Decarceration movement hits a speed bump in Los Angeles County

• April 14, 2023

A new word entered the California political lexicon the other day, when two of the five elected supervisors running America’s largest county decided they could greatly reduce crime by depopulating Los Angeles County’s many jails and other penal facilities.

The new word: decarceration. This is the process of supposedly fighting crime by letting people out of jails and prisons, a favorite of the far left, the same folks that for several years have advocated defunding police everywhere.

That has not happened in California. Apparently decarceration and depopulation of Los Angeles County jails won’t, either.

For most police, prosecutors and politicians of all stripes don’t think it’s possible to reduce crime by letting convicted or suspected criminals go free.

The public clearly doesn’t, either. That’s why in 2020, voters by a 56-44 percent margin rejected a no-cash-bail law passed earlier by the state Legislature, dominated by ultra-liberal Democrats who believe it’s unfair to force suspects to await trial in custody if they lack the funds to make bail.

Polls showed most voters – and non-voting Californians, too – feared allowing most of the arrested to roam at large without bail would spur new crimes from the same old suspects.

So it took law enforcement and others by surprise when Los Angeles County Supervisors Hilda Solis and Lindsay Horvath sought to declare a “humanitarian crisis” in jails and order several county offices to create or expand programs keeping people out of jail, some even after they’ve been convicted. This plan would have left out major felons, most of whom are locked up by the state, not counties.

Their plan blindsided police, prosecutors and many local officials, whose cities would have received the released prisoners had decarceration taken place.

They quickly protested, and the Solis-Horvath proposal evaporated from the agenda for the county board’s next meeting. Two other supervisors, including board chair Janice Hahn, immediately announced they would not vote for their colleagues’ plan, so it was essentially tabled, possibly to arise again after it undergoes major alteration.

The opposition was led by the county’s 45-member police chiefs association and a group of “contract cities” which lack their own police forces and buy law enforcement services from the county sheriff. Also in opposition was the local Association of Deputy District Attorneys, which has been embroiled in several disputes with ultra-liberal District Attorney George Gascon, accused by many of his deputies of favoring criminals over their victims.

Decarceration is a proposal so far unique to Los Angeles County, where courts and law enforcement long have been credibly accused of overt racism, with proven offenses including cases of planted evidence and stopping motorists without obvious cause except their race. The idea is also fueled by faith that programs can be designed to prevent almost all recidivism by the released.

The dead-for-now motion for decarceration proposed by rookie Supervisor Horvath and veteran officeholder Solis – a former congresswoman and the Secretary of Labor under ex-President Barack Obama – was first reported by the Southern California News Group. Solis and Horvath declared a commitment “to redress historical wrongs deeply rooted in systemic racism and prejudice and (to) reverse status quo responses to poverty, mental health and medical needs and substance use dependencies.”

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The problem is that these problems have all long resisted easy or facile solutions, and a sudden move to free many convicts and suspects might expose thousands of unsuspecting citizens to unprecedented levels of crime.

The police chiefs group noted that “We do not stand against reform and we have been active…in these efforts. However, we are concerned with the rushed motion…”

They and the line prosecutors complained the proposal was being hustled through with little analysis and no input from law enforcement or crime victims.

It also ran counter to the spirit of the 2020 vote to cancel the law calling for no cash bail.

But while Californians can reverse state laws they believe are unwise, as they did in 2020, there is no recourse locally other than voting entrenched supervisors out, with changes then wrought by their successors.

All of which means decarceration may not quite be dead, and could in fact arise in other counties with liberal board majorities.

Email Thomas Elias at [email protected].

​ Orange County Register 

‘We are here:’ Holocaust museum ceremony honors victims, survivors – and stands up to antisemitism

• April 14, 2023

“You have tried to wipe us out, but we are here.”

This is the message of the Partisans’ Song — “Zog Nit Keynmol (Never Say)” in Yiddish — often recited at events commemorating Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, in the spring.

