Terms of Endearment #7

Deke - (v.) A fake move.

Last night's game was fantastic. I can say that, now that it's over. The first period was worrisome. The Kings seemed to be off. They kept fumbling the puck. Second period they played marginally better. The third was AWESOME. Carter, man on fire, got a goal. Then, Anze (AHN-jay) Kopitar (right)--gotta love him, too--snuck one in with a fake left and then a smooth shove in the hole left when the goalie followed the deke.

Here's a video. It's pure skill.

Terms of Endearment #6

I love the LA Kings Insider, Jon Rosen. He maintains a blog about the Kings. Here's a blurb about it.

LAKingsInsider.com provides in-depth, independent coverage of the Los Angeles Kings. Its content and reader comments are not subject to approval or review by team personnel.

I read it daily to get the latest about my team--how they did, how they're doing, how they might be doing in the near future. This morning, I learned a new term from a fan comment.

"...great block by Stoll, which lead to Lewis's shortie..."

Shortie - (n.) A goal made when your team has less men on the ice than the opposing team, due to one or more players in the penalty box.

And it truly was an exciting goal. Playing with four against five, Stoll took it upon himself to block a shot by the Avalanche with his body. He just threw himself down on the ice and bodily stopped the puck from getting past--without all that goalie protective gear! (Crazy!) Someone else, I think, picked up the puck and a couple seconds later Lewis (left) scored.

It was awesome.

Terms of Endearment #5

Drop Pass (n.) - Passing the puck to a teammate who is behind you.

I love when they do this. It's so smooth, it's almost like magic sleight of hand, except it's sleight of stick.

P.S. The Kings won last night against Edmonton, 3-1. Ha! Tonight, there's another game against Calgary. Go, Kings, go!!!!!

Photo by SomeHoosier

Terms of Endearment #4

Dustup (n.) -  a fight.

Hockey is known for fighting, but as far as I can tell the serious injuries occur during real play, usually when they're checked against the boards, not when the players are punching each other. I read in this article that this is because they can't get any real traction behind their punches because they're on ice.

Photo by ArtBrom

Brings a Tear to My Eye

In researching creative ways to propose marriage, I came upon this video. If you have a romantic bone in your body, you have to see it.

Trust me.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Terms of Endearment #3

Blueliner - a hockey defenseman. When the players line up at center ice, the defense guys are closer to the blue line.

I found this out because the Kings just acquired a blueliner, Keaton Ellerby, from the Florida Panthers. This is because Matt Greene and Willie Mitchell are still injured and it's hurting us. (Sorry about the pun.) Get better, boys, we need you desperately!

Photo by kezee

Terms of Endearment #1 and #2

As I mentioned earlier, the owner lockout finally ended. I am flush with excitement that about every other day I can watch my Kings play. While we won't be seeing quite as many games live at the Staples Center as I might have wanted, I still love watching the games on TV. I learn so much from the pre-game show, the commentary during the game, and the post game show. I admit that I am a new fan and have a lot to learn.

So I decided to start blogging about terms that I now understand.

1. Carryover - This, apparently, is hockey talk for a grudge. For instance, last season Dustin Brown had an altercation with another player, whose name escapes me now. So when they met on the ice a couple weeks ago, the commentators worried that there might be "carryover." Ends up there wasn't.

2. Shift - (n.) When players get on the ice to play, they play in short periods of time, usually between thirty seconds and a minute or two, called shifts.