A Post Only Chang Will Truly Enjoy

Saturday was Hockey Day in LA, and let me tell you, I had a heck of a morning! As it was the first day that Kings tickets went officially on sale to the public, the Kings had a few activities planned for fans that wanted to come down to Staples and celebrate the return of the NHL.


I got there pretty early (especially for me) and spent 2 hours in line waiting for the festivities to begin. Made a coupla friends, talked some hockey, and at about 8:00, things got started. First, the Kings PR folks started handing out a few items, including a poster, a schedule, and a static sticker ("Kings Rule!"). About half-hour later, a few of the choice Kings personalities made their way down the line, meeting the faithful and welcoming them back. I got to speak to our play-by-play team, Bob Miller and former King Jim Fox and was able to get Fox's autograph!

By about 9, the ticket booths opened up, and as you walked up to the booth, there stood Kings GM and former winger Dave Taylor! You better beleive I got his autograph too. Then I got in line, busted out the wallet, and before I could put my camera away, I realized that several current Kings were helping to man the ticket booth, and who was standing in my window but future Hall of Fame LW Luc Robitalle! Luckily, I had my cousin's super-thin camera, and as I purchased tickets for a couple of early season games, I slipped the camera through the window and Luc was good enough to take a few shots for me. As he slipped the camera back, and I got my tickets, I got another envelope with a nice little thank you card from the organization, signed by Lucky himself!



So by 9:30, I met or was within 3 feet of several major team personalities and had tickets to 3 games in October - Opening night vs. the Coyotes, a week later vs. the Wings, and the first game vs. the hated Ducks. The day couldn't get much better. But the Kings felt inclined to try by opening up the team's morning practices free to the public. So after a few free donuts and some coffee, I headed inside Staples to see the guys on the ice.

I found my seat for opening night and spent the next hour watching the roster practice for the game later that night. I got to see a few of the new Kings (like Jeremy Roenick [top] and Pavol Demitra [bottom]) and rookies in action for the first time and all of the returning guys. Coach Andy Murray took a moment to thank the fans for coming and talked a little about our style for the coming season, and a bit later free agent acquisition Jeremy Roenick took the mike and told everyone how excited he was to be in LA. The guys seemed to enjoy temselves and I was pretty impressed by a few of the younger players. Our forwards are gonna be sick!

I left after pratice and headed home, some shwag in my pockets, a smile on my face, and unlike some other recent pre-seasons, seriously excited about our chances this year.

Yeah. Good day.