Stanley Cup Wrap up

The Los Angles Kings crushed the New Jersey Devils 6-1 last night to win their first Stanley Cup. The win capped an incredible 16-4 run through the playoff which included a remarkable 10-1 record on the road. Fellow UMASS alum goaltender Johnathan Quick took home the Conn Smythe Award as playoff MVP. The Kings became the first #8 seed in the history of professional sports to win a championship. The last team to make the playoffs the Kings breezed through the Western Conference knocking out the top 3 seeds without being pushed beyond five games. While the Finals were sort of anti-climatic with the Kings jumping out to a 3-0 series lead before being pushed to 6 games, there is no better scene in sports then saying the Stanley Cup passed around on home ice.

This is the first season where I was heavily invested in the sport outside of the Bruins and I enjoyed every second of it. It helped that it was the first year the league televised every single playoff game which made a huge difference. People point to the league's lack of presence on ESPN limits its popularity but as long as they continue to televise every playoff game and can grow the newly branded NBC Sports Network to the point it becomes available in most hotels it will be fine. I would also strongly encourage the league to add a season long 24/7 show since HBO's annual build up to the Winter Classic is so great.

As this was my first year watching the sport on a daily baffled by the notion that the sport doesn't translate well to TV.  That's not to say that the live product isn't vastly superior but I think the sport makes for great television. From the harsh brutality of the Flyers-Penguins in round one to all the endless edge of your seat overtime games every playoff game was appointment television. While I realize this cannot always be true of the regular season, there are enough of these elements in play to warrant a greater audience.

While the Kings lack of marquee names didn't translate into great ratings, we can hope that bringing a title to LA can strengthen the sports west coast profile and make hockey players sought after endorsers. The league had a strong playoff season and has very accessible stars that it hopefully build on next season. I look forward to attending many more games in person including mixing in some Rangers games. I am going to follow the league more closely in the regular season and can't wait for another playoff run to begin. Congratulations to the Kings and fellow Minuteman Johnathan Quick!