now I’m about to be on the author side of hockey romance because Carina Press wants to publish HARD TO RESIST! No. Scratch that. They want my hockey book PLUS the second hockey book I haven’t even written yet!
Fist pump.
They want to develop a marketing plan for my hockey romance series. Yeah, baby. That’s what I’m talking about. I have begun to daydream about Julia Quinn Bridgerton Series type success.
Photo by ME. This was taken when I went to a Kings practice at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. I had an absolute blast. At the time I had a hard time identifying the players because I didn’t know them by number. If I went today, it would be a completely different story. I know my boys.
And by the way, they’re still in the running for the Stanley Cup. Sunday is Game 6 against the San Jose Sharks. I can’t wait.
Terms of Endearment #10
Leaner – (n.) Filling a trash can or similar container with water, leaning it up against the door of a teammate’s hotel room, knocking, and running for the hills.
Hockey players can be nothing more than little boys with facial hair. This is something I really adore, if you want to know the truth. In this hockey series I’m writing, you will see many examples of this. Some might look at this type of behavior as immature. Sure it is. No argument there. But I also think it’s funny as hell. I love practical jokes.
So do Los Angeles Kings players, Dustin Penner and Mike Richards. Dustin is a very funny man. He has no problem laughing at himself, as is evident from the following Twitter conversation he had with Richards.
Penner posted this picture and tweeted: Do not try and steam clean your dress shirt w/out making sure the shower/tub combo drain is open. #housekeeping.
Richards: @DustinPenner25 ever hear of an iron?
Penner: @MRichie_10 Stay out of this Rick! This is between me and the tub. Also don’t open your door #leaner
Richards: @DustinPenner25 I actually just walked out of my room and the water has made its way in front of my door. Leaner not needed.
I. Love. This.
I hope readers like it too because this is exactly the kind of manly stuff I’m trying to show in my books. I hope it shows the friendship and camaraderie between the teammates, their senses of humor, their humility, their sense of fun.
