As the All-Star Game is just about ready to get underway in Raleigh, here’s a look at the pregame scene, with Anze Kopitar warming up with teammates in the traditional soccer kick-around…
LATEST NEWS- The Key Three: May 22
- Los Angeles is Kings of the road
- Kings' success brings back memories of 1993
- Can anyone stop the Kings?
- Kings' run evokes memories of '93 for broadcasters
- Kings await Rangers or Devils in Stanley Cup Final
- Kings, Coyotes differ sharply on Brown's hit
- Penner's overtime winner caps personal turnabout
- Live Chat: Western Conference Final
- TV and Radio - Tonight
RULES FOR BLOG COMMENTING
- No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
- Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other commenters, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
- Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
- Please do not discuss, or post links to, websites that illegally stream NHL games.
- Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.
SOCIAL MEDIA
LA Kings Insider LA Kings Official
Goal Kopitar!!!!!!!!!1
[Reply]
Kopi’s on the board! the first for team Lidstrom….not bad for an unheralded 15th round pick..
[Reply]
Sweet goal by Kopi!! Way to show off those skills.
[Reply]
Proud to be a Kings fan! Good job on that goal Kopitar!
[Reply]
SWEEEEEEET KOPI!!!!!
[Reply]
Classic comment by Cam Ward after the Kopi goal. “Glad we only see that guy once a year”
[Reply]
He shoots he scooooooooooores… Kopitaaaaar!!!!
[Reply]
Made me smile :p I need to get my Kope allstar jersey!
[Reply]
Anyone notice bettman stand on a couple steps during his interview. Man I hate that guy.
[Reply]
How does Gary Bettman find a way to consistently sound like a d-bag in every interview? It takes real skill to always seem like Dr. Evil.
[Reply]
Cristobal Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
@Shakes,
On NHL network before the game he basically said that if the ‘Canes owner told the interviewer his opinion about the upcoming CBA he’d “be writing [Bettman] a big check.”. Kolomanos then proceeded to basically swallow his whistle and say nothing.
Bettman is such a creep it’s unbelievable.
He keeps going on about the NHL’s record revenues. Funny. Isn’t that because there are more teams charging higher prices for tickets and merchandise is soooo damn expensive?
Thanks for telling us your inflated revenues come at our expense, Gary.
And, if things are so rosy under his leadership why are the Coyotes still ownerless and even AEG can’t make any money off the Kings.
When will hockey owners realize he’s done nothing to benefit the game – just line his pockets to the tune of 7+ million a year.
[Reply]
puck73 Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
@Cristobal, He got rid of that slop hockey we were subjected from 95-2004. Those were the days ! where guys could put an elbow thru your face and a referee would swallow his whistle. Or how bout Ron Wilson Mighty Duck hockey? You know..where put 1 man up and keep 4 men back because you dont have enough talent to compete! Or how bout the famous New Jersey Devil left wing lock? Yah, I really miss that garbage as well. Or how bout guys who coulnt skate like Marchment clutching and grabbing, or in some cases tackling guys? Sorry, gotta disagree with ya Chris, I like Gary, and I like the fact that he got rid of that slop that Brett Hull and Mario Lemieux complained about all those years ago !
[Reply]
Cristobal Reply:
January 31st, 2011 at 12:31 am
@puck73,
Well, I guess hockey waited 100 years for a lawyer to reinvent the game!
Sorry. Hockey has always been good.
No more dynasties (great teams). Players changing teams all the time. No more true enforcers a la McSorley and Probert, but “entertainment” fights.
Did Bettman make the Olympics great, too?
Your entitled to your opinion for sure. But, I disagree.
Gretzky seemed to do just fine under the old rules. And, DL loved Marchment.
Shakes Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 8:10 pm
@Cristobal,
That’s pretty funny Cristobal, I never thought about the revenue aspect from your perspective (i.e. why are you bragging about how much money you’re making when I’m the one paying for it).
[Reply]
I still don’t like that fans get to vote for All-Stars. Players should vote. Fans are idiots. If I got to choose Brown and Smyth and Williams and Quick would be there, not to mention Doughty and Johnson.
How does Price get to go and not Quick?
How does Yandle go and not Johnson?
At least we are not Florida-how embarassing.
[Reply]
justlu Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
@Jonsey,
Price has 2 more wins same save % and has faced 300 more shots than Quick on top of the fact price plays for montreal and Quick plays for the Kings.
Yandle has 8G 36A +4 rating.
JMFJ has 4G 29A -6 rating.
[Reply]
Arron Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
@justlu,
I would also like to add Price and Yandle were added by the NHL not the fans.
