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| Corey Perry and Mike Richards |
Back in December, readers of MayorsManor voted Anaheim's Corey Perry as their least favorite NHL player, among guys still in the league.
Perry certainly didn't do anything to quell those feelings a few months later when the Kings and Ducks met up for the 100th time in their collective history. Tied 1-1 after three periods on Staples Center ice, Perry scored the game-winner in overtime.
On June 22nd Perry was named the league MVP at the annual NHL Awards in Las Vegas.
The very next day, Kings GM Dean Lombardi pulled off a huge trade, bringing center Mike Richards to LA.
It didn't take fans and media long to connect the dots on Richards and Perry. The two had several battles during their junior hockey days in the OHL, Richards in Kitchener and Perry in London.
Is there still a little bad blood left over? Probably not.
"We've had a couple fights (link), but he's a really good friend now," said Richards recently. "It's funny how things work out. But, he's a competitive player and I'm a competitive player. When you have two competitive players going up against each other, sometimes friendship gets pushed aside. I look forward to playing in games against a lot of the teams in the Western Conference that I used to not have the opportunity to play very often. So, it's going to be something different for me."
With those two being on friendlier terms now, what type of other players still get under his skin?
"I think just being competitive, there's a lot of things that happen on the ice where you might get annoyed, or if things aren't going the right way, you get more annoyed," explained Richards. "It's not the one type of player though, it's not one player in general. You just get so competitive and want to win so bad that you might get frustrated at some points - and mad at some points - that people are taking liberties with your player. Sometimes you just have to try and address it. Hopefully, you can get the win without doing something stupid."
Coach Terry Murray wasn't immediately available for comment. However, I can take this one...
'Yes, hopefully.'
A few weeks back, Richards told us he won't have any problem getting up for his first game as a King. He still has plenty of 'hatred' for the Rangers. Story linked below.
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