kim-musings...: stanley cup champions ... again!

Saturday, June 14, 2014

stanley cup champions ... again!

Approximately two years ago, I wrote a blog post here about the LA Kings first Stanley Cup Championship. As a long time Kings fan, that was a night I'd waited more than two decades for. It was unbelievable and amazing.

Tonight, on Friday the 13th, those same (for the most part) Kings did it again, becoming the 2014 Stanley Cup Champions.

This year, it was a lot harder. They were down 0-3 in the first round. They won in seven games, becoming only the fourth team in Stanley Cup history to come back and win from that deficit. They won rounds 2 and 3 in seven games too, with round 3 vs 2013 Champs Chicago being a double overtime win, courtesy of defensemen Alec Martinez.

In these Finals vs the New York Rangers, the Kings won Game 1 in OT. They won Game 2 in Double OT. They shut the Rangers out 3-0 in Game 3, and then lost Game 4, 1-2. The Rangers would not go down easily. Tonight, proved that point. Game 5 of the Finals went to Double OT too, with Alec Martinez once again scoring the double OT winner in what was the longest game in LA Kings history.

2012 was, after decades of trying, a remarkably easy playoff run.

2014 was hard!! And it proved you should never give up. And that if you #believe, anything is possible, even winning the most special trophy in all of sports.

Being present in the building for Double OT with that great trophy in the building... that close.. just waiting to be won... was mentally draining.

So rather than pontificate further about how special this win is (trust me, it is). Or how awesome this team is (cuz they are), I'm just going to post some photos and then go have a celebratory cocktail made from my legit Russian vodka I only break out on very special occasions... because being a Kings fan this year was awesome, but totally exhausting :)