The Jewish community in Los Angeles solemnly remembers the Holocaust, when millions of Jews were killed during World War II, including those who survived and fought against the Nazi regime. Decades later, amid rising antisemitism locally and internationally, the resilient faith community continues to stand up against hate.

For the first time since 2019, the Holocaust Museum LA is bringing back its Yom Hashoa commemoration to Pan Pacific Park on Sunday, April 16 at 2 p.m. The outdoor ceremony will bring together Holocaust survivors, elected officials and Jewish community leaders for speeches, traditional prayers and music.

Yom Hashoa is traditionally marked on the 27th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, a week after the seventh day of Passover. This year’s commemoration also falls on the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising that began April 19, 1943 — the eve of Passover — when leaders in the largest Jewish ghetto in Poland fought against Germans rounding up Jews to deport them to death camps. That year, similar uprisings also took place at the Sobibor and Treblinka concentration camps.

The Jewish community remembers the Warsaw Ghetto, Sobibor and Treblinka uprisings as “timeless symbols of resistance, perseverance and defiance” in the face of hatred.

Organizers say this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day encompasses a theme of standing together against past and present antisemitism. The Anti-Defamation League reported that such incidents — including criminal and non-criminal cases of harassment, vandalism and assault of Jews — have hit a record-high nationwide. In 2022, 3,697 incidents were reported; a 36% increase from the 2,717 incidents in 2021, and the highest number on record since the ADL began tracking such incidents in 1979.

Los Angeles officials and faith leaders have discussed ways to combat ongoing attacks against Jews — starting with education. They hope to provide more classroom and law enforcement trainings recognizing antisemitism, and show solidarity at these community events. Antisemitism didn’t end after the war, city officials said at a meeting in March.

Sunday’s Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration is hosted in partnership with the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles and The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. LA Mayor Karen Bass, Israel Consul General Hillel Newman, and ADL Los Angeles director Jeffrey Abrams will speak.

Holocaust survivors and their families are also involved in the museum’s solemn event. Included is 81-year-old Harry Davids, whose parents were killed in Sobibor, a featured speaker. Musicians from the Colburn School will perform a composition by survivor Herbert Zipper. Participants will recite the Mourner’s Kaddish and the “El Malei Rachamim,” a prayer for departed souls.

Survivors Henry Slucki and David Lenga will sing the Partisans’ Song, the traditional Yiddish anthem for Holocaust survivors inspired by the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

“We mark (Yom Hashoa) to remember that Jews did not go as lambs to the slaughter, as depicted in some accounts. The Jews resisted… and though they did not overthrow this huge Nazi army, they made their mark — and now Jews all over the world remember, as a symbol of resisting tyranny,” Slucki said before the event.

Slucki fled the Nazi regime as a child in 1942, crossing the Pyrenees mountains on foot with his family and surviving the war. Now, at 88, Slucki gives presentations and speaks regularly at the Holocaust Museum LA, and has sung the Partisans’ Song at past Holocaust Museum LA remembrance events.

Related links

LA city officials and Jewish leaders tackle ways to fight antisemitism
With anti-Semitism on the rise, Jews must call out hatred on the left and the right
Former neo-Nazi to faith leaders at Irvine forum: ‘Dialogues can change lives’
‘Auschwitz — Not Long Ago, Not Far Away’ exhibit coming to Reagan Library
Ukrainian athletes at USC, CSUN try to stay strong, positive while war rages

Yom Hashoa is a poignant reminder that people can recognize each other’s differences, and perhaps learn from one another, Slucki said. Art has always been an expression of “heroic resistance” — just like what happened in the Jewish uprisings.

“It’s not just standing up for your own people, but standing up for any issue you consider a moral obligation. The (Partisans’) song literally says ‘We are here.’ I am here. I have children and grandchildren, and they all know the story. They know you can’t keep silent or be an idle bystander… you have to roll up your sleeves and get active,” Slucki said. “This ceremony (is) a way of saying, not only we are here, we are thriving. Though the struggle continues, we are going to stand together.”

