Comic for Thursday October 23rd, 2003

"The nightmare of 1993" Wednesday - October 22nd, 2003

Today's comic was done without any serious mishap and therefore I did not have to go out and kill anyone. Though lord knows I'd still kill Patrick Roy if he was sitting next to me. You think that's harsh? Tough. Any real LA Kings fan should hate Patrick Roy like hmmm... well the closest thing I could think of is that you should feel like a Knick fan when Hakeem Olaujuwon single-handedly multiple dream juked their sorry asses out of the finals and back to the Big Apple. I don't think even the people who know me know just how BAD it still hurts when I think of 93. I mean 89 was pretty bad (i.e. the Earthquake Bay series), but the Kings improbable Stanley Cup final run in 93 was far, far worse.

I mean let's start at the beginning. The Kings played Calgary in the first round. I wasn't too worried about beating Calgary, but the Flames still took the Kings to 6 games in a high scoring affair that saw two games of over 9 goals. Then the hell started when they had to play the Vancouver Canucks. The series went back and forth and again it was a high scoring affair as there were two games with either team notched 7 goals. Eventually the Kings dispatched Pavel Bure and the Canucks in 6 and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Next up were the Doug Gilmour led Toronto Maple Leafs. We're talking nail biter all the way. The series was tied at two a piece and the Kings lost a heart breaking OT game 5. Now remember that at this point all the games are west coast games and I'm up till 1in the morning on a school night. I mean I remember feeling sick and not being able to go to sleep after that game. However in game 6 the Kings faced another OT game and this time they pulled out the miraculous win to even the series at 3 a piece. Let me tell you Game 7 was everything Game 7's in the Stanley Cup playoffs should be. The game went back and forth till the score was notched at 5-4 Kings lead with a half a minute left. Till the day I die I will never forget those last 30 seconds because the Great One, the greatest hockey player that ever donned a pair of skates and had been playing in pressure games since he was 4 was on the bench and even HE could not bear to watch the last half a minute. Toronto had their chance, but the Hrudey prevailed and the Kings clinched their spot in the Finals for Lord Stanley's cup. I screamed and I cried at the same time.

Now before the finals began, the Kings opponent was either going to be the Montreal Canadiens or the New York Islanders. I had so badly wanted the Canadiens to lose. The Islanders looked better on paper. Hell even the team that the Canadiens had played in the round earlier, the Sabres were a better play. However I knew that I didn't want the Canadiens to survive to the finals cause of one thing. Someone had pissed off Patrick Roy. The Nordiques had crushed Roy in the first two games of the opening round and then someone opened their big fat f'in mouth to say something about Roy. He proceeded to shut down the high powered Nordique offense in three straight one goal games. No one else realized this that I knew. They all proclaimed that the Canadiens were a weak team. I knew better. The Canadiens ended up beating the Islanders to meet the Kings in the finals.

Despite my misgivings, the Kings won Game 1 with ease 4-1. Luc Robitallie was especially hot with 3 assists and 1 goal. (Just so anyone knows, Luc Robitaille was one of the BEST Left Wingers to play in the NHL. Before the Kings foolishly traded him away, he had scored 3 consecutive seasons of 60 goals and never scored less then 40 since his rookie year!!!)

The newspaper proclaimed "a Luc-ky day for LA" and went on to announce that according to history, the winner of Game 1 in the Stanley Cup finals had gone on to win the Cup an astounding 90% of the time. I'll have you know that I still have that article. It serves to remind me that should I ever meet anyone from Newsday I should proceed to kick them in the mean bean machine. Repeatedly. Still, I began to feel pretty good. It was almost summer. School was almost over. I had gotten over a NASTY weird fever that reached 99 three nights in a row. the Kings had a 90% chance to win the cup.

Then Game 2 happened. The Kings clung to a 2-1 lead through the second and third period. A minute and a half left in game 2 and the Kings would have a 2 game lead on F'in Roy and the Canadiens. Then came the Bill Buckner moment for the Kings. Marty McSorely was called for using an ILLEGAL STICK!!!!!!!!!!! The curve was a few centimeters too much!!!! A MINUTE AND A HALF!!!!! Of course the Canadiens scored to send the game into OT and of course the Canadiens scored to win Game 2. I still have nightmares about Marty McSorely.

Still the series was tied at a game a piece, the Kings still had a shot. Enter Super Great Goalkeeper Patrick Roy. Game 3 went into OT and Roy stopped EVERYTHING. Barry Melrose, the Kings coach had the home ice advantage of deciding the matchups and continued to play Gretzky against the stifling man to man defense of Guy Fin Carbonnnnneau!!!!! You though Grady Little made an idiot move? This is like watching a man make the same mistake for over 60+ minutes of hockey. The Kings lost Game 3 and then lost again in Game 4 in ANOTHER Overtime game. I mean can you see me sitting at home till 1 to 2 in the morning and crying myself to sleep two nights in a row? I swear I could've killed someone back then. I used to have a Roy poster and I tore that thing apart after Game 2.

Game 5 was a mere formality as the Canadiens just crushed the Kings 4-1 and left me feeling so cheated. How did the Kings go from being a 90% lock for the Cup to losing four games straight? We had the McSorely incident. We had Patrick Roy single-handedly beating the Kings Game 3 and 4. Heartbreaking. I've never been the same since.

Am I a little obsessed? Yes. Do I really want to kill Patrick Roy? Yes.

F that guy.

Anyway sorry about going on forever. I need to shut up. Or talk about other things. Like about how fun the Forum is. Discuss anything and everything. Also I was also recommended to let everyone know that you need not be a member of the board to post a message. Also I think most people just don't see the link. It's located right below the Bonus link in the left menu frame. Anyway even if its just to say hi or anything like that, feel free to check in. At the very least you'll make Ash happy.

Oh and before I forget I want to mention that the idea for the new Lord Hawk design and wallpaper was inspired by the anime Witch Hunter Robin. What can I say? The anime really kicks ass. I just wanted to get that out there in case someone gets all up in my face about it. I didn't rip off the design, but rather the general feel of the theme and the font effect.

Oh yeah and I also updated the NEWS in the Info page. New newspaper now includes links to three of my favorite Webcomics. If you don't read any of them I encourage you to go do so as they are of such a higher quality then this thing you see here in front of you at the present time.

In case you were wondering Spirit 62 is done with the clichéd last attack all silent slow motion in mind. I'm not saying this is the last attack, but just saying what I was going for in case you were wondering where my never quite right sound effect words were. I'm particularly happy with P3. It came out a lot better then I had hoped. I wish I could get a little better resolution out of P1 and P2, but space limitations prevent that from happening. Ah well.

Anyway, the end is coming soon. Did Yuki beat Lord Hawk with one punch? You'll just have to wait to find out.

Oh and thanks as always for voting. I'm almost in the top ten for Action comics!!! Thanks!!!

Vote for Ninja Spirit!!

River is always being held down by the Sports Gods.