What you need to know about donating electronics, clothes and other items

• January 23, 2024

Every day, about several hundred people stop by Goodwill Southern California’s flagship donation site on San Fernando Road in Glassell Park to get rid of their old stuff. They come with toys, home goods, books, CDs, LPs, DVDs and lots of clothes.

At the end of the year, the team here will see the biggest uptick in donations.

“People are getting ready to make room for their new Christmas gifts. They’re doing end-of-the-year cleaning,” says Eric Hart, district manager for Goodwill Southern California. “They’re trying to get tax write-offs before the end of the year, too. And it’s the season of giving.”

Perhaps you too spent the last few weeks of the year cleaning out your home. Now you’re trying to figure out what to do with everything you no longer want or need. If you’re planning to make donations, it’s important to identify which organizations can accept your goods and make the best use of them.

Clothes out

Goodwill is best known for clothing donations. At Goodwill Southern California, you’ll see a quickly changing rotation of items inside the flagship store.

However, the condition of your donations is important.

“We like to say that we accept ‘gently used’ or ‘like-new’ clothing. Ultimately, we want to respect our customers that come in, too,” says Hart. “Our customers are coming in looking for good deals and looking to pay way below retail, but we also have to respect that they don’t want to buy clothing that’s unwearable or unusable, that’s going to look like it’s something from a thrift store.”

Ripped and/or stained clothing isn’t appropriate to donate for resale. However, there are other options. Look for organizations that recycle textiles, like Suay Sew Shop in Los Angeles, which accepts clothing in less-than-stellar condition. (Like thrift stores, however, they don’t accept underwear.)

At Goodwill Southern California, which oversees more than 100 donation centers throughout most of Los Angeles County, as well as Riverside and San Bernardino counties, non-apparel items are needed most right now.

“All of those other categories are the ones that we get less of and have less on hand at most times of the year,” says Hart.

While they take a large variety of items, furniture donations are dependent on available space at the donation site, so check with your local Goodwill before you load your old kitchen table into the car. They also do not accept large appliances.

Inevitable bulk

When it comes to bulky items, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, which operates ReStore locations in Los Angeles, Torrance and Bellflower might be a good option.

They also handle pickups, ranging from Lancaster to Long Beach and across the county from Santa Monica to Santa Fe Springs.

Habitat for Humanity doesn’t uninstall large appliances but will pick them up from your home. (If you’re in the San Gabriel Valley or surrounding counties, check with your Habitat for Humanity operation for donation details, which may vary.)

ReStores have a reputation for great deals on large and small items for the home, but there’s more to this work than retail. Habitat for Humanity also provides these secondhand goods to folks who need them, whether it’s because they’re transitioning into permanent housing or recently lost their home in a fire.

“So the gently used appliances may be donated to individuals in the community who have a need or they are sold in our stores and the proceeds are used to build their homes,” explains Erin Rank, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles.

They also accept items that might not be acceptable elsewhere, like leftover building materials from your home improvement projects. As is typical for donation centers, they don’t accept mattresses or toilets, though. Check with your city or county for local recycling programs to dispose of those.

Kid stuff

Children’s items are another area where donations can be tricky. Goodwill doesn’t accept cribs, strollers are car seats. Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles also does not accept used car seats, however, they will accept used high chairs in good condition, amongst other baby items for their thrift stores, which are located in Covina and Whittier. It’s recommended that you call URM first to discuss your possible donations.

Always make sure that you don’t have hazardous materials mixed in with your donations. This can create problems for the donation centers, who then become responsible for safely disposing of this waste.

“It ends up being a large cost to us at the end of the year that could be going towards our programs to help individuals with employment,” says Hart over at Goodwill.

Make sure you double-check your donations to ensure that the items you want to keep haven’t slipped into the pile. At high-volume centers with a quick turnaround, like Goodwill, it might be difficult to retrieve anything post-donation. If you’re donating via pickup from Habitat for Humanity, they do double-check drawers and other hiding places when they collect your goods, but it’s best to take care of this beforehand.

Data dump

As for donating the items that can hold your most sensitive information, like your computer and phone, it’s ideal to wipe your data before you donate. You should also look for centers that can provide certification that data has been destroyed.

At Homeboy Electronics Recycling, handling sensitive equipment is their specialty. As a credentialed R2V3 recycler, they provide customers with certification of data destruction, which they do by either wiping or shredding the data on devices.

