Your First Kings Game?

B

Bill Hicks

Lurker
Had to look mine up for accuracy.

11/5/1977

3-1 win over the Rangers. My dad took me and my brothers. Been hooked since.
 
Born in 91.. moved to LA in like 3rd grade... started watching Kings almost right away.. I wanna say like 98 to 01 was my first game. I remember being a-scared of the Avs and Wings, and Potvin was my hero.
 
March of 1984. My dad and I went to see the Kings and the Blackhawks at the Forum, and sat about 3 rows of the ice at the southern end. The kings won, 4-3, which, as I learned later, snapped a 10 game losing streak. The Kings didn't win often in those years, but on this night, they did. Still remember the game well.
 
April 14, 1974. Game 4 of the Stanley Cup 1st round against Chicago. The Kings won 5-1 on a Tommy Williams hat trick. Lost the series in 5 games though. The next time the Kings played the Hawks in the playoffs was 2013 in my 40th season following the Kings. Hawks won that series also....in 5 games.

jom
 
April 14, 1974. Game 4 of the Stanley Cup 1st round against Chicago. The Kings won 5-1 on a Tommy Williams hat trick. Lost the series in 5 games though. The next time the Kings played the Hawks in the playoffs was 2013 in my 40th season following the Kings. Hawks won that series also....in 5 games.

jom

How'd the Kings do the next year?
 
1985. Canadiens won 5-1. Mike McPhee with the hat trick. Dionne with the lone kings goal.
 
Great post!

March 2, 1998 - Almost 25 years ago.
My only game at the Fourm. My dad took me and game was vs. Canucks. Ended in a 2-2 tie. I wish I saved the game booklet they handed out it was Garry Galley on the cover.
 
Grew up a Lakers fan first back during the 93-94 season watching with my dad. Didn't become a Kings fan until I played my first hockey video game NHL 96. Don't remember much about those Kings. I tried watching on TV whenever I could to see if I could put the faces with the players in the game. I remember my cousin telling me Gretzky was "pretty good" but I mostly just remember Yachmenev, Perreault, and O'Donnell. :lol:

My very first Kings game live though was actually 11/26/2005 against the Hawks, the first season right after the lockout. Hell, it was when I stopped lurking and joined LGK because I probably made a post asking for advice about attending my first ever game live.

I was 21, finally had my own car and was working part time while going to school. No one in my family would ever take me to a sporting event growing up because I was told I could always watch it on TV... So yeah, I had 2 other friends with me from college, and I remember buying 3 tickets to the game. It was the last row up on section 316. I had no idea it was the last row, but actually really liked it since I could stand without blocking anyone.

And I think it was Ryan Flinn's last NHL game.. because he got in a fight and hit his head on the ice. That's what I remember most about the game. I don't even remember who won, but the box score says 3-2 Kings. Either way, I was hooked. Ended up buying a Holiday Pack and was excited to bring my sister to she could experience it live as well. And without boring people to death (if you're still reading this), I bought another holiday pack the year after, and constantly purchased $5 tickets on Ebay or Stubhub just so I could go. The team sucked so bad but I just loved being there live and mustered up the courage to go to the LGK intermission spots to meet some of you fine folks in the flesh.

Next thing you know, Doughty was drafted and I became a season ticket holder, mostly because it was just $11 for die-hards and I could attend Meet the Players. Plus having the same seat to every game felt cool too instead of being all over Staples. Got to see 2 Cup wins in person. My life is complete really. I had since given up my season seats because of the pandemic, but hey.. LGK for life. :)
 
February 20, 1971. The Kings beat the Bruins 5-4. Boston went into the game 41-9-7, while the Kings were 16-28-11. The Kings were down 0-3 going into the second period and I figured, well, it's a thrill just to see a hockey game live, then they shocked everyone by scoring 2 in the 2nd and 3 more in the third to win it. I was 17 and I only managed to get my best friend to come with me by paying for his ticket. Nobody cared about hockey in L.A. back then.

