Second Royal Cup Stanley

Los Angeles Kings for the second time in the last three seasons-and the second time in history-won the Stanley Cup.

Los Angeles Kings for the second time in the last three seasons-and the second time in history-won the Stanley Cup .

In the fifth match of the final series, Kings hockey players on their ice defeated the rivals from New York Rangers 3: 2, throwing a winning puck in overtime. Los Angeles won the 4: 1 series.

Forward Los Angeles, Justin Williams, received Conn Smite Trophy, a prize for the most valuable player of the playoffs of the Stanley Cup 2014.

It is interesting that “Los Angeles” is a club with a respectable story, founded in 1967, which in other years of bright and iconic, as they say, players, who, nevertheless, could not bring the Stanley Cup to the “kings”. First of all, we must recall Marseille Dionna, whose name became almost a symbol of Kings. But perhaps the most loud “publicity” of the club brought almost a Hollywood trick-the transition to Los Angeles the Great Wayne Gretzka. In 1988, the California club suffered continuous losses, hockey in the southern state of the United States went reluctantly. But with the advent of Gretzki, who, as part of Kings "became an absolutely best scorer in the history of the NHL, the audience swept the shaft of crazy hockey advertising-and they filled the forum in Los Angeles. Stanley's Cup “Kings” never submitted, but Gretzka solved his task with brilliance - interest in hockey in the city was revived.

Note that later the owners of the Los Angeles Galsi football club "turned" the same trick. Having managed to acquire the famous English player David Backham, they provoked football - or rather, "Socker" - a boom in the city of Angels. Baekham helped the team win two MLS Cups, so his achievements were not only advertising-commercial, but also athletic in nature. And there is nothing to say about the public resonance of his appearance in the city-as, however, about the same attitude of the Californians to the appearance of Wayne Gretzka in Los Angeles. By the way, shortly after the departure from Kings Gretzki ended up in the New York Rangers, so we can say that the current Stanley Cup final was “autumn” by his great name. And in general, the fact that in the last two weeks it was hockey that the two largest cities in the United States lived, says a lot - first of all, about the highly professional work of managers in the NHL.

Californians showed very serious hockey in recent years, sometimes achieving fantastic indicators. So, for example, they won the current Stanley Cup, having played 26 matches in the playoffs-more than any other team that ever won this trophy. In addition, Kings became the first NHL team, which held 21 matches in the first three rounds and became the champion. In the first round, Los Angeles beat San Jose, ledging in the 0: 3 series-this is generally a unique indicator, this happened in the NHL of a few times in its entire history-more precisely, only four times!.

The final of the Stanley Cup was filed by the press as a “duel of the goalkeepers”-the best American goalkeeper of our time Jonathan Kuik from Los Eleza and the Swede from New York Henrik Lundquist, nicknamed King Henrik. In the last match of the series, Lundquist showed a fantastic hockey, but he couldn’t “pull out” his team almost alone. Apparently, a kind of “hockey-statistical mysticism” played here-after all, the match played by Swede on Friday, June 13th, was for him 666 in the NHL! So Lundquist had to experience almost the bitterness of defeat strongly for his career ...

And, of course, it should be noted the work of the talented Kings coach Darril Satter, the owner of one of the most “hockey” surnames in the NHL. It was under his leadership Kingl to become the first team in the history of the NHL, which was able to win three guest victories in the seventh matches of the series in one draw of the playoffs. This is an indicator primarily a truly Enhaelic character, without which Stanley's Cup is not won.

The 24-year-old Kings defender Vyacheslav Voinov won the second Cup of Stanley in his career. More often than three Russian hockey players won this trophy - Sergey Brylin, Sergey Fedorov and Igor Larionov, who have three victories in the Stanley Cup. By the way, the last Cup of Stanley "Los Angeles" won with Voinov in 2012, winning in six matches "New Jersey Devils". Then the Russian Ilya Kovalchuk played in New Jersey , and this was his only final series. Perhaps not the most joyful memories in Kovalchuk’s life forced him to go to St. Petersburg, where he became Captain SKA ...