Homeboy recycles for both corporate clients and individuals.

“Most consumers…hoard their electronics at home because we are afraid to give them away. We’re really afraid of what could happen to our identities,” he says.

Often, when consumers do send their old devices to Homeboy, the data is still on them.

After the devices are wiped clean, they’re tested and repaired. Those that fail testing are recycled. Those that pass are resold through Homeboy’s e-commerce platform.

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“We’re really proud of our role as a recycler and resaler because it allows people who live in the digital divide to actually have access to affordable technology,” says Deliman.

Homeboy does pick up donations throughout the greater Los Angeles area, including Orange County, but you’ll need to call first to see when and how pickups can be coordinated.

They also have a mail-in program that is free for smaller electronics, as well as items like cables and computer accessories. Just go to their website and print out one of their shipping labels to send securely via FedEx.

While your typical home electronics are free to donate, some items, like satellite dishes and office-style copy machines and printers, require a small recycling fee.

​ Orange County Register 

Niles: Can Disney help inspire the next generation of tech?

• January 23, 2024

Earlier this month, I was invited to visit Disney’s real-life Avengers Campus — the Walt Disney Imagineering headquarters in Glendale.

The occasion was the announcement of the 2024 class of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Disney was hosting because one of its own, Lanny Smoot, was included in the class — the first person from the company inducted since Walt Disney himself.

After the announcement, several honorees spoke to invited reporters. As they talked about the challenge of educating the next generation of great inventors, I could not help but think about Disneyland’s Avengers Campus.

“I think our educational system is upside down,” Asad Madni said. The UCLA professor was another 2024 inductee, for his work on micro-electromechanical system gyroscopes. “We teach them physics and teach them maths. We teach them chemistry. We throw equations at them. We scare the living hell out of them. It’s just not inspiring.

“Bring the kids in and first get them excited. Don’t talk about those equations or nonsense first. Get them inspired.”

More from Robert Niles

There’s no magic in Disneyland’s Magic Key sale
Why Knott’s Huff and Puff will be missed
Theme park fans should look abroad for new rides in 2024
My favorite theme park moments of 2023
Why single-franchise lands are Disney and Universal’s secret weapon

Inspiration is what creators like the ones who work on Disney’s theme parks do best. The National Inventors Hall of Fame reached more than 200,000 children through its educational programs last year, but Disney’s theme parks welcome millions.

In movies and theme parks, we celebrate people who break the rules to save the day. But in real life — as Lonnie Johnson, a former JPL aerospace engineer and 2022 honoree who invented the Super Soaker water gun, said — we punish those kids more often than we celebrate them.

“The kids who think independently, (who) figure out things early and test limits, those are some of the out-of-the-box thinkers that we need to nurture and not suppress. Having the fortitude to tolerate independent thinkers is something that as we as adults can do a better job of.”

So many Marvel stories begin at the intersection of scorn for unearned authority and love for ingenuity and perseverance. Through characters such as Tony Stark, Peter Parker (and Miles Morales) and Bruce Banner, Marvel celebrates the creative genius of people whom others often dismiss as threats rather than role models.

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From classrooms to Hollywood to Wall Street, America too often is looking for people and products that return immediate value, dismissing whatever or whoever requires long-term investment. Those inventors at Imagineering are right. We are eating the seed corn that was supposed to grow a new generation of creative genius.

Right now, Avengers Campus offers a shoot-‘em-up ride and some character shows. But imagine if the land were less a tribute to the iconography of Marvel and more a manifestation of the brand’s core spirit.

It’s not Disney’s job to inspire kids to fall in love with science and engineering, but the company does enjoy that opportunity. Maybe if Disney could find a way to host something like the National Inventors Hall of Fame’s educational programs inside Avengers Campus, that could happen.

​ Orange County Register 

The biggest threat to the Constitution in 2024 is the ‘lawfare’ being waged against Donald Trump

• January 23, 2024

The biggest threat to the Constitution in 2024 is the “lawfare” being waged against Donald Trump — and the Supreme Court is as much its target as Trump is.

Consider attempts in Colorado, Maine and elsewhere to ban Trump from the ballot.

The architects of these efforts are counting on most Americans not knowing how presidential primaries and general elections actually work.

What happens if a blue-state Supreme Court or Democratic secretary of state rules that Trump isn’t eligible to be president?

