Happy Stanley Cup-iversary! 5 Years Ago Today Dreams Came True

The 2011-12 NHL season was the worst of times and the best of times. The Los Angeles Kings, in their 44th season since their arrival during the expansion era of the late ’60’s was still without a Stanley Cup victory in their franchise’s history. Back then their only dance for the Cup painfully ended in heartbreak way back in June of 1993. Today on June 11th, 2017, officially marks the 5th year anniversary, or Cup-iversary of when the Kings changed everything, and steamrolled their way to become the Stanley Cup Champions for the first time ever, proving to their loyal and long time suffering fan base that dreams truly DO come true.

I honestly cannot believe how fast time flies, and how it feels like 2012 was only just yesterday, and how much of the Kings (and the World) has changed in that short time. But we are not here to dwell on who or what our LA Kings (or the world) are today or have become in 2017. We are here to celebrate and look back to a day that all of us will hold true in our memories and hearts forever, and the journey that got us there. So join me everyone, in our time machines and let’s go back to that historical season of 2011-12, when our Los Angeles Kings finally became the KINGS of the NHL.

It all started with a couple of trades. After two straight seasons of the Kings making it into the playoffs, in which they battled hard but still ended up getting eliminated in six games in both series by the Vancouver Canucks (in 2010), and the San Jose Sharks (in 2011, which had that stupid series winning, across the ice, knee sliding celebration from the Cupless Joe Thornton), Kings’ general manager Dean Lombardi had decided to change things up. On June 23, 2011, the banished Captain of the Philadelphia Flyers Mike Richards, along with Rob Bordson were traded to the Kings for the (still) popular Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn (not Luke), and a 2012 second round draft pick. It was the type of trade that rocked the hockey world.

At the time, Richards was a respected and highly praised work horse of a warrior that had led the 2003 Kitchener Rangers to the Memorial Cup as Captain, helped lead Team Canada to the 2005 World Junior Gold Medal also as Captain (on a team that included Sidney Crosby, Jeff Carter, Patrice Bergeron, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Brent Seabrook), and the 2005 Philadelphia Phantoms to the Calder Cup. Though he was the Captain and had helped lead the Flyers to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, his time in Philadelphia was troubled and controversial, due to a “party all night and everyday” reputation he developed with his “toxic twin” buddy and teammate Jeff Carter.

Led by the Flyers’ angered veteran and future Hall of Fame defenceman Chris Pronger, who didn’t get along with the two, the Flyers decided to split the two trouble makers up by trading them away to separate teams, (Carter went to Columbus but more on him later). Despite what would happen to Mike Richards in hindsight, for this 2011-12 season, or better yet, the 2012 playoffs, Richards was an extremely important acquisition to the roster by the Kings’ organization. Richards, (at least in his first two seasons in Los Angeles), helped change the culture in the Kings’ lockeroom with the addition of his leadership skills and natural competitiveness that made an immediate impression to the team’s young core of Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Jonathan Quick and Captain Dustin Brown, and a perfect merging with the other veteran leaders already on the team like Willie Mitchell, Matt Greene, Justin Williams and Rob Scuderi.

A day later on June 24th, 2011, another (but smaller) trade occurred when the Kings’ traded the disillusioned Ryan Smyth (who wanted out of Los Angeles due to the fear of he and his family living in the hood, known as … Manhattan Beach…HUH??? SAY WHAT NOW???) to the Edmonton Oilers for the injured Gilert Brule and a fourth round draft pick. The NHL blocked this trade due to the Kings’ possibly wanting to buy out Brule’s contract while he was injured, which is a no-no. A few days later, the trade finally went through when the Kings’ agreed to receiving the veteran forward and Stanley Cup Champion Colin Fraser instead, who turned out to be also injured. No one really knew it at the time, but once Fraser was healed up and returned to playing, he would become instrumental in solidifying the Kings’ fourth line once the playoff”s arrived along side Brad Richardson and Jordan Nolan.

On July 2, 2011, Lombardi then signed free agent left-winger (and former Philadelphia Flyer teammate of Mike Richards), Simon Gagne to help bolster the team’s offense, so all in all, the Kingdom was buzzing with excitement over the arrival and additions of Richards and Gagne to the team, and things started off well enough when the Kings’ started the regular season by beating the New York Rangers 3-2 in overtime in Stockholm, Sweden, (the Kings were participating in the NHL’s attempt of showcasing the league to European nations, as they will again for the upcoming 2017-18 season). Then everything started to fall apart.

