PRE-TRAINING CAMP COVERAGE: Frozen Royalty continues its pre-training camp coverage with a look at Los Angeles Kings star center Anze Kopitar, his recovery from a serious leg/ankle injury near the end of the 2010-11 regular season, and his outlook for the coming year.
Los Angeles Kings star center Anze Kopitar spoke with the media about his recovery from a broken right ankle and torn ligaments during the Los Angeles Kings HockeyFest ’11 event at Staples Center in Los Angeles on September 11, 2011.
Photo: David Sheehan
LOS ANGELES — Late last season, although they were not exactly leaving a trail of melting ice behind them at the time, the
Los Angeles Kings were heading into the playoffs with serious hopes of at least advancing to the second round.
But on March 26, 2011, when star center Anze Kopitar suffered a broken right ankle and torn ligaments in a freakish fall late in the second period of a 4-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche, Staples Center became as quiet as it has ever been during a game, as everyone in the building knew what Kopitar meant to the Kings and their playoff chances.
When Kopitar was helped off the ice and down the tunnel to the Kings dressing room, one could feel the air being sucked out of the building. Indeed, at that instant, fans were crestfallen, realizing that their team’s hopes of getting out of the first round of the playoffs were, for all intents and purposes, doomed. Read more of this post
