THE ICE AGE

Only six seasons ago, the Kings were the hottest ticket in town, the sole professional sports team in Southern California to sell out every home game.

Only five seasons ago, the Kings went to the Stanley Cup finals, losing in five games to the Montreal Canadiens. They seemed poised to begin an era of prosperity, led by stars such as Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Luc Robitaille. The Mighty Ducks, who made their NHL debut four months after the Kings’ Cup appearance, were scorned as a group of rejects with a comical name. They weren’t deemed a rival to the Kings on the ice or in fans’ hearts.

So much has changed in so short a time.

Gretzky and Kurri are gone. Robitaille is a King, but only after being exiled to Pittsburgh and New York. Owner Bruce McNall, whose big spending glamorized a sport that had a loyal but small following, is in prison after defrauding banks and the Kings of $236 million.

It’s the Ducks who regularly sell out their games and have two of the NHL’s most dynamic stars in Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. The Kings haven’t made the playoffs since 1993; the Ducks made a big postseason splash last spring, defeating the Phoenix Coyotes in seven games and taking the Detroit Red Wings to overtime three times before losing to the eventual Cup champions.

The Ducks acknowledge they owe their existence to the Kings, whose 1988 acquisition of Gretzky sparked a hockey boom in California. Now it’s the Kings, struggling to emerge from one of the darkest periods in their history, who owe the Ducks a debt of gratitude for awakening them to the importance of marketing, catering to fans’ desires and building a good and compelling team.

“I think they’ve done a wonderful job building their fan base from a fan standpoint and a business standpoint,” said Tim Leiweke, beginning his second season as King president. “They’ve done a great job building superstars and capturing the attention of fans. They’ve been a very positive addition for hockey, and in turn, that has kept us honest and put us in a situation where the competitive nature of our relationship pushes us to get a lot better a lot quicker.

“As for the Kings, we were really screwed up. We were at a low ebb and had dug a deep ditch for ourselves. We finally feel this summer, particularly toward the end, we were starting to get past the stage of crisis management and geared more toward the future and problem-solving.”

Problems? They’ve had plenty, including missing the playoffs four consecutive seasons and compiling the NHL’s third-worst record, the second-worst power play and worst road record last season. Their average attendance was 12,297, the lowest since 1987-88, and that includes tickets that were sold through the Forum’s Senate seat program but not used. Their season-ticket renewal rate of 87% was their best in four years, but new buyers haven’t brought them to last season’s total of 7,400, which also includes Senate seat tickets.

The Ducks, by contrast, had a fine year all around. In finishing with the fourth-best record in the Western Conference and ninth in the NHL, they averaged 16,972 fans a game, 98.8% of the Pond’s capacity. Although their season-ticket base fell about 350, which they attribute to fan dissatisfaction over the firing of Coach Ron Wilson and their contract impasse with Kariya, it still exceeds 12,000.

“Obviously, Anaheim has taken over in fan support by being in the playoffs last year and winning a round and having their best season,” King defenseman Rob Blake said. “They’re going to be the ones to watch and talk about, but I think there’s no question we’re going to be better and that we can get back to where we were in ’93. And no question, winning will bring back fans. Look at Anaheim. They started slow and got stronger. We’ll get back.”

For the Kings, who have virtually nowhere to go but up, and the Ducks, who have a tough act to follow in duplicating their own efforts, this looms as a crucial year. And, by extension, it’s a pivotal year for Southland hockey.

Players and executives of both teams agree the area can comfortably sustain two NHL teams, as long as both are good teams and worthy attractions.

“When we first got here, it was tough. The Kings had been around a long time but it seemed hockey was just something to do. It didn’t catch on until the Sharks came into the league [in San Jose in 1991-92] and we came in,” said defenseman Bobby Dollas, an original Duck. “I think California has really grabbed hockey with a passion. Remember, the state of California is bigger [by about 3 million in population] than Canada. I think there’s enough fans to go around.”

Said Robitaille, who was a fan favorite during his first go-round with the Kings from 1986 through 1994: “L.A. is about winning. You’ve got to win to draw here. The Clippers don’t draw because they’re not winning. The Lakers draw better when they win.

“If you’re going to draw here, you’ve got to put on a good show. In Anaheim, they had a good show in the beginning and now they have a better team. There are more things for people to do here, so they’re going to choose more carefully if they go to a hockey game or do something else.”

