STANLEY CUP FINAL GAME #1
LA KINGS
40-27-15
95 pts, 8th in Western Conference, 13th in NHL
vs
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
48-28-6
102 pts, 6th in Eastern Conference, 9th in NHL
Devils Won Season Series 2-0
5:00pm, Prudential Center
Newark, New Jersey
NBC
BEST PLAYER TO WEAR BOTH COLORS THAT PLAYED
IN THE 1993 STANLEY CUP FINAL FOR THE KINGS:
BEST OPPOSITION BLOG:
Down Goes Avery
Running with the Devils
In Lou We Trust
HAVE THE LA KINGS WON THE STANLEY CUP?
NO!
Sure people in Los Angeles are quick to criticize the state of New Jersey for being the home of some of the most obnoxious reality show characters out there... but I'd just like to remind everyone that the production companies that produce these reality shows are based right here in Hollywood.
Seriously, could there be any worse reality show besides this one?
Ok... I stand corrected.
Well... I guess it could be worse.
Good thing that Alexei Ponikarovsky got out of Los Angeles and instead found an environment that he is better suited for.
Those are some great photoshops that Indiana Matt has put together... but this is the greatest photoshop job of all.
Totally fake.
This has been quite the season for me. It started in Europe as I traveled to Stockholm and Berlin to watch the Los Angeles Kings open their season. Since then, it's pretty much been on a downhill slide until Game 1 of the 1st Round of the Playoffs. It's been a truly incredible run so far... I've enjoyed every inch of this journey the last month and a half... and I can't even think of what my reaction will be should the LA Kings be able to win their 1st Stanley Cup ever. Everyone is telling me to "act like I've been there before." But since I've come nowhere close to the Stanley Cup Finals... I decided to ask the 3 bloggers who have.
Is your teams' fanbase rooting for the LA Kings right now?
The Pensblog, Stanley Cup Winner 2009
The Penguin fan base is still too busy crying. But we'd have to say the majority is rooting for the Kings. Two reasons why:
1. We'd root for North Korea if they were playing the Devils.
2. Rob Scuderi was an all time favorite here.
Bonus: Mike Richards for life.
Sam from Second City Hockey, Stanley Cup Winner 2010
Hard to say. Hawks fans are pretty provincial, so usually once they go out all attention turns to yelling about the GM (rightly or wrongly). I'd say the fanbase is probably split of those who do care. I know a lot of Hawks fans really like the way the Kings play, how physical and nasty they can be. But there isn't much of an emotional connection. It's been so long since Darryl Sutter coached here, and Colin Fraser doesn't exactly get the blood pumping. While the other half is certainly an appreciation after dumping out Vancouver, St. Louis, and Phoenix, all teams Hawks fans have a distaste for. But still, some will never want another Western team to win. I'd say it's probably 60-40 in favor of the Kings among those who do care.
Greg & Justin from Days of Y'orr, Stanley Cup Winner 2011
Greg: I would say a majority of the Bruins fans out there are rooting for LA. People like a good underdog story and an 8 seed in the Stanley Cup is about as underdog as it gets. Is LA a true underdog? Probably not given how good their roster is, but they're an 8 seed and that's a big deal. I also think that Bruins fans are sympathetic towards fan bases that have rooted for a team that has broken their hearts. We've been through a lot of that since winning the Cup in 1972 to winning it again in 2011.
Justin: DOY is personally rooting for the Kings and it's not just 'cause we have a blog bromance going on with TRH. We've been Dustin Brown fans for a while and practically creamed our pants when there were Brown to Boston rumors floating around at the trade deadline. We've probably ended about 10 careers with Brown in NHL 12, too, which might be the real reason Mike Smith wants him banned forever. And any team that knocks out the Canucks is big on our good list.
During the playoffs the season that your team won the Stanley Cup… was there a moment early on when you knew "Man… this team is going to win the Cup"?
The Pensblog, Stanley Cup Winner 2009
Fuck. Not until Mark Andre-Fleury made the final save on Obstrucstrom. It wasn't even believable it was happening.
Sam from Second City Hockey, Stanley Cup Winner 2010
Yeah, October, fourth game of the season when they overcame a 5-0 deficit to win against Calgary. There was a game on Black Wednesday, it was Marian Hossa's first as a Hawk, where he scored twice and the Hawks absolutely stinkfisted the Sharks in the Tank 7-2. At the time most people considered the Sharks the favorite (how funny that seems now). it was then we knew the 2010 version of the Men of Four Feathers could sweep anyone aside when they felt like it. In the playoffs, there was the miracle win against Nashville in Game 5, which added that "it's in the air" kind of feeling. It always takes a touch of something unfathomable to win, and you know when you see it, even if you can't accurately describe it.
