Anaheim Ducks vs. Los Angeles Kings

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Every transplant city invents its rivalries, and this is the one Southern California actually earned. The Freeway Face-Off is Ducks and Kings, forty-five minutes of the 5 between two buildings, and it splits households rather than cities — the real version of this is an argument between a brother in Anaheim and a sister in El Segundo that has been running since the nineties. A one o'clock start on the Friday after Thanksgiving makes it stranger and better: daylight hockey, a building full of people avoiding shopping and relatives in roughly equal measure, and a crowd that is genuinely close to half and half, which almost never happens at a home game. An afternoon game also means the whole thing is over by four, which leaves the evening intact for whatever the holiday weekend still demands of you. Black Friday afternoon, first puck at one, Honda Center off Katella. Wear the colors you actually mean, because somebody will check.