The Kings gave media and a few season-ticket holders a chance to get into the cold Wednesday at Staples Center and witness the red and blue lines being painted onto the newly laid ice surface. The ice looked clean and bigger without the usual advertisements painted on — those will come later — and it was fun to watch workers fill in the lines and extend the red and blue stripes.
The process of rebuilding the ice surface began at about 6 a.m. Wednesday and was expected to be finished Wednesday night. It will then require a few days to set before anyone can skate on it.
While that was going on, Bailey, the Kings’ mascot, planted three pennies at center ice for good luck. Luc Robitaille, the Kings’ president of business operations, said one was an 1893 penny to commemorate the year the Stanley Cup was donated by Lord Stanley of Preston. Robitaille said the second penny was placed by Bailey and had personal meaning to the costumed mascot.
“I talked to Bailey’s handler, because Bailey doesn’t talk,” Robitaille said. “And I heard they were putting in a 1993 penny. I asked why and they said that’s the year we went to the finals, and I said, ‘That doesn’t make sense. We lost. We’ve got to put something that means something to us that we’ve won.’ So he put something that was personal to him that was meaningful about a championship, and I did too.”
What was Robitaille’s choice? A penny from 2002, the year he won the Cup with the Detroit Red Wings.
I also had a chance to ask Chris McGowan, the Kings’ chief operating officer, whether they plan to change their marketing/promotional/advertising strategies if the NBA lockout idles the Lakers and Clippers for a while. Will the Kings try to win over basketball fans? Can they?
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