The Holocaust Museum LA is located at 100 The Grove Dr, at Pan Pacific Park in Los Angeles. Sunday’s ceremony begins at 2 p.m.

Event details: https://www.holocaustmuseumla.org/event-details/yom-hashoah-commemoration-1

​ Orange County Register 

California cracks down on press access, our right to know

• April 14, 2023

Most everyone seems to think that members of the press operate hand in glove with Big Government, serving as some kind of public-relations agency for the electeds and their minions, offering up without skepticism what tidbits the bureaucracies in our various capitols and executive offices disseminate as “news.”

Those everyones have never been reporters.

The reality is that oftentimes actual, timely facts from government sources can be rare as hens’ teeth, especially if the information sought by journalists is about anything at all deemed controversial by those who supposedly serve the public in government.

And the really bad news for the free flow of information to the public who pays for all that government — pays for its press offices, too — is that the situation has only gotten worse after COVID-19 restrictions made it much harder for reporters from newspapers, radio and television statements and online news organizations to penetrate the walls put up by city halls, county governments and most especially state capitols.

That has been particularly true in California, where pandemic shutdowns came earliest, lasted longest and often continue until this day. After generations of reporters being able to pick up information vital to a free press by just hanging around, talking to officials they bump into either on or off the record simply by being physically there, of a sudden government buildings were shut down and official meetings went online. There were no hallways in which to encounter sources and hear the latest informally. Everything had to be done by telephone. Which, way more than by a real question asked face to face, can go unanswered.

And what, in a slightly post-pandemic California, has been the response to a fresh new reopening of government offices and what should be increased communication between government officials, their lackeys and the press?

Why, some press offices for various agencies are, for instance, eliminating their telephones altogether, demanding that all inquiries be made by email.

Such is the real and enormously troubling news gathered by journalism organization CalMatters reporter Alexei Koseff in Sacramento in a major new project story published last week by CapRadio,  headlined “A failure to communicate: California government cuts back press access.”

In massive detail, the story describes a Gov. Gavin Newsom administration that, very much contrary to public myths about journos and liberal politicians, has lowered the cone of silence: “Many of the standard features of government beat reporting — including in-person press conferences, with an opportunity for follow-up questions, and media phone lines where journalists could talk to a live staffer — disappeared three years ago with the shutdown orders and have been slow to return, if at all,” Koseff reports. “Changes that reporters and public information officers adopted to do their jobs virtually in a strange new stay-at-home world became ingrained, encouraging practices, such as written statements instead of interviews, that offer less clarity and greater distance between state government and the people it serves.”

David Loy, the legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, correctly says that what is at risk right now in California is a decline of “open, honest and transparent communication” essential to the functioning of democracy.

Now, Sacramento government departments routinely ignore questions from reporters, block the release of information, refuse to give reporters telephone numbers to call when emails are not replied to and seemingly purposely slow-walk crucial material: “We know we missed your deadline, but hopefully this information is still useful and of value for you!” one agency wrote to a reporter when it was too late.

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It’s not as if there is a shortage of communications workers in Sacramento: 435 employees in the executive branch alone, with annual total salaries that cost taxpayers something north of $36 million. There are hundreds of other supposed press aides working in the Legislature and other state departments. Citizens and journalists alike need to demand that they start picking up the phone, and responding to the public’s right to know.

​ Orange County Register 

When a camper shell can knock off a truck’s weight fee

• April 14, 2023

Q. I read your answer to the question about truck registration fees with great interest. But it seems there needs to be some clarification. It concerns the difference between a “camper shell,” which to me is just that, and a “habitable camper.” I have a shell, it bolts onto the bed and protects items from rain, wind and theft.  And I could sleep back there if I wanted to. But the Department of Motor Vehicles’ definition of a “camper” is much more if you want to avoid having your truck considered a commercial vehicle so you can knock off the weight fee. For the DMV, a qualifying camper is for “human habitation,” which is defined on form REG 256A as a “living space” that includes “closets, cabinets, kitchen units or fixtures, and bath or toilet rooms.” So you did get me excited that I might be able to get some relief – but I (and most people) don’t qualify.

