The Ducks-Kings Stadium Series game at Dodger Stadium created an interesting contrast: A thoroughly maintained block of ice in the middle of a city with nary a snowflake to be found. But anything's possible in Los Angeles, right?
This was actually the second warm-climate outdoor NHL game; the first was a 1991 preseason game in Las Vegas between the Rangers and Kings. That game was in 80-degree weather and turned out to be somewhat of a disaster. From the Kings' site:
"There were these big giant grasshoppers jumping on the ice" said Kings President of Business Operations and former player Luc Robitaille. "They would land on the ice and freeze right there, so by the end of the second period they were everywhere on the ice and it was kind of funny."
[Kings color commentator Jim] Fox, watching from the broadcast area, will never forget watching bugs litter the ice.
"If you looked directly down you would see hundreds of bugs. The bugs had fallen and either died or drowned from the water that was being put on the ice. So that was the weirdest part of that game, and I think most everyone remembers that."
There didn't seem to be as many suicidal grasshoppers this time around, but there were a lot of neat photos. Oh yeah, the Ducks won, 3-0.
Photos: AP