1. Read a Book – If you’re a crazed hockey fan who lives it day-in, day-out, there are a ton of great books out there that you can read. Check out Playing With Fire by Theo Fleury (Amazon Affiliate link). Read about the sex-crazed, drug-addicted boozer who tore up the National Hockey League for years. I challenge you to sit down on a Sunday afternoon and put the book down (you won’t be able to). Another great one is Gabby: Confessions of a Hockey Lifer by Bruce Bodreau (Amazon Affiliate link). You remember Bruce: a former head coach of the Manchester Monarchs and recent Jack Adams Award winner for the Washington Capitals. It’s an incredibly insightful book about a guy who lives and breathes hockey. He’s probably reading something as well at this moment.

2. Get Acquainted with Your 2010 Draftees – I know, in years past it was easy. You only had to get to know five or six guys because the Los Angeles Kings have drafted in the top five for the last three years. Fortunately, the time has passed for us to draft a “savior”. As of right now, the Kings will draft either 19th or 20th overall. So get yourselves familiar with players like Stanislav Galiev, Riley Sheahan and Tyler Pitlick. And, no, Dean Lombardi is not trading up to number one overall just because the draft is in Los Angeles.

3. Visit Toyota Sports Center – When it’s hot and the sun is shining and you’ve survived a month without a mention of Kings hockey, you can often get the shakes. That’s why it can be refreshing to throw on some shorts (maybe a jersey) and head on over to the LA Kings practice facility. We did. You can go inside, watch the midget Kings and scout potential standouts for the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

4. Detoxify Your Liver – If you watch our show, you know that in those red plastic cups we drink from resides enough hard liquor to kill most of the sober population. We suggest that cramp on your left side isn’t just a cramp, it’s your liver crying for help. We suggest now is the time to give it some help. Have a glass of water. Drink some cranberry juice. Switch to beer. But, for saftey’s sake, perhaps 11 shots of Jagermeister in the middle of the summer is not going to get you healthy for training camp. Curb it.

5. Or You Can Just Get a Life – It’s the summer. The Los Angeles Kings are scattered across the globe relaxing, golfing and not thinking about hockey. Maybe you should too. If you’re marking the days off of your calendar until training camp starts, you might have a problem.

Then again, KingsCast will be here all summer with new shows and blogs. Yeah, we pretty much suck too.

So what do you do to keep your mind off of Kings hockey?

Keith Korneluk a the co-host of Overtime by KingsCast. Friend him up on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. This pleases him.

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!

Hockey Fest Day 3 – Staying on Target

So, for the fans that have just joined us and the fans who have been with us since our first (and worst) season, it’s time for a refresher. And, with that, I give you my Top 5 favorite KingsCasts:

1. Luc Robitaille Special – (Season 1) It’s a rare thing to see a jersey retirement live but Chris and I got to see Luc Robitaille’s jersey retired in 2008 at Staples Center. Here we pay tribute to Lucky Luc, re-cap the games discuss the trade of Craig Conroy. Every time I hear our “Play Hard” chant in the beginning of the episode I just have to smile. There’s a few curse words in this one so, as much as you’d like to, don’t blast this at work!

2. 3rd Annual Season Finale – (Season 3) This is the episode where we started doing the show live. It was also the first time we had three of us on the show together. Here we talk about the ever-important off-season, conduct our end of season Awards show and debate whether or not we should keep the 5th overall pick in the draft.

3. Back in Black (and Purple – (Season 3) What’s really interesting here is that this episode was recorded in two places: Boca Raton, FL and Los Angeles, CA. That’s right, we did a few of these shows this way in Season 3 and it wasn’t easy. It’s painful to remember “the most important Kings off-season in recent history” resulted in us signing nobody. Rob Blake left the Los Angeles Kings for greener pastures in San Jose. Marc Crawford was fired. We were not anticipating a great season for Kings Hockey.

4. Season 2 Finale – (Season 2) It was then end of another terrible season of Kings Hockey under the Marc Crawford regime. Chris and I were a little upset that the Kings didn’t win the draft lottery. We believed that “Dean Lombardi was secretly hoping for us to lose the lottery”. Boy I’m glad we did. Where would we be without Drew Doughty? Also in this episode is one of our favorite segments entitled “See Ya”. Classic.

5. 1st Annual Christmas Special – (Season 1) You know we’re out for blood when we figure out a way to combine Eazy-E and Harry Connick, Jr. The Los Angeles Kings were playing some of their worst hockey ever. Dan Cloutier was in full effect, “manning” the goal crease for LA. By the sound of this episode, we could be Duck fans making fun of the Kings. Not so. Notice the terrible audio quality as we used to record the show in the kitchen. That said, this was a fun episode to make.

Which was your favorite?

Hosted by ESPN.com’s John Buccigross, this three-day event will feature a “one-man show” with Bob Miller, a Q&A with the Triple Crown Line, a speakers series with former Kings greats, live music with Eddie Kowalczyk, autograph sessions and much more. This event is like Tip a King on Red Bull and speed.

The Los Angeles Kings have packed so much into these three days that it’s like boot camp for the Kings fan. However, Hockey Fest is much more than a three-day celebration of all things Kings: it’s symbolic. Do you think they would have done this if all we had done in the offseason is sign Brian Wilsie 2.0? Exactly, the Kings want you to be excited about Kings hockey this season. The Chicago Blackhawks missed the playoffs in 2007-2008, held their own Hockey Fest that summer and went on to the Western Conference Finals. Now I’m not suggesting that’s going to happen for Los Angeles, but the playoff spirit is in the air and it’s time to jump on the train. Personally, I can’t wait to see Bob Miller’s one-man show. This is a Hall of Fame living legend of broadcasting live on stage. It’s going to be pretty special.

If you think your child will be born that weekend, see if there’s a way to switch that around. If you’re getting married that weekend: put. it. off. If you’re an LA Kings fan, this is an event not to be missed.

Now you know Team KingsCast will be there, what about you? What are you most looking forward to?

Keith Korneluk is a co-host on KingsCast. Follow him on Twitter

It’s a long off-season for Los Angeles Kings fans so when Keith and Chris needed some LA Kings hockey, the sought it out at the Toyota Sports Center.