Despite the roster additions, the Kings’ players, with the exception of goaltender Quick (who was having a career season), were all suffering from poor play and career low’s (which angered everyone I knew that had made the terrible life decision of selecting a Kings’ player for their hockey pool), especially in the offensive department, (hmm, I guess some things never do change). It also didn’t help that Gagne ended up suffering a concussion injury after only playing 37 games and was out for the rest of the regular season, (but not for the WHOLE season, more on that later). Dustin Penner, who had injured his back while reaching for some pancakes (no joke), was also dealing with some serious personal problems due to the separation with his then wife.

Disappointed with the season so far and feeling that the team was relying too much on playing a suffocating style of puck possession and defense and not enough offense, Lombardi fired head coach Terry Murray on December 12, 2011, and replacing him with “interim” (and future head coach) John Stevens, before hiring new head coach and former head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames (where he also served there as GM), long time Lombardi friend, Darryl Sutter. (Or as I thought at the time, the Kings got rid of one uber-defensive coach for a another but meaner uber-defensive coach and Sutter turned out to be truly that, but also a lot more). Stevens finished his time as the head coach with a 2-2 record before Sutter finally arrived (a bit late due to some commitments he still had on his farm in Viking, Alberta), and Stevens remained on as an assistant coach. Whatever changes coach Sutter immediately brought to the team were not noticed by the naked eye at first, but would reveal itself in spades come playoff time.

With Sutter now at the helm and Jonathan Quick breaking the laws of gravity with his brilliant play, the Kings started to win more frequently, but were still struggling with scoring goals and winning with any long consistency. There was still a piece of the roster’s puzzle missing so Lombardi decided to “roll the dice” once again and make another impact trade. On February 23, 2012, the Kings’ traded defenseman Jack Johnson and a conditional first round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets, for Mike Richard‘s “toxic twin/bestie/bff,” Jeff “Freaking” Carter! Boom! (During the time of this trade back then, Mike Richards was known and regarded as the “Ace” in this duo. Little did any of us know, that it would turn out to be the complete opposite, but that is another story.)

Johnson, who had been with the Kings’ since being traded to them in 2006 as a Carolina Hurricane prospect, had become expendable due to the emergence of the talented and younger defensemen Alec Martinez and Slava Voynov. (No word on if the real reason Johnson was traded to Columbus was because he did the “Tebow” after scoring a goal. To you young’ens out there. Before there was the “Dab”, there was the “Tebow!)

One trade that Lombardi did NOT make, though it was heavily rumored at the time that he would, was by not trading Captain Dustin Brown to the Toronto Maple Leafs. “Brownie,” now in his 8th season with the Kings, and 5th as the team’s Captain, was highly coveted by the Leafs’ GM Brian Burke. Rumors of Brown being moved trickled down to the Captain’s ears and he didn’t like it one bit. After personally talking to Lombardi and being assured that he was not going to be traded, Brown still took this as an insult and wanted to show his worth to Dean by picking up his game and scoring a hat-trick against the Blackhawks. Now motivated and angry, Brown would become a fiery wrecking ball (not Miley Cyrus) of destruction to every hapless Kings’ opponent that dared stand in his and his team’s path that arguably didn’t end until the end of the 2013-14 season. (I did say arguably).

With the roster to Lombardi’s and Sutter’s liking, the Kings’ focused on making the playoffs which still wasn’t guaranteed. In such a “up and down” like roller coaster of a season, the Kings were at times in second place or near the top of the Pacific Division after a win, or out of the playoffs completely after a loss. With the addition of Carter’s offensive attributes, the rejuvenated Brown, and talents of Quick, Kopitar and Doughty, the Kings were riding high until the final two games of the season, where the Kings face-offed against the rival Sharks in a “Battle for the Pacific” division. The Kings’ ended up losing both games, one game especially was marred by controversy when THIS happened, (and it STILL angers me to this day!), …

