Kings rally ... well, in dressing room, not on ice
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The Kings have often found themselves up a creek (Monday’s 3-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs is an example). But for once, they have a paddle.
Pingpong, it seems, is all the rage with the Kings, the brainchild of forward Jarret Stoll and Michal Handzus, who went to management and asked for a table during training camp. Since then, the team’s dressing room looks like the set for ‘Balls of Fury II.’
‘It’s been good for the team,’ forward Derek Armstrong said. ‘Guys are hanging around after practice. It’s been a great way for the team to bond.’
Armstrong, as the resident Forrest Gump, has benefited. A run-of-the-mill grinder on the ice, he is generally considered hall of fame material with Gretzky-like skills at the pingpong table.
Armstrong even keeps a personal paddle (sponsored by Red Bull, he claims) in the dressing room. He unsheathed it from its carrying case, donned a Red Bull cap (backwards), and teamed with Brad Richardson to trounce Patrick O’Sullivan and Peter Harrold in doubles Sunday to remain atop the team’s pingpong pyramid.
The sport has come along way since pong. The Kings, though, haven’t (41 years, no Stanley Cups).
-- Chris Foster
