No Canadian anthem...

What can be said about the atmosphere at an LA Kings game? Let’s just say if the fans spent as much time cheering for their team as they did telling the visiting team how much they suck, then the atmosphere would have been phenomenal. This was also the first game we have seen without a Canadian team playing (although both team's starting lines were 90% Canadian) so I guess it was a bit harder to get excited and as Art commented, “Both teams didn’t have to work very hard for their paycheque tonight.” The play was pretty flat and neither team really turned it on until they had to. Kings went down 5-2 to the Sharks and it would appear that we have become a jinx for home teams!
The Staples Centre is a very impressive arena. It seemed to be much larger than any stadiums so far and there were 3 levels of corporate boxes – must be some money in LA?? We also arrived at a pivotal moment in LA (and perhaps American) sports history. David Beckham signed with the LA Galaxy for an easy US $250M…Dang!

Scoreboard:


Ice Surface:


The proud history of the Lakers:


Not much else to tell ya. Art quickly bailed from the driver seat once we got 100 miles from LA and I can’t blame him. 6 – 8 lanes of highway going both directions, everyone travelling the speed of light and having that GPS voice grating on my nerves…the bar opened as soon as we stepped into the hotel room. The hotel we stayed in was only a mile from the stadium but had the worst wireless Internet connection in America (possibly North America). It was also under renovation and I think they forgot to finish the room we were in! Anyway, Mr Furious surfaced for the first time since the flight was cancelled in Sydney – I thought I was on a holiday?? Everything was fine in the end and we’re now in Anaheim – staying right beside Disney Land. Time to hit the rides with Art!