… and fell to the 8th and final playoff seed in the Western Conference. Whether if Clowe interfering with the puck, and not being called for a deserved penalty by the refs would have changed the fate of the 2011-12 LA Kings, we will never know. Maybe there would have been a different outcome in the end, as the Kings would have faced against different opponents in the playoffs? Who knows and who cares? What we DO know, is what actually happened, and with the Kings qualifying for the playoffs as the 8th seed, it meant that they would be squaring off against the 2010-11 & 2011-12 President’s Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks. More or less the same Canucks’ team, led by the twin duo of Henrik and Daniel Sedin, that eliminated the Kings’ in 6 games just two years prior. No one gave the Kings a chance in hell then and still didn’t now and who could blame them? The Canucks were the darlings of the Western Conference and where one game away from winning the Stanley Cup against the Boston Bruins just a year before, (which of course they didn’t after blowing a 3-2 series lead and losing game 7 at home in Vancouver, which led to severe rioting and an attempt to burn the city down by it’s own citizens. Sigh). The Kings were average at best all season long and probably would NOT have made the playoffs at all if it wasn’t for the outstanding goaltending by Jonathan Quick, (which should have made a strong case that Quick should have been nominated for the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP, along with the Vezina Trophy nomination that he did end up receiving). What occurred next became … well … historical.

If the Kings were supposed to be the weaker team to the mighty Stanley Cup contending Canucks, then you would never have been able to tell that at all if you had watched this series with your own eyes. In what turned out to be a complete mis-match, the Kings DOMINATED the Canucks by out-playing them completely, and taking them out of the Cup hunt by eliminating them in 5 games. The hockey world was stunned.

As Kings’ fans, who could forget the masterful performance of our Kings in that first round series? Were they even the same team that we had suffered with during the regular season? It was as if they were now a completely different team! And here comes the Darryl Sutter factor. If former coach Terry Murray had taught these Kings how to play defense, then Sutter was teaching them how to compete as warriors and the results were terrifying to the rest of the league, or at least to the teams that unfortunately faced the Kings in these playoffs. To the rest of the hockey world, including up here in Canada, it wasn’t until the 2013 season, or even the 2013-14 season where everyone finally started to take the Kings’ seriously and showed them some respect, (with some minor exceptions of course to Hockey Night in Canada’s Don Cherry and Elliott Freidman and the greatest coach in hockey history, Scotty Bowman (and my life long Leaf loving cousin Gary), who were already praising the Kings and predicting that they could go very far in these playoffs after this series with the Canucks, and with Cherry and my brother in law, the lifelong “Habs” loving Derno predicting that the Kings were going to go all the way by winning the Cup! But I’m still giving the evil eye to you anti-Kings nay-sayers Pierre Maguire and John Shannon! Shame!)

Memorable moments from this series have now become legendary and iconic to us in the Kingdom, forever sewn into Kings’ history and lore. Like when the Captain Dustin Brown, playing like a raging bull, legally bulldozed over Vancouver Captain Henrik Sedin, right in front of his own bench, leaving him in a twisted heap and with a message that the Kings’ weren’t there to mess around with, they were there to WIN. Plus Brown’s constant harassment and all out offensive attack on goalie Roberto Luongo throughout the series that left “Luuuuuuu’s” head spinning to the point that the Canucks’ management started to doubt that he was the right man for the job in their crease. (I’m pretty sure that Luongo is still having nightmares about the former LA Kings’ Captain to this very day.)  There was also the acrobatic and elastic like flexibility of Jonathan Quick, as he defied the laws of nature by denying the Canucks an upper hand at every turn. And the “CPR” line, or as other’s had called it, the “Redemption” line of Jeff Carter, Dustin Penner and Mike Richards as they controlled every game with a mean chip on their shoulder, metaphorically sticking up their middle fingers to anyone that had previously doubted them. (#PlayoffPenner especially was saying “F’ off to pancakes!) And best of all, the overtime goal that won the series, created when Trevor Lewis forced a turnover that led to Jarret Stoll picking up the puck and sniping the series winner over the shoulder of Canucks’ back up goaltender Cory Schneider, (who had replaced the shell shocked Luongo), creating a devastating vacuum to everyone’s predicted playoff brackets right off the hop. For those that thought that this upset was only going to be a one time thing, they were greatly mistaken, as the Kings were only just getting warmed up.

