Former LA King Jonathan Bernier Shuts Out Kings 5-0
- Updated: December 20, 2015
I was supposed to be at this game considering the Los Angeles Kings were visiting my home planet of Southern Ontario and this is normally the game my wife and I attend to support (worship) our favorite team. Now my wife and I couldn’t attend this Kings’ game due to my cousin’s wedding, (I know, I know, who has a wedding a WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS AND 2 WEEKS BEFORE NEW YEARS???!!!) so I needed help for this review and who better to help me with this than our very own recapping Queen Emily Redenbach!!! So as you can see above, Emily has provided us with another entertaining vlog (which is amazing and exactly the right medicine we all needed considering the Kings got their butts kicked tonight), so make sure to click on that and check it out.
This was also the game where our friend, the amazing Trasi Starr and her army of LA Kings Die Hards were going to come up from SoCal, to not only support the Kings on their road trip but also check out the Hockey Hall of Fame, Wayne Gretzky‘s restaurant and other historical hockey locales in and around the city of Toronto. I was even thinking of taking them to nearby Brantford, ON to see the home that Gretzky was born and raised in, a home where his father Walter still lives in. Unfortunately, we all were not able to attend this game, (AND THANK THE HOCKEY GODS FOR THAT), as former King Jonathan Bernier led the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-0 win over the Kings. If we all had witnessed this in person, it would have definitely put a damper on the festivities for all of us, (then again, maybe the KINGS WOULD’VE DONE BETTER WITH US THERE IN FULL FORCE???!!! DAMN YOU HOCKEY GODS AND YOUR J.J. ABRAMS LIKE MIND GAMES!!!)
Now since this wedding is from my mother’s side of the family, that means that my wife and I (and my mom, who ended up becoming a Kings’ fan because of her wonderful, intelligent and ravishingly handsome son <blushes>), were up against an entire ballroom of hardcore Toronto Maple Leaf fans! (Story of my life!). First, I was shocked to see that Jhonas Enroth was in net instead of Jonathan Quick. Quick just came off a spectacular 45 save shut out victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Plus former pupil (padawan) Jonathan Bernier was in net for the Leafs which would mean this was going to be the first ever showdown between (the Light) Quick and (the Dark Side) Bernier! (IT’S BROTHER VS BROTHER!) Instead, Enroth was playing (and I used all those Star Wars references for nothing).
All night, I kept hearing from my Leaf fan cousins and uncle about how terrible Bernier has been for the Leafs. As Emily mentioned above, Bernier is a former King who was a part of the first 2012 Stanley Cup victory, so to me, he’ll always be a King (a Kings a King forever right?) and I felt it was my right and duty to defend the goaltender. Bernier this season had been 0-8 3 with a horrible .892 save percentage and had been sent down to the minors recently. The only reason Bernier was playing this game was due to the other Leaf goaltenders James Reimer and Garret Sparks being injured. Leaf fans had been booing Bernier without mercy and all this negative energy and events had been really messing with “Bernie’s” mind. I felt bad for him so it was quite the sight to see at this wedding that a hardcore Los Angeles Kings’ fan was defending the Toronto Maple Leafs goalie while the Leaf fans were bashing their own goalie! (Hockey can be such a strange game at times).
They bashed Bernier that is until the end of the game. After beating the Kings 5-0 and gaining a shut-out, my cousins and uncles changed their minds and considered Bernier the beacon of light that would lead Toronto back (as in back since 1967) to the promised land! I just shook my head and walked away, (this was one of the many reasons why I knew as a young child who loved hockey, that I did not want to be a Leaf fan. I wanted no part of it. There are so fickle but in all honesty, I do feel sorry for them). There was one guest at the wedding that I had never met before that (drunkenly) started chirping towards me about how the Leafs beat the “s**t” out of LA. Mind you this is someone who didn’t say a single word to me before or during the game. Liquid courage and a win was the only motivation he needed to confront me. A bit buzzed from drinking and disappointed with the Kings’ loss, I hit this guy with everything that my lifelong hockey obsessed mind could attack him with.
