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  • Why I’m rooting for the Kings

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    Why I’m rooting for the Kings

    Anthony Travalgia May 30, 2012
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    The New Jersey Devils host the Los Angeles Kings tonight in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals

    As soon as Adam Henrique did all New Englanders a favor and eliminated those pesky New Yorkers with his overtime goal in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Rangers, I asked myself who do I root for, I quickly began to weigh my options.

    First we have the eighth seeded Los Angeles Kings who won all of New England’s hearts over when they ousted the top seeded Vancouver Kings—remember them?—in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Along with their first round upset they are led by two American born stars,—another way to win over the hearts of Bostonians and for that matter Americans in general— in New England native, Jonathan Quick, and Captain Dustin Brown.

    Then on the other hand we have the New Jersey Devils. The Devils are also led by an American born Captain and quite frankly one of most entertaining guys in all of hockey to watch in Zach Parise. The real story in Jersey has been some goaltender named Martin Brodeur. Brodeur is the NHL’s all-time leader in regular season wins, losses, shutouts and goalie games played. The 40-year old Brodeur also has three Stanley Cups under his belt.

    It took me all the way to this very morning to decide which side of the fence I’d be on during what sure looks like will be a highly entertaining Stanley Cup Final.

    I was roaming the internet reading as much game previews, news articles, predictions and for that matter anything pertaining to tonight’s Game 1 in New Jersey when I stumbled upon this.

    The Royal Half is a Kings fan blog that I have checked out numerous times during the Kings run to the Stanley Cup. Much like our friends at Days of Y’orr the Royal Half is a mighty fun read, and a blog that surely will give you some laughs.

    For whatever reason reading that article brought me back to a year ago and brought me back to the exciting feeling all of New England felt as the Bruins kicked off the Stanley Cup in Vancouver.

    After finishing up The Royal Half’s Gameday preview it hit me that this year’s Kings are mighty similar to last year’s Bruins and that similarity is part of the reason as to why I’m sticking on the Kings bandwagon.

    The other part is because back in October the Bruins Daily crew sat down and gave their predictions for the upcoming season, and of the three I was the only one to pick the Kings to go to the Cup. Yes I had them losing to the Capitals—yes I know, silly me—but hey I still get credit for picking them, right?

    Credit also goes out to Bruins Daily creator Mark Marino who has been on the back of the Kings since the playoffs began.

    Bruins Daily predictions:

    Anthony: Kings in 7
    Chris: Devils in 6
    Mark: Kings in 6
    Tim: Kings in 6

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    2 Comments

    1. HockeyFan May 30, 2012

      How are the Kings like the Bruins of last year? I actually see more similarities to NJ. An aging goalie who is performing above expectations, a team nobody expected to win at the beginning of the season (remember the Kings were predicted as Cup contenders in September), and a former Ottawa defenseman known for his strength. Those are just a few things I came up with off the top of my head.

      Besides, how can any Boston sports fan support a team from LA? I can’t.

      1. Anthony May 30, 2012

        Very good points HockeyFan. They remind me of the Bruins in the sense that offensively they don’t jump out at you with guys who consistently score 25-30+ goals a year. Or don’t have game changers like a Crosby, Stamkos, etc.. Both teams are built of with depth and guys who get the job done. Bruins won a Cup without a power play, Kings have a terrible power play as well. Like the Bruins the Kings are getting a unheard of performance from their goalies, and wouldn’t be where they are without the goalies So that’s how they remind me of the Bruins.

        I can easily root for an LA team that’s not the Lakers or Dodgers. Thanks for the read and input.

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