Can't Stop The Reign, or Why I Think The Los Angeles Kings Will Win The Stanley Cup

 
Hockey is a sport that I have grown to love over the years. However, I have not truly gotten into hockey until the past few years. That being said, I have been a Los Angeles Kings fan throughout, and have seen them go through the highs and lows (some highs, but mostly lows). I can vaguely remember them in 2001, beating the heavily favored Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the playoffs and pushing the eventual champs, Colorado Avalanche to 7 games. This current Los Angeles Kings team, to me, may be the best L.A. Kings team I can remember in my lifetime (I was only a baby when they went to the Stanley Cup Finals in '93). On Sunday night, the Kings completed a major upset of the #1 seed Vancouver Canucks, owners of the NHL's best record, and the President's Trophy, the award given to the team with the best regular-season record, and did it in convincing fashion, winning the series 4-1. Canucks fans may complain they were without Daniel Sedin, one of the Sedin twins, for most of the series, but what they overlook was that they were still heavily favored without him. OK, enough about those chokers. Back to the Kings.

The Kings now face the #2 seeded St. Louis Blues, an excellent defensive team who allow the fewest goals per game in the NHL, which surely means a tough series for the Kings. However, I believe they will win that series and go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, and bring Lord Stanley's Cup to L.A. Why, you ask? A major reason is the man in the picture. Our goaltender, #32, Jonathan Quick. To me, Jonathan has been playing the best out of any goalie in the NHL this season, but especially down the stretch in the regular season, and in the last series with Vancouver. Another reason is right wing Dustin Brown. In the Kings' series vs. Vancouver, he recorded 4 goals and an assist for 5 points. Not just that, as a whole, the Kings seem to be coming together as a team and peaking at the right time under the guidance of coach Darryl Sutter. Few, if any, teams have played as well as the Kings have the past couple of weeks. This is all the more remarkable considering they, at one point, stood at 10th place in the West, out of the playoffs, and that they fired their previous coach, Terry Murray, in December. All that turmoil and trouble is in the past now, and the Kings are looking forward to the next round. I know they'll be ready, and I truly believe in my heart, they will raise the Stanley Cup in June.