– Tom Macfarlane, Temple City

A. Sorry, Tom.

But let’s consider the positives – Honk can go deeper into the answer now, and your name is getting some ink.

A camper shell can indeed cancel out the commercial weight fee that shows up on truck registrations, letting that vehicle carry auto instead of truck license plates (On a 2011 Ford F-150, that annual fee alone is $154).

“(But) the addition of a camper shell must meet the definitions for human habitation or camping purposes,” said Angelica De La Pena, a spokeswoman for the DMV.

And, yes, to hit that mark, Tom, you do need those elements you mentioned.

Winning approval doesn’t take a DMV inspection. But, as De La Pena pointed out to Honk, the owner “must certify under penalty of perjury the vehicle meets the definition for human habitation” or face a possible citation if nabbed.

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Q. Hi Honk: The curb out front of our house, from the driveway to the intersection with a stop sign, is painted red. This is quite good. However, it is so faded it is almost not visible. Neighbors took it upon themselves to paint their fading curb red. I was wondering who is responsible for maintaining the color on the curb? It is important and should be properly maintained. Very much appreciate the feedback.

– Mauricio B. Edberg, West Hills

A. In the City of Angels, and probably just about anywhere in the Golden State, residents shouldn’t head down to a store for a bucket of red paint and a brush and go clandestine. Even if city officials have let the residents down by not sending a crew out to update the curb.

(Honk has a neighbor with a red curb that just doesn’t have the right hue. Hmmmmm.)

Colin Sweeney, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, said his agency oversees the city’s curb markings. The LADOT works with residents, businesses, council members and neighborhood councils to make sure the markings are efficient, he added.

Your neighbors, it sounds like, were just trying to make the curb look a bit more spiffy and to warn drivers to not park there.

But …

“Residents should not take it upon themselves to maintain or make any alteration to traffic devices and markings,” Sweeney told Honk in an email. “Instead, residents seeking service should contact the local LADOT district engineering office with any requests they may have.”

Messing with a curb is illegal, he said, and could come with a fine in addition to getting saddled with the cost of removal.

By the way, Mauricio, the LADOT just received $2 million to develop a digital inventory of, among other things, curb markings to better keep tabs on them.

To ask Honk questions, reach him at [email protected]. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk

​ Orange County Register 

Big West Conference baseball ‘as good as it’s been in years’

• April 14, 2023

If the midseason report on Big West Conference baseball is any indication, the stretch run might require the kind of detailed analysis one might find in politics trying to separate red and blue states.

Eight of the 11 teams are competing for the Big West regular-season title and the automatic NCAA postseason berth that comes with it. Three teams already have 21 wins, five teams have a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of 77 or better, and the conference RPI was ranked eighth nationally, third-best among non-Power Five conferences.

Parity has become the league’s theme recently, but this jump for the conference as a unit recalls days when as many as four Big West teams were contending for an NCAA tournament berth.

Most notably, Cal State Fullerton has rebounded from the first real slump in program history and is getting local and national attention. Fullerton’s national reputation was a big part of Big West success in the past.

“The conference is a lot better,” said second-year Fullerton coach Jason Dietrich, a former Titans pitching coach. “I was gone for five years, and when I came back last year I thought it was a little light.

“The talent is better and we have so many good coaches who take pride in their program and the league. It’s so good to see.”

Fullerton (16-11 overall, 9-3 Big West), which visits UC Riverside (6-23, 0-9) this weekend, has won all four league series to date and is led by pitcher Flynn Chester (4-0, 2.73 ERA) and hitters Carter White (.416) and Brendan Bobo (five home runs).

