Seeing their faces close-up, hearing them speak. So happy! They worked so hard. And they did something truly remarkable. The Kings were a 75-1 long shot to win the Stanley Cup at the beginning of the season. Since then, they fired one coach, and hired another. They struggled to score goals and barely made the playoffs, scraping in as the 8th seed just two games before the end of the regular season. But once they got there, they knocked off the #1, #2 and #3 seeds in the West.
Then they took a 3-0 lead against the Eastern Champions, and one of the best goaltenders -- Martin Broudeur -- to ever play in the NHL. Games 4 and 5, which they lost due to bad luck and stupid mistakes, nearly broke me as a fan. All my doubts -- ingrained over 24 years of disappointment -- about their ability to win came back. I actually thought about selling my tickets tonight -- they were going for $1,200 to $9,999 each on stubhub.com, and I knew I couldn't sit through another three hours of nervous nausea like I'd experienced in Games 4 and 5.
But I also knew if they won tonight and I wasn't there, I'd slit my wrists. So I drove to Staples Center, for the 9th time in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, this time with my Dad because if they were going to win, I wanted a family member there with me to experience it. (My little brother had come with me to Game 4.) I was wearing what I wore last Monday when they won 4-0. I ordered the exact same drink and food. And I sat in the exact same seat -- row 7, seat 8. And tonight, I watched my Kings completely eviscerate that future Hall of Fame goaltender... scoring 6 goals (5 with him in net) before it was all over. They came out hard. These were the Kings of Game 3, not the Kings who let nerves get to them in Games 4 and 5. And because of that, these Kings ARE the 2012 Stanley Cup Champions!
Here are some of the sights of Game 6 -- the game when the Kings were finally crowned Champions!
From the awesome pre-game video:
After goals by Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter and Trevor Lewis during the 5-minute major boarding penalty (Rob Scuderi really took one for the team with that hit. So glad he wasn't seriously injured and came back to play. He's really gonna feel that tomorrow, but something tells me he won't care :)
Jeff Carter scores goal #2 for him and #4 for the rest of us :)
Me and Dad during 2nd intermission... kinda grainy cuz I had to pump up the color levels to make us visible under the super-bright florescent lights.
The final stats
Dustin "Pancakes" Penner (who said he'd mix pancake batter in the bowl of the Cup if he won it again ;) passes Lord Stanley's Cup to Jonathan Quick.
Conn Smythe Winner, Stanley Cup Champ and most likely Vezina Trophy Winner Jonathan Quick hoists the Cup!
Drew Doughty celebrates!
The Captain presents the Cup to the Kings elusive owner Phil Anschutz at the bench.
Luuuuuuuuuuc Robitaille finally lifts the Cup as a KING!! (He won it as a player, but had to go to Detroit to do it)
Willie Mitchell with the Cup, surrounded by press, players and their families
The photo I've been waiting 24 years for! (Love that Luc and former King/now special assistant to the coach Bernie Nicholls snuck in there on the right :)
And this just makes me smile.. Dustin Brown with one of his three mini-me sons (photo stolen from the awesome LA Kings twitter feed :)
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