How many of you have been softly whimpering since the Chicago Blackhawks lifted the Stanley Cup last June?
Perhaps you started kicking and screaming, trying to break down the door when no one could cure the suffering caused by another poor start by the Angels.
Maybe you watched Dwight Howard dash your hopes for Kobe Bryant’s sixth championship in a drawn out and unproductive free agency period for the Lakers.
I have no choice but to believe that tonight, when the puck drops on the Ducks’ season, I will not be the only one escaping from a prison of his own high expectations.
It’s opening day, ladies and gentlemen. We have been granted a privilege, and that is the feeling of knowing that, for at least one day, our team is in first place.
In 2012, you watched excitedly as press conferences created a circus around the signing of Josh Hamilton and the acquisitions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash.
Lofty expectations? Oh yeah. And we were let down.
Angels fans are all too used to burying themselves in the first two weeks of the season, and the Lakers’ winless preseason seemed to foretell the story of a team that would struggle just to make the playoffs.
As the Ducks and Kings prepare to open their seasons, you can proceed with cautious optimism.
There was no degree of hoopla over free agent signings. The biggest news came in-house with Teemu Selanne’s return to the Ducks for his 21st and final NHL season.
Switch over to the other side of the Freeway Faceoff and you will find that the departure of former Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi, who signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins, is not a significant loss.
The Kings were crowded on the blue line to begin with. With Scuderi leaving, the Kings will welcome back Willie Mitchell to help their defensive core.
Mitchell missed the entire 2013 lockout-shortened season due to a knee injury last year. He was a key part of the group that shutdown opponents in the Kings’ run to a Stanley Cup championship in 2012.
Long story short, this offseason was strictly business for SoCal’s hockey teams.
Very little hype has accompanied the inception of this season. Assembling a team from within the organization should provide for stable team chemistry.
Speaking of stable, we can rest assured the Freeway Faceoff will be as fierce as ever.
Last year was just the second year that the Ducks and Kings made the playoffs in the same season.
It was also the second time both teams competed in the same postseason in the last three years.
These division rivals have not had the opportunity to face each other in a playoff series, but there is no love lost between the two teams.
This year, the NHL is aiming to bring more attention to some of the game’s greatest matchups with a new Stadium Series.
The league will play six games in outdoor arenas, as the annual Winter Classic has seen increasing popularity since it was first played in Ralph Wilson Stadium near Buffalo, NY in 2008.
Remarkably, the Ducks and Kings will be featured in the league’s effort to gain visibility when the two teams square off at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 25.
A new chapter in the battle for SoCal hockey supremacy is about to be written.
The competitiveness of California hockey is rising, and the Ducks/Kings rivalry is as good as it has ever been.