Dietrich brought in 22 new players to the program for 2023, and they’ve jelled nicely with the returnees.

“I would never put it on any one player or pitcher,” he said. “It’s really about guys buying into the program. We really worked hard to build a roster of players who understood what we wanted.”

“It’s been a good year for the Big West,” UC Irvine coach Ben Orloff said Thursday as the Anteaters (19-10, 5-7) head north to play preseason favorite UC Santa Barbara (21-9, 6-3) this weekend. “We had one of the best nonconference records in the sport, so it’s not surprising to have so many good teams.

“I think we’re back to being the kind of conference that has multiple teams good enough to get a postseason bid.”

The Anteaters are led by first baseman Anthony Martinez (.350, six home runs, 33 RBIs), and have scored eight runs or more in 14 games. A program that has traditionally featured stingy pitching has been a bit unsettled after a good start.

Long Beach State (21-10, 8-4), which hosts Cal State Northridge (19-8, 6-3) at Blair Field beginning Friday night, has won 11 of its past 13 games and is having a prodigious season at the plate, with four starters batting over .300 including Johnathon Long (.318, nine home runs, 34 RBIs), while starting pitchers Graham Osman (5-0, 1.93 ERA) and Nico Zeglin (4-2, 2.44), transfers from Gonzaga and Arizona State, respectively, have been dominant.

“It’s been a fun run, and we’ve played a lot of one-run games,” LBSU coach Eric Valenzuela said. The Dirtbags have been involved in 10 walk-off games this season. “There’s no doubt that Blair is a pitcher’s park, but we finally have developed a hitting philosophy after two of the last four seasons were during COVID.

“The conference is as good as it’s been in years. No one is talking about them, but Northridge and Hawaii (14-12, 4-5) are tough teams to play.”

CSUN is leading the league in most hitting categories and has five starters hitting above .300, taking advantage of their home field’s modest dimensions. Oddly, the team leading the league is UC San Diego (21-10, 10-2), which Valenzuela said was the best team the Dirtbags have played this season. The Tritons are still transitioning from Division II and are not yet eligible for league titles or postseason play.

Long Beach State’s Jonathon Long celebrates his two-run home run during the third inning of a 10-inning victory over Cal Poly earlier this month at Blair Field. Long is hitting .318 with nine home runs and 34 RBIs for LBSU (21-10 overall, 8-4 Big West). (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: A satisfactory night for Kings, Ducks and their fans

• April 14, 2023

ANAHEIM — A gentleman wearing a Jamie Drysdale Ducks sweater stepped into a nearly full elevator at Honda Center on Thursday night, a half-hour or so before faceoff, and said: “Any Kings’ fans in here willing to guarantee a win tonight?”

No, he wasn’t spoiling for a fight. The Columbus Blue Jackets entered the night a point ahead of the Ducks (they beat Pittsburgh), and the Chicago Blackhawks were even with Anaheim (they went to overtime with Philadelphia and picked up a point). A Ducks loss to their historic rivals from up the freeway would secure last place in the league and with it the best chance to win the draft lottery and select generational talent Connor Bedard.

Goin’ Yard for Bedard. That’s what it came down to for the Ducks, who went into a full-on rebuild this season and have endured more than a full season’s worth of growing pains.

In a sense, then, both the Kings and Ducks got what they (sort of) wanted Thursday night.

The Kings got the win, 5-3, featuring an Adrian Kempe hat trick, and will begin the playoffs on Monday night in Edmonton on a fairly positive note, winning their last two after a three-game skid that cost them not only a shot at the division title but home ice in the first round.

Kempe’s empty-net goal with a little more than a minute to play was his 41st of the season, giving him his first career 40-goal campaign following a 35-goal performance last season. Better yet, he burnished his reputation as an all-around player this season; he finished last spring a minus-2, but finished this regular season a plus-22 and also finished third on the team in scoring (67 points) behind Anze Kopitar (75 with his 28th goal and two assists) and Kevin Fiala (23 goals and 72 points, but currently injured).

