AGRI Biz

LOS ANGELES AND INGLEWOOD, CA — A little over a week has passed since the Los Angeles Kings lost veteran left wing Ryan Smyth to that mysterious “upper body injury” and since then, they have lost to the Philadelphia Flyers and the Calgary Flames. In both games, the Kings not only put in spotty efforts, but their offense sputtered without Smyth’s constant presence in front of opposing goaltenders and in his ...

MONTEREY PARK, CA ù Whether you played the game at any level or are just a spectator, if you truck the kids to hockey practice very early in the morning or just lie on the living room couch and watch games on television, just about everyone touched by the game has a hockey dream or two. In Living The Hockey Dream, author Brian Kennedy, Ph.D., a native of Montreal, an Associate ...

LOS ANGELES ù These days, the air smells different in the Los Angeles KingsÆ dressing room at Staples Center. Over the summer, the ôEvent Levelö corridor and most of the dressing rooms at Staples Center were renovated. Included in the renovations was the Kings dressing room which has a much more clean, modern look to it. The renovations include wood-like paneling, new carpet, a four-speaker stereo system, a mini-theatre where the players ...

LOS ANGELES ù There have been whispers over the past couple of seasons about whether or not right wing Scott Parse would ever be able to make it to the National Hockey League. Having been an offensive threat at every level, Parse was selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the sixth round (174th overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He played in four seasons with the University of Nebraska-Omaha ...

LOS ANGELES ù Compared to many of todayÆs goalies who are six feet tall or more, former Los Angeles KingsÆ superstar goalie Rogie Vachon is small by comparison, probably around 5-7 (IÆm 5-9 and I am taller than Vachon). But despite his relatively small physical stature, VachonÆs place among National Hockey League goalies, past and present, looms large. Based on his performance throughout his sixteen-year NHL career, Vachon is clearly ...

LOS ANGELES ù Going into the 2009-10 season, one of the keys to the success for the Los Angeles Kings was that their core players must be better than last season, especially center Anze Kopitar. Although the Kings are just eleven games into the season, to say that Kopitar has shown improvement would be like saying ice is cold. To coin a phrase, oh what a difference a year makes. Kopitar has melted ...

LOS ANGELES ù After getting off to a hot 4-1-0 start to the still very young 2009-10 National Hockey League season, the Los Angeles Kings find themselves in the midst a three-game losing streak as they head to Dallas on October 19, the final game of their six-game road swing. Indeed, after winning four straight games for the first time since October, 2007, the Kings have hit the skids during their ...

LOS ANGELES ù For years, veteran left wing Ryan Smyth was a ôKings Killer,ö scoring more points (24 goals with 24 assists for 48 points in 48 games) against the Los Angeles Kings than any other team, while wearing the jerseys of the Edmonton Oilers, the New York Islanders and the Colorado Avalanche. But that was not one of the reasons Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi acquired the 33-year-old native of ...

LOS ANGELES ù Entering their fourth season since President/General Manager Dean Lombardi began the process of tearing down the Los Angeles Kings and building them back up, practically from scratch, those efforts are now, finally, beginning to bear ripe, sweet fruit. Indeed, instead of having a bunch of older veterans on the downside of their careers making up the core of the team, the core is now made up of young ...