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Kings' two-time Stanley Cup champ Anze Kopitar throws first pitch at Los Angeles Dodgers game
Anze Kopitar, a two-time Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup champion, was invited to throw the ceremonial first pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the game against Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night. Kopitar was welcomed to the mound as the captain and to rousing applause.
Kopitar proceeded to deliver a solid first pitch. He wound up and tossed the ball to the catcher at home plate. While it did have some arc and not much velocity, it did land in the strike zone.
Kopitar got to meet Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw and bring his entire family with him. They even got a picture with a mascot, as the Kings star proudly took some photos.
The Dodgers won win this game by a score of 8-4. After falling behind by an early run, their offense broke out and scored eight unanswered. Shohei Ohtani scored twice, Mookie Betts had two RBI and Max Muncy had three. Jack Flaherty went 5.2 innings with five strikeouts and just one run allowed.
Anze Kopitar opens up on future
Anze Kopitar is not a young player. At 36, he's on the much older side of hockey. His current contract with the LA Kings is slated to end in two years.
Per NHL, that's a time he might retire. He admitted that it seemed as good a time as any to call it a career:
“Haven’t thought about it that far along but, yeah, 39 (years old), I think it’ll be a pretty good age to maybe think about the end."
Kopitar also said he doesn't want to be involved with a rebuild or a retool. The Kings might need to retool, but Kopitar doesn't have the longevity to withstand that period of time right now:
“I don’t think I have time for retooling now. Like I said, it’s another two years, so if we go into a full rebuild, it’s not something that I want. And I think there are some pieces that are absolutely very useful here, and we've got to build on that.”
While it remains to be seen what the future holds for the Kings, the distant future doesn't seem to have an active Kopitar in it.
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