“A couple of years ago, I feel like I had a lot of good looks (but) always was a pass-first guy,” Kempe said. “And, you know, I figured out that if I try to put the puck on net a little more, it’ll go in. And, yeah, kind of a switch went off in my head, and coming into last year I think was the biggest step I took just in terms of volume shooting.”

The Kings also had the good fortune to get out of Thursday night with everybody still ambulatory, always a plus. Health has been an issue down the stretch; in addition to Fiala, defenseman Alexander Edler and right wing Gabe Vilardi have been unavailable and were injury scratches Thursday night, and Mikey Anderson only recently returned from an injury suffered when Connor McDavid boarded him in Edmonton two weeks ago.

“The relief comes in the fact that … we’re as healthy now as we were coming into the game,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said Thursday night. “I’d be lying if I said we weren’t concerned about that, a game that really doesn’t mean anything to either of the two teams playing. You hate to see somebody block a shot and go down or take a hit. But that’s where the relief comes from.

“I don’t think we can take a deep breath and relax. That would be a mistake for our group and we don’t have enough time to do that anyhow.”

But Thursday’s results did mean that the Kings were locked into a rematch with Edmonton, and that could be problematic. Never mind last year’s result, when the Oilers knocked out the Kings in seven games in the first round. These Oilers come into the postseason on an even more blistering pace, 18-2-1 and with nine straight victories to end the regular season. Their goalie, Stuart Skinner, has a .972 save percentage over his past five starts and stopped 63 of the 64 shots he faced in the two recent victories over the Kings.

A questioner suggested to McLellan on Thursday night that facing the Ducks’ young talent might have set the Kings up for their meeting with the Oilers. A few years from now, that might be true. Now, not so much.

“Oh, I don’t think there’s anything that sets you up for Edmonton,” he said. “It’s a different monster there, you know. … I think that they have a little bit of a different approach. Certainly, their power play’s a little more dangerous, and there’s just different elements.”

Simply put, what Edmonton has – building with talent around a budding superstar – is what Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek would like to emulate. And while the sights and sounds of the rivalry on the ice and among the fan bases were the same as always Thursday night, those in the audience who were plugged in certainly would have considered this a good loss if it has the desired effect on lottery night.

Losing enabled the Ducks to sew up 32nd and last place and with it the best chance to draft the Regina Pats’ Bedard. He doesn’t turn 18 until July 17, but he finished his junior season with 71 goals and 143 points in 57 games – and added an exclamation point with nine goals and 14 assists in seven games for champion Canada at the World Junior Championships over the holidays.

How important was it to finish 32nd instead of 31st? In the NHL the last-place team has a 25.5% chance of getting the No. 1 pick. Chicago, by finishing 31st, has a 15.5% chance.

Then again, there was this sign held by a Ducks fan in the stands Thursday night: “Top Three Draft Pick – Better Than First-Round Playoff Loss.” That might depend on who you’re able to take with that pick. But you work with what you have.

And while the athletes don’t and shouldn’t be expected to care about such things when they’re on the ice, everybody in the Ducks’ room has been aware of the situation for a while. While it can be a difficult situation for players, their compete factor doesn’t seem to have diminished. (And the smart ones are well aware that when it does, they’re expendable.)

“It’s been a long time coming of kind of compressing things and going over what we need to do as an organization moving forward,” right wing Troy Terry said. “No matter the (circumstances) we’re playing to win. Everyone in here is competitive. I think you can see it in our game. Whether we lost or not, what I was proud of is we kept battling until the end.

“It’s hard to go through that. Especially last year it felt like we took a step (only) to have it go backwards this year. Just to keep everyone in this room together, that’s something that we’re proud of. There’s a lot to address this summer about what we need to do moving forward.”

The first step is May 8, lottery night.

