Something I didnt expect one year ago and success happened

  Lets go back to June of 2011. The Philadelphia Flyers made monster headwaves on the eve of the 2011 draft. After rumors surfaced concerning their nightlife, GM Paul Holmgren traded both Captain Mike Richards and Jeff Carter to the Kings and Blue Jackets respectively. When I found out the day's events, I once again wrote about it (The Carter and Richards trade will impact the three respective teams invovled June 25th, 2011). In it I had stated that even though the Kings were giving up young talent, their core would be much stronger with Richards presence. As well, I also mentioned that they would be winning the Pacific Division for the 1st time in over 20 years. That unfortunately did not happen but the improbable did. After struggling during the regular season and after a deadline day acquistion of who other than Carter (An experiment with promise failed and another team gets even stronger February 23rd,2012), the Kings finished 8th in the West. Finishing 8th in the west meant they would participate in the playoffs.
  As what most people say, regular season stats means absolutely nothing come playoff time. Well for the Kings it did not. Most people in the hockey world believed that LA would be eliminated early in the playoffs. Well most people including myself did not expect to see them be the first 8th seeded team to win hockey's holy grail. That happens to be the one and only Stanley Cup. Here is how it happened.
  Their run to the cup was reminiscent of the Oiler years of the 80's. They went on an incredible 16-4 run beating teams like Vancouver, St-Louis, Phoenix and New Jersey. As well, they happened to only lose one game on the road. Pretty impressive if you tell me. They had also relied heavily on timely scoring led by Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar and on goaltending. Jonathan Quick had both a postseason to remember as he had a 1.41 Goals Against and a .946 save percentage. His performance made him the third US born player to win the Conn Smythe trophy.
  So as we look on, the run that the Los Angeles Kings went on was truly one of the most remarkable that we have ever seen. Only time will tell if they can repeat or if any 8th seeded team can win it all.