The Kings next faced the St. Louis Blues, who had finished second in the Western Conference and had eliminated the Ryan Clowe led … (sorry, I can’t say that without laughing) … San Jose Sharks in 5 games. The Blues were built similarly like the Kings, with size and strength, powerful up the middle, a suffocating defense and strong goaltending. Unlike the Kings, the Blues were praised, especially head coach Ken Hitchcock, (who had coached the Dallas Stars to the 1999 Stanley Cup and would go on to win the 2012 Jack Adams Trophy for coach of the year) and were the heavy favorites over the Kings to win the series. Oops, as the Kings took them out in a one sided four game sweep and found themselves in the Conference Finals for the first time since 1993, when some dudes by the names of Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille, Rob Blake and Kelly Hrudey led the Kings’ army. If Brown, Carter, Richards, Penner, Stoll, Lewis and Quick were the heroes of the first series against Vancouver, this series saw the emergence of some more of the calvary as Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Dwight King and the energy spark of the fourth line of Fraser, Richardson and Nolan started contributing heavily to the cause, (this is the series where we got to see Colin Fraser bleed out of BOTH sides of one eye! I REPEAT HE WAS BLEEDING OUT OF BOTH SIDES OF ONE EYE AND KEPT PLAYING LIKE IT WAS ONLY A MINOR BOO-BOO! WHAT A WARRIOR!)

Besides Fraser’s bleeding eye, other memorable moments from this short series were when Mike Richards achieved the “Gordie Howe hat-trick” with a goal, an assist and a fight in game 2 …

… Kopitar’s amazing short-handed goal also in game 2 …

… and with Captain Brown scoring the empty net goal that sealed St. Louis’ doom in game 4, pushing the Kings into the “final four” and then Brown almost getting crushed by an excited and giant Anze Kopitar, who leaped straight into him, assuming of course that Brown was going to able to catch him! He couldn’t and they crashed into the ice. The Blues had no idea what hit them, (and if they did and forgot … they were going to be reminded again during the following season’s playoffs, but that’s another story). On to the 2012 Western Conference Finals!

The Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes were tagged with being the “Cinderella” team of the 2012 playoffs. Led by Captain (and pest) Shane Doan and goalie (and pest) Mike Smith, the team of head coach and former LA Kings’ assistant coach, (and pest) Dave Tippett were the darlings of the hockey media. Owned by the NHL due to the franchise’s long struggles with ownership, the “Yotes” fought their way to their first Conference Final in their franchise’s history. In their way, the Pacific Division rival LA Kings, and despite this series only going five games in the Kings’ favor, it was actually a brutal and intensely hard fought WAR between the Kings who were this unstoppable force, against the Coyotes, who had become an unmovable object… well until the Kings moved them of course. This series was NOT for the faint of heart, especially for Kings’ fans as once the Coyotes realized that they weren’t going to be able to outplay the Kings, they resorted to some seriously dangerous, dirty hockey instead. From Shane Doan and Martin Hanzal boarding Lewis and Brown from behind, to Mike Smith doing his best Billy Smith and Ron Hextall (who ironically was the Kings’ assistant GM at the time) impersonations by hacking Brown at his knees, (MAN, the Coyotes had a serious hate on for Dustin Brown), the so called “Cinderella” team, were anything but.

Game 5 especially was an intense back and forth slug-fest that needed overtime to conclude, and what a conclusion it was. With the emergence in this series of Jeff Carter, (who after a slow start was now finally comfortable wearing the Kings’ armor and doing some serious damage to his opponents), and yet another evolutionary step towards the elite in the play of Kopitar (who seemed to be scoring at will now, especially on breakaways), …

… and Drew Doughty, (who was growing from a goofy boy with massive potential to a goofy man showing off his massive potential, especially when he Bill Goldberg speared Shane Doan in a moment that made me jump up and cheer with pride), …

… Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick’s games though, started to fall off slightly. Becoming a massive target by the Coyotes, and becoming rather invisible in this series after lighting the world (and the Canucks and Blues) on fire, Brown returned to the limelight with a bang. Like literally, in what I call “Brownie’s revenge,” Brown CRUSHED Phoenix defenseman Mike Rozsival with a collision that was so strong that it also knocked the nearby Kopitar off of his feet. It also looked like an illegal and dirty knee on knee hit in real time. So much so, that the Coyote players completely LOST THEIR MINDS WITH RAGE! Shane Doan, Mike Smith and coach Tippett especially were crying foul that Brown purposely had the intent to injury Rozsival with a knee on knee hit, (which is funny considering how dirty the ‘Yotes were playing themselves during the entire series, and their own defenseman Derek Morris doing a knee on knee hit on Scuderi earlier in game 2, but whatever), but the refs weren’t listening. It took a while for play to resume as Rozsivel had to be helped off the ice and the Coyotes’ weren’t done screaming bloody murder at the refs, the Kings or to anyone within reach. Now here’s the thing. Whether Brown did or did not intend on hurting Rozsival is something only he can reveal, but if you slow down the video replay of the hit, you will see that Brown is actually positioned for a body check, not a knee on knee hit, but Rozsival attempted to move out of the way to avoid the hit, but left his leg behind which accidentally collided with Brown’s leg in the moment of impact. In no time at all did Dustin Brown purposely stick out his own leg to injury Rozsival’s, a realization that even the NBC commentators pointed out. Rozsival’s ill-timed escape and change of direction at the very last second exposed his leg to the collision. In real time, it looked worse than what it really was, and in the end, the Coyote’s were acting like his leg had exploded into a thousand pieces when in truth, it only turned out to be a deep bruise. (Rozsival would go on to be fine and get his revenge on Brown and the Kings by helping his Chicago Blackhawks eliminate them in the 2013 Western Conference Final and then go on to win the Stanley Cup, but that is another story).

Still, the Captain had got into their heads and the “CRY-OTES” had become rattled and unhinged. So much so that the game and series was over with the very next play, when Mike Richards won the face-off and got the puck to Penner, who back passed the puck to a rushing Jeff Carter. Carter took a shot on net which was saved by the still fuming Mike Smith but he couldn’t control the rebound as the puck bounced off of him …  and then past the stick swinging but missing Mike Richards … and then past not one, but two Coyote defensemen … and landed right on to the blade of Dustin Penner, who made no mistake with it and wrist shot the puck into the net and the Kings into the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1993. The fan(s) of the Coyotes were stunned silent, even crying, while the “CRYotes”, now even angrier, continued to protest to the refs about the Rozsival hit, which led to Doan and Smith threatening Dustin Brown and Dustin Penner during the handshake line, (which Penner replied to Doan that he would stay and chat but he had a plane to the Stanley Cup Final to catch!) and whining to the league (aka their owners) about it all summer with their conspiracy theories until the league finally told them to shut-up and grow up. The Coyotes haven’t returned to the Stanley Cup playoffs since.

(WATCH THE ABOVE VIDEO NOW AND WITH THE VOLUME CRANKED! GO KINGS GO!!!)

The Kings on the other hand, celebrated with joy and returned to Los Angeles and were unexpectedly and happily greeted by thousands of Kings’ fans who were waiting for them in the middle of the night at LAX airport in an awesome, heartfelt moment that still chokes me up and gets me teary eyed to this very day.

On to the Stanley Cup Final!

Standing in their way of the Stanley Cup was the Martin Brodeur led New Jersey Devils, who had taken out the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final, (no worries New York, we would get our hands on you too soon enough). Many were still betting against the Kings, but if the Kings were going to slow down their devastating momentum, it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. In game one, the pesky Colin Fraser scored the first goal of the Final and started the Kings’ on the right foot/skate. The Devils were able to tie things up and things stayed at a defensive stalemate as both teams played with complete caution, while feeling the other out. That is until in overtime when Doughty got the puck up to Justin Williams, who was covered by two New Jersey defensemen but yet still got the puck somehow to a wide open Kopitar, who skated all alone towards Brodeur and deeked him out of his goalie shorts for the game winner! (Like I said, Kopitar was so on point in these playoffs, it was as if he could score purely at will!)

In game 2, things were still defensively tight and this game ended up going to overtime as well, but two brilliant offensive plays were still made by Kings. First when the future Norris Trophy winning Drew Doughty finally and officially arrived to the elite level of the NHL when he opened up the scoring with an end to end play that would’ve made any Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey supporter shake their heads with approval …

… and then when the one and only Jeff Carter scored the overtime winner with a picture perfect laser of a wrist shot after picking up his own rebound just because that’s how “El Jefe” rolls.