If the question stayed at the state level, very little would change.

This is because voters don’t directly pick either a party’s nominee or a president.

Primaries and caucuses are only first steps in a process — which differs from state to state — that ultimately selects delegates to the party’s national convention.

Those delegates, in turn, pick the nominee.

Colorado requires delegates to support the candidate they’re pledged to, even if that candidate drops out of the race.

But a candidate who withdraws can free up his or her delegates with a simple letter, and after the first round of voting at the convention, delegates are often automatically unbound.

If Colorado kept Trump off the ballot, but he needed the state’s delegates — an unlikely scenario at this point — he could get them by having his voters throw their support behind one of the candidates who’s on the ballot but has already dropped out and endorsed Trump: Ron DeSantis or Vivek Ramaswamy would do.

Yes, it would be messy, but if the GOP is determined to nominate Trump, a handful of blue states won’t stop him with ballot bans.

The general election is also indirect.

When voters choose a president and vice president, they’re actually voting for a slate of electors pledged to those candidates.

Disqualifying Trump from the ballot wouldn’t disqualify the electors pledged to him and his running mate — and the Republican candidate for vice president would appear on the ballot even if Trump didn’t.

In blue or battleground states, it’s even conceivable that this could help the Republican ticket, if moderate voters turned off by Trump found it easier to vote GOP with only his running mate on the ballot.

The same slate of electors, however, represents both the presidential and VP nominees; Trump would get the electors pledged to the ticket even if his name wasn’t on voters’ ballots.

A state that banned Trump might try to disqualify his electors, but this would risk a constitutional crisis on both the state and federal levels.

Colorado, for example, has a law that replaces “faithless electors” who don’t vote for the winner of the state’s popular election — but what happens if the Republican ticket wins, yet there’s no presidential candidate listed on it?

Replacing Republican electors with Democrat electors would hardly make sense if the GOP ticket, with only a vice president listed, won the popular contest.

With so many different rules in different states, the results would be wide-open to challenge when Congress counts the Electoral College vote.

Savor the irony: If Trump won the Electoral College vote despite state attempts to ban him, Vice President Kamala Harris and congressional Democrats would be in the same position Mike Pence and the Republicans were in on Jan. 6, 2021.

Would Harris count the votes from Trump electors?

Yet it won’t come to that — because even Democrats pushing to ban Trump know that the states will be preempted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In fact, that’s the trap they’ve laid.

SCOTUS is set to take up the Colorado case, and Democrats want to embarrass the Republican-majority court.

If the justices rule against Trump, they’ll throw the election and the Republican Party into turmoil.

Trump and his supporters, red-state governments, and perhaps the institutional GOP as a whole might defy the ruling, putting Trump on ballots anyway and opening a deeper constitutional crisis.

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But it’s more likely the justices will decide in Trump’s favor, in which case Democrats will be the ones questioning the court’s legitimacy.

And that’s the strategy: to get another decision that juices Democratic enthusiasm and turnout the way the Dobbs abortion ruling did.

Trump’s reputation will be further damaged even if he prevails, and if he does, Democrats will harness their voters’ fury at the Republican-majority Supreme Court.

Lawfare subverts democracy by taking decision-making away from voters and giving it to the courts, while ensuring that half the country — one party or the other — is outraged by the judiciary’s conclusions.

Democrats have led their supporters to entertain a fantasy of winning by disqualifying Trump rather than beating him, but the scenarios don’t work, and lawfare only breeds strife.

Daniel McCarthy is the editor of Modern Age: A Conservative Review.

​ Orange County Register 

California’s unique employee lawsuit law could be repealed if ballot measure passes

• January 23, 2024

In 2003, just five days after California voters recalled then-Gov. Gray Davis, he signed landmark legislation making it easier for workers to sue their employers for violations of state labor law.

The Private Attorneys General Act, or PAGA, allowing employees to file suits not only for themselves but on behalf of other workers, is unique to California.

Davis’ action, an obvious payback to unions that had supported him in the recall election, ignited a political and legal struggle that will reach a climactic point in November when voters decide the fate of a business-backed ballot measure that would, in essence, repeal PAGA.

The measure’s sponsor, Californians for Fair Play and Accountability, is already running ads, contending that PAGA ill-serves employees while enriching lawyers who file class-action lawsuits.

