Humidity is bad news for an ice rink. It’s worse news for an ice rink that’s hosting its first NHL game in a few days. Shanghai, China, is notoriously humid in the summer, and in the middle of a stretch of rainy days, it’s having an effect on the Los Angeles Kings and the Vancouver Canucks.
The teams ventured onto the ice in Shanghai for the first time today in advance of their game on Thursday (4:30 AM Pacific), and the Canucks and Kings both got caught in quite a bit of fog as they went through their paces.
Sheng Peng, who wrote for our site back in the day and predicted the Kings’ eventual foray into China, is following all the action and got some shots of the fog as LA wound down their practice. (He’s also posting adorable shots of the Kings with children in China, so keep following his excursions!)
Horror movie or hockey practice…or both? pic.twitter.com/uLCGpNguBl
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) September 19, 2017
Sights from the 1st day #NHLChinaGames pic.twitter.com/cRj7EXteWa
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) September 19, 2017
Believe it or not, Vancouver actually had it worse; their entire practice was infested with the fog, while the Kings got a decent amount of time on a clear rink.
Fortunately, players were still identifiable through the haze, and Jon Rosen picked out the following line combinations.
Brown-Kopitar-Brodzinski
Pearson-Carter-Toffoli
Andreoff-Kempe-Cammalleri
Clifford-Shore-Lewis
Mersch-Dowd-Nolan
Forbort-Doughty
Muzzin-Martinez
MacDermid-LaDue
Folin-Fantenberg
Quick/Kuemper/Zatkoff
You’ll notice the absence of Kevin Gravel; he’s waiver-exempt, and if this roster is any indication, it’s starting to look like he’ll start the season in Ontario. Good news for Christian Folin and Kurtis MacDermid, who are not waiver-exempt, and Oscar Fantenberg, who is.