Meet the Players party....

Being a season ticket holder has its advantages. One of them being the Meet the Players Party. Free admission, free food (okay so its hot dogs and nachos) and you get to meet the players. The rest of the world has to pay for Tip a King to do this. Heh heh heh.

Since my husband doesn't really care to see me drool all over these men, he graciously handed his ticket over to my mom - so we can drool together.

This was not a drool fest this time. It was 'get some new autographs time'. Players I hadn't met before or those with short lines. Funny, I still avoided Avery's line. I do want him to sign my WWAD shirt, but I'm afraid he's going to be a jerk and ask me if I'm going to sell it on ebay. He doesn't sign things very well. And no, I won't be selling it on ebay. I love that shirt. All of those crappy autograph seekers at the practices and other events made the players weary of signing autographs. These losers sell the stuff on ebay for a profit without the consent of the players. There was even some guy there last night with a stack full of pucks. He was talking to his friend on the phone about the number of signatures he got and how much he thought they'd go for on ebay. Nice.

Anyway, I got a few more players out of the way. The fact that it was so hot inside Staples Center last night determined which lines I got in. I was pretty cranky after a while so we gave up. I did meet Anze Kopitar, Konstantin Pushkarev, Brent Sopel (Sexy Sopel), Oleg Tverdovsky, Matti Norstrom (not NorDstom, like the stupid Duck announcers like to call him) and Bob Miller - the Voice of the Kings. Of course, in all of my excitement to get the Kopitar jersey signed, I forgot my Bob Miller book for him to sign. He said he would be doing another signing next week - so I got my picture taken with him instead.

So, here are the pictures:

Pushkarev and Kopitar. My mother noticed that Anze has very LARGE hands. And he's kind of cute in person. Very shy. I had to tell him about the bet my husband made me. We've been trying to decide on baby names and I of course mentioned Anze for a boy and Anja for a girl. He said (done in my best whiny Bryan voice) "I'm not naming my kid after some hockey player!"

So, after several weeks of bugging him he sort of gave in. I could name my kid after Anze if, the big IF, he scored a hat trick. This kid went out and scored two goals and an assist that night. And he can very close to that third goal. My mother called and asked if my husband was sweating yet after the second goal. He was getting a little nervous. So I told Anze my situation. His response? "I'll take care of that for you." :)

Then it was over to Brent Sopel and Oleg Tverdovsky. I was going to give poor Tverdovsky a

hard time about being a former Duck and now being a King. Something like, "aren't you glad you're in LA now?" He needs to step up as a defenseman though. He's sucked the last couple of games. People call Rob Blake a turnover machine - they apparantly aren't watching Tverdovsky.

And then Sopel. Sexy Sopel. He has that neanderthal look, but up close, he's very, I don't know. Cute. Sexy even. I wish I had a link to this girls website for "Sexy Sopel".

We kind of wandered around after that. Checking out the lines, had a hot dog and then finally decided on Matti Norstrom. Very nice guy. Someone I've been meaning to get his autograph, but never did. I got to tell him I was in Sweden and even butchered the name of the city we were in Nynashamn (sp?) He said I pronounced it correctly. I'd been practicing all night. And I made a plea for him to speak to whomever in Sweden handles the jersey quota. I went to a million souvenir shops that day and couldn't find one jersey. I did find a Mighty Ducks hat and was offended.

All of the lines were ridiculously long at this point, so we wandered down to the Locker Room. My mother says "If you've seen one locker room, you've seen them all." Hah. I can say this. They need to WASH the equipment. The smell coming off that stuff was horrendous. Or maybe it was the greasy guy in front of me. Got a few pictures of the equipment. Notice how short Cammys pants are compared to everyone else. :)

My picture of us on the ice with the Zambonis came out kind of blurry. I don't think the kid with the camera knew what he was doing. They also had a pro there taking pictures and they should be available later today. I'll see if his was any better.

A very productive night. Well, Dan Cloutier wasn't there so I didn't get to do my driveby in the Labarbera jersey. Rumor has it he's in Colorado at a 'clinic' getting his tendonitis checked out.

Meanwhile, my boy Labarbera was chosen as the starting goalie for the AHL All Star game. Thats my boy!

And after talking with Nick Nickson about it, he said he hopes to see Jason back next year. Nick was awesome. My mom and I walked up to him and I told him I was Mike from West Hills. Anyone who listens to Kings Talk after the game KNOWS who Mike from West Hills is. He got a good laugh out of it and said "Well, at least you're listening!"