PAGA backers – personal injury attorneys and labor unions, particularly – argue that the law is needed because the state’s labor commissioner lacks the resources to vigorously enforce workplace laws, thus allowing employers to get away with violating them.

The ballot measure duel climaxes two decades of skirmishing in the Legislature and the courts. Its advocates have, with some success, expanded the law’s reach by persuading the Legislature to enact a raft of new workplace laws that could be enforced.

The most far-reaching is the 2019 law that codified a state Supreme Court decision and tightly limited employers’ use of independent contractors, thereby converting hundreds of thousands of Californians into payroll employees. The U.S. Department of Labor recently adopted similar regulations.

Other labor law expansions passed by Gov. Gavin Newsom have included a measure protecting employees that refuse to work if they believe conditions are unsafe, and another requiring employers to disclose wage scales.

While the two sides were clashing in the Legislature, they were also fighting over the issue in federal and state courts.

In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court handed employers a partial victory by declaring that workers who signed arbitration agreements could not later file PAGA suits. A delivery driver’s PAGA suit against his employer, alleging that he was unlawfully denied reimbursement for expenses, is pending in the California Supreme Court.

Late last week, the court declared that trial court judges don’t have the power to toss PAGA suits because of their complexity – a case arising from an Orange County worker’s claim that his employer violated break rules. It was a setback for employers who hoped that PAGA suits could be dismissed without a trial if a judge declared them to be unmanageable.

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Obviously, PAGA has not only survived various attempts by employers to shrink its reach but over the past two decades the Legislature and courts have, if anything, expanded its potential impact on employer-employee relations. A legislature allied with unions would probably continue to broaden the law’s applicability.

That’s why employers decided to take their issue to the ballot. The measure that’s qualified for the November election would repeal PAGA and, instead, beef up state enforcement of workplace rules.

Their campaign will stress the replacement provisions, labeling it the “Fair Play and Employer Accountability Act.” However, the official language for the measure stresses its repeal of PAGA, saying it “eliminates employees’ ability to file lawsuits for monetary penalties for state labor law violations,” echoing the opponents’ characterization.

The campaigns for and against the measure, therefore, will be a battle of perceptions. PAGA’s defenders will say it’s needed to protect workers from rapacious employers while its opponents will say it’s needed to protect workers and employers from rapacious lawyers.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.

​ Orange County Register 

Novak Djokovic holds off Taylor Fritz to reach Australian Open semis for 11th time

• January 23, 2024

By JOHN PYE AP Sports Writer

MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic held off Taylor Fritz, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, in 3¾ hours to reach the Australian Open semifinals for the 11th time on Tuesday.

When he gets through the quarterfinals in Australia, Djokovic is unbeaten.

The 24-time major champion has won all 10 semifinals he’s contested at Melbourne Park and all 10 finals. In his record-extending 48th Grand Slam semifinal, the top seed will play fourth-seeded Jannik Sinner or No. 5 Andrey Rublev.

The 12th-seeded Fritz saved the first 15 break points he faced, an unheard of statistic against one of the best returners ever.

“We all know Taylor has got one of the best serves in the world,” Djokovic said. “I knew the kind of threat he poses when he serves on such a high quality.

“My conversion was really poor but in the end of the day, I managed to break him when it mattered. I upped my game midway through the third set, all the way to the end.”

The first game set the tone for a long, tough match. It lasted 16 minutes and contained 24 points, going to deuce nine times. Fritz fended off three breakpoints before finally holding.

The first set lasted 1 hour, 24 minutes – the longest opening set of the tournament – and was in the balance until the tiebreaker.

The match started in bright sunlight and almost 90-degree heat, and the shade moved from west to east across the court from behind the umpire’s chair.

After Fritz held in the 11th game, Djokovic was agitated and gesturing to get the attention of his support team, calling for salts.

But after holding and taking the set to a tiebreaker, Djokovic finished a 21-shot rally with a stunning backhand crosscourt winner to get five set points. He put his finger to his ear, nodded his head and blew a kiss toward a commentary box at the rear of the court.

It was Fritz who got the first service break to open the second set, having fended off eight in the first set against him.

He saved another seven break point chances in the second, mostly with clean winners, and maintained the break to level at one set apiece, closing with an ace.

After all that resistance, though, Fritz was broken in the second game of the third set when Djokovic converted his 16th chance. Djokovic broke again, at love, in the ninth game to wrap up the third set in 38 minutes.