[email protected]

​ Orange County Register 

Kings captain Anze Kopitar still setting the pace, creating a culture

• April 14, 2023

ANAHEIM — Before this season began, one veteran scribe sat beside Kings captain Anze Kopitar and pondered if perhaps it wasn’t time for another skater to lead the club in scoring.

It seemed like a valid question given that he’d paced the Kings in points for 14 of the previous 15 campaigns and the team was transitioning back to competitiveness.

Eighty-two games and 74 points later, Kopitar gave everyone a definitive answer: not this year.

Not only did Kopitar surpass the injured Kevin Fiala for sole possession of the team scoring title in Thursday night’s regular-season finale, a 5-3 victory over the Ducks, but he had already received nods as the Kings’ most valuable player and best defensive player, as voted by the local media, earlier in the day.

“He views himself as a top player and he wants to continue to be a top player. He’s held that crown with the Kings for a long, long time,” said Dave Taylor, with whom Kopitar has jockeyed around franchise leaderboards and who drafted Kopitar during his time as general manager.

Taylor said a 17-year-old Kopitar was the best player on the Slovenian senior national team as well as the second best in his draft class behind Sidney Crosby (Kopitar has single-handedly scored more points than the eight players selected between him and No. 2 pick Bobby Ryan combined). Longtime teammate Dustin Brown said he felt Kopitar was the best player in Kings training camp a few months later, even though Kopitar opted to return to Europe for one more season.

So much has happened since, including three trips to the Western Conference finals and the only two Stanley Cup championships in Kings lore, from 2012 and 2014.

“It’s super hard to say exactly what it is that he does, I mean he does so much,” forward Trevor Moore said. “It’s amazing that he’s a guy who was leading the team to Stanley Cups before and then he went through a rebuild, and you know how hard it is to go through a rebuild and have another team that can be a playoff-contending team. Leading the team in the scoring and all this stuff, he’s not done, he’s still pushing.”

Across 17 seasons with the Kings, Kopitar has reached the top five in franchise history in all 10 major offensive categories and plus-minus rating. He has also put himself in the same breath as Chicago’s Jonathan Toews and Boston’s Patrice Bergeron as the two-way centers par excellence of their generation. They’ve each spent their entire career with one franchise and have combined to win six Stanley Cups, with Kopitar getting a shot at a third this season while Bergeron’s Bruins enter the postseason as favorites to win his second.

Kopitar is the only one of the three competitors to capture the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward and also be named a finalist for the Hart Trophy as its most valuable player during his career. In league history, only five other players – Bobby Clarke, Pavel Datsyuk, Sergei Fedorov, Doug Gilmour and Steve Yzerman – have accomplished that feat. Yet since winning his second Selke in three seasons in 2018, Kopitar hasn’t finished in the top five in voting.

“The fans, the media, sometimes even coaches and teammates take him for granted, and it’s the wrong thing to do because he does so many things for the group as a whole,” Coach Todd McLellan said. “We see him do the things on the ice, but it’s off the ice as well, the leadership skills that he provides for not only the young players but the veteran players.”

As if his own contributions across every centimeter of the ice and in the dressing room weren’t enough, Kopitar has also elevated the play of his teammates. In the final campaign of Brown’s career and the first of his retirement, Kopitar skated alongside Adrian Kempe. Kempe had scored 55 goals in 312 career games entering last season, but he erupted for 75 in 160 matches during two campaigns on Kopitar’s flank.

“He’s the guy that can do it all. He’s great in the D-zone, he helped me a lot there, and in the O-zone, too,” Kempe said. “He’s such a strong person on the puck, and he just finds me when I’m open. He’s probably the biggest (reason) why I’ve been scoring so many goals lately.”

Kopitar’s impact extends beyond his linemates or even the forward grouping, his teammates said.

