Is Matt Greene Coming to Twitter Soon?

After 'When is Brayden Schenn going to play for the Kings again?' and "Who's starting in goal tomorrow night?' - perhaps the question I get asked most often is 'When is Matt Greene going to join twitter?'

So, I took the question to the man himself...

MM: Dustin Brown is on twitter, Dustin Penner says he's thinking about, Oscar Moller was just called up and he's on twitter - when are we going see you tweeting?

MG: I doubt that will ever happen. I don't even know how you would go about doing that or why I would go about doing that.

MM: People want to hear what you have to say, you're a pretty funny guy...

MG: I get told to shut up at numerous points during the day. I don't think there should be any kind of a platform where I need to talk any more than I actually do.

MM: Well, here's something that would have made for a great tweet for you - over in the NCAA playoffs it looks like the brackets have been set up for a possible North Dakota - Boston College final. Are you working on any bets with Rob Scuderi yet?

MG: They have to win a couple games before that happens. But, I'm sure we'll figure something out if it does get down to that.

[note: last season Davis Drewiske lost a bet with Scuderi on the NCAA Championship Game, something he talked about here]

I'll be checking back in with Greene on that one for sure. 

UND opens the college hockey playoffs this weekend and Kings prospect Derek Forbort (a freshman for the Fighting Sioux) will be on MayorsManor to preview things before their game on Saturday.



The Mayor
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...And Now You're Caught Up - March 21, 2011

It's been another busy week in the sports world, so you may have missed a few odds and ends out there.

Don't worry - we've got you covered.

Here are the ten Kings related (or at least hockey related) items you should definitely know about heading into the week ahead...

* Call it the junior hockey version of Kings Undisputed, here's a short video produced by the Saskatoon Blades with Brayden Schenn talking pre-game routines, new cars and a few other things.

* For the second straight year, a Kings prospect (Linden Vey) won the WHL scoring title. And as an added bonus, another prospect (Tyler Toffoli) won the OHL scoring title. Full story here.

* Former Kings defenseman Rob Blake was just announced as the Assistant General Manager for Team Canada at the upcoming World Championships (talking place in Europe during the NHL playoffs). Consider it an open audition to head up Canada at the 2014 Olympics in Russia.

RECAP: LA Kings dman Rob Scuderi on NHL Live

Veteran Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi joined the guys on NHL Live radio earlier this morning.

Among the topics were trade rumors and the play of Jack Johnson. Below are the key highlights...

[as always, these are near quotes - some information has been paraphrased]

Q: Being from the greater New York area, how many tickets did you have to get for friends and family last week on the Kings road trip?

A: The Garden wasn't too bad, maybe seven or eight tickets. Around 30-35 for the game in Long Island. Fortunately, given the Islanders record, it's not too hard to get tickets at the Coliseum. Still, it beats the first time I played there when I needed around 75.

It's been an up and down year in LA. Where do you see things at this point?

I'm hoping, from my experience in Pittsburgh and seeing some of the same things, that we're over the hump as far as struggling goes. I think sometimes with a young team when you have a little success it's hard to repeat the next year - especially when everybody expects it. You forget all the hard work you put in the season before. We let it get go to our heads a bit and it showed and it was pretty obvious during some of our six or seven game slides earlier in the season.

Last year people were talking Drew Doughty a lot. This year it seems Jack Johnson is blossoming.

Drew Doughty Is Odd Man Out in LA

LOS ANGELES, CA -- The Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings each have one. So, we can't be talking about Stanley Cups.

The Chicago Blackhawks have a pair. No, this has nothing to do with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

In San Jose, they have a trio. While the Penguins have four.

Yet in L.A., the Kings have six and one more an injured reserve.

You see, every defenseman on the Kings' roster is from a U.S. college hockey program - with one exception, Drew Doughty.