In the fourth, Fritz struggled to hold in a game that contained 14 points and then was broken in the sixth. He hit back immediately, converting his second break point with a forehand that clipped the net and dropped for a winner.

But Djokovic denied any additional twists by breaking back again for 5-3 and serving out.

Djokovic had beaten Fritz in straight sets in all but one of their previous eight encounters, including last year’s U.S. Open quarterfinals. The exception was here in Australia in 2021, when it went to five.

The first of the men’s quarterfinals started in the late afternoon after U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff’s 3-hour, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (3), 6-2 victory over Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.

The 19-year-old Gauff, on a 12-match winning streak in Grand Slams, will next play defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or Barbora Krejcikova.

American Taylor Fritz plays a backhand return to top-seeded Novak Djokovic during their Australian Open quarterfinal on Tuesday in Melbourne, Australia. Djokovic won in four sets to reach the Aussie semifinals for the 11th time in his career. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County girls basketball stat leaders, Jan. 22

• January 23, 2024

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

The Orange County girls basketball stat leaders through Jan. 20.

The leaderboards are based on stats published on MaxPreps.com.

SCORING

Name, school
GP
Pts
PPG

Allison Clarke, Rosary
17
516
30.4

Adyra Rajan, Fairmont Prep
25
501
20.4

Rylee Bradley, Marina
24
487
20.3

Jatniel Cabrera, Whittier Christian
19
383
20.2

Teresa Martinez, Magnolia
16
319
19.9

Anna Shreeve, San Juan Hills
22
431
19.6

Madilyn Lam, Esperanza
21
407
19.4

Kayla Rice, Dana Hills
22
424
19.3

Sophia Rangel, Loara
19
356
18.7

Aryanna Hudson, San Juan Hills
22
367
16.7

Mia Cubacub, El Toro
22
367
16.7

Charlotte Muller, Esperanza
21
349
16.6

Sydney Norwood, Crean Lutheran
19
307
16.2

Alana White, Buena Park
17
268
15.8

Elvira Chavez Trujillo, MSA
8
123
15.4

Elise Marquez, Anaheim
20
306
15.3

Gisele Martinez, Anaheim
22
327
14.9

Kiana Graham, Sonora
8
118
14.8

Hana Watanabe, Woodbridge
22
322
14.6

3-POINTERS

Name, school
3PM
3PA
3P%

Adyra Rajan, Fairmont Prep
88
—
—

Charlotte Muller, Esperanza
72
213
34

Alissa Belen, Orangewood
60
—
—

Charlotte Fajardo, Foothill
59
207
29

Lauryn Ham, Pacifica Christian
58
193
30

Taylor Parra, Sunny Hills
56
167
34

Madeleine Hsu, Kennedy
54
139
39

Aryanna Hudson, San Juan Hills
54
157
34

Jatniel Cabrera, Whittier Christian
53
198
27

Lizzie Yasui, Woodbridge
52
171
30

Elize McAveney, Foothill
51
192
27

Kiana Graham, Sonora
49
122
40

Bridget Boyd, El Toro
49
179
27

Katie Nguyen, La Quinta
44
173
25

Hana Watanabe, Woodbridge
43
100
43

Gisele Martinez, Anaheim
42
120
35

Ariana Botello, Whittier Christian
41
143
29

Faith Ledesma, Segerstrom
39
128
30

Liz Han, Brea Olinda
34
—
—

Caylie Villagrana, Pacifica Christian
33
83
40

Zoe Sanborn, Whittier Christian
33
104
32

Mayra Soltero, Godinez
33
118
28

Alexa Muller, Esperanza
32
90
36

Teagan Burrus, Woodbridge
32
104
31

Quinsey Bryan, Crean Lutheran
32
122
26

Anna Shreeve, San Juan Hills
31
106
29

Isabella Caceres, Cypress
31
134
23

REBOUNDS

Name, school
GP
Reb
RPG

Jay Perez, Foothill
22
294
13.4

Alana White, Buena Park
17
210
12.4

Faith Harper, Mission Viejo
18
192
10.7

Riyin Stewart, Kennedy
12
127
10.6

Sophia Boyer, Los Amigos
15
154
10.3

Sophia Rangel, Loara
20
198
9.9

Bella Harmon, Buena Park
20
186
9.3

Kayla Rice, Dana Hills
22
193
8.8

Milan Heisdorf, Woodbridge
14
129
8.4

Katelyn Vo, La Quinta
23
192
8.3

Zoe Sanborn, Whittier Christian
20
164
8.2

Mia Cubacub, El Toro
22
180
8.2

Adyra Rajan, Fairmont Prep
25
205
8.2

Leah Lee, Oxford Academy
21
170
8.1

ASSISTS

Name, school
GP
Ast
APG

Elise Marquez, Anaheim
20
123
