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HEAD COACH
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Larry Robinson
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ROSTER
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C - Brandon Convery, Jozef Stumpel, Olli Jokinen, Ian
Laperriere, Ray Ferraro, Yanic Perreault. LW - Eric Lacroix, Steve
McKenna, Vladimir Tsyplakov, Luc Robitaille, Craig Johnson, Josh
Green. RW - Russ Courtnall, Nathan LaFayette, Glen Murray, Sandy
Moger. D - Garry Galley, Rob Blake, Sean O'Donnell, Doug Bodger,
Mattias Norstrom, Steve Duchesne, Philippe Boucher. G - Stephane
Fiset, Jamie Storr, Manny Legace.
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INJURIES
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Stephane Fiset, g (groin, day-to-day); Jozef Stumpel, c
(ankle, day-to-day); Doug Bodger, d (broken hand, 2-4 weeks); Rob
Blake, d (broken foot, 4-6 weeks). Steve McKenna, lw (abdominal
strain, day-to- day). Sandy Moger, rw (back strain, day-to-day);
Russ Courtnall, rw (broken ankle, 4-6 weeks); Matt Johnson, lw
(stupid goon, 12 games).
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TRANSACTIONS
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Picked up Brandon Convery, c, off of waivers from
Vancouver. Sent Ryan Bach, g, to Long Beach (IHL); Matt Johnson,
lw, suspended for 12 games by NHL for intent to injure Ranger
defenseman Jeff Beukeboom.
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GAME RESULTS
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11/10 at Calgary L 5-4
11/12 Nashville L 3-1
11/14 Carolina L 5-3
11/16 at Anaheim L 3-1
11/18 at San Jose L 5-4
11/19 Rangers L 5-1
11/21 Chicago W 5-0
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STANDINGS
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Pacific Division GP W L T PTS GF GA
Dallas 17 11 3 3 25 47 34
Phoenix 15 11 2 2 24 43 22
Anaheim 19 8 7 4 20 46 42
Los Angeles 21 6 12 3 15 49 59
San Jose 18 4 9 5 13 43 46
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TEAM NEWS
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by Matt Moore, Los Angeles Correspondent
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Flashbacks of seasons past in the past two weeks. The Kings have
played absolutely horrible, losing six games in a row and the
streak might have kept on going if the Kings hadn't played a team
on a worse streak in Chicago.
Good news: Jamie Storr came back from his groin injury and played
his first game on November 21st, shutting out the Blackhawks. And
thank God he has returned. The magic of Manny Legace was starting
to rub off and the Kings record was suffering as a result. Storr
was pretty sharp in the game, although he was never really tested
by the brawling Blackhawks.
Bad news: Kings winger Russ Courtnall broke his right ankle while
blocking a shot. He will be out 4-6 weeks, which is quite a blow
to the Kings as Courtnall is one of their chief penalty killers and
also one of their most consistent forwards. The bodies keep on
piling up in the Kings camp.
Trade rumors continued about Pavel Bure making the trip down the
coast from Vancouver. Kings names thrown out as going to the Nux
are Jamie Storr and Olli Jokinen. All I have to say about that is:
DON'T DO IT DAVE! Sure, Pavel Bure has talent just oozing out of
him and can score his IQ (about 60) most seasons. But the boy is
just one step better than a Nedved on the weasel scale and won't
bring the Kings any closer to the promised land. That plus Jamie
Storr is going to be a pretty darn good goaltender and only about
to turn 23. Olli Jokinen is turning out to be a darned good player
who might just turn into the spotlight player that the Kings are
looking for to fill up the Staples Center. And he's only 19.
Compare that to Bure, who has a history of knee injuries. It just
wouldn't be smart to deal for the little wanker.
Speaking of Olli Jokinen, he is turning into the player that the
Kings hoped for when they drafted him last year. He is showing
both the ability to score and to pass, especially when walking in
traffic. And ever since he came up, the Kings power play hasn't
sucked quite as bad.
One player who has sucked is Steve Duchesne. Sure, he can't
shoulder all the blame for the Kings having played so bad, but I
think we can still try and make him feel like a pariah for his
play. He has been nothing short of lousy, and is dragging the
power play down with him. He was supposed to be a "savior" of the
power-play unit, but he just isn't clicking on the Kings right
now. I don't know how many times I have seen him where he had a
shot on net through traffic available and what does he do? He
tries to make the beautiful pass to a winger. A pass that usually
gets chipped out to center ice by the opposition. One bit of
advice Steve: next time you get those chances shoot the puck. You
never know, it might just go in and if it doesn't go in then maybe
the player you would have tried the pass to will have a good
rebound opportunity.
And finally, Matt Johnson showed why he will be nothing more than a
goon for the rest of his life. Just a few days after Andrei
Nazarov decided to go a cross-checkin', his long time fighting
partner, Johnson decided that Jeff Beukeboom was enough of a punk
in trying to trip Glen Murray, so he waited until Beukeboom had his
back turned and Johnson runs up and punches him in the neck,
sending Beukeboom down to the ice like he had been hit by a sniper.
Now, I like a good, hard-hitting game as much as anyone (my prized
possession is a signed Jay Miller jersey after all) but what
Johnson did was simply sickening and made me embarrassed to be a
Kings fan. And what does Johnson say about this play? "What I did
was probably wrong." What a moron. This is the type of attitude
that is destroying the NHL when combined with the lame-brained
expansion. A total lack of respect for his fellow players, not
seeming to care that he could seriously hurt Beukeboom by doing
this.
Whatever happened to playing hockey like a man where if you thought
an opposing player was taking liberties with a teammate you would
go drop the gloves and go toe to toe with the guy? In my book
Johnson is damned lucky that he isn't thrown out of hockey and is
instead only getting 12 games. The guy is a cheap shot artist who
can bring nothing else to the table except for being big and able
to throw hard punches while on skates.
This just reminded me of another thing: maybe the Blackhawks fans
should speak up and let their team know that playing hard and
throwing checks is good. But being a bunch of goons is bad, with
them seemingly preferring to turn a game into a nonstop scrum
anytime they fall behind by two or more goals. They did the same
thing in both games and it is sad to see. No wonder I am growing
to dislike the NHL style of hockey more and more...
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