Krazy Kozak

My first ever hockey jersey was the original “royal-blue and gold” Los Angeles Kings dark #24,  in honor of my favorite player, my age and my hairstyle at the time.
I’m talking about the deceptively fast* Don Kozak of the Los Angeles Kings, who on April 17, 1977,  scored the fastest goal ever from the start of an NHL playoff game. He scored just six seconds after the opening face off in Game 4 of a Quarter-final Stanley Cup playoff series against the Boston Bruins. Real hockey fans always arrive early!  This was a mind boggling David & Goliath moment because the Kings had been walloped in Boston 8-3 & 6-2 and had lost Game 3 at home in the Fabulous Forum 7-6. The Kings ended up winning that game 7-4 over the Bruins and then amazingly won the next game in Boston 3-1.  By game six, back in Los Angeles, the Kings had lost their mojo and were eliminated by the Bruins 4-3, in a game that was not as close as the score.  Kozak had 4 goals, 1 assist and 17 penalty minutes in 9 playoff games in 1977.  Krazy Kozy peaked at 24 and 20 goal seasons and injected a lot of personality and bursts of frenetic energy into each game he played.

*his fluttering long blonde hair made him look lot faster then he really was.