6.2

Hana Watanabe, Woodbridge
22
126
5.7

Aryanna Hudson, San Juan Hills
23
114
5.0

Lola Bellon, Dana Hills
22
107
4.9

Madilyn Lam, Esperanza
22
105
4.8

Bella Harmon, Buena Park
20
93
4.6

Alexa Muller, Esperanza
17
74
4.4

Mariana Mina, El Toro
22
94
4.3

Elizabeth Tirona, Kennedy
20
82
4.1

Jatniel Cabrera, Whittier Christian
19
75
3.9

Isabella Caceres, Cypress
19
72
3.8

Dulce Espinoza, Loara
21
78
3.7

Madison Dellner, Dana Hills
22
79
3.6

Ariana Navarro, Kennedy
20
69
3.4

Bailey Roczey, Villa Park
23
78
3.4

Teagen Burrus, Woodbridge
22
69
3.1

Sophia Rangel, Loara
20
62
3.1

Sydney Peterson, San Juan Hills
19
57
3.0

Aleah McGregor, Anaheim
22
65
3.0

Kayla Rice, Dana Hills
22
65
3.0

​ Orange County Register 

Struggling Kings salvage a point but fall to Sharks in shootout

• January 23, 2024

LOS ANGELES — With a chance to establish a winning record at home for the first time this season, the Kings fell flat against a team they have dominated.

Fighting off a two-goal deficit against the San Jose Sharks, a late equalizer by Drew Doughty sent the game to overtime before the Kings came up short in a shootout for a 4-3 loss on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena. While they salvaged a point against the last-place team in the NHL, it was the Kings’ 11th loss in the past 13 games.

Sharks captain Logan Couture joined Fabian Zetterland with shootout conversions against Kings goalkeeper David Rittich, while both Trevor Moore and Adrian Kempe were denied by Finnish netminder Kaapo Kahkonen.

Zetterland opened the scoring in the second period. Fellow Swede William Eklund then added to the tally, putting the Kings in a hole they struggled to dig themselves out of.

The Kings (22-13-9, 53 points) drew one back before the second intermission on Trevor Moore’s team-leading 21st goal of the season, and they added a pair in the final 20 minutes, Quinton Byfield before Doughty, offsetting the Sharks’ third goal courtesy of Justin Bailey.

“You should be able to win a game scoring three right now, and we weren’t able to do that tonight,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “The last two goals against were very preventable.”

The late-game drama materialized due to the Kings’ early listlessness following a strong performance on Saturday against the New York Rangers.

After the first intermission, the Sharks (12-31-4, 28 points) made the Kings pay for mismanaged chances.

On a delayed penalty call, Zetterlund jumped on a blocked shot in the slot, whacking the puck past Rittich for his 14th goal at 7:46.

San Jose got to Rittich again less than two minutes later. Going the length of the ice in a blink, center Nico Sturm dished the puck to Eklund, who snapped it from the left circle across the goalie’s glove side for his eighth goal of the year at 9:08.

Moore seemed to resuscitate the Kings as the second period neared its conclusion.

Off Kevin Fiala’s 29th assist, the 28-year-old Thousand Oaks native got on the puck at the blue line, charged down the right side and snapped a beauty of a shot into the upper corner near the far post at 17:06.

Halving their deficit gave the Kings something to feel positive about heading into the third, and that was evident when the teams returned to the ice.

One game after heading to the third line to play center, Byfield found himself back on the wing alongside Anze Kopitar and Kempe, who were disconnected and ineffective playing with Pierre-Luc Dubois through two periods.

“I didn’t think they had a lot going,” McLellan said. “I thought they needed a little more energy.”

Holding the puck in the Sharks’ end, Byfield extended play as the refurbished first line searched for an equalizer. By the time the puck was cycled around, the talented 21-year-old Canadian, parked directly in front of the San Jose net, made the most of a nifty assist from Kempe 93 seconds into the third period for his 14th goal of the season.

