Facts on the Fly: 1/28/2013 Vancouver Canucks @ Los Angeles Kings
The Kings are hopefully on their way back to Stanley Cup form with the win over the Coyotes on Saturday, it was nice seeing them beat the Coyotes in Arizona for the simple pleasure of watching their dozen or so fans have yet another epic meltdown. So I lost my Penner bet with my wife and I paid up by taking care of breakfast for her on Sunday morning, all good except for the part where she laughed at me and told me to pick another player to root for. Truth be told there is only one player jersey that I own and routinely wear to games and it is not Penner, but since I have been nothing but a jinx for Penner by mentioning his name, I will not say who that other player is in order to protect him from that jinx. Since I was not at the home opener I am very much looking forward to my first visit of the year to the Staples Center and maybe even a little good natured taunting of Canucks fans who are still looking for their first replica Stanley Cup Champions ring.
(Image of Kings)
http://thehappymouth.files.wordpress...y-cup_blog.jpg
1/28/2013: Vancouver Canucks @ Los Angeles Kings
On 2/2/1991; LA Kings defenseman Marty McSorley scored a goal and would add five assists for what would be a career-high six points to lead the Kings to a 9-1 win against Vancouver at the Forum.
(Image of McSorley)
http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images...jpg?1344630466
Dave Schultz sets a team record of 37 penalty minutes, (since broken) against the Canucks in a game that ended in a 2-2 tie at the Forum. 25 seconds remained in the game when a bench-clearing brawl erupted and delayed the finish of the game more than 15 minutes. There were 114 minutes in penalties that were given to seven players - Mike Murphy, Glenn Goldup, Bob Murdoch and Schultz of the Kings and David Fortier, Rob Sedlbauer and Harold Snepsts of the Canucks; all of this happened on 2/24/1977.
(Image of Schultz)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_14EAkPRbXD...lyers+site.jpg
On 3/29/1972; Ralph Backstrom scored what would be his 250th NHL goal, he added two assists as well as the Kings beat Vancouver, 4-2 at the Forum. In his career playing with the Canadiens, Kings and Blackhawks; Backstrom had 278 goals in 1,032-game career games from 1956-73.
(Image of Backstrom)
http://www.legendscards.com/2997-lar...-backstrom.jpg
The Canucks, a team many Kings fans love to hate. I have a question for Kings fans and I really would like to hear your opinion on this topic. Do you find that your animosity is more towards the Canucks team? Or the fans? I for one find that it may be more towards their fans that come to the Staples Center in droves and think that in order to be true hockey fans they need to drink heavily and become completely obnoxious to everyone around them. Then again, maybe I would be bitter too if my team had never won a Cup. All this being said, I hope to see the likes of Canuck fan Drunken Crunker posting sooner than later, his insights on his own team are refreshing to see.
The Canucks entered the NHL in 1970 as part of the continuing expansion that would also see the Buffalo Sabres come into the league as well.
The NHL Canucks were not the first Vancouver Canucks to play in the city of Vancouver. From 1945 to 1970, there was a minor league Canucks that played in the Pacific Coast Hockey League and the Western Hockey League.
(Image of Original Canucks)
http://www.puckedinthehead.com/wp-co...maller4946.jpg
Before the Canucks were even given a franchise there was a great deal of controversy in Canada over whether or not the city of Vancouver would ever get a franchise or not. After a failed business venture deal in Vancouver, Maple Leaf President Stafford Smythe proclaimed that the city would not get a NHL franchise in his lifetime. Reports also came about that, along with the Canadiens, the Maple Leafs did not want to split CBC, (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) revenues with a third team.
(Image of First NHL Canucks Team)
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__...0-71VAnCan.jpg
Most of us know that the Canucks very first game in their history was a loss to the Kings; a 3-1 contest played in Vancouver. They may have lost that game but they did get some satisfaction two days later when they beat the very team that tried to block them from entering the league; they beat the Maple Leafs 5-3.
(Image of Canuck)
http://www.johndenniston.ca/blogwp4/..._garysmith.jpg
Here is the next installment of looking at the Kings teams from beginning to present day; this edition is on the 1970/71 squad.
The Kings would struggle yet again as they missed the playoffs for the second straight season, the team finished in fifth place with a 25-40-13 record.
(Image of 1970/71 Team)
http://kings.nhl.com/ext/kings_histo...team_photo.jpg
As mentioned above it was this team that would play against and beat the Canucks in the Canucks first game in their franchise history; but the Kings would also beat the Canucks in the final game of the season in Vancouver as well.
This would be the season that the Kings brought in some international help with the addition of Juha Widing. Widing was from Finland and would be only the third Finn to play in the history of the NHL and the first one to play since 1953. Unfortunately for hockey fans, Widing passed away at the age of 37 in Canada.
(Image of Widing)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3Fn4cwxwI7..._widing_01.gif
One of the more interesting characters on the team was Bill Flett; he was nicknamed "Cowboy" for the simple fact that in addition to being a hockey player, he was a cattle ranch owner in Alberta as well as a rodeo performer. His rodeo career ended when Kings’ owner Jack Kent Cooke threatened to fine him $1000 for every rodeo he appeared in.
(Image of Flett)
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How about some completely random facts?
During the 1995/96 season the King’s Yanic Perreault scored all three of the teams OT winning goals, the last one against Patrick Roy.
(Image of Perreault)
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Many Kings Fans know about some of the team’s minor league affiliates present and past in Manchester, Ontario, Reading, and Long Beach. Even though this is not all of their affiliates these are definitely worth mentioning; the Portland Buckaroos, Ft. Worth Texans, Binghamton Dusters, New Haven Nighthawks, Houston Apollos, and the Fredericton Canadiens.
(Image of Dusters Logo)
http://content.sportslogos.net/logos...1bneqqbhee.gif
Three of the four players that have worn the jersey number 13 for the Kings were drafted by the Kings, they are; Robert Lang, Mike Cammalleri, and Kyle Clifford. The one player not drafted by the Kings to wear the number 13 is John Zeiler.
(Image of Zeiler)
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/phot.../24/zeiler.jpg
This trivia question is a bit harder; what is the highest jersey number worn by a goalie on the Kings? Your hints are; there were two goalies that wore this number and both of them played a VERY short amount of time with the team.
Sources: LAKINGS.com; NHL.com; TSN.ca; HOCKEYDB.com; HOCKEY-REFERENCE.com; GOOGLE IMAGES
