The 50% Solution

Could this be the year that the zamboni karma runs over the LA- LA-Land hockey playoff dogma? The dogma being that there just isn’t enough hockey mojo in SoCal to have two winning teams concurrently.

L.A. has had two pro hockey teams twice. In 1972-73 we had the LA Sharks at the downtown Sports Arena and the L.A Kings at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood. It’s been 17 years since the advent of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. In those 19 total seasons of two team LA hockey, never have both teams made it to the playoffs in the same season. Yet only in 3 of those seasons, 94–96, did neither team qualify.

Less then a quarter of the way thru the 10-11 season with the Dean Lombardi built Terry Murray guided Kings playing like contenders and Teemu Salanne’s swan song Ducks finally eclipsing the .500 mark with 6 wins in a row, it is not inconceivable that they both make the playoffs and possibly even face each other in the 1^st round. This would be L.A. hockey fans’, media’s, coaches’ and marketers’ wet dream. The Kings thru hard work and discipline work their way into the West Conference top 3, while the Ducks could quack into the 6 to 8 spot. History weighs heavy against this watershed LA sports defining moment, an NHL playoff freeway/subway series reminiscent of the era defining Rangers-Devils-Islanders rivalries.

The Kings actually made the playoffs in their first two seasons. I became a fan & faux reporter and watched the Kings finish out of the playoffs for the next 4 years. In the 4^th year of that streak, the 72-73 season, the L.A. Sharks of WHA were born and promptly made the playoffs. The following season the the Kings were playoff bound while the L.A. Sharks finished out of the playoffs and were bound for Baltimore to become the Blades. Once the Sharks skated out-of-town, the Kings made the playoffs an unbelievable 8 years in a row, 3 times advancing to the 2^nd round. And quite surprisingly in the years when the Kings were the only major hockey show in town they visited the playoffs 15 out of 18 seasons, that’s a whopping 85% !

If you want further evidence of the limit of L.A’s Hockey karma consider this; The year after Marty McMelrose and Wayne Gretzky lost in the Finals to Patrick Roy & Jacque Demer’s ruler, 1) The Mighty Ducks were hatched 2) The Kings proceeded to miss the playoffs 4 years in a row, and 3) The Ducks made the playoffs in their, you guessed it, 4^th year. Then amazingly, 1996-2000 the two SoCal teams alternated making and missing the playoffs.

The 99-02 Andy Murray Kings made the playoffs 3 years in row while the Ducks floundered around the shallow end of the Pond. Andy Murray not only wore out his players, his welcome, but also somehow changed the hockey karma chameleon to Orange, as in County. The Kings watched from home as the 02-03 Ducks made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals losing to left winglocking, clutch and grabbing NJ Devils, with Scott "Concussionist" Stevens and Marty “ more goose eggs then zeros in my paycheck “ Brodeur. The Ducks mighty trip to the finals sucked up so much SoCal hockey mojo that they couldn't reach .500 the following year while the Kings were so drained by the Ducks feat that they didn’t make the playoffs for the next SIX years.

In 05-06 the Ducks rebounded by luring Scott Neidermayer west to play in the Pond with little bro Rob. They went 3 rounds in the playoffs, losing to Edmonton & Chris Pronger, whom they then stole from the Oilers. Consequently, in 06-07, the Ducks became the Stanley Cup Champions, a season in which the Kings finished with only 68 points, their fewest in ten years.

Last season, 09-10, the Kings finally returned to the playoffs for the 1^st time in 6 years and so naturally the Ducks missed out. This season will end with a Ducks vs Kings home-on-home series. Will both teams be jockeying for playoff spots? Will there be enough hockey juice in SoCal for both teams to make it? Will the Kings knock the Ducks out of the playoffs? Will the final 2 games of the regular season foreshadow or even set up the rapture of a new mega-rivalry wherein the two L.A. teams meet in a 1^st round epic battle for the ages

History says, “Not gonna happen!” But karma says, “What comes around goes around.”