We Are All Kings

The Kings have won the Stanley Cup!

What a playoff run!

Twenty-six games.

A rocky start, falling 0-3 to the Sharks before an epic comeback in the series.

Three game-seven wins on the road.

Three overtime games in the final round.

Yet somehow, the team kept finding ways to win and was 7-0 when facing elimination.  As a fan, it was both exhausting and exhilarating to watch these games!

I have written about my love of the Kings before.  Those of you who know me understand my connection to the team and for many years, my personalized license plate read LAKNGS.  So I could not be more thrilled with the outcome of this NHL season (well, we’ll see how I feel when the Leafs finally win the Cup…)!

You may recall that I met Dustin Brown at LAX last summer.  We happened to be on the same flight, as we were flying home after our trip to California and he was flying to Washington for the Olympic hockey training camp.  In my opinion, he is a phenomenal captain and I was beyond excited to speak with him; he was incredibly kind and patiently endured my jibber-jabber about the Kings.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, perhaps someone less friendly because he is a tough and focused player on the ice, but he was humble and rather soft-spoken.  It was a highlight not only of the trip, but also the entire year.  When I saw him at baggage claim after we landed the next morning, I told him to have a great season, so I like to think my encouraging words played a small role in the Stanley Cup victory.  ;-)

Dustin Brown

Back in April, NHL.com hosted a Bracket Challenge and I picked the Kings to win the Stanley Cup.  At that point, the Kings were far from being the “favorite” to win; I would go so far as to say they weren’t even favored to win the Western Conference.  Looking at the results below, please note that my bracket was on the 98th percentile – not too shabby!  Of course, C’s bracket was on the 99th percentile, but I just could not pick Boston over Detroit in the first round even though I sadly suspected that would be the actual outcome.

my bracket - April 2014

Finally, my brother got married two weeks ago, and at the rehearsal dinner, C, my two brothers, and I put on matching shirts and presented one to my new sister-in-law to “draft” her onto our team.  We gave a speech about how it’s been the four of us for a long time and that we were thrilled she was joining our clan.  We called her up to the front and she put on her shirt so that the five of us matched.  I felt SO much love in that moment.  And obviously, this works on multiple levels.  :-)

our shirts

So yes, my poor facebook friends have had to deal with me posting “KINGS!!!!!!” after their victories, and I thank them for tolerating me.

It’s been a very successful 2014 hockey year for us – the Leafs won the Winter Classic, Canada won the Olympic gold medal, and the Kings won the Stanley Cup.  I’m not sure it can get much better than that for this household.  But again, ask me about this statement when the Leafs win the Cup.  :-)

#GoKingsGo

Happy Tails to you!