Slash Channels Hendrix for Kings' Holiday Chops

Los Angeles is a so-called non-traditional hockey market, but that's not quite accurate.

Their tradition is simply doing non-traditional things at their hockey games. After all, Tinseltown is the ultimate fantasy land.

And it starts with Eric Cartman getting Kings fans in the mood in his own South Parkian way. Here, for example, is how he prepped the crowd for a game against St Louis:

The premise of Memorial Day is to honor America's fallen troops, so the Kings harkened back to one of the most electrifying performances of The Star Spangled Banner ever recorded.

Francis Scott Key's inspiration for his poem that became the anthem's lyrics was watching the British bombard a fort outside Baltimore during the War of 1812. That was obviously a chaotic, cacophanous incident -- as combat in wars tends to be -- and during the height of the Vietnam conflict, Jimi Hendrix captured the essence of why soldiers are so honored:

So, on this Memorial Day weekend, before Game 3 of the Western Conference finals between the Kings and Blackhawks, Guns 'n' Roses maestro Slash was invited to offer the tribute.

It turned out to be not only for the soldiers, but for Hendrix himself:

It was another electric moment when no one was praying for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass them by.