[Reply]
Jonsey Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:27 pm
@justlu, Well, my bad. I guess they are better? Thanks for the answer.
[Reply]
Chicago was smart to jettison everyone but Sharp -he’s got 3 points in this game.
[Reply]
What happened to the 5th video in the Kopi-ASG series?
[Reply]
KFII Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
@Sparman, Be patient, Rich will come through. Way to go Kopi!
[Reply]
Kopi kicking butt! love that man, come back charged up Kopi make the team follow!
[Reply]
Can they please stop the eric stall cam? What about the othet thirty plus players? So annoying!
[Reply]
AZ King Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
@Alton,
Huh?
[Reply]
Alton Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
@AZ King, Every time stall is on he ice the cam is just focused on him. At least on cbc
[Reply]
AZ King Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
@Alton,
Oh okay. I was wondering what feed you were watching, because they’re not doing that on Versus.
nice goal by Kopi,just threw the game healty,seems no hitting at all in the game,which is a good thing,seems players are putting on a show for the fans,big game come Tuesday night,lets start second have with a win GO kings GO
[Reply]
KOPI Part Deux!!!!
[Reply]
Kopi getting love from Stall
[Reply]
YO Dean! Get Kopitar some world-class players to play with! 2 goals already! Just stating the obvious…if he had all-stars on his wings then this guy would put up career numbers! Go Kopitar!!! Stay patient my friend…we will get you some help one of these years!!!
[Reply]
blahblah Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
@bryan agee,
is there a “like” button i click here?
[Reply]
GoKings09 Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
@bryan agee,
The fact that there is literally no defense in the all-star game plays a pretty big part too
[Reply]
AZ King Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
@bryan agee,
There are 29 other teams in the league that are thinking the same thing.
[Reply]
Arron Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
@AZ King,
He is playing with Kessel and still managed two goals.
[Reply]
Nice goal by Kopi. Best so far by anyone.
I think he’s having a difficult time breaking out of TM’s “system”.
Don’t worry about f3 and backchecking today Kopi!
Unbelievable he’s from Slovenia. No offense meant to Slovenia – it’s just not a hotbed for NHL all-stars.
[Reply]
I’d love to see Kopi get a hat trick
[Reply]
Kopi shows ‘em how to do it in the first and the second, then his teammates catch on.
watch out for 10 minute mark of third for more of the same.
[Reply]
I’m all for supporting our team but there is a lot of other good players on other teams that didn’t make it either that probably should have.
[Reply]
Kopi was playing the 2-way game and giving Hiller a lot of support. I’m really hoping he gets MVP – or at least is name one of the 3 stars tonight.
[Reply]
Agame Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
@Sparman, For now looks like a Kopi or Sharp!
[Reply]
Great two goals by Kopi.
They really don’t know this guy around the league…
They pronounce his name Anzay instead of Anzhay. In Slovenian, a plain ‘z’ has a /z/ sound like in English, but a z with with a mark on top (can’t get it at the moment on my computer), is pronounced /zh/ like in Brezhnev, Zhitnik, measure, division, bonjour. I’m sure Kopi’s name has the mark and thus the /zh/ sound.
Shouldn’t the commentators have picked up his name pronunciation by now? They do for other European names around the league….
[Reply]
King John Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Here is the letter:
[Reply]
King John Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Sorry, didn’t work.
[Reply]
King John Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
ž
Anže
[Reply]
Go Anze!
NHL Guardian Project SUCKS. they should have made Bettman the villain.
[Reply]
Anže got interviewed!
[Reply]
Arron Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
@King John,
That must have been on Versus.
[Reply]
I was just thinking, if Kopi can get 2 goals in an ASG, what could he do if the Kings had another All Star caliber player? He just needs some support out there.
[Reply]
Arron Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 3:34 pm
So the fans get to vote the MVP. Kopitar could score 4 goals and still not win it. I don’t like that.
[Reply]
Kingstane9 Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
@Arron, me too
[Reply]
Dag nab it. I was perfectly happy not watching and Kopi getting 2 goals sucked me in. Still the worst All Star game of all the major sports. Team practises are far better than that sillyness.
[Reply]
Kopitar look’s good with quick guys in his wings. That 20 year old vodka drinker fit’s well.
[Reply]
Pffft. Sharp mvp. The final joke.
[Reply]
Kopi looked great, should have been MVP, not Sharp, he was on the losing team!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Reply]
puck73 Reply:
January 30th, 2011 at 7:54 pm
@Chuck, disagree. Shea Weber was a man among boys..4 assists and a plus 6 in a ASG? He dominates the way Rob Blake, and Larry Robinson did in their primes!
[Reply]