I Love Hockey! (Not a Surprise)

I am an avid hockey fan. (Sometimes it's interesting to remember that "fan" is short for "fanatic.") I may not understand all the ins and outs of the game orwhat all the stats mean, but I love watching the game. I love reading about players. Most of all, I love following "my" team, the two time Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings.

I thought I would share my "Because...Hockey!" Pinterest board because there's a lot of great stuff there. If you're not a hockey fan, you could probably stand to skip it.

On the other hand, there are more studly men there.

With puppies.

Prediction

I just wanted to go on record with my prediction that the Los Angeles Kings will earn their third Stanley Cup this season. They're not doing so well at the moment, but we've seen that before. The LA Kings have slumped in December before, only to come back swinging, focused and unrelenting. This is their MO. You don't see them play their best hockey until their backs are to the wall.

I BELIEVE.

I Lost My Podcast Virginity

The Royal Half and All the Kings Men are two powerhouses in the Los Angeles Kings community and I have long been a fan of their work. They are masters of GIFs and graphics and their wit is well-known to LA Kings fans like me.

In fact, if you heard the TV announcers talk about "That 70s Line"--Jeff Carter (#77), Tyler Toffoli (#73), and Tanner Pearson (#70)--that nickname was coined by The Royal Half on their blog.

See what I mean about their graphics? Hilarious.

Anyway, recently they asked if I would agree to an interview on their podcast. I was terrified to do it. What if they made fun of me, my books and/or the romance genre? Hockey fans are hardcore. I envisioned myself being a babbling, incoherent mess and condemned to knowing that anyone could download my meltdown from iTunes and have themselves a laugh riot.

However, I knew that this was a fantastic opportunity for promotion. I hoped that any embarrassment I felt would be offset by a few sales. Surely there were some readers amongst those combined 17,000 Twitter followers who might enjoy reading an escapist hockey romance.

It turned out to be totally fun. I did stumble some and ramble a lot. At one point I forgot my point and had to admit I had no idea where I was going, but while I didn't ace it by any long shot of the imagination, I didn't crash and burn. The guys--there were three of them, so my first foursome!--were gentlemen and very respectful. I actually adored their nervous laughter when we started talking about the sex scenes. And my sales got a very respectable bump that week.

Thank you, The Royal Half and All the Kings Men. You guys rock.

Without further ado, here is Episode 381, Kate Willoughby.

Three Musical Tributes to the Kings

Last spring, I rewrote the lyrics to "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music, adapting it to the Kings' situation in the Playoffs. I had a lot of fun writing it. When I tweeted "My Favorite Kings," Patrick O'Neal, color man for Kings Live for Fox Sports West, liked it and told me he sang it. I was thrilled!

My Favorite Kings

 (To be sung to the tune from the Sound of Music)

Shots stopped and gloves dropped and sweet empty netters

Stanley Cup patches on LA Kings’ sweaters

Brownie our Captain, a cunning Right Wing

These are a few of my favorite things.

Both Jons in goal on the road to the Playoffs

Richards and Stolly both winning the face-offs

Jake in the box for a hit with some sting

These are a few of my favorite things.

When the Shark bites

When the Hawk strikes

When it’s looks like war

I simply remember my favorite Kings

Will capture the Cup once more!

Foxy and Evans, O’Neal and Miller

Shorthanded goals made by penalty killers

Number eleven, that nimble Slovene

These are a few of my favorite things.

Pucks cleared and Pens' beard and multiple hat tricks

Power plays gained off of somebody’s high stick

Nolan and Clifford both taking a swing

These are a few of my favorite things

When you lose teeth

When your team’s beat

When it’s looks like war

I simply remember my favorite Kings

Will capture the Cup once more!

Men in black jerseys who kick ass and take names

Road trips that finish a series in four games

Carts on a break’way: my heart starts to sing

These are a few of my favorite things

Lewy and Dewy, a match made in heaven

Clogging the lanes we see “old” number seven

Days with Lord Stanley and Tiffany rings

These are a few of my favorite things

When your skull cracks

When your knee’s whacked

When it’s looks like war

I simply remember my favorite Kings

Will capture the Cup once more!

I wrote a second song this spring about the San Jose Sharks, to the tune of "When You're a Jet" from Westside Story. I liked the upbeat tempo, compared to the sort of melancholy tone of the first tune. This song was strong and masculine with an in your face attitude.

A Sharky version of "When You’re a Jet" Westside Story

When you’re a Shark

And the Kings come to town

Gonna choke, gonna fall,

Goin’ all the way down.

When you’re a Shark

You are destined to lose

It’s no walk in the park

You’ll be payin' your dues.

You're hardly a threat,

Your shots will be deflected.

You're weak in the net:

When the Cup’s given out,

You'll be neglected!