Having undertaken a massive rebuilding, the Kings must now reap results from the early draft picks they’ve had the past few years or their credibility will vanish. General Manager Dave Taylor, who replaced Sam McMaster last April, showed a decisiveness his predecessor lacked when he signed Garry Galley and acquired Robitaille, Jozef Stumpel and Sandy Moger. He’s assembling a bigger, faster and younger team he hopes will compete every night.

“I don’t think there’s any question that there’s a huge difference from this point last year to this year,” center Ray Ferraro said. “We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but I feel we’ve improved and things are only going to get better.”

The best of times for the Kings, Leiweke asserted, are within sight. Although red tape has delayed the

Kings’ plans for a new downtown arena, Leiweke said a new building will be open by late 1999 or early in 2000, in time to coincide with the maturation of

the Kings’ core of young players.

“The Kings have never had a perfect mesh of great product, great owners and a good business operation,” he said. “We’ve had pieces, but we’ve never put that all together. . . . I believe hockey is at a defining moment in this country and, especially, in this marketplace.”

It’s a turning point for the Ducks, who see this as the right time to ditch most of the sideshows they staged in their early years to divert attention from mediocre games. They toned down their usual hoopla during the playoffs, and they’ll

pare the distractions again this season.

“Last season was an indication this team was coming of age. I think we’ve crossed over from all the cutesy stuff we’ve done,” said Tony Tavares, the Duck president. “We’ve always been competitive. We’ve always done stuff in the stands, but you’re going to see less. It’s still our intention to provide entertainment, but it’s our feeling the focus should be more on the games.

“I think the bar is higher for us this year. We have to compete well. People expect it. I think we got a slight reprieve [in 1995-96]. It was always our intention to get into the playoffs in our first few seasons and we had scheduled ourselves to get into the first round in our third year, and we just missed. . . . When you’re out in a marketplace it’s tough. Look at the situation Jack [Ferreira, the Duck general manager] was in. Our first three years, we didn’t have anybody other teams would want in a trade. But now we’re in a position where other teams are calling us.”

Knowing they needed a rugged defenseman, the Ducks pursued free agent Luke Richardson, but he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers. Hoping to assemble a second line to share the burden carried by the Kariya-Steve Rucchin-Selanne line, Ferreira pursued free-agent center Sergei Nemchinov but lost him to the New York Islanders. Ferreira did sign Tomas Sandstrom, a physical winger who had no goals for Detroit in 20 playoff games, and stole swift winger Scott Young from Colorado for a 1998 third-round draft pick.

Which is all fine, but the Ducks’ fortunes ride on how soon they sign Kariya, a restricted free agent. Their dispute with Kariya, who finished third in last season’s scoring race, threatened to spill over into the season; they know too well how vulnerable they are without him, having gone 1-8-2 at the start of last season when he was idled because of an abdominal injury.

“I think we’re a better team now if you get the big guy in,” Tavares said. “All of a sudden, there’s depth and defined roles.”

King Coach Larry Robinson agreed the Ducks are better. “They’re certainly not the same team without Kariya as with Kariya,” he said. “They have a good goalie in [Guy] Hebert and a pretty solid, mobile defense corps. They have two of the best players in hockey in Kariya and Selanne and a pretty good supporting cast. They didn’t get where they are by fluke.”

That Robinson said anything nice about the Ducks is noteworthy, as is the Ducks’ goodwill toward the Kings--their exhibition slugfest Saturday aside. That cordiality was missing in past seasons, when Wilson declared he didn’t care what the Ducks did as long as they defeated the Kings and Tavares launched verbal jabs at Gretzky.

“I don’t think [the clubs’ relationship] was ever really bad. Most of it was Ronnie making statements in the paper,” Robinson said. “Maybe he was just trying to get his players going or create a rivalry.”

Wilson did his best, but the Ducks and Kings are still merely neighbors and not rivals. Dollas considers the Coyotes and Red Wings the Ducks’ top rivals “because we played them in the playoffs and we’ve got something to prove against them.” Blake and Robitaille cited Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver as their main rivals because they used to meet almost annually in the playoffs.

“Everybody told me last year the rivalry with the Ducks would be big, but coming from the Ranger-Islander rivalry, I didn’t think it was as intense,” Ferraro said. “And it won’t be the same scale until we meet in the playoffs. Then it really heats up. In Hartford, everybody talked about having a rivalry with Boston, but Boston never thought so until they met in the playoffs.

“As we get better the games will get more competitive, but it will take a playoff series to make it really emotional.”

The Ducks eagerly anticipate that day. “That,” Selanne said with a huge smile, “would be awesome.”