The only real vivid memory I have of that game after all these years was Bobby Orr deking a young Kings defenseman named Dale Hoganson so bad that the poor kid froze. Orr then slid the puck between Hoganson's skates, darted around him, picked up the puck again, and swooped in on the goalie (Denis DeJordy). But according to the box score, Orr didn't score that night, and I don't remember any more. We were right behind the goal though, so it was like Orr was coming right at us.
 
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Got to see 2 Cup wins in person. My life is complete really.

Lol. I saw the first (didn't feel the need to see the 2nd - I was complete - and knew we won after we beat the Blackhawks), and it felt very life affirming, for lack of a better word. Especially as it was so hard to get there for me. I've told my story on here before about how it all went down for me personally, as I was stationed a 1000 miles away during the time, but it was profound and some of the happiest times I can remember that it all worked out - driving, the game, parade, rally, meeting Quick, all in a few week span - it was a hell of a summer 2012. Just took a moment to look at some pics of house in 2012 after the summer - every picture in every room (was stationed in Idaho) has a Kings "thing" around the room somewhere, whether a jersey or newspaper or those game towels.

Sat, Nov 11, 2000

Vs Detroit Red Wings

Tie 2 - 2

Lol. Ties.
 
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Somewhere between 1976 and 1978 my parents took me to my first game. Not sure of the opponent. Might have been the Flyers. Kings lost. There were a number of fights. My mom was appalled. We never went to another game together.
 
1979 vs the Blackhawks. I don't remember who won or anything else. i just remember being stoked to be there.
 
Nov 26, 1991, a 4-4 tie with Toronto, they filmed the hockey scenes in "Lethal Weapon 3" during the intermission with the horrible Kings/Leafs knockoffs. Gretzky had a 4 point night, 1 goal and 3 assists. Mom was worried about me driving to Inglewood, getting there wasn't a problem, but heading back to central OC on the 405 there was crazy fog past LAX with visibility at maybe 100 feet.
 
93–94 season, Kings at Ducks. I was in 3rd grade and my dad got tickets through work for the Pond. Only reason we went there ha. Kings won and I saw Gretzky.

It was the Detroit series in 2001 that got me hooked though. And that was just on TV.
 
1983 against the Canucks at the Fabulous Forum. I'll never forget walking from the concourse into the short tunnel and then seeing the ice surface in person for the first time, it seemed so small! I distinctly remember the old Canucks uniforms, the black with the yellow/orange "V" and of course the Kings Forum Blue & Gold. I remember the Kings won, and we moved down from the upper bowl to the lower bowl after the first period. The drive there was also pretty impressionable, as a 9 year old from Seal Beach, CA driving down Prairie for the first time in my life was interesting to say the least.
 
1983 against the Canucks at the Fabulous Forum. I'll never forget walking from the concourse into the short tunnel and then seeing the ice surface in person for the first time, it seemed so small! I distinctly remember the old Canucks uniforms, the black with the yellow/orange "V" and of course the Kings Forum Blue & Gold. I remember the Kings won, and we moved down from the upper bowl to the lower bowl after the first period. The drive there was also pretty impressionable, as a 9 year old from Seal Beach, CA driving down Prairie for the first time in my life was interesting to say the least.

Yeah a memory that's always stood out to me was walking into Staples the first time and seeing the ice. To me it felt so big. Though I never saw the forum :)
 
Don't recall against who, but it was in the early/mid 80's.

My Dad was a Kindergarten teacher in Rancho Palos Verdes / Rolling Hills Estates. At that time, he had Marcel Dionne's son in his class. He used to give my Dad tickets from time/time. He also used to bring in this rookie named Luc Robitaille that was living with him at the time who didn't speak a word of clear English. :)

Still have a game used stick that Marcel gave my Dad. Wonder if it's worth anything???

Good subject. Thanks for the read!
 

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