Saturday night will be ‘5-hole night’ as Luc Robitaille recently said, affectionately joking about the Kings’ pre-game ceremony prior to playing the Calgary Flames. In truth though, it will be Kelly Hrudey Appreciation Night, as the team honors the goaltender most famously known as the man between the pipes when they went to the Stanley Cup Final in 1993.
Although he’s a broadcaster for Hockey Night in Canada these days, Hrudey manned the crease for 15 seasons in the NHL while playing for the Kings, Islanders and Sharks. The bulk of his career was spent in Los Angeles, where he posted a 145-135-62 record with a 3.47 goals-against average and .896 save percentage. If those numbers sound a bit scary, you have to first understand it was a different time back then. To borrow a Sutterism, it wasn’t a 3-2 league back when Hrudey played.
Overall, he was 271-265-88 with a 3.43 goals-against average, .893 save percentage and had 17 shutouts in 677 career regular season appearances. He also saw action in 85 career playoff games.
He left Los Angeles as one of the most celebrated goalies in franchise history – leading the Kings in wins six times (tied with Rogie Vachon for most in franchise history), leading the Kings in GAA five times (second most in franchise history), second in Kings franchise history with 360 appearances, second in Kings franchise history with 145 wins, faced the most shots in franchise history (11,336), had the most saves in franchise history (10,151), was voted Kings MVP twice (1991-92 and 1994-95), Kings Most Popular Player in 1994-95, Most Inspirational Player in 1994-95 and Unsung Hero in 1993-94.
Hrudey has been on MayorsManor a number of times over the past few years, and truth be told, he’s one of our favorite guests. He has an incredible memory of what really went down in the ‘Gretzky era’ and isn’t afraid to tell honest, heartfelt stories about his own personal struggles.
For a detailed look at what went down in the 1993 playoffs – including Hrudey getting benched in the first round – take a look back at an interview he did with us here.
On today show, we’ll start out by following up on something he promised to do when he was on the show a few weeks ago – did he find a copy of Hrudey on Duty in his garage?
We’ll also talk about the recently announced NHL realignment, compare today’s division rivals to what it was like in the Smythe Division days, the Kings’ Burger King jerseys, he’ll go in to detail about why he has so much respect for Dean Lombardi, we’ll chat about one of his former teammates being suspended by the NHL this week, some things that went down in the locker room in 1992, touch on Robitaille’s role with the Kings, he’ll talk about his wife and kids, blue bandanas and much more.
Did he cry when he retired? And will he cry during his speech on Saturday?
Listen to the show and find out…
NOTE: If you’re on an ipad, iphone or smartphone, click here to listen to today’s episode.
Also, be sure to check out some of our other recent guests as well:
MayorsManor Live Radio – Kings v Flanes preview with Hrudey – February 2013
MayorsManor Live Radio with Ian Laperriere – Previewing his Appreciation Ceremony in LA
MayorsManor Live Radio with Drew Doughty – Funny stories and more
For the full list of other Kings related guests who have joined us recently – including Jeff Carter, Drew Doughty, Colin Fraser, Matt Greene, Alec Martinez, Dustin Penner, top prospect Tyler Toffoli and dozens more – click here.
Thanks for listening!
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About John Hoven
Loved it – Smythe Division and Rivalry talk . Hrudey;s passion really comes thru. It was so different in the 80’s and early 90’s. Now going to spend the rest of the night reflecting…….. at the Forum yelling”what the F is a Canuck?” ….waving my white handkerchief at Wayne (crybaby)Gretzky (edm) ….even chirping our own players ‘KOOORAAAAB’ …… the good ole days 🙂