In game 3, the floodgates were pushed wide open as the Kings exploded with offense and won the game 4-0. We also saw the return of Simon Gagne, who returned from his injury in time to join in on the fun. He was placed on the fourth line with Fraser and Nolan, which sadly meant that Brad Richardson was a healthy scratch, (in a move I still totally disagree with. I am happy that Gagne was able to participate in the Final and therefore get his name on the Cup but Richardson didn’t deserve to the benched. With him out of the series, and with no disrespect to Gagne, the 4th line lost some of their magic and spunk with that move, which greatly effected and limited their contributions for the rest of the series. You should never mess with chemistry, especially in the Stanley Cup Final). With the entire team firing on all cylinders and with Jonathan Quick morphing back into the impenetrable wall like he was in the first two rounds of these playoffs, the Kings were now only one win away from winning the Stanley Cup for the first time ever. This series and the holy grail of hockey was in the bag … or was it???

Looking like this series was completely over and the Stanley Cup was finally Los Angeles’ to take, the pressure and realization of winning the Cup ended up getting into their heads and the Kings for the first time in these playoffs stumbled and lost two games in a row. Both games were close so the Kings weren’t blown out of the water or anything, but they did play nervously and very sloppy and it hurt them. New Jersey took advantage of the situation and desperately extended the series to six games, with game 6 back in Los Angeles. After an inspiring speech by Justin Williams to his teammates in the locker room before the game started, game 6 started out as a defensively tight and cautious game until fate intervened.

In a play that happened in a blink of an eye, Kings’ defenseman (and in my opinion, a real life T-800 Terminator) Rob Scuderi was boarded from behind in a viciously careless hit from New Jersey’s Stephen Bernier, that was so hard that it was probably heard in space, (and moments after Jarret Stoll had just boarded a Devils’ player himself that wasn’t called by the refs, or seemed as vicious in comparison to one Scuderi was hit with). If no one knew it at that time, at that very moment with Scuderi hunched over in pain, bleeding and being helped up by his supportive teammates, the Stanley Cup Final was as good as over, and won by our Los Angeles Kings. Bernier received a 5 minute major boarding penalty and a game misconduct, which allowed the Kings to wake up and score not one, not two but three goals during that 5 minute power-play, (for those that don’t know, a major penalty means that the short handed team will remain short handed regardless if the opposing team scores or not during the entire duration of the penalty). First it was a goal by Captain Dustin Brown, with a perfect tip in from a shot by Doughty, …

… and then it looked like the next goal was by Brown as well, after he skated with the puck in the slot after a fine pass from Richards and fired in the goal, but replay’s showed that Jeff Carter had actually tipped the puck into the net, (this goal turned out to be the Stanley Cup winning goal), and then finally with the ever reliable Trevor Lewis, knocking the loose puck in the net after a rush by Dwight King and just like that, the Kings were up 3-0 in the game, and the game, series and Cup were too far out of reach for New Jersey to recover.

 

Proving that he wasn’t human, (he’s a T-800 Terminator remember?), Scuderi, complete with 36 stitches to his nose, lip and mouth returned to the game in the second period. The Kings’ then scored again when Devils’ defenseman Anton Volchenkov accidentally (and hilariously) ran into one of the linesmen and took him out, which led to Brown setting up Carter for another goal. The Devil’s were able to save some face by getting one goal back when Adam Henrique scored, but the Kings’ showed that they weren’t done yet when Trevor Lewis scored another goal, this time into an empty net after Brodeur was pulled for an extra attacker. Then with Brodeur back in net, Matt Greene (of all players) scored another goal :15 seconds later to make it 6-1 for Los Angeles, before time seemed to slow down in real time before the game ended and history was made. The time was running down on the clock, and the Staples Center faithful were counting each second down with anxious anticipation to blow the roof off with celebration, but now everything seemed to be taking forever.

