The L.A. Kings Quick Upset At The ESPYS

The L.A. Kings have had a season to remember, that’s for sure. Their success carried over for one more night at the ESPYS, ESPN’s Sports Awards. They won the Best Upset Award and goaltender Jonathan Quick was named the Best NHL Player. These awards were well deserved! But I’ll be honest. I’m just glad that I didn’t have to look at Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas all night again.

The Kings were the first team in NHL History to win the Cup from the 8th seed. They were named over Iowa State’s win over Oklahoma State in college football; Lehigh’s win over Duke in the NCAA basketball tournament; and Norfolk State’s win over Missouri in the NCAA basketball tournament.

Dustin Brown , team captain, accepted the award, determined by fan voting, with teammates Matt Greene and Dustin Penner. Brown was also a presenter at the event, which was held in Los Angeles.

Quick won Best NHL Player over Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Though the Kings were also nominated for best team, the Miami Heat took that one. (Go Heat! Sorry, I’m a Florida girl and also a basketball fan. I’m glad for their success.) The Heat shut out the Kings again in the Best Championship Performance category. Quick was also nominated for that, however, LeBron James won. New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin won Best Coach/Manager over Kings coach Darryl Sutter.
Another notable NHL loss in a category was when Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford won Best Comeback Athlete over Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. (It doesn’t surprise me that he was nominated, as for whatever reason the hockey world bows down to the All-Mighty Penguins and the Can’t-Do-Any-Wrong Sidney Crosby.

Not at all hockey related, but I want to give a shout out to the Buccaneers DT Eric LeGrand, who was awarded the Jimmy V Perseverance Award . He shared the story of the injury that left him paralyzed, his efforts to be an inspiration to countless others with spinal injuries and his fight, ultimately, to walk again. If you’d like to know more about this inspiring story, here are a few links from Buccaneers.com:
View Eric’s ESPY Acceptance Speech on ESPN.com
See why Eric LeGrand is the 2012 recipient of the Jimmy V Perseverance Award

It’s just another day in hockey paradise!
Dolly Reynolds-Dolce
@HulaDolly @BoltsByTheBay @FanSided