If you had said back in March that there would be a victory parade this summer in downtown Los Angeles, odds are it wouldn’t have been too hard to find people that agreed with you. If you had then insisted that it would be the Los Angeles Kings that were doing the celebrating, all you’d be met with is rolled eyes and maybe a polite, but dismissive, “sure.”
Nevertheless, that’s the situation we had on Thursday as the Kings capped off their improbable and stunning playoff run with confetti and cheering fans.
Even compared to other Stanley Cup winning teams, the 2011-12 Kings were special.
In order to make this day possible, they had to become the first eighth-seed team in the history of the NHL to win the Stanley Cup. Not only did they accomplish that, but they steamrolled through the competition with a 16-4 playoff record.
They also became the first team to claim a 3-0 series lead in all four rounds.
So it’s fair to say that the Kings have earned the right to celebrate today. The question is, will there be another parade in 2013?
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