Bruce K. Hollingdrake, the owner/editor of thehockeywriters.com, posted this Sports Illustrated cover dated April 8, 1968. It adds fuel to the debate of whether there is a Sports Illustrated Cover Curse.

This was the Kings first season, and they were faced off against the Minnesota North Stars. The Kings had home ice advantage, and had beaten the North Stars two straight games. Then SI ran this cover, of a sprawling Terry Sahchuk attempting a sliding save on the Rangers' Orland Kurtenbach and Reg Fleming. Why they chose a shot of the Kings vs. Rangers, rather than L.A. vs. Minnesota is beyond me. The headline makes it sound L.A. was actually in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Kings traveled to Minnesota, where the North Stars took the next two games, 7-5 and 3-2. They travelled back to L.A., where the Kings squeaked out a win in Game 5, then back to Minnesota, where they took North Stars to overtime in a deciding Game 6. The Curse kicked in at the beginning of overtime, sending the series back to L.A. The Kings lost Game 7, in an absolute drubbing, 9-4.

There was some residual effect on the Rangers as well. They fell to the Blackhawks in 6 games, proving The Curse knows no boundaries.

I could be flippant and state something to the effect of "And thus, the Kings were off and running for 40 more years of frustration and grief for their fans." But I won't. Too catty. I will simply point to Exhibit A and blame the magazine for cursing the Kings in this one instance. The Kings returned to the playoffs the following year, and made it to the second round of the playoffs.

But this is more damning evidence that appearing on the SI cover brings bad mojo. Have you seen other examples of the SI Curse on other hockey teams?