LOS ANGELES – Pitchers and catchers have slowly started working their way back to spring training complexes across Arizona and Florida this week, marking a holiday almost on par with the first day of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It will be a holiday celebrated when the Kings host the Phoenix Coyotes at Staples Center (7:30 p.m. PT/ FOX Sports West) Thursday night as part of Dodgers Pride Night with the LA Kings (for tickets or more info on the Kings Dodgers relationship, click here.) Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti will drop the ceremonial first puck prior to the start of the game and will also talk some baseball and hockey during the first intermission with FOX Sports West Kings host Patrick O'Neal.
There's a natural crossover between baseball and hockey that goes far beyond the Kings drafting Tom Glavine in the fourth round of the 1984 NHL Draft. Many Canadians on major league rosters also excelled at hockey and had to make a choice during their amateur careers over which sport to pursue. Seattle Mariners outfielder Michael Saunders, a native of Victoria, BC, was a 6-foot-3 defenseman scouted heavily by the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds in his late teens before embarking on a professional baseball career. Retired journeyman slugger Matt Stairs, a St. John, NB, native, is currently an assistant hockey coach at Bangor High School in Bangor, Maine.
There's an avid hockey fan on the Dodgers, though his playing days on ice mostly ended when he moved from Vancouver to the eastside of Seattle as a child. Blake Hawksworth, a reliever who went 2-5 with a 4.08 ERA over 53 innings in his first season with Los Angeles last year, might not make many Kings fans happy with his passionate Canucks allegiance.
"It's kind of an inherited deal, being from Vancouver," Hawksworth said Tuesday from Arizona.
"Last year I got to see the Canucks play out here in spring training when they played the Coyotes. I usually try to schedule that game every spring training, just so I can get my hockey fix in."
The right-handed pitcher who will turn 29 on March 1 brought a third sport into the mix last July, when Brad Richardson and Jarret Stoll were challenged to a putting contest using a hockey stick in the dugout at Dodger Stadium.
He's also an assistant basketball coach at his alma mater, Eastlake High School in Sammamish, Wash., where he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001. Hard-throwing left-handed high school teammate Andy Sisco was also a 2001 draftee who found success with the Kansas City Royals in 2005 and was signed to a minor league contract by the Dodgers last week.
After baseball, hockey is high on Hawksworth's crowded pecking order, and the recent discussions between the city of Seattle and a private partner to build a state-of-the-art arena that would house an NHL team has certainly caught his interest.
"I think it'd be tremendous," Hawksworth said. "I think the rivalry that you would have with Vancouver would be awesome, just for them being so close. I know the Thunderbirds up there have a good following. It's the northwest – I think it would cater well as a hockey town. I had season tickets when the Sonics were there, and I know how crazy they were towards the Sonics in the wintertime."
Hockey was more of a familial pastime than a major competitive outlet for Hawksworth, who in addition to supporting his Canucks paid some attention to the Kings when he was younger.
"I came to the United States when I was fairly young, so I didn't really have a chance to get too involved. But I played a lot with my dad – my dad was a pretty avid hockey player growing up, obviously because he grew up his whole life in Canada, and you don't really have a choice. He took me to a hockey camp when I was young. I always loved it.
"I was a big Wayne Gretzky fan."
