Guest Author: A Very Zebra Thanksgiving

On rare occasion, we've featured a guest author here on MayorsManor.  Today, we present a special Thanksgiving day piece by Scott Coffman. For the last few years he's been part of The Fourth Period Radio show and in between booking guests, he contributes articles to their magazine as well.

With the holidays right around the corner and today being (American) Thanksgiving, it’s time to give credit to those who have one of the hardest jobs in the NHL. No, it’s not Sidney Crosby’s concussion specialists, but the referees and linesman that keep control of every game and who are some of the most under-appreciated people in all of hockey.

We have to give thanks to referee Kelly Sutherland. His first NHL game was actually in Los Angeles on December 19, 2000. Since then, he's become one of the league’s top officials, as evidenced by being only one of three guys selected to officiate the last two Stanley Cup Finals - along with Dan O’Halloran and Stephen Walkom. Sutherland gained some notoriety last year during his appearances in HBO’s 24/7 Penguins vs Capitals series. In this video clip (warning, NSFW language), he's shown taking the time to explain a call to Penguins’ defenseman Brooks Orpik. While not every player may agree with the decisions made on the ice, strengthening communication goes a long way towards mutual understanding and developing a good player-referee relationship. It's also been announced that Sutherland will be wearing a microphone for tomorrow's nationally televised 'Thanksgiving Showdown' between Detroit and Boston.

Dustin Penner Comments on PennerMania

One week ago today PennerMania was launched in Los Angeles.

On message boards and social media sites most Kings fans were over the moon about GM Dean Lombardi's acquisition of left winger Dustin Penner.

And by the time he made his debut on Thursday night vs. Phoenix it had nearly become an epidemic...even appearing as a trending topic on twitter for a few hours.

Then, when he scored his first goal as a King on Saturday afternoon it may have reached a new level too.

Yet, what about Penner? As coach Terry Murray said yesterday 'It's been a very intense probably month, maybe longer, for him' - so, does he even know what's going on? I asked him...

MM: Are you aware PennerMania is running wild in Los Angeles?

MayorsManor Podcast - featuring Kerry Fraser

Very few people in the world of hockey ever become as well known as the players on the ice.

Then again, there aren't many people like Kerry Fraser either.

He's perhaps the most recognizable referee in the history of hockey. In his 30-year career he managed to get under the skin of fans in nearly every NHL city. Yet, he was simply doing his job in most cases.

At the end of last season he hung up his whistle after more than 2,000 games all across North America. He penned a book, The Final Call, while taking those last laps in stripes. It's a telling memoir featuring candid insight and often provides the emotion behind stories fans may not have otherwise been privy to.

In the podcast below Fraser shares some of those memories. He talks about lecturing a young Mario Lemieux and the friction it created, allowing Mark Messier a little latitude when taking care of a situation on the ice and recalls a crushed Theo Fleury asking him for help.

Of course, he also talks about several key events involving the Kings - including the non-call on Wayne Gretzky in the '93 playoffs vs. Toronto, Marty McSorley's illegal stick in the Stanley Cup Finals, coach Tom Webster throwing a stick at him and quite a bit more.

He shares the experiences of receiving death threats, contemplates rule changes and offers opinions on calling penalties in the final minutes of play.

Like many MayorsManor interviews, we also play word association and you may not believe what he has to say about guys like Gary Bettman, Chris Pronger, Sean Avery, Patrick Roy and several others. The most shocking though may be his comments on Alex Ovechkin.

[Audio player after the jump]

Word Association with Robitaille - Luc on His Teammates

Each group of players inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame has a uniqueness about it. Occasionally, guys that were rivals during their playing days are enshrined during the same year. However, rarely does a player going in share the stage exclusively with guys he called teammates during his career. Luc Robitaille is once again Lucky, as he has played with all three of the other members that make up the class of 2009.

Before heading to Toronto he shared a few thoughts with us on each of them...

Steve Yzerman - Along with Mark Messier, he was one of the best leaders I ever played with. Stevie is right up there. He had to lead a group of primadonnas when I was in Detroit. We were a bunch of superstars. But somehow, they way Stevie is, how hard he works, how humble he is...made it that we all excepted a role and played for one cause, which was winning. Certainly for me he is one of the players I have the most respect for that I ever played with. I think very, very highly of him.

Brett Hull - For me to play with him was the ultimate. I had always watched him throughout my career and wondered how he got so much of an opening on the ice. To see him day in and day out, to see how much he loved the game...how much he put into it. People don't realize how much he put into it because he always seemed to be that relaxed guy, so loosey goosey - but he worked hard at being really good at his game.

Brian Leetch - Obviously, he was one of the best defensemen to ever play the game. But what impressed me the most was in those days we didn't have time sheets. We didn't know how many minutes a guy was playing. If I were to guess, when I was there (in New York) he was playing 35 minutes a game and he never missed a practice. Never took a day off. One of the hardest workers I ever played with.

The greatness of those three guys is obvious, as all three are headed into the Hall this Monday. Additionally, Luc had the chance to play with other legends, like Wayne Gretzky, Marcel Dionne and Mark Messier during his career. Yet, I wondered if there was one guy that he didn't get to play with that when looking back over his career he really wished he could have...Luc wasted no time in answering:

Mario. When I went to Pittsburgh, Mario didn't play that year. When the lockout happened my first year there it changed my contract situation. They wanted me to come back and they kept trying to entice me with the thought of playing with Mario. Because of the lockout though my option year wasn't going to be a factor. My agent filed for arbitration like he was supposed to. Because of that, at the time I was the only player to have scored 40 goals eight straight seasons, so they knew we had a good case. When they figured out they weren't going to be able to resign me, that's when they traded me to New York. But if I had gotten to play with Mario it certainly would have been special.

Finally, for a little fun, we played word association using current and former Kings. Here were Luc's answers:

Jim Fox - he's quick, like a fox
Marcel Dionne - like a father figure to me
Tiger Williams - I was scared of him
Steve Duchesne - good friend
Kelly Hrudey - great goalie under pressure
Tomas Sandstrom - what a competitor
Tony Granato - great person
Robb Stauber - crazy goalie, couldn't believe the way he would run at guys
Marty McSorley - worked hard, put everything into being a better player
Dustin Brown - a pure power forward
Ian Laperriere - one of the greatest teammates you could have
Matty Norstrom - a really great roommate
Rob Blake - one of the greatest people I know, good leader
Adam Deadmarsh - played the game the right way
Sean Avery - my little puppy (he laughs)
Jeremy Roenick - great player, amazing guy in the locker room
Anze Kopitar - great future with the Kings
Alexander Frolov - underrated, a pure goal scorer

We'll have more on Luc leading up to the Hall of Fame ceremonies on Monday.

The Mayor
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