The electric crowd was counting down the seconds, the players were restless in their excitement and Luc was holding back the tears that were fighting their way free. The buzzard had sounded and the roar that blasted out of the Staples Center was one that he had dreamed about ever since he was drafted to the team way back in 1984. After 45 years since they entered the NHL as an expansion team, the Los Angeles Kings had finally won the Stanley Cup and he was a part of it. Maybe it wasn’t exactly the way he originally had envisioned it as now he was an executive for the organization instead of a player but so what? It felt just as sweet.
After a 2 year stint in Detroit, he returned home to Los Angeles to finish his career where it started and try his best at one more crack to complete his quest. There, he would break the record as the highest scoring left winger in NHL history with 668 career goals.
He also broke Dionne’s and the club’s all time goals record with 557 goals. For his final 2 games before he retired the team even allowed him to wear the Captain’s “C” again. It was a bittersweet end to the season and to a career after a promising 2005-06 season had the Kings in second place of the Western Conference during the mid-way break, only to completely collapse to the bottom of the conference and completely miss the playoffs by the end. Instead of ending his career finally lifting the Cup with his beloved Los Angeles Kings in front of the Kingdom, he last game ever turned out to be a nothing road game in San Jose.
To the credit of the San Jose crowd and the Kings fans that made the trek there to witness the game, Luc received a standing ovation from both the crowd and all the players from both teams and he was touched and honored by their sentiment but there was still something bugging him. After all that the Los Angeles Kings team, organization and city had done for him and his family ever since 1984, handing them the Stanley Cup would’ve been his final and greatest thank you gift to give back to them. Now here, in front of hockey world after the final game of his career, with his hand waving its final goodbye, like the greats Dionne and Gretzky before him, he had failed in delivering the Kingdom the Stanley Cup. Like Dionne and Gretzky, he had failed the same quest that they were on … or so he thought.
In a few short years he was offered an executive position with the Kings organization and had his number “20” retired by the club.
He also joined the game’s elite by being voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and was eventually promoted to become the King’s president of business operations.
After all these years, and playoff eliminations, and hardships and heartbreak, and all the trades from LA and returns to the LA Kings, the successes and the failures, someone finally passed him the Stanley Cup and he lifted it as high above his head as he possibly could for the whole world to see. He had finally won the Stanley Cup as a Los Angeles King. The Quest was finally completed …
Born and raised in southern Ontario, Jeff has been enamored with the sport of hockey for as long as he can remember. A musician, a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a former amateur boxer, Jeff has many interests but none more important than spending time with his beautiful wife and writing about the enigma, heartbreak and triumph of his beloved Los Angeles Kings.
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