KINGS OF THE WORLD

It began in 1967, when the National Hockey League thought that residents in the desert, they call Southern California would leave the warmth outside and watch 6 players in Forum Blue and Gold whack at a rubber puck for 60 minutes on a sheet of ice.  It is now 45 years later, and the Kings of Los Angeles are the Monarchs over Lord Stanley's cup.."Great Job, Great Effort," as they would say in Miami...

The Kings have gone through a lot of angst this season with lackluster scoring, a coaching, change, and then a mad dash to make the playoffs.  Kings fans were bewildered, resigned to another ho hum season, despite acquisitions of famed veterans who played for the cup in 2010.  The Kings then made the bold move of replacing coach Terry Murray and shipping their prized defenseman, Jack Johnson off to Columbus, for Jeff Carter.  The results are 16 playoff victories, a parade of the most prized symbol in sports, the Stanley Cup, and a parade through Los Angeles, not to celebrate the Lakers, but the group of hard working boys emblazoned in black, silver, and white with a touch of purple from time to time.

I was at the Forum when we thought the Kings would jump on the back of Gretzky in 1993 only to have an illegal stick reverse the tide of momentum that year.  We thought the Kings might have something as they upset the Redwings, but they did not advance.  We even saw our hated rivals to the south, who originated from a Disney movie, win the cup.  We were turning into the Chicago Cubs of Hockey.  You see hockey is an underground sport in Southern California. There was the ice at Topange Plaza and the now gone Iceoplex in North Hills, but the lust for a cup was not lost on those who would trek to the Staples Center hoping for a chance at the cup.

2012 was an unlikely year for the Kings to win the Stanley Cup, but their effort and stick-toitness is what hockey and sports is about..TEAMWORK and HARD WORK.  Hockey is one of the most exhausting sports to play.  You are speeding on ice skates hauling around pounds of equipment trying to swing at a piece of frozen rubber skipping down the frozen sheet at high rates of speed while the other team is trying to make you a permanent fixture on the boards, or the most popular patient at the cosmetic dentist's office.  Hockey players are truly great athletes with the grit to play hard as a team for the sport's holy grail.  It has been a long wait my friends, but now we have a new resident in Los Angeles, and it is Lord Stanley's Cup.  Way to go Boys!