January 29, 2015: The Hate Files XVI

I’ve never really had the chance to build up some hate in hockey.  Being robbed of watching many Blackhawks games growing up thanks to Dollar Bill Wirtz, I never saw enough hockey to spark that hate; doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of reason to hate.  Blackhawks fans of the past eras had to hate the great teams that would beat us regularly, like the Montreal Canadiens or the Edmonton Oilers… or even the Penguins for beating us in the Cup in 1992.  How about the more natural geographic rivalries with the Minnesota North Stars or the St. Louis Blues?  I’ve heard there were some doozies back in the day.  Then there is the most known rival of the Hawks… the Red Wings.  They would probably rate as the #1 hated team by Blackhawks fans.  Although I would have loved to build some hate for these teams over the years, I can’t say that I truly have…

That brings us to the present era…  I felt feelings of hate towards both the Flyers and the Bruins in recent Stanley Cup matchups, but disposing of them, disposed of that series worth of hate.  Similarly, the Canucks have been one of the better rivals for the Hawks in recent years, and they did beat us in the playoffs that one year… still, we’ve beaten them more when it counts, so they’re out… for now.  How about the Coyotes who took us out that one year?  It was only the first round, and I did have some feelings… but not enough to push me over the edge.

That brings us to the winner and resident of the 16th Hate File.  They meet the qualifications.  Although we have defeated them more than not in recent years, including a big playoff series win in the Cup run of 2013, they have their fair share of wins over us… some big ones… the most recent ones.  Last night was just some icing on that 2014 conference finals cake.  I welcome the first NHL team to the Hate Files:  The Los Angeles Kings.

Just as some of the teams in the Files, there are other reasons that make me hate the Kings.  My first memory of the Kings was the acquisition of Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers.  Although no personal hate was sparked there, I’m sure many, many Edmonton, Canadian, and hockey fans in general were upset… each to a lesser degree I’m sure.  They were never able to capture a Cup during the Gretzky years.  But the fact remains, that he went to LA… and the Kings.  Gretzky doesn’t seem like a guy anybody could hate, but why not hate the team instead?

I didn’t, but I do hate LA fans in general.  Living out in LA… seeing these fans first hand… gave me real reasons to hate them.  The Dodgers, with fans arriving in the third and leaving in the seventh, taking out my Cubs.  The Lakers, with fans saying that Kobe and the Lakers were better than MJ and my Bulls.  The USC fans, who think that USC football is equivalent to NFL football since they have no NFL team.  The Kings, who nobody really seemed to care about, beating my Hawks in a game I attended out in LA…  getting those dirty looks from the fans as I wore the Indian Head.  The Kings fans who I went back and forth with in Vegas during the 2014 Conference Finals…  Seeing these fans first hand, knowing they could NEVER stack up to the die-hard Chicago fans, makes me even more pissed off when they experience success… and gives me a seemingly natural reason to hate the Kings.
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Of course, the main reason I hate them is from the 2014 Conference Finals.  We all know we were the better team right?  I don’t care what anybody says, but I believe we took them a little for granted… and they made us pay.  We let the inferior team rob us of our 3rd Stanley Cup in 5 years.  The way it ended was even worse… after finally waking up in the series and coming back from down 3-1 to send the series to a 7th game… in Chicago… losing on a deflected puck… in OT.  Ouch!  The dynasty was put on pause.  The hate began to burn…

Some may say how can you say the Kings are inferior?  They won a Cup, and now two Cups thanks to this series win over the Blackhawks.  Because I feel like it.  This is a hate file, do I really need to justify that?  Then there came last night.  Seeing the Hawks have 3 separate leads in that one… getting a horrible penalty called against us on Seabrook… seeing the Kings fans celebrate… again…  it brought all that hate back up, and now I have to let it out.  Now it’s official.

We will get one more chance in the regular season to beat these Kings, but it just feels like this thing won’t be settled until we meet in the playoffs… which you just have a feeling that it WILL happen… this year.  We need to settle the score.  We need to dispose of this overachieving team for good.  I don’t even want to think about another playoff loss to these guys… their status in the Hate File pecking order would most certainly rise.

So until then, the hate will remain.  As I watched Swingers last night after the game, most appropriately it was the Blackhawks-Kings matchup being played out on the TV screen in the classic video game scene.  As known Chicago Blackhawks fan Vince Vaughn scores a goal with Roenick assisted by Larmer, he replays the goal in slow motion to rub it in to his buddy who’s playing with the Kings.  Then the best part came…  when the delivery driver shows up, and the game is paused.  Well, Vaughn unpauses the game to knock out Wayne Gretzky on the ice and make his head bleed; a wrestling match ensued… if you haven’t seen it, YouTube it.  That’s how I feel right now… like wrestling a Kings fan… like seeing one of their guys knocked out on the ice (Carcillo tried)… like seeing their head bleed.  Too extreme?  Well, the NHL thought so as they removed that from the following year’s version of that famous hockey video game.  Too extreme for a Hate File?  Never.  Here’s hoping we meet in the playoffs again and make your heads bleed… until then, the hate will brew for you Los Angeles Kings… the hate will brew…