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Jarret Stoll On Retirement: “I Knew What I Wanted To Do After Hockey…I Have No Regrets At All”

July 15, 2017 by Leave a comment

Former Los Angeles Kings center Jarret Stoll, shown here during the on-ice celebration after the Kings won the
2014 Stanley Cup Championship on June 13, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Photo: Gann Matsuda/FrozenRoyalty.net
(click above to view larger image)

LOS ANGELES — As reported in this space on July 13, after playing seven seasons and winning two Stanley Cup Championships with the Los Angeles Kings, center Jarret Stoll became, in large part, a victim of the National Hockey League salary cap—given other priorities, the Kings could no longer fit him under it.

“It was tough to leave,” said the 35-year-old native of Melville, Saskatchewan. “When you win championships, and not one, but two, there’s the bond with your teammates, the friendships you make, and the memories you make. That means so much. That made it harder to leave and to change. You never want to have change when things are so good. There were so many good memories.”

“Then there was knowing that I was going to come back and live here during the summer, hanging out with the guys again. So, in the summer, it felt like I was still with the Kings, even though that, obviously, wasn’t the case.”

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Now Retired, Jarret Stoll Looks Back At His 12-Year NHL Career

July 13, 2017 by 1 Comment

Jarret Stoll (foreground right), shown here with teammates during the Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup
Championship Parade in Downtown Los Angeles on June 16, 2014.
(click above to view larger image)
Photo: David Sheehan/CaliShooterOne Photography

LOS ANGELES — Now retired as a National Hockey League player, former Los Angeles Kings center Jarret Stoll is moving ahead with life after hockey with no regrets, focused on the two things he wanted to do after his playing days were over—working with young NHL prospects and getting into hockey broadcasting.

After a summer that began with him marrying Fox Sports reporter and Dancing with the Stars co-host Erin Andrews on June 24, 2017, which was also his 35th birthday, the native of Melville, Saskatchewan then joined the Kings development staff on a part-time basis, and he worked with the team’s young prospects during their 2017 Development Camp, June 27-30, at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California.

Stoll, who played seven seasons with the Kings, helping lead them to the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup Championships, took some time to look back on his NHL career, which began with the Edmonton Oilers in 2003-04, his first full NHL season.

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One More (Important) Story on Bob Miller’s Retirement

April 11, 2017 by 2 Comments

BOB MILLER RETIRES: Also includes selected photographs from Bob Miller’s final games.

Los Angeles Kings Hall of Fame play-by-play announcer Bob Miller (center), shown here with his family after the
final home game of his 44-year career on April 8, 2017 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
(click above to view larger image)
Photo: Shelly Castellano/SCPIX

LOS ANGELES — On April 10, the Los Angeles Kings relieved President/General Manager Dean Lombardi and head coach Darryl Sutter of their duties, replacing Lombardi with Rob Blake, who was named as Vice President/General Manager and by promoting Luc Robitaille to President, overseeing both business and hockey operations.

Despite the fact that this should be the big story, Frozen Royalty will wait to publish analysis of the front office shake up until after the Kings press conference on Tuesday. After all, there is one more story about their legendary, now-former Voice of the Kings, Bob Miller, who retired on April 9 after his final two broadcasts over the weekend.

That begs the question: Why am I only getting around to writing about Miller now?

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Bob Miller’s Retirement Press Conference Was Really About All of Us Instead

March 3, 2017 by 3 Comments

Los Angeles Kings television play-by-play announcer Bob Miller (left),the Voice of the Kings, shown here with his wife, Judy (center) and Kings President/Business Operations Luc Robitaille, announced his retirement
at a press conference at Staples Center in Los Angeles on March 3, 2017.
(click above to view larger image)
Photo: Gann Matsuda/FrozenRoyalty.net

LOS ANGELES — Legendary Los Angeles Kings broadcaster Bob Miller announced his retirement during a press conference on Thursday afternoon at Staples Center in Los Angeles, an event in which virtually every news outlet in the Los Angeles area and just about all of the local hockey media were represented.

The easy observation here is that Miller demands that much respect. But even more significant, he is truly loved by so many of us who cover the team, as well as others in the local sports media whose lives and careers Miller has had a positive impact on.

To be sure, the press conference was held for Miller to talk about his health and to announce his retirement plans. But if you think the press conference was about Miller, guess again.

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LA Kings First Play-By-Play Voice, Jiggs McDonald, Reminisces – Part 2

February 9, 2017 by 3 Comments

In the final installment of a two-part series on the Los Angeles Kings first play-by-play announcer, Jiggs McDonald, who will fill in for the legendary Bob Miller on tonight’s Fox Sports West telecast when the Kings skate at the BB&T Center against the Florida Panthers, McDonald shared his thoughts on how hockey has changed since 1967, and more on what it was like to work for the Kings first owner Jack Kent Cooke. He also talked about his career after leaving the Kings, and about filling in for Miller.

The Los Angeles Kings first play-by-play
announcer, Jiggs McDonald.
(click above to view larger image)
Photo: Andrew D. Bernstein courtesy
Los Angeles Kings/NHL

LOS ANGELES — More than fifty years after he broadcast the first Los Angeles Kings game, Hockey Hall of Fame play-by-play announcer John Kenneth “Jiggs” McDonald will call one more when the Kings skate into the BB&T Center on February 9 to face the Florida Panthers, filling in for another Hall of Famer, the legendary Bob Miller, who is working a reduced schedule this year after undergoing quadruple bypass surgery last season and more recently, suffering a mild stroke during the 2017 NHL All-Star weekend.

During the Kings celebration of their 50th Anniversary last October, McDonald spoke exclusively with Frozen Royalty about his time with the Kings, which you can read in part 1 of this series. In the second and final segment, he also shared his thoughts about how things have changed in the National Hockey League over the last 50 years, about his career after he left Los Angeles, and about returning to the Kings broadcast booth for one more game.

To be sure, hockey has changed rather dramatically over the years, and, as one would reasonably expect, over the course of fifty years, there has been a great deal of change in every aspect of the game, both on the ice and off.

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