The Guy – “The Leafs kicked your ass bro!”
Me – “Kicked my ass? How? I was here at this wedding with you and everyone here.”
The Guy – “Well, they kicked your teams’ ass!”
Me – “They did and that’s why I love the Kings.”
The Guy – “Love the Kings? You love that they lost?”
Me – “Absolutely because they were helping out a good friend. Before today how bad was Bernier playing?”
The Guy – “He was horrible but today he was amazing!”
Me – “Right. Why do you think that is?”
The Guy – “Because the Kings suck!”
Me speaking very quickly to throw him off – “How do the Kings suck when they won the Stanley Cup twice in the last 4 seasons while the Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup or made it back to the final since 1967 when there were only 6 teams overall in the NHL and only 4 made the playoffs. Therefore the Leafs only had to win 8 games against teams they are very familiar with when the Kings had to win 16 games twice in 4 rounds of grueling best of 7 hockey! Don’t forget, they did it by defeating the number 1, 2 and 3 seed as an 8th seed in the west to win in 2012! And then returned to the Conference final the next season before taking the hardest route in the history of the Stanley Cup to win again in 2014!”
The Guy – “Hardest route?”
Me – “Yeah, the hardest route. In the first round they had to comeback 0-3 against the San Jose Sharks, which they did and became only the fourth team in hockey history to do so and that was ONLY the first round! Like that was chapter 1! Most teams would be done after that but the Kings went on and after winning the first 2 games against Anaheim, they lost the next 3 before winning the last 2 games to win the series in game 7! That made them the first team in history to lose 3 straight games in 2 straight series and still win both series!”
The Guy – “Huh? Well …”
Me purposely interrupting – “Do you like Chicago?”
The Guy – “The Hawks? Yeah they’re awesome!”
Me – “Well if you think they’re awesome, then after this you’ll think the Kings are amazing since the Kings took the defending Cup champion Blawkhawks out in 7 games, with that 7th game being IN CHICAGO! Plus, don’t forget and I know you did, the Hawks took an early 2-0 lead in that first period of game 7 but the Kings just wouldn’t die! They kept coming back and coming back until Alec Martinez scored the winner in overtime to shut the Chicago crowd up! Plus they made history again by winning their 3rd straight game 7 … ON THE ROAD! THEY WERE TAKING OUT TOUGH TEAMS INCLUDING THE DEFENDING CHAMPS IN THEIR OWN BARN!!!”
The Guy – “Yeah, I admit the Kings were lucky …”
Me – “Oh my misinformed friend, luck has nothing to do with it. Think of it. The Kings have been around since 1967. Since then they have won the Stanley Cup twice and have made the Cup final 3 times. One of them by beating your Leafs back in 1993. Since 1967, the Leafs haven’t won the Cup again, nor made the final. Like dude, I’ve seen my team win the Cup TWICE IN HD!!! How about you?”
The Guy – “Well, obviously not …”
Me – “Exactly. You probably only saw them hold that Cup on grainy technicolor video or old black and white footage on television. I got to go to Ithaca, NY and London, Kitchener, Ayr, Woodstock and Cobourg, ON to see my favorite players hold up the Stanley Cup in person during their day with the Cup! I saw Dustin Brown and Justin Williams, Doughty and Carter etc. lift up that Cup right in front of me and their friends and family! And I took pictures with them and the Cup! It was amazing! Have you experienced that?”
The Guy – “Well no but at least the Leafs have won …”
Me now setting him up for the kill – “Like I said, I saw them win twice in HD! I have good friends that were there in the Staples Center both times to witness the Kings winning the Cup with their own eyes! How old are you?”
The Guy – “Me? Um I’m 32.”
Me – “And how many times have the Leafs won the Cup in your lifetime? How many did you personally witness?”
The Guy says while frowning – “None.”
Me – “So who’s team really sucks in the end?”
The Guy says more aggressively – “Okay Mr. Know It All. You’re right but the Leafs were dominant today and that’s all that matters!”
Me – “Were they dominant?”
The Guy – “Um yeah, they won 5-0! WOOO!”