It's a rather surprising statistic considering outside of a few pockets - Boston and Minnesota, for example - most Americans don't even have college hockey on their radar. In fact, casual hockey fans in the U.S. probably just think that hockey players come from...um, Canada. While that may be true historically, there is a major shift underway.

College sports news tends to come in two waves. Right now it's bowl season, so it's college football 24/7. This gives fans of the Raiders, Giants, Cowboys, etc. a chance to see some of the best up and coming grid iron warriors.

In the spring, it's March Madness - featuring non-stop college hoops news. Again, giving fans of the Lakers, Celtics, Heat, etc. the opportunity to check out future NBA ballers.

But, what about hockey?

It's become a big time part of hockey development.

The Kings are not only stacked with former college hockey players at the NHL level, they're betting big on the future too - having taken Derek Forbort in the first round of last June's draft. He's currently a freshman at the University of North Dakota, one of the top college programs in the country.

Equally as impressive as the sheer numbers on the Kings' roster are the accomplishments of those players while in school...

[note: The remainder of this article appears exclusively on TheFourthPeriod.com, where The Mayor will be providing additional Kings coverage throughout the season. Please click here now to continue reading...and learn more about Jack Johnson, Matt Greene, Rob Scuderi, Willie Mitchell and others.]

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Forbort def. Gravel via Round Two Knockout

For all the talk surrounding the importance of drafting junior hockey players, outside of Drew Doughty, every other defenseman currently on the Kings roster is a former college hockey player - Jack Johnson (Michigan), Peter Harrold and Rob Scuderi (Boston College), Davis Drewiske (Wisconsin), Willie Mitchell (Clarkson Univeristy), Alec Martinez (Miami-Ohio) and Matt Greene (North Dakota).

And don't think for a minute those guys forget their college pride once they make the NHL. A few weeks ago Drewiske shared this story with me when talking about last year's BC vs. Wisconsin NCAA Championship Final, "I had a little bet with Scuderi and Harrold on the Championship game. I said if UW won, they each had to spend a day wearing my letter jacket from Wisconsin - which is just hideous, an ugly thing. If BC won, they had their senior sweaters, you know maroon and gold. Obviously, BC won the Championship game 5-0. So, I had to spend a day - I think we were in Vancouver - with the BC colors on, which didn't feel right at all."

NHL DRAFT 2010: Interview with prospect Charlie Coyle

Every kid selected in this year's draft will have his own story to tell.

In this prospect profile we get to know somebody that could be tailor made for the Los Angeles Kings in the first round.  Charlie Coyle is ranked #24 by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau.  His favorite off-ice activity?  Working out.  His coaches say the 6'2" forward is a strong, powerful skater who protects the puck real well along the boards.  Teams around the league have taken notice too, as he had already met with 15 of them prior to the NHL Combine last month.

And for a star driven town like LA, how about this little gem of info - his celebrity look-alike...Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers.

NHL.com mock drafts have him going late in the first round, so he should be there at #19 when the Kings pick (assuming Dean Lombardi hasn't already traded it away for something different).

Charlie spoke with The Mayor about his past, present and future as he heads towards the NHL Draft later this week.

First off, who got you started in hockey?

Everybody on my dad's side of the family plays hockey.  I'm cousins with (former NHLers) Tony Amonte and Bobby Sheehan.

As a player, when did you start to realize "Hey, people are really starting to pay attention to me"?

NCAA Frozen Four preview with Gary Shuchuk

The NCAA hockey championship will be decided over the next three days in Detroit, Michigan - with semi final action kicking off in just a few hours. One team vying for the crown is the Wisconsin Badgers, the former home of many NHL players - including Kings defenseman Davis Drewiske and Sharks sniper Dany Heatley.

And there's another former Badger on the loose out there...a guy who led the Badgers in goals and points in 1990...his team also won the NCAA hockey championship that season...none other than former Kings forward Gary Shuchuk.

We caught up with Gary to get some thoughts about his college days and to get a prediction on this year's tournament.  Here's part one of an exclusive MayorsManor interview with Shuchuk...