Los Angeles will never be a hockey hotbed. But as the NHL All-Star Game approaches, the Kings are making a serious bid for the playoffs and the Ducks are making a nice comeback after a terrible start.
By PINE SISKIN
Big Leagues in Los Angeles
Jack Kent Cooke was an entrepreneur from Canada who got his start selling encyclopedias door to door, then moved into broadcasting and, later, attempted to bring Major League Baseball to Toronto. But his greatest claim to fame came with his sporting ventures in the United States.
Most successfully, Cooke won three Super Bowls as the owner of the Washington Redskins from 1985 until his death in 1997.
Most trivially, Cooke's divorce settlement at the end of his 45-year first marriage in 1979 was $42 million -- the largest such settlement in history at that time. The presiding judge was Joseph Wapner, who later presided over The People's Court.
Most locally, Cooke owned the Los Angeles Lakers, founded the Los Angeles Kings and built the Forum in Inglewood, all of this happening from the middle of the 1960s until he sold all of it to Dr. Jerry Buss in 1979. The attendance struggles with his hockey team, the Kings, bothered Cooke the most. Told that more than a quarter of a million Canadians lived within a drive of Los Angeles, Cooke surmised that "they hate hockey."
It seems wrong to say Angelinos hate hockey, though. They are simply indifferent. There is no tradition of local play, nor is there much evidence of local discussion. No one ever brings up the Kings, not even in conversations about sports.
Of course, the Kings aren't here for the local audience, and neither, for that matter are the Anaheim Ducks. They are here for the national audience, for the credibility that Los Angeles franchises bring to the NHL.
The NHL is holding its annual All-Star Game this coming weekend, just in case no one has told you.
Despite a stingy style of play, the Kings could be on their way to setting a full-season attendance record at Staples Center, where they are averaging 17,818 customers per game. That's still 15th in the 30-team NHL. The Kings score only 2.1 goals per game, which is last in the league. But they only allow the same 2.1 goals per game, which is third in the NHL. Leading the way is All-Star goaltender Jonathan Quick, who allows only 1.93 goals per game.
The Kings are in strong contention for a playoff spot, seventh place in the Western Conference with 58 points. They're only two points behind San Jose for the Pacific Division lead. The players have responded to Darryl Sutter's installation as head coach in December. Before Sutter, they were a .500 team. With Sutter, they are 9-2-6.
The Ducks didn't win a lot of fans by starting their season 10-22-1, basically taking themselves out of playoff contention. They're only drawing 14,518 fans per game, fourth from the league bottom. Then again, the Ducks were in the bottom half of the league's attendance list when they won the Stanley Cup in 2007. In the afterglow, the Ducks set their attendance record at 17,193 in 2008 -- which brought them all the way up to 15th in the league.
The Ducks are 8-1-1 in their last ten games going to the All-Star break. Only Nashville (9-1) is hotter. But the Ducks by now are so far down in the standings that it seems they'll never make up their 11-point deficit on eighth place in the Western Conference.
By PINE SISKIN
Big Leagues in Los Angeles
Jack Kent Cooke was an entrepreneur from Canada who got his start selling encyclopedias door to door, then moved into broadcasting and, later, attempted to bring Major League Baseball to Toronto. But his greatest claim to fame came with his sporting ventures in the United States.
Most successfully, Cooke won three Super Bowls as the owner of the Washington Redskins from 1985 until his death in 1997.
Most trivially, Cooke's divorce settlement at the end of his 45-year first marriage in 1979 was $42 million -- the largest such settlement in history at that time. The presiding judge was Joseph Wapner, who later presided over The People's Court.
Most locally, Cooke owned the Los Angeles Lakers, founded the Los Angeles Kings and built the Forum in Inglewood, all of this happening from the middle of the 1960s until he sold all of it to Dr. Jerry Buss in 1979. The attendance struggles with his hockey team, the Kings, bothered Cooke the most. Told that more than a quarter of a million Canadians lived within a drive of Los Angeles, Cooke surmised that "they hate hockey."
It seems wrong to say Angelinos hate hockey, though. They are simply indifferent. There is no tradition of local play, nor is there much evidence of local discussion. No one ever brings up the Kings, not even in conversations about sports.
Of course, the Kings aren't here for the local audience, and neither, for that matter are the Anaheim Ducks. They are here for the national audience, for the credibility that Los Angeles franchises bring to the NHL.
The NHL is holding its annual All-Star Game this coming weekend, just in case no one has told you.
Despite a stingy style of play, the Kings could be on their way to setting a full-season attendance record at Staples Center, where they are averaging 17,818 customers per game. That's still 15th in the 30-team NHL. The Kings score only 2.1 goals per game, which is last in the league. But they only allow the same 2.1 goals per game, which is third in the NHL. Leading the way is All-Star goaltender Jonathan Quick, who allows only 1.93 goals per game.
The Kings are in strong contention for a playoff spot, seventh place in the Western Conference with 58 points. They're only two points behind San Jose for the Pacific Division lead. The players have responded to Darryl Sutter's installation as head coach in December. Before Sutter, they were a .500 team. With Sutter, they are 9-2-6.
The Ducks didn't win a lot of fans by starting their season 10-22-1, basically taking themselves out of playoff contention. They're only drawing 14,518 fans per game, fourth from the league bottom. Then again, the Ducks were in the bottom half of the league's attendance list when they won the Stanley Cup in 2007. In the afterglow, the Ducks set their attendance record at 17,193 in 2008 -- which brought them all the way up to 15th in the league.
The Ducks are 8-1-1 in their last ten games going to the All-Star break. Only Nashville (9-1) is hotter. But the Ducks by now are so far down in the standings that it seems they'll never make up their 11-point deficit on eighth place in the Western Conference.