Greg & Justin from Days of Y'orr, Stanley Cup Winner 2011
Greg: For me it was Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Boston. After two one goal games in Vancouver (1-0 loss in Game 1 and a 3-2 loss in Game 2), Boston put an 8 spot on the board against Luongo and basically rattled him for the rest of the series.
Justin: Last year we called the Bruins run their Redemption Tour since they lost to the Flyers after going up 3-0 the postseason before. Beating Montreal in Game 7 was a huge monkey off the team (and fanbase's) back and then sweeping Philly furthered that notion that the team had what it took. But being from Boston we're bread to expect the worse, so for me, personally, I didn't know the team was going to actually win the Cup until they won Game 6 against Vancouver. There was no way Boston was going to win that game and then blow Game 7. The 2011 Bruins were all business.
What was the biggest adjustment you had to make as a writer the closer your team got to winning the Cup?
The Pensblog, Stanley Cup Winner 2009
Trying to capture it all. It will take it's toll, but it is worth it. The one thing that got us through is knowing that no matter the ending, we'd always have a documentation of what we were feeling. It isn't even the year after, but five, six years down the line you'll go back and read what you were feeling. That shit is priceless.
Sam from Second City Hockey, Stanley Cup Winner 2010
Staying sober enough to write coherently. Well, coherently enough that people could infer what I was trying to say.
Greg & Justin from Days of Y'orr, Stanley Cup Winner 2011
Greg: At DOY we just did what we always did and that was have fun. Relish the moment, be as zany (yes, zany) and creative as possible because the fanbase will basically eat everything up. Actually, the deeper the playoffs went, the better (and meaner) to the other teams we got. It was an awesome ride.
Justin: Writing more posts with out the day job firing me, haha. We did a lot of news posts and trolling posts. We averaged like 3-5 posts a day. It was unreal how much content we were pumping out. We also did a ton of radio and online TV interviews (mostly for the Vancouver market), so reigning ourselves in not to drop f-bombs on CBC and sound intelligent was fun and challenging.. I called Canada ugly (by accident). Oh well... was I wrong?
Any advice to the Kings fans who are experiencing a deep Cup run for the first time in 19 years?
The Pensblog, Stanley Cup Winner 2009
Enjoy the hell out of it. Either way you'll never be the same. If the Kings win, you go into a daze for a few years. You can't get as mad as you used to. If they lose. God help you.
Sam from Second City Hockey, Stanley Cup Winner 2010
I don't know. Enjoy it I guess. They already know how rare it can be. And don't tackle your drunken friend in the arena stairwell after a win. Two-thirds of Second City Hockey nearly didn't survive to Game 3 of the 2010 Final.
Greg & Justin from Days of Y'orr, Stanley Cup Winner 2011
Greg: Get some rest when you can because if the Kings win the Cup, you'll be partying until early September.
Justin: Enjoy it. It's fun. It's fucking stressful. Make some good signs trolling New Jersey (it's NJ, it shouldn't be that hard) and take it all in.
Your predictions for the series?
The Pensblog, Stanley Cup Winner 2009
Kings in three.
Sam from Second City Hockey, Stanley Cup Winner 2010
There is something magical about the Kings this run, but you can say the same about the Devils. At first I thought the Kings would win easily, but the more I think about it the more I think the Kings PP will haunt them, and Mitchell's and Scuderi's slowing feet could have some real problems against Zajac, Parise, Kovalchuk, Clarkson, et al. But then again, I can barely name the Devils' blue line, so I don't see why Kopitar and Brown shouldn't maintain their form. I guess it comes down to if Richards and Carter can go against their playoff form of previous years. If they show up, Kings win. If they continue to just kind of be there, I guess the Devils do.
Whatever, I just want it over so I find out what the hell the Hawks are going to do.
Greg & Justin from Days of Y'orr, Stanley Cup Winner 2011
Greg: Kings in 6 and a Stanley Cup with the crown hanging off of it on TRH's banner ;)
Justin: Kings in six
If there is one thing I learned from talking to these 3 Stanley Cup winning bloggers... it's that we should just sit back and enjoy the ride. The last thing we want to do is be running around like a chicken with our head cut off... right, Rob Scuderi?
I'm not saying that most of the hockey world is rooting for the LA Kings right now... but Days of Y'orr sent these over to me the other day.
The Stanley Cup Final is a magical thing. And being able to experience it for the 2nd time in my life makes me feel like a 12 year-old boy all over again. I wish there was someway to visually represent that.
Nailed it.
Get ready to scream. Get ready to cry. Get ready to troll the opposition in a way you've never done before.
GO KINGS GO!!!
