It was the first official outdoor hockey game ever played West of the Rocky Mountains although there has been an NHL team in Los Angeles for over 50 years. It was 60 degrees and slightly humid when the puck dropped but that didn’t stop the action out on the ice.
They even brought out Vin Scully for the event, much to the delight of the sellout crowd of 54,099 fans who braved the Southern California climate to watch the Anaheim Ducks take down the Los Angeles Kings on the ice in the middle of Dodger Stadium. From center ice the players could still see the tropical palm trees where the outfield used to be. There was even a beach volley ball game going on right next to the ice girls in short pants! What kind of a hockey game was this?
It was the idea of former NHL great Wayne Gretsky and the overflow crowd must have been good for him although ticket sales were quite slow at first due to the fact that the league had overpriced the tickets and the public were just not going for them so fast. Price reductions and refunds were made and the place managed to sell out before match time.
The Duck’s Corey Perry became the first ice hockey player to ever score a goal in Dodger Stadium when he connected with the net at just 2:45 into the first period with a backhand shot assisted by Getzlaf. Matt Beleskey flipped in a wrist shot at the 8:12 mark in the first making it two to zip early on in the match.
On a historical note, the great Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid became the first Soccer player to ever score a goal in Dodger Stadium last August against Everton.
Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller made 36 saves in the Ducks’ 3-0 victory over the Kings for his 20th career shutout.
Teemu Selanne commented after the match, “It was maybe a little slower than some rinks, but it was smooth. The whole package was incredible. You don’t have that many chances to play in front of 55,000 people. This was pretty high on my bucket list.”
As for the players, they were loving it! Playing outdoors in a beautiful legendary stadium in front of a huge roaring crowd…..what’s not to love? The Duck’s Ben Lovejoy put it best, “We felt like rock stars. That was by far the coolest feeling I’ve ever had playing hockey.”