Whatever momentum the Kings generated during the course of their comeback was stymied by the Sharks at 6:17, when the visitors rushed down the ice and Bailey netted his third of the season between Rittich’s legs.

Despite his strong effort, a misplayed clearance from Kahkonen sent the puck into the stands, prompting a delay of game that gave Doughty a chance to send it to overtime.

The defenseman’s 11th goal of the year, off assists from Fiala and Byfield, came when he buried a slap shot that rippled the net high on Kahkonen’s glove side with 1:58 left in regulation.

Neither team found a game-winner in overtime, leading to the deciding shootout.

Kahkonen denied Moore and Kempe, while Sharks captain Logan Couture, who made his season debut on Saturday after missing 45 games with a lower-body injury, and Zetterlund, the evening’s initial goal scorer, bested Rittich twice on his glove side.

Kahkonen had 44 saves, while Rittich had 27.

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The Kings, now 1-5 in shootouts, saw their franchise-record six-game winning streak against the Sharks come to an end and Rittich snapped his stick in frustration.

The Kings are 8-8-6 at home (2-7-4 in their last 13 games) with one more date on Wednesday night before a three-game road trip leading into the NHL All-Star break.

“I wouldn’t say the season is slipping away but I would say there’s concern and some frustration,” McLellan said. “Definitely frustration.”

NOTES

Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro did not return after he was hurt on a hit into the boards by Kings center Trevor Lewis late in the second. Ferraro tried to take a warmup lap before the start of the third but immediately went back to the dressing room. … Kings defenseman Matt Roy was a late scratch after his wife gave birth to the couple’s first child earlier on Monday. … The Kings host the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

​ Orange County Register 

San Clemente boys basketball holds off Trabuco Hills to stay unbeaten in league

• January 23, 2024

SAN CLEMENTE — A year ago, San Clemente’s boys basketball team had its worst season since 2006 and went winless in the South Coast League.

It’s a much different story this season.

The Tritons outlasted Trabuco Hills 45-41 Monday to improve its South Coast League record to 4-0.

San Clemente, which is 19-5 overall and ranked No. 22 in Orange County, has beaten every other team in the league and has four league games remaining.

“We were very young last year and the South Coast League is always a slugfest,” San Clemente second-year coach Landon Pluimer said. “Our guys worked really hard in the offseason. They hit the weights hard and got extra shots up. It’s a great start but we are only halfway there.”

San Clemente led by 10 points in the third quarter, but Trabuco Hills (17-7, 2-2) rallied back and tied the game midway through the fourth quarter.

The Tritons led by three with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game.

Trabuco Hills center Matt Mowers got an offensive rebound and passed it to Sam Meza-Tallada, who was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer.

Meza-Tallada made one of the three free throws and Porter Hansen made a pair of free throws on the other end to seal the game for San Clemente.

“It was a tough game,” Pluimer said. “They have a lot of threats and are super well-coached. Our guys battled and we just made a few more shots than they did.”

Making shots was a challenge for Trabuco Hills throughout the game, partly due to the San Clemente defense. The Mustangs made just one of 21 3-point attempts and their 41 points are a season low.

“Our goal is to play hard on every possession and finish with a box out,” Pluimer said. “They have so many threats to score that it makes it tough, but we did a pretty good job tonight.”

San Clemente was led on both ends of the floor by Chase Tolliver, who had 15 points and 17 rebounds. The junior had 22 rebounds last week in a win against Capistrano Valley.

“He’s one of our strongest guys and he just goes after it,” Pluimer said of Tolliver. “He’s not that tall but he finds ways to get in there. Those extra possessions he gave us got us a few more shots so those were huge.”

Will Whidden had 13 points with seven rebounds for the Tritons.

Kai Van Olst had two big rebounds late in the game for the Tritons and Christian Fernandez made a crucial 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.

Meza-Tallada led Trabuco Hills with 19 points and two steals on defense. Mowers had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Mustangs.

San Clemente will host San Juan Hills on Wednesday. San Juan Hills is in second place in the league standings and lost to San Clemente 61-54 on Jan. 10.

Trabuco Hills will host Capistrano Valley Friday. The Mustangs beat Capo Valley 57-36 on Jan. 12.

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​ Orange County Register