Then you’ll be done

With a capital D,

Say hello to the greens.

Put your ball on the tee.

When you're a Shark,

You stay a Shark!

I didn't get much of a response to that. I'm thinking, as a woman in her fifties, my taste in musicals is too old and few of my followers had even heard of that song/movie/play.

This time, I decided to choose a song from Grease, which is somewhat newer. Anyway, here's what's going on in the Stanley Cup Final right this moment, in song. If you know the tune "Summer Nights," I hope you'll enjoy it. If you don't know the song, you should probably just skip this. LOL

The Run for the Cup

(sing to the tune of “Summer Nights” from Grease)

It’s the Playoffs, had us a blast.

Yeah, the Playoffs, happened so fast.

First to beat…San Jose Sharks

But they’re tough. No walk in the park.

San Jose, determined to win,

Saying we should all “fear the fin.”

Well-a, well-a well-a, huh.

Did they choke? Did they choke? Did they lose to the Kings?

Did they choke? Did they choke? Lose their chance for a ring?

Sharks played hard, they took the lead.

Won three games, were poised to succeed.

Then the Kings turned on the jets

Crushed ‘em hard. Put the pucks in the net.

Shamed them all so they’ll never stand tall,

But uh-oh, next up is the Ducks.

Wella, wella wella, huh.

Tell me more, tell me more, did the Ducks show their “might?”

Tell me more, tell me more, did they put up a fight?

Teemu tried, tried real hard

To beat Quickie, get past his guard.

Getzy, Perry, Koivu did too,

But they failed and couldn’t break through.

Playoff drive kept us alive

But uh-oh, the Blackhawks are next.

Wella, wella wella, huh.

‘Hawks are rough, ‘Hawks are tough. Can the Kings beat that team?

Is the Cup in ’14 nothing but a pipe dream?

Saad and Shaw, Toewsy and Kane

Brought Kings players nothing but pain

Tied with three games, only one more…

Kings prevail! Martinez scores!

Four more games, the Cup to reclaim

But the Rangers are ready to fight.

Wella, wella wella, huh.

“They’re so great! They’re so quick! They’re Original Six.”

We don’t care. We’re LA! Really don’t give a shit.

(slower)

Here we are, three games to none.

We’re determined to finish the run.

Thinking back, it’s hard to conceive

We could win, if we all just BELIEVE!

With the Cup,

once just isn’t enough.

This is it, Stanley needs to come

(deep breath for the big finish)

Hooooommmmeee!

Time to score, time to score, time to scooooooore!!!

A Real Life Bottlegate!

Look at the bottom left of the photo

I'm taking recent events in the NHL as a sign from God that I'm on the right track. My first hockey novel, On the Surface, features a former Blackhawk who is traded to the San Diego Barracudas because of an incident with a fan involving a water bottle.

Now, keep that in mind as I tell you that this spring, the water bottle has been the weapon of choice for NHL players.

Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks sprayed water into the glove of one of "My Guys", Jeff Carter.

Shawn Thornton of the Boston Bruins sprayed the visor of Montreal Canadien PK Subban.

And finally Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers gave Pittsburgh Penguin Sidney Crosby a little mid-game shower.

It's like an epidemic. It's harmless really. It doesn't hurt anyone (except wimps, as you'll see below). It's just annoying. However, so far the hydro-taunting has been player vs. player. A few days ago, that changed.

Corey Crawford of the Chicago Blackhawks got fed up with a heckler--JUST LIKE IN MY BOOK--and sprayed water into the face of the heckler--JUST LIKE IN MY BOOK!

Well, that last part isn't quite accurate. The back cover copy, over which I had only minimal input, says Tim threw the water bottle at a fan. In reality, I never fully describe what Tim Hollander does to the fan with his water bottle.

But still!

What are the chances that real life incidents almost completely mirror what I wrote a year ago? Like I said, I take it as a sign from God that my time has come and I'm on the right track. I also bask in the knowledge that what I wrote is utterly believable and possible in the real NHL.

It feels pretty damn good.

The LA fan (yes, he was rooting for LA. ) claims his eyes were irritated by the saliva backwash--from the type of bottle that squirts from a spout. He's filed a police report. What do you think about that? Feel free to comment.

Photo credit: Paul Sakuma, AP

My Guys - Justin Williams #14

I never forget Justin William's jersey number (#14) because I associate it with Valentine's Day, and I love this guy. He's handsome. He's approachable. He's a family man. He's honest and intense. He's everything I want my fictional hockey heroes to be.

He also has a reputation now for being a clutch player, coming through when it's do or die, especially Game 7s.

For you non-sports fans, in order to win the Stanley Cup, you must win several "best of seven" series. Sometimes a series doesn't go seven games. Sometimes a team will "sweep" the other team 4 games to zero. If you end up playing a Game 7, that means both teams have won three games and it's all on the line for everyone. For some reason, Justin Williams always pulls something extra out of himself during Game 7s, so much so that the press have deemed him "Mr. Game 7."

