"40 Angry Men With Big Sticks"

If the sports pages are anything to go by, the NHL's weekend in London left no impression on the Brits. As of Sunday night, a pair of games between Anaheim and Los Angeles had passed without mention in the Times, Guardian, Telegraph or Sun. With rugby, soccer, golf, track, Formula 1, cricket and horse racing, it seems British sports fans already have a full plate.

A Google news search using "Ducks Kings London" turned up a handful of UK results, including a straightforward game story at BBC Sports, and this little gem from Times Online:

We dispatched David Beckham. They sent back 40 angry men with big sticks. Fair enough...

They were welcome, even if it was not really clear to anyone why they were here, in a city that does not have a team of its own in the anaemic British league. Something to do with expanding the brand, testing the marketplace, adding traffic to the website. A dash of cultural imperialism returning ice hockey to the nation that invented it, but did not want it.

Invented it? The British? The hockey education campaign in that country clearly has a long, long ways to go.

The Ducks and Kings split the games. For those watching at home, the exotic location meant little once the puck was dropped. Saturday's opener, a 4-1 Los Angeles win, was actually kind of boring.

What's next? Another European adventure in 2008, apparently, but this time in a more appropriate, hockey-friendly location.

The NHL season opens for real with four games on Wednesday night.

Photo: George Parros and Lubomir Visnovsky, hockey ambassadors in London (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)