Me – “But weeeeeerrrreee they dominant?”
The Guy – “What do you mean?”
Me – “Who did Bernier used to play for?”
The Guy – “Well the Kings.”
Me – “And you told me earlier that “Bernie” had been playing horrible right?”
The Guy – “Yeah man, he was garbage!”
Me – “So do you think it was a coincidence that he shined against his former team after playing so lousy this entire season?”
The Guy – “Huh? You’re confusing me.”
Me – “The only reason Bernier won 5-0 today was because the Kings knew he was struggling badly and since the Kings are first in their division and have such a huge lead in points, it was pretty obvious that the Kings were helping a brother out so he can finally look good in the eyes of coach Mike Babcock and the rest of the Leafs management!”
The Guy then just stood there and stared at me, trying hard to process the rapid fire information I had relentlessly threw at him, chugged the rest of his beer and walked away mumbling under his breath. My job was done but I truly didn’t believe that the Kings purposely lost this game to help Bernier out. No the Leafs won fair and square but I was proud of myself for coming up with that conspiracy theory quickly enough to use as it as ammo.
Emily did a great job of explaining and showing the Leaf goals that were scored so I don’t feel it’s necessary to give the Leafs any more credit than that. The Kings lost 5-0 and so it is what it is. This was end of their second eastern road trip and like my colleague Dean Schauer predicted, the Kings ended up 3-2 1 on this trip and that is nothing to be ashamed of.
The Kings are back home at the Staples Center to play against the division (and mortal) rival San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night at 7:30 pm pst. I can only guess that THIS time we will get a brother vs brother duel with Quick taking on Martin Jones!
Special thank you to the always great Emily Redenbach for her help with his recap and I will leave you all with one more story that came from my cousin’s wedding. I was sitting down with my little cousin Adam and we were talking hockey. He is only 6 years old but didn’t have a favorite team. Reminded me a lot of myself at that age.
Me – “So who is your favorite player?”
Adam – “I like Crosby and I like Toews (he pronounced it “Toes”), but I like Drew Doughty too.”
Me as opportunistic as ever – “Doughty really?! Did you know that Doughty has more Stanley Cups than Sidney Crosby does?”
Adam – “Yeah but “Toes” has more than both of them.”
Hmm, smart kid. I might have to change my strategy here.
Me – “You’re right and you definitely know your hockey but did you know that both Drew Doughty and Jeff Carter were born an hour away from here in London, ON?”
Adam – “Really?”
Me – “Yes it’s true. Doughty and the Kings’ Captain Dustin Brown also played for the Guelph Storm as juniors and Guelph is only 20 minutes away from here.”
Adam – “Wow I didn’t know that. My dad takes me to see their games all the time!”
Me – “I know right?! Have you ever heard of Wayne Gretzky?”
Adam – “Yeah, he was the greatest player of all time!”
Damn, I love this kid!
Me – “That’s right and he was born and raised in Brantford, ON and that’s also just 20 minutes away from here too!”
Adam – “Really? Wow! I didn’t know a lot of the Kings were from around here?”
Now that I had his full attention I then preceded to educate his young mind by telling the heroic tales of the Los Angeles Kings from the 1967 expansion to the Triple Crown years to the Gretzky/Robitaille era and to their modern day glory. I stood up and reenacted many of the historical moments like the Miracle on Manchester, the epic Conference battle against the Leafs in ’93, the 0-3 comeback against the Sharks, Alec Martinez’ Stanley Cup winning “Jazz hands” and also both Cup parades including a more family friendly version of Jonathan Quick’s drunken speech from 2012 while Adam sat there, doe eyed in awe and wonder. I was exhausted by the end of the whole process but was proud and relieved to hear Adam say his first, “Go Kings Go!” in his young lifetime.
The Kings may have lost to the Leafs tonight but not all is lost. They are still in first place of the Pacific Division. They still had a winning record on this road trip and for the first time since I was a little boy, there is a young member of my family that is now a Kings fan. In the overall scheme of things, that isn’t bad at all.
And with that said, I’m out of here. GO KINGS GO!!!
Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time!
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