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2011-12 Year-In-Review: Can LA Kings Forwards Reach The Next Level After Stanley Cup Win?

Looking ahead to 2012-13, can Los Angeles Kings star center Anze Kopitar, shown here during the team’s
Stanley Cup Championship Rally on June 14, 2012, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, avoid the prolonged
slumps that have plagued him throughout his career?
(click to view larger image)
Photo: David Sheehan/FrozenRoyalty.net

LOS ANGELES — Although it certainly ended with a huge bang, the 2011-12 season was one of struggle for the Los Angeles Kings, given the fact that they qualified for the playoffs by the skins of their teeth.

Indeed, the Kings’ inability to score goals, a problem that plagued them until the trade deadline in February, almost cost them an invitation to the post-season party, and would likely have resulted in a shake-up in the Kings front office (see 2011-12 Los Angeles Kings Year-In-Review: Front Office Turnaround Set Stanley Cup Run In Motion, and 2011-12 Year-In-Review: Doughty Holdout, Failure To Execute In Offensive Zone Almost Sunk LA Kings Early).

But, as detailed in the previous story in this multi-part series that looks back on the Kings’ 2011-12 season, they put it all together in the final six weeks of the season, earning an 11-4-3 record, good for 25 points, securing the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference, setting up their dominant run to the first Stanley Cup Championship in the 45-year history of the franchise.

In part 4 of Frozen Royalty’s 2011-12 Year-In-Review, it is now time to evaluate the players, coaches, and management. In this installment…the forwards. Read more of this post

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2011-12 Year-In Review: Coaching Change, Three Rookies, Big Trade Help LA Kings Reach For The Stars

2011-12 YEAR-IN-REVIEW: The Los Angeles Kings were struggling mightily, even after Darryl Sutter took over as head coach just before Christmas. Although things improved marginally, it took the recall of three rookies from the minor leagues, and a big trade, to allow the Kings to play the brand of hockey that would allow them to reach for the stars.


Los Angeles Kings head coach Darryl Sutter (left), shown here with
center Anze Kopitar (center) and forward Jeff Carter (right)
during a practice session on May 9, 2012.
(click to view larger image)
Photo: David Sheehan/FrozenRoyalty.net

LOS ANGELES — After starting the 2011-12 season with sky high expectations, the Los Angeles Kings were in disarray. They were not anywhere near as successful as they should have been heading into the holiday season, just barely keeping their heads above water with a 13-12-4 mark on December 10, 2011, 29 games into the season.

Although they were not that far off the division lead, or even from first place in the Western Conference yet, that record left the Kings much closer to the cellar of both Read more of this post

Los Angeles Kings Win 2012 Stanley Cup, Turning Dreams Into Reality, The Unthinkable Into Fact

The JW Marriott at LA Live, across the street from Staples Center, got into the spirit of things, displaying this message on their gigantic video display immediately after the Kings won the 2012 Stanley Cup on June 11.
(click to view larger image)
Photo: Gann Matsuda/FrozenRoyalty.net

LOS ANGELES — After the final horn sounded on Monday night, after a 6-1 score lit up the scoreboard at Staples Center in Los Angeles, the dreams became real, the unthinkable became fact…

…the Los Angeles Kings had won the 2012 Stanley Cup, the first championship in the team’s 45-year history, closing out the Eastern Conference Champion New Jersey Devils in six games.

As Kool and the Gang’s Celebration, and Queen’s We Are The Champions played in a loop over the arena’s PA system, Kings players, coaches and management, along with their families and Kings staff, shook hands, embraced, kissed, laughed—all in rather jubilant fashion, during an on-ice celebration.

Read more of this post

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