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LOS ANGELES -- The Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings walked between the palm trees into the Dodger Stadium outfield, a beach volleyball court on their right and a Kiss performance stage to their left. A surprisingly good ice rink was straight ahead, glistening in the Hollywood night. "We felt like rock stars," Anaheim defenceman Ben Lovejoy said. "That was by far the coolest feeling Ive ever had playing hockey." After all the spectacle and sensation of the NHLs first warm-weather outdoor game, Jonas Hiller and the Ducks demonstrated whos on top of this rivalry -- with or without a roof. Corey Perry and Matt Beleskey scored first-period goals, and the Ducks beat the Kings 3-0 at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night. Hiller made 36 saves in his 20th career shutout as the league-leading Ducks dominated the landmark meeting of Southern Californias two hockey teams under the stars in Chavez Ravine. Andrew Cogliano added an empty-net goal with 1:29 left to close this unusual chapter in the NHLs expanded slate of outdoor games. "Its a little different playing out here, but its nothing that threw us off," Hiller said. The league threw a California carnival for the event: People in shorts and tank tops played Frisbee and practiced yoga between periods while skateboarders rolled past a ball hockey court featuring youth teams. Although the temperature was 63 degrees with significant humidity when Wayne Gretzky dropped the first puck, the ice held up fairly well in the night air. The Ducks had no problems adjusting to the new sightlines and backgrounds while shutting out the Kings. "It was maybe a little slower than some rinks, but it was smooth," Anaheims Teemu Selanne said. "Were used to not-good ice out (West) anyway. The whole package was incredible. You dont have that many chances to play in front of 55,000 people. This was pretty high on my bucket list." The Ducks earned their 21st victory in 24 games, beating Los Angeles for the second time in three days. The Kings lost their fifth straight game. The Kings hosted the first official outdoor game west of the Rocky Mountains in recognition of the NHLs near half-century in Los Angeles and their rivalry with the Ducks, who joined the league two decades ago. And though this game bore little resemblance to the snowbound outdoor contests in northern climes, the excited fans and enthused players embraced this unorthodox version of pond hockey with gusto. "I cant see any reason we shouldnt do this more," Selanne said. "The quality of hockey was great. Im going to remember this." The teams wore specially designed jerseys for the game, with the Kings crown logo dominating their grey jerseys while the Ducks sported bright orange. After a day filled with fan events and celebrations of the cold-weather sports rich California roots, Anaheim showed whos currently in charge of this rivalry. The Ducks followed up their 2-1 victory in Thursdays rivalry meeting in Anaheim by opening a seven-point lead over Chicago atop the overall standings. Jonathan Quick made 18 saves as the Kings matched their longest skid of an otherwise solid season. After getting a goal in the opening minutes of Thursdays loss, Los Angeles hasnt scored in 116 consecutive minutes against the Ducks. "As for us not scoring goals, its been a constant theme, and its getting embarrassing," Los Angeles defenceman Drew Doughty said. "So we need to pick up our socks, and everyone needs to get hungry around the net and score goals." Hiller made 20 saves and stopped Anze Kopitars penalty shot in the first period, and the Swiss netminder turned away every good scoring chance after that in his fourth shutout and 24th victory of the season. Just 2:45 in, Perry scored the first goal in Dodger Stadium history, connecting rather easily on a rebound of Ryan Getzlafs shot off a faceoff. Less than six minutes later, Beleskey was alone at the side of Quicks net to score on a play set up by Selannes pass. Kopitar was awarded a penalty shot midway through the period when Lovejoy hooked him on a breakaway, but the Kings leading scorer couldnt do much with the puck, and Hiller stopped it. "The experience was fun and it was exciting, playing on a stage like this in front of all those people, but it was definitely not the outcome we wanted," Kopitar said. Cogliano had the best scoring chance of the second period, but lost the puck on a breakaway. Hiller was outstanding after struggling in his last start against Winnipeg, and Cogliano wrapped up the win in the closing seconds with his 17th goal. NOTES: The crowd was announced at 54,099 -- a number that likely made Gretzky smile. ... Despite significant public interest, the game didnt sell out until early Saturday. The NHL overpriced many tickets when they first went on sale, forcing price reductions and refunds in the sections that werent selling. ... Perry joined Cristiano Ronaldo as the first players to score a goal in their respective sports at Dodger Stadium. Last August, Ronaldo scored Real Madrids first goal against Everton in the stadiums first soccer game. Ray Ban Outlet . PETERSBURG, Fla. Ray Ban Sunglasses Outlet . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. http://www.rbsunglassoutelt.us.com/ . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . Cheap Ray Ban Sunglasses For Women . Vaives lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasnt provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents. Ray Ban Sunglasses Outlet 80% OFF . Perhaps Carroll was so prepared for a break because he believes there is very little the Seattle Seahawks need heading into the off-season. "I dont see anything that we need to add. We just have to get better," Carroll said.Its been a tough week if you are a fan of Canadian soccer. On Saturday, the Vancouver Whitecaps came out of Dallas with their tails between their legs, having lost a crucial league game to fellow playoff contenders FC Dallas by a score of 3-1. The Whitecaps playoff hopes are dwindling, as they sit five points adrift of the final playoff place in the Western Conference. Later that night, after a battling first half performance, Toronto FC collapsed like a house of cards against the Portland Timbers, gifting the hosts their second goal on the way to a 4-0 drubbing. Only the Montreal Impact - 4-2 winners against the New England Revolution - spared Canadian fans blushes. Canadas mens national team also participated in their first training camp under new head coach Benito Floro last week. The camp included two friendly matches against Mauritania; the first game ended in a scoreless draw, while the second game saw a 10-man Canadian team (after Marcel de Jong was sent off for two yellow cards in the first half) lose 1-0. Yep...its been a tough week. After the two results against Mauritania, there was an inevitable outburst on social media, as fans (and those who simply enjoy criticizing Canadian soccer) took to Twitter to express their outrage at our failure to overcome a nation that most had never heard of. I could explain that this was just a training camp - a chance for Floro to take a look at every player at his disposal. I could further explain that losing to Mauritania is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. After all, if you cant experiment with players and new tactical ideas in friendly games played behind closed doors, when can you? But that would be insulting to supporters. Losing to Mauritania is an embarrassment, and something that should never happen. Trying to paper over the cracks by explaining the loss also distracts us from the real issue at hand. That issue is best captured by a quote from legendary basketball coach, John Wooden: Failure is not fatal; but failure to change might be. You see, no one knows if the CSA is doing anything to change the way players and coaches are developed in Canada. No one knows if there is a national curriculum in the works. No one knows when (or if) that curriculum will be completed, let alone how it will be implemented. No one knows if the Youth Coaching Licence that was proposed a short while ago is being developed, or if it has been put on the shelf indefinitely. No one knows if the next generation of players is going to be any better prepared to deal with the rigours of international football than the current crop. No one knows anything, because the CSA never tells anyone anything. Its been 10 months since the CSA hired Tony Fonseca as its Technical Direcctor, the man responsible for galvanizing and inspiring the nation - for putting us all on the same page so we can work collectively to develop talented players who can one day represent us on the international stage.dddddddddddd In the last 10 months, have you heard anything from Fonseca about how he plans to address any of the issues outlined above? Have you seen a press release or technical update from the CSA, addressing where we are, where we need to be, and how we intend to bridge that gap? Have you seen or even heard of the CSAs technical development plan - how it aims to go about fixing our broken development system for youth soccer in Canada? Of course you havent. Because none of that information has been released by the CSA. And in the absence of that information, the only option you are left with is to try to answer those questions yourself. Which goes something like this: Are the CSA developing a national curriculum? No. When and how is that national curriculum going to be implemented? It isnt. When will the Youth Coaching Licence be completed and available for coaches to take? Never, because it doesnt exist and it never will. Does the CSA have a technical development plan? No. Is the CSA doing anything at all to fix the broken mess of a development system that sees us produce, year after year, a shallow pool of talent from which to choose our mens and womens national teams? No. Now, I know that these answers are entirely unfair - because I know that there is a lot of work being done by the CSA to address these issues. But you dont. And that is a major problem. Supporters need to know what the CSA is doing to fix our problems. Supporters need to be able to read the CSAs technical development plan so that they can not only understand it, but more importantly, so that they can champion it. Not even the most ardent supporters can rally around a team that is reeling like our mens national team program is. Winless in 2013, with three draws, seven losses and only one goal scored. Supporters need to know that steps are being taken to address our problems - problems that extend all the way to grassroots soccer. If the measures being implemented require 10-15 years to come to bear fruit, at the very least, fans can support the CSA over that period of time and do their part to facilitate change, rather than wringing their hands in frustration because they suspect nothing is being done. Two very simple words of advice for the CSA: full disclosure. Spell out your plans in black and white; tell the fans what you are doing to affect change in Canada - and tell them often. Otherwise, fans will do what theyve always done in the absence of information. They will assume that you are doing nothing. Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Authentic Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Authentic Cheap Jerseys Authentic Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys NFL China Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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