So, check him out.

Here he is clean-shaven and super sexy. (I think it's one of Newton's Laws that the sexy factor of all men increases 200% if they're wearing a suit.)

The Kings are up against the current Stanley Cup Champions, the Chicago Blackhawks, right now. The Kings have won three games. The Hawks have won one. Heh heh.

Go Kings.

Meeting the Kings

The other day I got to meet Willie Mitchell and Slava Voynov, both defensemen for the Los Angeles Kings. It was a blast. They were signing autographs at the Staples store in Burbank, about a 20 minute drive for me. (For those of you who don't know, the Kings play in the Staples Center. The Kings aren't just choosing an office supply store as the ideal place to sign autographs.)

The balloons indicate the signing area

I can imagine how strange we all looked to the regular shoppers.

It was fun to meet other fans and wallow in our geekiness. It's almost like having a secret identity and being allowed to shed the disguise for a couple of hours. In "private", I am a rabid LA Kings fan who owns a card containing a swatch from a Justin William's game-worn jersey. It is encased in plastic. It is a source of both pride and embarrassment. But at a fan event like the autograph session, I am among my peers. It is refreshing and exciting.

The rules of this signing: we could have one signature per player, we could take a photograph but would have to stay in front of the table.

Bummer. My son, who accompanied me, put his longboard and hat back in the car so that I could get my jersey signed by Slava and Willie. I love that boy so much. He knew how important it was to me to have the advent calendar I'd made signed by players.

I got really nervous as the line moved forward after an hour of waiting. The Ice Crew girls liked my  calendar. Slava signed first. I said hi. He said hi. That was the extent of our conversation. Maybe I should have learned a Russian greeting for the occasion. Good idea for next time.

 

Willie signed the back of the calendar and then asked to see it flipped around, because he didn't get a good look at it. I told him what it was and he really liked it. Bailey, the Kings mascot, gave it a thumbs-up. (I had him sign it too. Bailey is terrific.) By then the woman in charge was giving us the evil eye even though it was Willie who had chosen to hold up the line. (Back off, bitch! LOL) 

Here's what my jersey looks like now. (King, Nolan, Muzzin, Voynov, Mitchell)

And here's the front of the advent calendar.

A Brief TV "Appearance"

The LA Kings have a show this season on Fox Sports West called Kings Weekly. It's a fluffy show focusing on a lot of the off-ice activities the Kings are involved in, like charity events, the Father/Son Road Trip--stuff like that. Recently they started a feature called Fan Takeover. Twitter fans request a certain player be interviewed. Then, once the player is chosen, fans tweet questions.

This week, the player was Mike Richards. Love this guy. So down to earth. I submitted a couple of questions and one of them made it! "Does Arnold ever go to practice or on road trips with you?"

I was so excited, my scream freaked out my son who thought I'd cut myself in the kitchen.

What was Mike's answer? Arnold has not been to the rink in a long time. He didn't say whether he'd gone on a road trip, but went on and on about how nice it was to have his dog with him here in California rather than with his parents.

Here's a picture of Mike and Arnold. So cute together.

Photo credit: Me and Mike Richards

Secret Santa via Travel-Babbles

Recently I found a real honest-to-goodness hockey wife who blogs regularly and shows no sign of stopping. I really love her blog. She has a great sense of style, is so full of life and enthusiasm and more than once she's moved me to tears.

When she proposed a Secret Santa gift exchange, I decided to participate. It was fun shopping for my person, who happened to be an avid Sharks fan. I followed my Santa-ee on Twitter and Instagram and after trading tweets and pix, I feel like I've made a new friend, even though our teams are rivals duking it out for the 2013 Western Conference title. (Um, we beat them last night by the way, 4-1. I'm just saying… ;) We are proof that a Sharks fan and a Kings fan can peacefully coexist.

Anyway, I received my gifts a couple of weeks ago. I figured it was from my Secret Santa, but I wasn't completely sure until I opened it. I really couldn't remember what I'd put down for my interests. But hello! I got Los Angeles Kings stuff to add to my (slightly embarrassing) collection.

First there is this can cooler. Awesome. Pay no attention to my horrid looking hair which sat under a Santa hat all day at work.

My other present was a reversible LA Kings hat, which I promptly wore to the game on December 7 against the New York Islanders. We won, so it must be a lucky hat! I made my hubby take a pic of me after the game with the Staples Center sign behind me, but being a man he didn't pay any attention to the gigantic alien fat blob masquerading as a chin. Thanks, dude.

The hat kept me nice and toasty warm and I love it! I love both my gifts. Thanks, Santa! And thanks, Kym, for organizing it all.