Maybe it was me, being down on my knees as an emotional wreck, praying to the Hockey Gods while surrounded by every LA Kings’ jersey that I had ever owned from when I was 9 years old back in April 1987 and to that historical day, (I obviously brought my jerseys and spread them out all over the room just so they could witness history in the making along with me), or the fact that I had dreamed of this Stanley Cup winning scenario a billion teams in my sleep, only to wake up confused and disappointed, desperately trying to grasp and hold on to the Stanley Cup victory dream until it faded and disappeared with reality, (which is why to this day I have the 2012 Stanley Cup winning Kings’ team on the ice photo right beside my bed so when I wake up, I am reminded that it was no longer just a dream but now a reality and in case that doesn’t do the trick, I also have the 2014 Stanley Cup winning team on the ice photo right above my head), or because June 11th is a day before my birthday, June 12 and since I live in eastern Canada, by the time the game was over, and the Cup was ours, the clock had made it past midnight here, officially making it my actual birthday when Captain Dustin Brown became the first ever Los Angeles Kings’ player and Captain to lift up the Stanley Cup in victory, (and what an amazing birthday gift that was!), …

… or like to everyone else in the Kingdom, this was a dream finally coming true. Time had slowed down because for years and decades, the Kings had failed at winning, or usually found new and unusually cruel ways of failing at winning and sadly, we as Kings’ fans were used to it. Whether it was getting smoked after the “Miracle on Manchester” in the second round in 1982, or getting smoked and swept in the second rounds of the 1989 and 1990 playoffs after defeating and eliminating the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, or the disappointing overtime loss in game 6 of the second round series of the 1991 playoffs, or the illegal stick of Marty McSorley that sealed our fate against Montreal in the 1993 Stanley Cup Final, the Kings had always found a way to give us hope, only then to crash and burn and take all our hopes down with it. The entire 2012 Stanley Cup run by the Kings had been nothing but an excruciating experience for me as I constantly waited for the bottom to fall out, to the point that I was so extremely stressed out that I was becoming sick by not eating or sleeping properly because I wanted the Kings, I wanted these Kings to win the Cup sooo badly, that I was absolutely terrified of allowing myself to believe that they could actually pull this off, in case it would emotionally crush me “if” and “when” the Kings’ failed, like I was in 1989 or 1993, or 2001, or 2002, etc. Time had slowed down because I was allowing it to, still waiting for something to go tragically wrong, despite the 6-1 score in the game, and the 3-2 series lead by the Kings, because that was all I ever really knew. That was how we were all brainwashed as long time Kings’ fans. To expect failure. I now know a lot of long time Kings’ fans who later told me that they felt and experienced the exact same agony as I did, which was actually very therapeutically healing for me to know that it wasn’t just me. And despite all of our painful memories of the past and all of our fears and anxieties, time may have slowed down, but that clock never stopped clicking down until it reached 0:00, and that score remained 6-1 for the Kings. The game, the series, the season and the curse was finally over, and we won.

Legendary Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Miller started talking into his long awaited and tear inducing victory speech, while many in the Staples Center were losing their minds with happiness and tears while demandingly shouting, “WE WANT THE CUP!” (I didn’t know it yet at the time, but many of those fans that were there witnessing this historical event unfolding LIVE at the Staples Center, would go on to become my close friends and family). I started breaking down with tears as this heavy burden of my team never winning the Cup had finally lifted off of my shoulders, had lifted off of ALL of our shoulders, and I let out a triumphant cry that I had been holding in deep inside for 25 years. As soon as the soon to be awarded Conn Smythe Trophy winning Jonathan Quick raised his arms and head in victory at the same exact moment when Drew Doughty, who was facing him, threw down his gloves in victory, and as their teammates were rushing down the ice towards them, it created a moment that seemed to positively stand frozen in time, just enough to allow us all to take a necessary and long deserved stress relieving deep breath before all celebratory hell broke loose and the real fun began, (and I started running up and down my street with my Kings’ gear on and armed with my giant Kings’ flag and a Gretzky Kings’ poster I had on my wall, screaming, crying and celebrating at the top of my lungs in the middle of the night, later finding out that I had indeed woken up most of my neighbors who had to go to work in a few hours, but I didn’t care. I was finally living the dream. I still do feel bad though for that couple whose car I stopped in the middle of the road and scared to death while screaming repeatedly “GO KINGS GO!!!” while waving my Kings’ flag and Gretzky poster violently in the air and sobbing like a madman, while they did the sign of the cross and hoped for the best. So whoever you two were and wherever you two are now, mea culpa). Failure was no longer and never again the only option that we all knew.

