BLADE RUNNER GARCIA MAKES CERTAIN THE KINGS ARE SHARP SKATERS EVERY NIGHT.

Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer

Ice hockey didn't make sense to Rick ``Rico'' Garcia, the son of Cuban immigrants who was expected to play baseball like the other boys.

But baseball didn't come easy to the young Garcia after an illness rendered him legally blind and he lost his father to lung cancer. In need of a father figure and a contact sport, Garcia turned to his older brother Danny, who had taken to ice hockey, something far more exotic to a kid raised on pork sandwiches and plantains.

``Talk about shock to a Cuban family. I was supposed to know more about sand than ice,'' said Garcia, reflecting on the two decades that have passed since he was introduced to the sport.

Today, at 35, Rick Garcia is simply known as Rico, blade sharpener for the Los Angeles Kings. He's been with the team for nearly a decade, and his zeal for the job is even stronger this year after he took a deep pay cut during last season's labor dispute.

Blade sharpening begins as a trade and transforms into an art form. With experience comes style, and then the players call you maestro. But these manipulators of steel have to win the respect of a team before their technique can be fully mastered.

For Rico, understanding the game is critical to his success. He started playing hockey when he was 12, and instead of accepting a business scholarship to attend San Diego State University, he headed to Canada and pursued a professional hockey career for about a year.

His athletic frame and quick feet were noticed, but his stick handling and overall feel for the game fell flat on the puck-bred Canadians. Rico's eyesight also affected his flow on the ice, with every cross-check prying his contact lenses from his eyes.

So he returned home with the realization that professional hockey would remain a dream. Dejected and unemployed, the search was on to find a job. He eventually landed one at the Los Angeles Kings Slap Shop, an Inglewood-based retail store run by the team.

After working at the shop for a couple of years, Rico was promoted to assist in organizing the Kings' locker room. Whether removing a jock strap from a workout bag or placing helmets on a shelf, Rico exhibited the utmost professionalism.

His work ethic and personality are present the moment he steps into the locker room. He's about the same height as the smaller players on the team, but commands respect as if he's a brute of an athlete. His hands are scarred from blade sharpening gone awry and his right eye is slightly bulbous due to the precision of his work.

``We like Rico because he's good at what he does, and I've been through a lot of sharpeners,'' said Derek Armstrong, who plays center for the Kings.

Other players have also shown appreciation for Rico's dedication to the team. When Marty McSorley played for the Kings in the early 1990s, he bought Rico his first suit. ``And it's the nicest suit I've ever had,'' Rico said. ``Black pinstripes and all. I still wear it to parties and funerals.''

On game days, Rico starts his morning at the Kings' training center in El Segundo. His workshop is set up like a laboratory - the faint smell of molten steel and fuel injector cleaner wafting through the door.

On the left side of the room is the blade sharpening machine, a cross between a table saw and a wood chipper. They retail for about $7,000 and require enough ventilation to effectively suck up a fine mist of steel particles. The sander on the machine spins at approximately 3,600 revolutions per minute.

The process begins with Rico cradling the boot of the skate as the blade gently kisses the sander. He runs the sander the entire length of the blade, a connection that's dramatized by an amber spark. After three passes, he holds the blade about a foot and a half from his face. He's looking for burrs, a scratchy byproduct of rough play on the ice. At this point, his left eye is virtually closed as his right eye probes up and down the blade.

Five years ago, Rico had artificial lenses implanted in his eyes so he could ditch the hard contact lenses. His vision is now virtually perfect, something he proves with a tool called a quick square. The tool lines up perpendicular to the blade and acts as a level that determines if the edges are evenly squared.

Of the five blades sharpened on this morning, each edge was perfectly squared. Even more challenging is the fact that a single blade has four edges, two outer and two inner. The two inner edges are difficult to see without a microscope, but Rico's eyes suffice.

Hockey players also have a preference or profile as to how they like their blade sharpened. In general, defenders like more blade on the ice so that they can endure cross-checks and head butts. But forwards prefer a little more rocker in their blade, allowing them to lean forward and negotiate oncoming traffic. A label on the bottom of each skate is Rico's version of a cheat sheet, revealing the player's name and profile dimensions.

``If a player hurts himself on the ice because the blade isn't sharpened well or misses a goal or something, I do feel responsible,'' said Rico, working out a burr with his block sander.

On average, Rico will sharpen 36 skates a day during the season, with each blade requiring about seven minutes of attention. Riveting is also part of the process, requiring a hydraulic tool that attaches blade to boot.

Though Rico is working with blades sharp enough to sever arteries, he has only visited the hospital once due to a work-related injury. He recalls working on the riveter when someone called his name. The split second Rico turned his head, the hydraulic pump gurgled and drove a rivet straight through his thumb.

``I kept working, but the blood wouldn't stop. I needed to go to the hospital for stitches,'' said Rico, who returned to work the next day.

Rico has only missed one day of work and one practice in his entire career with the Kings. When he thinks about the stresses of the job, it's being away from his wife and adopted daughter, moving more than 5,000 pounds of equipment on away days and sharpening blades at inhospitable arenas.

Rico dislikes working in Edmonton because the players must walk many yards before their blades touch the ice. The damage the blades incur must be ground out and in some cases replaced. He also despises working with ``barefoot players,'' meaning there's no sock between boot and the player's foot.

``You can tell when a player doesn't wear socks immediately,'' he said. ``And sanitizing is a big part of the job.''

Morning practice ends at about 11:30 a.m. Rico then packs up a truck with all of the players' protective gear and underwear, and hauls it to Staples Center. After a few hours to eat lunch and take care of general housekeeping, he's back at the blade sharpener for some pregame tune-ups. He and his boss, Peter Millar, are also responsible for laying out the uniforms in the locker room.

Once the locker room is ready, Rico takes on a different persona. It's almost as if he's reached a heightened level of mental performance. He salutes his work with a slight bow of the head as he invites a reporter and photographer to scrutinize the fresh uniforms hanging at each locker.

By 7:30 p.m., it's game time. Rico packs a sanding device and ceramic pinchers in his pocket and then follows the players into the arena. His faces is expressionless. For the next several hours, he will stand on the left side of the bench to make quick fixes to puck-abused blades.

He knows that the players appreciate him despite their squirrelly dispositions. He also knows that his job will outlive most players' careers on the ice. So, in many ways, he's more than a professional hockey player.

It makes perfect sense why the son of Cuban immigrants took an interest in a sport so foreign to his native roots.

``I am the first one here everyday. And I'll be the last one to leave,'' said Rico, the corners of his mouth curling up.

Evan Pondel, [phone]

evan.pondel(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Rick `Rico' Garcia spends hours each day sharpening skates for the Kings. He's been with the team for nearly a decade.

(2 -- color) no caption (blade sharpening)

(3 -- color) no caption (Rick Garcia)

(4) ``If a player hurts himself on the ice because the blade isn't sharpened well or misses a goal or something, I do feel responsible,'' said Garcia, right, standing with arms folded on the Kings' bench during a recent game.

(5) ``We like Rico because he's good at what he does,'' said Derek Armstrong, left, talking with Garcia in the Kings' locker room.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

Box:

behind the scenes: RICK GARCIA