the Kings are finally the Kings

I may be a few days late with the post, but I have to pay homage to one of the greatest Stanley Cup runs, well yea I gotta say it, in the history of the NHL.

Led by guys like Drew Doughty, the Kings lost a grand total of 4 games in the 4 rounds they played.

I still love this card, great photo

They wiped out all 3 division winners in the western conference in just 14 games, 12-2!  Yes, they did let their guard down in games 4 and 5 in the final, but when they had the chance in game 6 with the 5 minute major, they grabbed the series by the throat and scored 3 power play goals, and you could see the Devils were just deflated after that.

What I really like about this win?  This group of Kings did something that these two guys couldn't do in the late 80's early 90's....

The closest that these two came was reaching the finals in the 92-93 season, only to bow out in 5 games to the Montreal Canadiens.

Finally, for anyone who cares about my ramblings, there is an interesting pattern developing for Stanley Cup champs.  Over the past 4 seasons, the winners look like this.

11-12  Los Angeles Kings  West Conference    Pacific Division
10-11  Boston Bruins          East Conference    North East Division
09-10 Chicago Black Hawks West Conference Central Division
08-09  Pittsburgh Penguins  East Conference     Atlantic Division

The pattern is alternating conferences winning the cup, with a different division being represented.  If the pattern were to hold true in 12-13, the next cup winner would come from the South East division.

Washington, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Winnipeg, Florida...hmm  any takers here?  I wonder if any hockey fans out there think that any of these 5 have a chance next year (if there is hockey....more on that later)

Thanks for reading, Robert