Ice Work Follows Nice Game

Above the rickety old rink on Sepulveda Boulevard is the large sign that advertises: “Ice Skating.” Tacked onto the walls, inside, are flyers for instructional classes in Adult Ice Dancing for Beginners, a bulletin board offering “goalie equipment for sale,” and a list of conduct regulations that includes Rule No. 2 (No Spitting on the Floor), Rule No. 4 (No Shooting of Imaginary Pucks, Cups, Etc.) and the ever-popular Rule No. 5 (No Horseplay of Any Kind).

On the ice, skating, not spitting, shooting authentic pucks, hardly horseplaying at all, are some of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League, who practice on these premises regularly. They do so in peaceful obscurity. Even in rehearsal for the mega-game to be played against Edmonton tonight in Game 7 of their Stanley Cup playoff series, an optional workout that Coach Robbie Ftorek has opened to the public, the Kings skate before a Culver City walk-in audience of eight adults and six children.

Steve Kasper, the tough little center who came to the team from Boston in midseason, cares not about the condition of the rink.

“It’s got ice on it, doesn’t it?” he says.

That is all a hockey team needs. Ice. A lot of ice and a little luck. And, under the right circumstances, it is plausible for hockey players to make both of these things for themselves. Make their own ice from water, make their own luck from hard work. You can bet your sweet Zamboni on that.

The Kings, pronounced dead on arrival after returning from Edmonton with three defeats in four games, have brought themselves back to life. Self-resuscitation. Their nerve-rending success Tuesday night here in suddenly hockey-happy Hollywood, followed by their unexpectedly suspense-free three-goal victory Thursday night up there in Northern North America, have taken them to this evening, to the Biggest Game of the (a) season, (b) decade, or (c) franchise’s history. (Choose one).

There will be a lot more than eight adults and six children in this crowd, backing these local boys who lately have been adopted by everybody from Ronald Reagan to Sly Stallone. The Forum will be a-rocking and a-rolling, down with the ritzy-glitzies at rinkside and up to the nutsy-crazies in the nosebleed seats, the ones who have been doing their level worst to turn the premises into Madison Square Garden West.

Even the old Rock-Ola jukebox tucked into a corner of the Culver City rink seems to have captured the spirit. Touch the 195 button and you can hear “Causing a Commotion” by Madonna. Press 123 to get the Miami Sound Machine’s “1-2-3.” Punch 142 and hear “Faith” by George Michael (not to be confused with George Michael’s Sports Machine). Every song seems to carry a message suitable to the situation of the Kings.

As well as anyone, though, Steve Kasper knows that it will take more than creating the proper mood to eliminate the Edmonton Oilers. He has been up against them before, many times, under must-win circumstances, most recently with the Bruins during 1988’s Stanley Cup finals. He knows you don’t just slide out there and brush them aside.

Thinking back Friday to Boston’s having been swept in four games, Kasper said: “You play all year long and, when it’s over, you didn’t win a thing. Some people can look at it as an accomplishment just to get that far, but five years from now, the only thing anybody will remember is that the Stanley Cup champions were the Edmonton Oilers.”

When the Oilers get you down, it is difficult not to stay down. By the time Wayne Gretzky and his gang had bumped off the Bruins twice and brought the show to Boston Garden, it was pretty much clear to all concerned that there would be no amazing comebacks.

“I won’t lie to you,” Kasper said. “I really believe that the realization had set in from Boston’s standpoint by that point that Edmonton was a better hockey team, and was going to take the Cup. We were very tired from our series versus Buffalo and versus Montreal, and we’d also been in a big game with New Jersey that we had to play with amateur referees, which was a farce, totally laughable. I honestly think we didn’t have enough left to stage any sort of comeback against Edmonton. Not that we didn’t try, but I think we understood pretty early that we were done.”

Nothing worked for the Bruins, not even their electric lights. A power blackout at Boston Garden--a joint that makes Culver City resemble the Taj Mahal--interrupted Game 4 of the finals, forcing it to be transported back to Edmonton due to a conflict with basketball.

It was this postponement that inspired Gretzky to say: “I guess in the United States this will be ‘Game 4-A,’ and in Canada it will be ‘Game 4, eh?’ ”

Although the Bruins last year had nothing left with which to fight the Oilers, the Kings this year did. Down three games to one, they snapped back like a defenseman’s suspenders. Guys who had been to Cup finals before--guys such as Kasper, John Tonelli, goalie Kelly Hrudey and all those Edmonton Oil-Kings who came over in the Gretzky deal--helped arrange what easily could be the greatest game in the history of Los Angeles hockey: tonight’s.

“I don’t believe being down 3-1 means a thing,” Kasper said. “That’s why it’s four out of seven.”

That’s why they’ll be playing hockey at the Forum tonight.

The Kings of hockey still have a chance to become the kings of hockey.