I admit it, I am totally geeked by the L.A. Kings amazing run in the National Hockey League playoffs. I LOVE it! I have bought into the fact totally that they can and will win the Stanley Cup. 

     Maybe it goes back to my professional beginnings in Los Angeles. I came to town in 1976 to join Bob Miller as color analyst on the radio and television broadcasts of the Kings. This was after I had called three years of college hockey in Colorado. In the late 80's and early 90's, I rejoined the Kings as the studio-host for their telecasts. In my first stint with he Kings, I got to call the exploits of Marcel Dionne, Butch Goring, and Rogie Vachon.  In my second go-round, it was with the likes of Luc Robitaille, Jim Fox and at the very end, the Great One, Wayne Gretzky. What fun times I had, broadcasting with the likes of Miller and Nick Nickson. Those two are still there, Miller on TV, Nick calling the radio play-by-play on KTLK AM 1150. It's about time they get to call games for a team like this current edition.

     While I said all season long on our morning broadcasts that the Kings were underachieving and had the capability and potential to be a real Stanley Cup contender, they never validated my comments until the playoffs. It is there that they have been magnificent, rolling over the likes of Vancouver, St Louis and Phoenix, the top three seeds, all of whom had been favored over the Kings. This is a real team. The last time the Kings were in the finals was 1993, and that was Gretzky picking 20 teammates up and carrying them on his shoulders. This team doesn't even have a star, outside of their goalie Jonathon Quick, who I believe is the best in hockey. However, they attack ferociously, and do so with great cohesion. They are relentless and haven't given their opponents in the playoffs room to breathe.  So I am not surprised they are contending for The Cup. I believe they will beat whoever they face from the Eastern Conference and they'll do it in six games or less. So yes, Go Kings Go! Go out and get that Stanley Cup for the fans who have waited nearly a half-century for it!