AMA Travel Diaries: Different game, different country, same trips to the penalty box

Thanks to the fine folks at AMA Travel, Jay, Tyler, and I made our way down to LA for games three and four and I’ll be keeping you up to date on everything we’re up to and what’s going on with our beloved Oilers. In this first edition, I’m looking at Game 3, the atmosphere at Crypto.com Arena, and everything else that we got up to on our first night in California.

After landing in the late afternoon and rushing to our hotel, the three of us did a quick outfit change, popped on our jerseys, hopped in a cab, and made our way to LA Live. If you’ve never been down here, LA Live is an area around the arena that has all kinds of pubs and restaurants and playoff activations to keep you occupied leading up to the game. Anyway, once we got there, the vibes outside the arena were fantastic as the Kings had live music, beer gardens, and all kinds of activities to get people set for the game. The first thing I noticed, however, was how many Oilers fans were walking around and soaking up the vibe. When we came down last year, one of the first things I noticed was that there were blue and orange jerseys everywhere, and this time around, it was more of the same.

Once we got into Crypto.com Arena, the vibes in the rink were pretty intense. As we walked around the main concourse, Kings fans were chirping us, chanting, and creating the kind of environment that you’d expect from a rival fanbase. It was the kind of environment you can only get in the playoffs, and that would have been magical had the boys been able to pull out the win. Unfortunately, the guys in striped uniforms apparently feel that they’re the stars of the show and won’t call anything consistently, but I digress. As upsetting as that loss was, there’s still plenty of work left to do and the boys will have to bring their A-game on Sunday if they’re going to tie things up. I know a lot of us are feeling pretty discouraged this morning because it feels like Edmonton has to beat LA and the referees, but this is not an impossible hill to climb — they can do this.

As for us, we’re going to spend our day off at the beach, ripping a quick round of golf at our hotel, and heading to Angel Stadium for the Angels/Royals game. Thanks to our friends at AMA Travel, we’ll be doing what we can to erase last night’s result from our memory while also getting some sun on our pasty, pasty skin. Basically, the goal of the day is to refresh and reset because tomorrow is going to be a massive one. Not that I think anything we do will affect the outcome that happens on the ice, but what I can tell you is that I plan on screaming my face off again and I’ll need some energy — and throat lozenges — to make sure we’ve prepped and ready to go. As I write this article from the balcony at our hotel, all I can think about is having the Oilers get right back to work to try and get this series on the rails, but as Tom Petty said, “the waiting is the hardest part.”