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Men's Hockey: Princeton alumni return to ice after NHL lockout
Published: Wednesday, January 9th, 2013
Last summer, the Los Angeles Kings won the first Stanley Cup in the club’s 45-year history, opening a new fringe fan base in a state with a less prominent ice hockey history than some of its northeast competitors. Kevin ...
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Yay hockey! Great article, but I think that Westgarth's role in the negotiations can't be overstated - he was in that room every minute of every meeting. Not necessarily something you'd expect from an enforcer, but it is something you'd expect from a Princeton grad. Pretty cool. I'm sure he's super busy right now (thus the lack of quotes) but I think he'd be a fascinating interview subject for the Prince down the road, in the offseason, perhaps.
Very nice article! Great to see such great news about professional athletes from Princeton! Go Tigers! Congrats to the author of this article --hopefully a career in sports writing awaits!
I had no idea that Westgarth was playing that big of a role in negotiations. Frankly, I know damn near nothing about hockey. I can, however, say definitively that Kevin Westgarth is a good dude. He was when he was at Princeton, and it sounds like he still is now.
"Last summer, the Los Angeles Kings won the first Stanley Cup in the club’s 45-year history, opening a new fringe fan base"
Not really sure what that means... did the LA Kings not have a legitimate fan base until last year? They've always been in the middle of the pack in NHL attendance and also supported Gretzky through many of his prime years. Seems like a weird line to open with, especially considering the topic of the article is the lockout.
Gretzky certainly brought a wave of hockey popularity to Los Angeles back when he was traded from the Oilers and with three professional teams California has a solid hockey presence. But the Kings had literally never won the Stan Cup until 2012. And the sentence is actually rather relevant to the article/lockout issue because if you were to read on, you would see that Westgarth '07, who was one of the top and most involved representatives for the NHLPA during the lockout, helped LA to win its first cup in 45 years.
States like NJ, NY, PA and Mass (and a lot of the midwest states like Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio which this article fails to mention)boast an ample amount of incredible powerhouses from well before the professional level and all the way up. Come on, even the NY Islanders have more Stan Cup wins than the Kings, Sharks, and Ducks combined. Start adding in the Rangers, Devils, and Bruins, and California is completely trumped. With wins come popularity and loyal fans. Of course, the great anomaly is the Maple Leafs and its fans. Haven't been good in years yet the viewership has stuck around.
I did read on, no need to be condescending. I just didn't see the relevance of that opening line - about the new fan base in LA (if that's even true) to be relevant to Westgarth's role. Sure, Westgarth and the Kings are relevant, but the comment about the fanbase wasn't, in my opinion. That's all. I enjoyed the article as a whole, just didn't find the connection from the fan base comment (again, if it's even true) to the rest of the Westgarth/lockout discussion. No harm done.
no love for taylor fedun in the list of princeton alums? Yes, he's been playing AHL since he came back from his injury but it seems he'll be moving back up to NHL this season, no?