LA Hockey Underground

        Is This Hockey's Future?      Diving is a sickness.  It has infected Soccer like a plague, and the panzie Euro led FIFA has no desire to fix it.  They love having Arjen Robben defraud the world on the grandest stage.  The NHL can't end up like this, but it will, if the NHL doesn't do anything.         One of the best things about hockey, is that it is a sport of determination and grit.  Unlike soccer players, hockey players play through clutching and grabbing, play through slashing and tripping, or do they?  While the league has made some effort to not become the disgrace to sport that soccer has become, it isn't enough.      Rick Nash's faked injury this weekend made me want to puke.  I was disgusted at what I was seeing and sickened to my core.  There is no place in hockey for theatrics.  I keep wanting to say, "Play like a man.", but I know that the wo...

The Potential Is There       On Thursday night the Kings faced a Columbus team that is fighting for a playoff spot in the hotly contested Metropolitan division with a scant 17 points separating the top from the bottom.  The Blue Jackets came out firing, and the Kings came out ready for a nap.  For twenty minutes, we watched the good guys in the black jerseys chase the visitors around the defensive zone.  Breakout after breakout was a complete disaster.  I was a bit disheartened as this has been a major problem since the holidays.       Luckily, the fans got to see a different team come out for the second period.  The Kings were flying, denying space and creating turnovers.  Then, a role player, a new to our team role player stepped up.  Thompson unleashed a wicked shot over the pad and rang it off the post.  The Kings were back in the game.  Later, Iafallo and Pearson responded with tip ins.  A grim night...

All In, Again?      Poker and Hockey are alike in some ways.  Anyone can get lucky on the river and come out a winner, just like the Kings did on Monday night against the Las Vegas Golden Knights, and almost did on Saturday against the Oilers.  The problem is, the more times one has to go all in just to stay alive, the quicker one will be escorted from the table.  Stephens has his team in a precarious positions way more than is healthy.  If that isn't corrected, well, the end of the season might be close at hand.       The Kings aren't marking in their own zone, in the neutral zone, or in the opponents zone.  They simply aren't marking.   The Kings should have lost by at least four goals on Monday night.  Time after time, the Knights were in a prime scoring position with no defender to even contest the shot.  Only a super human effort by Quicky, again, kept the game close.      To their credit...