We were Kings

Our last night in LA and definitely one to remember.  Ellis had got us all tickets for the hockey match at the Staples Center.

The LA Kings were playing the Tampa Bay Lightnings and since this was the first ice-hockey match I’d been to, I didn’t really know what to expect apart from some fast and furious action.

We had great seats and as we watched the teams warm up on the ice, we thought that it might be good to look out for a particular player.

Once more, a gift of a quote for my blog was uttered: “Let’s support number 10, because he’s cute and he still has teeth”.

(as good a reason as any, wouldn’t you agree?)

So, Richards was our man then, and his return to the ice was noted now and again, “Oh look, our cutie-pie is back”.

The men ensured we were well supplied with snacks.  Deep fried popcorn chicken, hand cooked potato chips and bags of sweet-salt popcorn too. 

The match was indeed fast and furious, but what was particularly amusing was that there was not a single lapse in the action.  Fuelled by loud music, cheering, chanting and non-stop sponsor-led activity such as throwing T shirts into the crowd, the “kiss cam”  or the drawing of a lucky ticket, there wasn’t a minute’s quiet.

Oh, and there was frequent clearing of ice, by huge machine or by hand, when a handful of people skated up and down with large snow-shovels.  The young bikini-topped women seemed to enjoy the task, in spite of the chill.

Best of all, “our” team won, 5 – 2.  After each goal the Kings scored, the home crowd went wild and given that there can have been no more than a handful of Tampa supporters in there, the noise was phenomenal.  When Tampa scored their two goals there was little more than a whimper, possibly a low “boooo” but certainly no fuss beyond the minimal announcement.  Were we all biased?  You bet we were.

So yes, we were indeed all Kings.  We left as the team mascot Bailey the lion skated onto the ice, wearing a rather familiar guise in honour of the month of Movember, too.

Go Kings, go!