With the 2010 Vancouver Olympic games in full effect, we take a look at Team Canada & Team USA’s chances at Olympic gold as well as what Los Angeles Kings will make an impact on their respective teams. Question of the Day: Which Olympic teams get the gold, silver and bronze?

It looks like Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty had his summer reading cut into the winter. Regardless, here’s his latest story about author Brian Kennedy, Ph.D and his new book: Living the Hockey Dream. Check it out!

MONTEREY PARK, CA — Whether you played the game at any level or are just a spectator, if you truck the kids to hockey practice very early in the morning or just lie on the living room couch and watch games on television, just about everyone touched by the game has a hockey dream or two.

In Living The Hockey Dream, author Brian Kennedy, Ph.D., a native of Montreal, an Associate Professor of English at Pasadena City College and a freelance hockey writer who covers the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks for Inside Hockey, explores the hockey dreams—realized or not—of people involved with the game at all levels and all walks of life.

To be sure, this is not a book focusing on National Hockey League superstars and their glory days in the NHL—if that’s what you are looking for, prepare to be disappointed.

“What I was trying to do was get them to tell similar stories,” Kennedy explained. “Take a guy like [former Kings superstar] Marcel Dionne. It wasn’t just ‘tell me about your hockey career,’ because I can find that out from books, from the Internet, whatever. But tell me about you growing up in the game. What was your corner rink like? What was your neighborhood like? Then, of course, it extends into their career.”

“What I was trying to do was get, not just an inside story, but a story that had the theme of the young person and the way the game appeared or had meaning to him or her and then how that extended into the present,” Kennedy elaborated.

Like his previous book, Growing Up Hockey: The Life and Times of Everyone Who Ever Loved The Game (see Recommended Reading For the “Lull:” Growing Up Hockey), this is not your typical hockey book about NHL stars, past and present. In fact, even when dealing with a former NHL player, Kennedy’s approach was unique and refreshing.

Read the review at Frozen Royalty

In the 3rd and final chapter of the KingsCast ‘Vegas Trilogy,’ it all comes together as Keith and Chris explore Sin City, interview more rabid Kings fans and expose the uniqueness of Frozen Fury. Viva Las Vegas!

It may be over 91 degrees in Los Angeles but there is an unmistakable smell of hockey in the air. The regular season opens tonight with four exciting games on the schedule. On Saturday, October 3rd, the Los Angeles Kings will open their regular season at Staples Center against the Gretzky-less Phoenix Coyotes. But the Kings and the Coyotes aren’t the only teams playing on Saturday night. Every NHL team will take the ice on Saturday.

To celebrate, the National Hockey League has introduced a contest on Twitter they call the #NHLPick15. The rules are simple. First and foremost, you need to get an account on Twitter. Next, you need to predict the winning team in all 15 games played on Saturday, October 3. The one fan that picks all 15 games correctly will win a trip for two to a regular season game of his choosing. Ten other entrants will be selected at random to receive a free season of NHL GameCenter Live.

To enter, send a message to @NHL, and pick the 15 teams you think will win using the three letter team code below. You must include the hashtag “#NHLPick15″ to be entered, you must answer the tiebreaker question, “What is the total, combined number of penalty minutes that all 30 NHL teams will have in the games played on October 3rd?”

Here’s my entry into the contest:

@NHL CHI, DET, VAN, BOS, BUF, NJD, PIT, NYR, WAS, TBL, CBJ, NSH, CGY, SJS, LAK, 268pims #NHLPick15

Here’s the match-up for Saturday, October 3rd:

CHI @ FLA
STL @ DET
VAN @ COL
CAR @ BOS
MTL @ BUF
PHI @ NJD
PIT @ NYI
OTT @ NYR
TOR @ WAS
TBL @ ATL
MIN @ CBJ
NSH @ DAL
CGY @ EDM
SJS @ ANA
PHX @ LAK

For more information (including all rules in English and French), visit NHL.com.

KingsCast Take: The National Hockey League is taking the fans seriously. With teams taking to Twitter and Facebook to promote themselves, you can now interact directly various members of the organization. Gone are the days when you had to wait for the latest issue of The Hockey News to appear at your doorstep. Not only that but there are cool prizes given out almost daily by individual teams and the NHL. The push the NHL is doing in social media is huge and it’s great for the fan.

I know most of you interact with the Los Angeles Kings on either Twitter or Facebook so what is the coolest thing you’ve heard from the organization lately? Tell us here!

Don’t forget to friend us up on Twitter and Facebook. See you at Staples!

ESPN Films has released the viewing schedule for the first 7 films of it’s “30 in 30″ documentary film series, which celebrates the networks 30th anniversary by profiling various news stories from the past 30 years. Directed by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Hancock), “Kings Ransom” takes a look at the monumental impact the Wayne Gretzky-to-LA trade had on the sport of hockey in the United States and Canada from the seldom taken perspective of the Great One himself. ”Kings Ransom” will open the series on October 6, 2009 at 8pm EST.  Should be an interesting watch for not only Kings fans but hockey fans in general who remember first hand that earth shattering day. (unless of course you’re an Oilers fan) Here’s a clip from “Kings Ransom.”

The “30 in 30″ series will air Tuesday nights at 8pm EST on ESPN with upcoming films made by acclaimed directors Frank Marshall, Barry Levinson, Spike Jonze, John Singleton and many more. Sounds awesome!

In this special edition podcast, Keith and Chris head to Hockey Fest and score interviews with Drew Doughty, Marcel Dionne and Ray Ferraro. This podcast is a must for all Los Angeles Kings fans.

