The Kings game last night was a lot of fun, especially since the Kings won 4-1. I went with my friends Dean and Jeff (who play on the Red Menace) and two of Jeff's friends from Canada who came down for the weekend just to see the Oilers play at L.A. and Anaheim. The three of them all wore Oilers jerseys. Needless to say, they were disappointed with the outcome of the game. Here's a photo of Dean and Jeff (Dean on the left) after the Kings scored an impossible 3rd goal where Anze Kopitar banked a shot in off the Oilers' goalie's skate in a small gap between the skate and the post. I wasn't able to pull my camera out quick enough to get Jeff while he was pinching the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. Can you tell who is happy (maniacal?) and who is not in this pic?

There were quite a few Oilers fans in attendance, and at some point, someone gave Jeff's friends 100 level admittance so they could see the game from closer up. Afterward, they all met up outside Staples Center at the Wayne Gretzky statue to get their photo taken with The Great One who once played for the Oilers and then left to come to Los Angeles. One of the Canadians explained in detail how the whole city of Edmonton had gone through the 5 stages of grief when he left the city, including disappointment and utter shock. When Gretzky came to Los Angeles, his popularity had a huge impact on the growth of youth hockey in Southern California, and even today, if you stand there before the game, you can watch numerous kids stop by the statue on their way into the arena to compulsively touch the statue for luck. Maybe all the Oilers fans should have visited the statue BEFORE the game.

The song of the day is "Three Strange Days" by School of Fish off their 1991 self-titled debut album. This was the most popular song for the band, who would only record one other album and then break up. I'm not sure how I ever heard this while growing up in the Northwest where we didn't have anything like KROQ. But for some reason, I always thought this is what Paul McCartney would sound like if he was a young alternative rocker in the 90s. Listen to this song with your eyes closed and see if you agree. Of course, I could just be crazy.