On June 11th, 2012, all of our dreams had come true as the Los Angeles Kings, our Los Angeles Kings, were finally the Stanley Cup Champions! And records were broken as well as the Kings were the first and only 8th seeded team in history to win the Stanley Cup. They were also the first ever team ever to defeat the first, second and third seeded teams on their way to winning the Cup, and tied the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens for second overall with a 16-4 playoff record. The 1976-77 Canadiens still hold the record of 16-2, a mark that these Kings came close to tying before game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. Our Road Warriors (not Hawk and Animal) also tied the overall record for the most road wins in one single playoffs with 10, and shattered the consecutive road wins records with 12, which streak had started back to the opening round of the 2010-11 playoffs vs. San Jose.

And to think that this all happened 5 years ago today. Like I said earlier, it still feels like it only happened yesterday. Today Dustin Brown is still with the team but doesn’t wear the “C” anymore, (and don’t get me started on that one as I’m still pissed about how that was all handled by Kings’ management). Mike Richards and the Kings (aka Dean Lombardi) had a very public and nasty divorce, and Richards isn’t even good enough now to play in the NHL anymore, as his rapid decline in health and skill was one of the saddest things that I ever saw in all the years that I have watched hockey. Slava Voynov got suspended by the Kings AND the NHL after a horrible domestic dispute with his wife after the team’s Halloween party in 2014 and “voluntarily” went back to Russia. Justin Williams left as a free agent and went to Washington, while Willie Mitchell and Jarret Stoll also left and then retired, as are Dustin Penner, Colin Fraser and Simon Gagne. Brad Richardson and Rob Scuderi left but the “Scudinator 2 : Judgment Day” came back to the Kings for a bit, but most likely has now finished his playing career with the Ontario Reign in the AHL. Matt Greene has become injury prone and now barely plays period. Even Dean Lombardi and Darryl Sutter are no longer with the Kings’ anymore, while Bob Miller had to retire due to health issues, (but thankfully he will still be visiting us from time to time). So even though it seemed like only yesterday, so much has changed since that magical day of June 11th, 2012. Regardless, these teammates and their names will stay and live on together, forever immortalized on the Stanley Cup and in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Now back to reality in 2017 and with the Kings missing out on the playoffs twice in the last 3 years, times have gotten dark again for us in the Kingdom, but it isn’t without hope. The core of current “Captain” Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick is still intact, and the recent re-signings of restricted free agents Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson, (who weren’t a part of the 2012 Cup winning Kings’ but would go on to play a huge roll for the second Cup run), by the current front office regime of King’s legend and Hall of Famer Rob Blake as the Kings’ new general manager, Team Vice-President and assistant general manager Mike Futa, along with another Kings’ legend, Hall of Famer and Team President of all things LA Kings,  Luc Robitaille, are showing much promise with their management skills thus far, (plus when has Robitaille ever let the Kingdown down? I know right? HE NEVER HAS!!!). Times have changed and the future might be uncertain, but it’s not without both hope and promise.

So Happy 5th first Stanley Cup-iversary everyone, and let’s forget about today’s troubles and uncertainties and let us fondly remember a wonderful and important time that effected all of our lives here in the Kingdom and for the better. Who knows, maybe one day we will have another Stanley Cup victory celebration day to immortalize, or maybe we won’t, but either way June 11, 2012 will live on forever in our memories, in our hearts and in hockey history, as it should be always able to stand tall to remind us that sometimes, yes sometimes, dreams do come true …

… like they did again on June 13th, 2014 when the Kings defeated the Rangers in 5 games with a double overtime Cup winning goal by Alec Martinez to win their second Stanley Cup in franchise history in even more record breaking and epic fashion!!!  … But that is another story … that will be happily retold in two years time.

HAPPY 5TH FIRST STANLEY CUP-IVERSARY KINGS’ FANS AND GO KINGS GO!!!

*Props to the talented JM Salsa for his amazing YouTube montages of the Kings’ legendary Cup run. Just brilliant and so well done!

** And to CBC and Hockey Night in Canada for theirs!

 

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3 Comments

1. 

   Ed Shapiro

   June 11, 2017 at 1:46 pm

   Thank you for the recap! #GKG
   • 

     Jeff Duarte

     June 12, 2017 at 12:12 am

     My pleasure! Go Kings Go!!!
   • 

     Jeff Duarte

     June 13, 2017 at 5:25 am

     Hey Ed, I’m glad you enjoyed it! GKG!