 

 Hockey Fest Day 2 Interviews [10:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

It’s a long off-season for the Los Angeles Kings fan. In this episode we re-cap what happened in NHL hockey (this week). We talk about Patrick Kane (aka .20 cent), Jeremy Roenick, hockey rumor sites and our event at Frozen Fury. Will you be there?

The brand new original series, brought to you by KingsCast, profiles the devoted, sometimes crazy world of Los Angeles Kings fans. In this inaugural installment, Keith and Chris travel down to Orange County to check out the insane hockey memorabilia collection of an LA Kings super-fan.

Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty had the opportunity to get some good stuff from David Kolomatis and Patrick Mullen at development camp, hosted by the Los Angeles Kings. Check out his latest article on HockeyTalk.biz

DEVELOPMENT CAMP: Here’s a look at couple of the Los Angeles Kings’ lesser-known prospects along with head coach Terry Murray’s thoughts as the development camp wrapped up on July 12.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — Each summer at the Los Angeles Kings annual development camp for their young prospects, fans ooh, ahh and gush about the players who were highly-touted first round picks, the massive hulks who throw a big hit or two to get the attention of the coaches and management, not to mention the occasional late-round draft pick who scores a highlight-reel goal and wows the crowd.

But outside of that relative handful of young players, the majority of the prospects are long shots to make it to the National Hockey League—that goes for the prospects of every single NHL franchise. But they aren’t the proverbial chopped liver, either, so HockeyTalk spoke with a couple of the Kings’ young prospects who are not on most people’s radar.

Although the Kings were focused on big, tough physical players during the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, one of their draft picks did not fit that mold.

Puck-moving, offensive defenseman David Kolomatis caught the eyes of the Kings’ scouts with a solid third season with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League, scoring eighteen goals and contributing 28 assists for 46 points with 52 penalty minutes in 63 regular season games.

In four playoff games, Kolomatis scored two goals and added two assists for four points.

The 5-11, 186-pound native of Basking Ridge, New Jersey was selected by the Kings in the fifth round (126th overall) of the 2009 draft and within a couple of weeks, found himself in a totally new environment.

“It’s actually my first time on the West Coast,” Kolomatis said of his time at the Kings development camp. “I didn’t get a chance to touch the Pacific Ocean yet. We’ve been pretty busy here. It’s been a great experience for me…”

Read the rest on HockeyTalk.biz

Well, our re-cap of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft has come to a close with our final pick in the 7th Round. The Los Angeles Kings selected Nic Dowd (198th overall) from the Wenatcheee Wild of the North American Hockey League. In 43 games played with the Wild, Dowd scored 16 goals and 33 assists for 49 points in the regular season. In 13 playoff games, Dowd scored an impressive 8 goals and 14 assists (and a plus-10 rating).

The 6′2″, 180 pound 19 year old Huntsville, AL native is the first player to ever be drafted from Huntsville as well as the first player to be drafted from the Wenatchee Wild. In an interview with Wenatchee Wild.com, Wild head coach Paul Baxter said “His selection is well-earned. LA’s Scouts had watched him play several times and were high on his NHL potential.” That just goes to show you: Los Angeles scouts are everywhere.

Dowd has committed himself to St. Cloud State University (WCHA) for the 2010-11 season and will play along side fellow Los Angeles Kings prospect Garrett Roe where he will be given ample time to mature. “His learning curve is very steep and his competitive vigor in all situations makes him a very attractive NHL prospect. He was a positive difference-maker in crucial game situations all season and during the playoffs”, said Baxter. “Nic has tremendous stick skills and vision, along with a very good skating stride that will get better as he physically matures.” Garrett Roe, also a 7th round draft pick by the LA Kings wasn’t the most highly-touted prospect of the bunch last year but managed to finish second in rookie scoring for the WCHA. There’s no doubt that Nic Dowd will benefit from the development program at St. Cloud State.

Matt Reitz from the popular blog View From My Seats got a chance to see Nic Dowd last weekend at the LA Kings Development Camp. “He couldn’t have blended in any more if he tried”, Reitz said. “I looked down at the roster a couple of times because I kept forgetting who he was. He wasn’t good and he wasn’t bad – he just blended. There were definitely guys that looked out of place. Thankfully he wasn’t one of them. I guess that’s a compliment, right?” Not exactly a shining endorsement of Dowd but somewhat expectant of a 7th rounder.

It will be interesting to watch the development of these players drafted in the lower rounds. Garrett Roe, also a 7th rounder, has been lighting up the WCHA. Obviously his Wenatchee Wild coach Paul Baxter thinks highly of him. Participation in these development camps will be highly beneficial to Nic Dowd. While we certainly can’t pencil Dowd into a Kings roster as of yet, there is little doubt that Dean Lombardi’s staff spoke endlessly about him. As we know by now, Lombardi will never waste a pick.

Random facts about Dowd: after hockey he would like to go to school for veterinary medicine and in the 1997-98 seasont he scored 103 goals and 68 assists for 171 points for his mite hockey team.

Resources:
View From My Seats – Follow Matt on Twitter
Wenatchee Wild.com

You can read about the Los Angeles Kings previous draft picks right here on KingsCast. So far, we’ve profiled forward Kyle Clifford, defenseman Nicolas Deslauriers, goaltender Jean-Francois Berube, forward Linden Vey, defenseman David Kolomatis, forward Michael Pelech, forward Brandon Kozun and forward Jordan Nolan.

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