“I think he’s one of the most underrated if not the most underrated guy, especially defensively. He’s so smart,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “He’s got such a good stick, he handles pucks probably better than anyone I’ve seen. Just overall, his mindset, every day, he helps us defensemen out and makes our game really easy.”

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Having arrived at an organization that then featured current GM Rob Blake as a player, Kopitar’s tenure, which began in 2006 and saw him become team captain a decade later, has spanned generations. Of his 17 seasons, he’s only failed to top the team in scoring twice, his rookie year and in 2016-17, all while drawing top defensive assignments, D-zone faceoff duty and eschewing opportunities to cheat for points.

Kopitar’s quest to win a third ring and his first as captain begins Monday night, when the Kings will open their first-round playoff series in Edmonton for a rematch of last year’s grueling seven-game series with the Oilers.

There, Anderson took down one Oilers superstar, Leon Draisaitl, causing an injury that limited his effectiveness. Last month, another Edmonton phenom, Connor McDavid, boarded Anderson, causing him to miss six games with an upper-body injury. Anderson, like Kopitar and fellow Cup-winning mainstay Drew Doughty, will shoulder heavy defensive responsibility in the series.

“Once you get out there for Game 1, it’s going to ramp up. Both teams are going to feel it,” Anderson said.

​ Orange County Register 

Huntington Beach earns spot in Boras Classic final with victory over Aquinas

• April 14, 2023

SANTA ANA — Huntington Beach extended its winning streak to 15 in a row with a 4-1 victory over Aquinas in the semifinals of the Boras Classic South Thursday at Mater Dei High School.

The Oilers (17-6), who are ranked No. 5 in Division 1 of the CIF Southern Section, will play Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, the top-ranked team in Division 1, for the championship Friday at 6 p.m. at JSerra.

The Knights defeated Orange Lutheran 1-0 in the other semifinal Thursday.

“We’re playing a good team tomorrow but we are going to go out and compete our tails off,” Oilers starting pitcher Bradley Grindlinger said.

After allowing a run in the top of the first, Grindlinger pitched four scoreless innings before reliever Wyatt Thomas came in and shut out the Falcons over the final two innings.

Grindlinger minimized the damage in the first by getting the final out with two runners on base. He then pitched out of trouble with runners in scoring position in the second, fourth and fifth innings.

“He made huge pitches in big counts against tough hitters,” Oilers coach Benji Medure said. “They had really good swings and good approaches, so for him to pitch like that against those hitters says a lot about him and his toughness.”

Huntington Beach starting pitcher Bradley Grindlinger pitched four scoreless innings after allowing a run in the first as the Oilers defeated Aquinas 4-1 in the Boras Classic South semifinals Thursday, April 13. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)

In the seventh, the Falcons (14-3) had the bases loaded with two outs when Thomas struck out Jordan Murillo on a three-ball, two-strike pitch to end the game.

Earlier in the inning, Oilers left fielder Trevor Goldenetz made an excellent running catch on a deep fly ball hit by Owen Egan.

Oilers right fielder Bradley Navarro made a terrific diving catch on a sinking line drive that was tailing away from him.

The Oilers were also clutch on offense, scoring two runs in the first on back-to-back two-out hits.

Ralph Velazquez walked with two outs, stole second and scored on a double from Aiden Espinoza.

Trent Grindlinger then singled home Espinoza, giving the Oilers a 2-1 lead.

“To have an answer against them right away was huge,” Medure said.

Velazquez also came through with a two-out hit in the fifth, driving home Brian Trujillo with a double to give the Oilers a 3-1 lead.

The Oilers’ game against Notre Dame will be a rematch of last season’s CIF SS Division 1 semifinal, won by the Knights 2-0.

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Huntington Beach then bounced back to defeat JSerra 2-0 to win the CIF Southern California Regional Division I championship.

The winner of Friday’s championship game will play the Boras North champion, Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa, in the tournament’s state final on April 29 at Santa Clara University.

The Oilers won the Boras Classic’s South title and the state title in 2017.

​ Orange County Register