GRETZKY GETS HOMECOMING HE DESERVES.

Byline: Michael Ventre

I went to the Forum Monday night to see if the fans there in any way compared to the swine that booed Wayne Gretzky in Anaheim. I'm pleased to report that most of the Kings fans had a deeper appreciation for The Great One and his impact on hockey in this region than did their cretinous cousins to the south.

When Gretzky - who had a goal and an assist in the St. Louis Blues' 3-1 victory - took the ice for warmups prior to the anthems, he was greeted with the kind of ovation he deserves. Not a Cal Ripken pent-up emotional outburst kind of ovation, mind you, but a nice little round of applause.

Whatever you want to say about Kings fans - fickle or devoted, clueless or knowledgeable, passive or rabid - they at least have sense enough not to make national news by acting as ingrates and jeering a legend.

The first clue that this might be a vast departure from the ugliness submitted by the Anaheim Pond scum on Sunday came with about eight minutes before the opening faceoff. On the video scoreboard, the Kings played a brief retrospective of Gretzky's time here. Most of the rapid-fire highlight reel showed Gretzky scoring and the Kings celebrating. At the end, the message read: "Thank you, Wayne!"

It was the first message in weeks that the Kings didn't send to Gretzky via either an attorney or the media.

Gretzky then got a rousing roar - with just a smattering of boos from the cro magnon section - when lineups were announced.

During the anthem, shouts of "We love you, Wayne!" and "You're the man, Wayne!" could be heard. I don't approve of that sort of thing, and I don't want to get into a Mahmoud area here, but when Kings fans start to act like Rangers fans, you can understand the depth of their fanaticism.

The first period seemed to suggest that this game would not live up to the anticipation. First off, there were a good number of empty seats. Speculation had it that these no-shows were disgruntled Kings fans upset by the Gretzky trade who swore they'd never attend another game. Did they love Gretzky enough to override their antipathy toward the Kings and celebrate his return? This debate is enough to keep the average Angeleno affixed to his sofa.

The game evolved into the kind of event that you feared would either feature the headliner little, or not at all. Gretzky fed Brett Hull from behind the net with a nice scoring chance early in the game, but the shot was smothered. Aside from that and a Kings opportunity that hit the post in the first stanza, the play was ragged and the drama was minimal.

The atmosphere reminded me of an indisputable fact about Kings hockey in the post-Gretzky era. That is, without the superstar - indeed, without Jari Kurri or Marty McSorley - the Kings are a faceless bunch with some pluck but almost no identity. What Gretzky did in his stay here was build hockey interest to a crescendo; what his return Monday night indicated was that the electricity may be gone for good.

Some of the biggest thunder of the night came with 17:54 left in the second, when goaltender Kelly Hrudey - another unappreciated King who will probably be unceremoniously dumped after this toothache of a season - stopped a breakaway attempt by Blues winger Steve Leach. The fans bathed Hrudey in appreciative applause.

Soon after, the video board displayed a fan with Monday night's giveaway - a license plate cover. It said, "Buy Recycled Los Angeles Kings." I think the message was supposed to be separated into two parts by a long dash. Then again, maybe not.

Finally, Gretzky figured in the scoring. He put in a controversial goal from the left wing - a goal that the Kings claimed was the result of interference in Hrudey's goal mouth - and when it was posted on the board, more fans cheered than didn't. Gretzky now has 20 goals and 94 points on the season; the nearest King is Ray Ferraro with 26 goals and 55 points.

A King named Doug Zmolek scored to tie it soon afterward at 1-1. The only

thing I know about Zmolek is that it is kelomz spelled backward. Gretzky energized the spectators again, assisting on Stephane Matteau's tiebreaker that made it 2-1 in the second.

Yet in the category of crowd reaction, a non-goal happening got the prize, even ahead of Gretzky. That came midway through the third, when the fans spotted the recuperating Tony Granato and cheered wildly.

But the most obvious conclusion I came to at night's end is that Gretzky was still the best player on the Forum ice. Too bad he was wearing an away uniform.