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Fun little item on Rich Hammond's Kings blog for the Daily News. Even though the players supposedly had the day off, they were called to the rink at 7:30 am. Their cellphones and wallets were taken away, the players were divided into four squads, then piled into vans and sent out into the city to complete tasks ala "The Amazing Race." (Executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer is a big hockey fan.) The winner would be the first squad to finish all five tasks:
2 - Have an artist in Venice Beach sketch a portrait of one of the players.
3 - Teach a 10-minute lesson in a classroom at Torrance Elementary School.
4 - Stand on a surfboard for at least five seconds in the Manhattan Beach water.
5 - Find Kings broadcaster Jim Fox in Hollywood. (He was near broadcaster Bob Miller's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which the players also had to locate.)
Players took taxis between stops and on one leg were given no money and had to talk their way into a free ride. It's called team building. "To hit baseballs at Dodger Stadium was awesome. I wanted to stay there all day," said goalie Jason LaBarbera.
Also: Hey, the Clippers are 4-0 on the season. SoCal Sports Observed
Noted: Mammoth Mountain opens tomorrow for the ski and board season.