Welcome to L.A. and the 2010 NHL Entry Draft

We finally made it to Los Angeles this afternoon after an adventure that took far longer that it should have.

The first sign of trouble reared its head before we left Las Vegas when I called our accommodations in Los Angeles to find out that they thought I was supposed to be there a week ago so I did not hold reservations for tonight. They promptly found a room for us and we headed across the desert.

When we arrived at the hotel, the hotel clerk seemed puzzled when I said that we needed three keys. When we opened the door to the room we found that we couldn't get our luggage into the room much less find room for three to sleep. The very nice hotel clerkett was able to find a slightly larger room so we finally got past all the confusion and headed out for the Staples Center,

That's when the real trouble started. When we got about a block from the arena we started hearing loud screams. As we got closer, we found the street to the credentials trailer to be totally blocked by Hollywood's finest premiere red carpet and limos. We only had minutes to pick up the creds before the office closed.

The root of the trouble was the premiere of "The Twilight Saga:Eclipse" which was being held right beside the media trailer. Initially, we made it past about three layers of security trying to make a bee-line for our destination.

The best of the best of security folk must have been in Toronto for the G20 because we got far further than we should have before being directed away from the premises. You may see us on E! Network if you look closely.

Anyway, with an alternate route in hand, we did make it in time and are now enjoying a fine media workroom and are ready to head to a reception so we can chill out after a hectic few days and get braced for all the action from the draft.

Friday will be the big day for thirty of the best young future NHL stars while they wait for their names to be called as the first round of the NHL Entry Draft will be held at the Staples Center beginning at 6 p.m. Central.

The second through seventh rounds will be held on Saturday beginning at noon. Versus Network will televise the opening round while the later rounds will be on NHL Network.

Locally, the Nashville Predators will hold a draft party at the Embassy Suites in Franklin starting at 6 p.m. Pete Weber, Tom Callahan, Gnash and others from the Predators are slated to attend.

For those in the Los Angeles area, there will be an NHL Tweetup at the ESPN Zone on Saturday at 10 a.m local time.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass