The Los Angeles Kings will FINALLY get to raise their Stanley Cup banner tonight and WUYS West Coast Correspondent, Aaron is hella excited about it.

Check out his post below…

So here we stand, about to embark on a far too short, forty-eight game NHL season.

Man, it sucks to get short-shrifted on our hockey this year, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that raising a certain piece of synthetic fabric to the rafters of Staples Center wasn’t going to soften the blow.

On Saturday, January 19^th at 12 p.m. on the “best” coast (sorry Chuck & Pants), the Los Angeles Kings will raise their first “Stanley Cup Champions” banner in their forty-four year franchise’s history. Worth. Every. Agonizing. Moment.

I’ve seen it all as a Kings fan.

And having witnessed the good, bad, and the oh-so-very ugly of being a Kings fan over the last twenty-five years, it’ll all be worth it, watching that banner get raised, tears streaming down my face like a toddler with a skinned knee.

That’s okay though, I will sob proudly, because this isn’t a moment you get to experience very often.

It’s worth noting that the Kings organization chose not to mount the banner on the wall of the Staples Center, because, well, a certain NBA team was kind of hogging it.

So instead, the banner will be the first to actually hang from the rafters of Staples, which symbolizes more than a lack of real estate on the wall.

It symbolizes that Tim Lieweke and the Kings organization want to leave plenty of room for future banners. Lieweke and GM Dean Lombardi built this team from the ground up with the hope of not winning one Stanley Cup, but creating a dynasty.

Seems like a smooth transition into the Kings chances of repeating. Now, it’s no secret there hasn’t been a team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions for fifteen years [1998 Detroit Red Wings.] Bottom line, it’s hard as hell to repeat.

But, and at the risk of sounding like a total “homer,” I think the Kings are poised to be the first team break the fifteen year drought.

Everyone is quick to point out the infamous Stanley Cup hangover – where the team that won the Cup struggles the following season do to an exhausting schedule of parading the Cup around all summer all the while trying to recover from injuries sustained during the elongated playoff run.

Well, considering the Kings have had an extra few months to recuperate, it’s like they ordered Grey Goose instead of the well crap and will wake up on opening day with no headache or vomiting, ready for the puck to drop.

The Kings are also the first team in recent memory to bring back their entire Stanley Cup winning roster.

Lucky for the Kings, there were no aging veterans, no pending free agents looking to get overpaid, and no fat to trim.

Being able to maintain that same chemistry and not having to learn to gel with new teammates is huge advantage for a team looking to repeat as Cup champs.

I’m not calling my shot, just saying that the Kings have a better shot than teams in recent past.

Finally, as the various sports news outlets put out their preseason team rankings, TSN has the Kings ranked at number ten.

My initial feeling upon reading that was blasphemy.

After all, how could you possibly rank nine teams above the Stanley Cup winners?

After I stopped my combination of yelling and crying however, I realized that this is right where the Kings want to be.

Flying under the radar, no expectations, doing just well enough to hang around.

The Kings are basically the “According to Jim” of the regular season.

But without sucking.

Let’s do it again, boys.

GO KINGS GO!

written by Aaron Vaccaro, What’s Up Ya Sieve’s West Coast Correspondent

So I’ve scoured the internet and there is like a BLIP one DD’s day with destiny. If it were, er, um, other hockey players day with Lord Stanley’s cup we’d get a minute by minute count down on what he did while out saving babies and evidently puppies.

So I’ve decided to give the only real account of Drew’s day with the cup and it went as follows because I was there – TRUE STORY – to blog ‘boot it.

First he took me on a romantic tracker drive, just us and the cup after we picked it from the local airport. Love the rolled up jeans and tennies. Totes dreamy!

 Then we took in a showing of an interpretive dance, “How Oxmusk bay in mid-day in yonder meadow”. It was fabulous but honestly, I spent most of the time glaring at the cup because it was starting to seriously come between Drew and I. I mean really! Who does that whore think she is? I… I .. ah. Oh. Yeah. It’s THE CUP.

Well, I did get jealous because bitch pulled this move at dinner and the gloves came off!

 So my drunk ugly crying face came out like the girls on Bachelor pad because a girl just can’t complete between THE CUP and Stanley Cup winning hockey players attention on his big day. So I wished Drew the best and left him with his shiny toy.

BEST. DAY. EVER! F-YEAH!

GO KINGS! And congrats again on your Stanley Cup winning, record-breaking season! Loved ya in Vancouver!

<3  Dawn~

Not only did they commit their lives to each other, but they also celebrated with this cake.

They are true and loyal hockey/Kings fans.  (Also, this cake looks really yummy.  Now we’re craving cake…)

Mazel Tov, you crazy kids!

May you be blessed with long lives, lots of love and hockey playing babies.

We already have some names picked out for you.

Dustin.  Jonathan.  Darryl.  Anze.

Follow Aaron on the twitter at @badmovienitecom 

Well, folks.  They did just that.

New Jersey Devils resistance was utterly futile.

Shiny.

Last night, the Kings went into full-on beast mode and beat the New Jersey Devils 6-1 to clinch the first Stanley Cup in the franchise’s 45 year history.

This team, and their entire playoff run was epic – one of firsts, impressive records, and feats of altheticism and skill that make us super jealous.

The Kings barely made the playoffs and are the first ever eight-seed to win the Cup.  They did so with an impressive 16-4 record and a unimaginable 10-1 road record.

They rolled over the #1, #2, and #3 seeds in the Western Conference in dominating fashion and matched the second-fastest run to a Stanley Cup Championship in modern NHL history.

It was no surprise that Jonathan Quick won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.  Pretty sure his goals-against-average was like -4 and he had a save percentage of eleventy billion.  (It was actually 1.41 GAA and .946 save percentage – both NHL records)

Quick also became the 3rd American-born player to win the Conn Smythe.  Fellow goalie Tim Thomas won last year (like we could forget) and waaaay back in 1994 (when Quick was 8 years old), Brian Leetch from the NY Rangers won it.

Another little tidbit of trivia info – Leetch and Quick both went to school at Avon Old Farms in Connecticut and played in Hockey East (Leetch at Boston College, Quick at UMass Amherst).  Oh and Thomas went to University of Vermont – also a Hockey East school.  HOCKEY EAST REPRESENT!

Daddy, you won! Can I have some M&Ms?

The game itself had a intensity befitting a potential Stanley Cup cliniching game and there can be no doubt that its defining moment came in the first period when the Devils’ Steve Bernier boarded Rob Scuderi.

Scuderi was left bloodied and bruised.

Bernier felt shame and was ejected, resulting in a five-minute power play for the Kings.

During that five minutes, the captain Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter, and Trevor Lewis each scored goals.  The Kings never looked back.

Brown also added two assists and became just the 2nd American-born captain to raise the Cup.  He managed to accomplish that which the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, could not do in his eight year tenure with the Kings.

Anze Kopitar has poised himself on the edge of NHL super stardom.  He tied for the playoff lead in points (20) and goals (8), and finished a ridiculous +16.  Not only is he the first Slovenian to play in the NHL, but now he’ll be the first ever to have his name engraved on the Cup.

He also is the first ever to wear this in a post-game interview.

All hail King Kopitar!

This team was chockful of talent and size and skill and they peaked at the most perfect time.  Their regular season was inconsistent at best as they struggled to score goals, but something special happened after Darryl Sutter took over the team midseason.

So special in fact, that it earned them the most coveted and respected trophy in all of sports.

We are very much looking forward to the Kings’ summer with the Cup and all the photos, tweets, and stories that will undoubtedly follow.

We want to see Dustin Penner eat some pancakes out of the Cup.

We want to Carter and Richards take the Cup on a sunset stroll on the beach.

But most of all, we want to see the players, and their family, friends, and fans, savor every moment of this incredible accomplishment.

CONGRATS to the 2012 Stanley Cup Champion, Los Angeles Kings!

Wait...When did we trade Gregory Campbell?

The President spoke for a bit, chided the city of Boston for having too many championship teams, called out Brad Marchand (“Little Ball of Hate?  What’s up with that nickname?”), and posed with the team for the obligatory photo shoot. Watch the full video [here].

Notably absent from today’s festivities was goaltender Tim Thomas, one of only two Americans on the team.  Apparently, Timmeh is a stauch conservative and refused the invite from the Commander in Chief due to “political reasons.”

While Thomas is absolutely entitled to his beliefs and can choose do to what he wants (this is a free country, after all),  wouldn’t you want to go just to share the experience with your teammates…and steal pens and hand towels from White House?  

Eh, whatever. I’m over it.

As long as Timmy keeps making saves and playing like a boss, I don’t really care whether or not he likes the President.