Hockey in the desert

Now that my Yankees are out of the playoff picture, I can concentrate on what I do best-watch and go to as many hockey games as I can no matter what city it is.

No, I'm not that upset that the Yankees aren't going to be in the World Series. If you live in the Los Angeles-Orange County, California area like I do, and have seen a lot of Anaheim Angels games, then you shouldn't be at all surprised at how well the 'Halos have done. Surprisngly, this past weekend, however, I wasn't thinking about baseball. I went to Las Vegas.

Nothing different about that, Las Vegas is my fourth "home", next to Los Angeles, New York City, and Boston. I went to the MGM Grand Garden Arena this past Saturday night along with 11,000 other crazies wearing Avalanche and Kings jerseys to witness an event called, "Frozen Fury 6."

Don't snicker. The Los Angels Kings have played their final preseason hockey game at the MGM Grand Arena, which is inside the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino, for the past six years. Hence the name, Frozen Fury 6. Get it?

Even though Los Angeles was supposed to be the home team, it was hard to tell as most of the fans screamed, hollered, and yelled every time a Colorado Avalanche player scored or whenever Patrick Roy made a great save.

There was plenty of excitement and the fans were treated to a rarity in hockey - a penalty shot by Colorado captain, Joe Sakic, in the closing minutes of the game, which was won by the Kings, 6-5.

Preseason hockey is over, let the real games begin. If the regular season is as exciting as the preseason has been, the 2002-2003 hockey season should be a great one.