Yet, the older you get, the more you realize the world we live in is actually a rather small place. The hockey world is even smaller.
On October 14, 1967 Brian Kilrea was one of about two dozen players that made up the inaugural L.A. Kings roster. On that specific night, he was skating on a line with Ted Irvine and Lowell MacDonald at the Long Beach Arena. Their new home - The Forum in Inglewood - wouldn't be ready for a few more months.
About 2,400 miles away in Ottawa, a 17-year old Terry Murray was just beginning his junior hockey career as a defenseman for the Ottawa 67s - as luck would have it, also an expansion team.
Later that night, Kilrea would forever become linked with the Kings, scoring the first goal in franchise history.
Today, the two men have switched teams. Murray is now the coach in Los Angeles and Kilrea is the General Manager back in Ottawa. However, the path that has taken 'Killer' (as he's affectionately known) from the Kings of '67 to the front office of the 67s, was a road filled with many twists and turns.
A few years after requesting a demotion to the minor leagues during his first season with the Kings, he eventually moved on to a successful coaching career in the OHL - a job that saw him tend herd over teams that once included Jim Fox...and more recently, featured one of the Kings draft picks earlier this summer, Tyler Toffoli.
Along the way he won over 1,100 games behind the bench, led two teams to the Memorial Cup (1984 and 1999), won the OHL title three times, was a five-time OHL Coach of the Year and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003.
Not bad for a guy that only played 26 NHL games.
In the interview below we cover it all. From the first goal in Kings history to some of the players he's been associated with throughout his illustrious career.
MM: Take us back to October of '67. The Kings are playing the Flyers and you score the first-ever goal for the team...
Teddy Irvine carried the puck down the left wing, they went into the corner - he and Lowell McDonald - and they were battling for the puck. They fed it to me in the slot and I got off a quick shot. I wouldn't say I picked my shot, but I one timed it and it found room to go in. That goal got us back in the game, after being down 2-0. We went on to win that game 4-2. I scored into the empty net with less than a minute to go also.
After the game, Jack Kent Cooke, our owner, came down to the locker room and was going around congratulating everybody for winning the first game. The trainer had already given me the puck from earlier. So, when he came to talk to me, I gave the puck to him. You would have thought I gave him a million dollars or a puck of gold. He was just delighted, smiling from ear to ear. He really treasured that memento, the first goal for the Los Angeles Kings.
Any off ice memories with your linemates or some of the other guys that first season in L.A.?
