Underdogs
By: Andrew Lozinak
The Underdog Teams of The 1980 U.S. hockey team and the 2014 Los Angeles Kings
The 1980 U.S. team were huge underdogs in the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid New York. They would be going up against bigger, faster, and stronger teams. Especially the Soviet Union. The Soviets at that time were considered the best hockey team in the world.The U.S. played and exhibition game before the Olympics against the Soviets. The Soviets won 10-3. The U.S. would go into the Olympics with a huge loss. But the U.S. couldn't keep that in their mind. So they set that aside and would work as hard as they could in the Olympics. So that's what they did. Their record was 4-0-1 and eventually advanced to the medal round. If the U.S. wanted to advance to the gold medal game, they would have to play against the Soviets. They worked as hard as they could so they could beat the Soviets. It was a long and hard fought game between the two teams. The U.S. beat the Soviets 4-3, to advance to the gold medal game. The U.S. went on to defeat Finland, to win the Gold medal.
The 2014 Los Angeles Kings story is very similar. The Kings didn't have a very good regular season. They barely made it to the playoffs with a 46-28-8 record. They had to face the number 1 seed, while they were the 8th seed, in the first round of the playoffs. They couldn't be eliminated in the first round, so they persevered and beat the 1st seed. They couldn't stop then. They wanted to win the cup. So they won every round and went on to win their franchises 2nd Stanley Cup.
Although these two teams are very similar, they also differ in many ways. For one, the 1980 U.S. hockey team was an Olympic team. The Kings are an NHL team. Plus the U.S. team was filled with college kids, who went on to be legends. The Kings are filled with NHL players working to become legends. The U.S. team was also a former team, unlike the Kings who are still a hockey team.
To conclude the 1980 U.S. hockey team and the 2014 Los Angeles Kings are very similar, but also very different from each other.
How Martin St.Louis is an underdog
Martin St.Louis is considered one of the best hockey players in the NHL at the moment. Martin can do anything on the ice. He is a great skater, and a goal scorer. Martin is now 39 years old and still considered one of the best players in the league, even looking at some of the younger stars. But Martin wasn’t always considered a good player. His team wouldn’t give him a chance. The reason why is because he is a short guy. The effects of this is that in his first season he only got 2 points the whole season. This is because his team wouldn’t give him a chance to show how he plays. He didn’t get to play much. The next season he got traded away to the Tampa Bay Lightning. As a result of, to get more playing time, he would have to work even harder.
The next season, his new team gave him more playing time, and a chance to show what he is made of. As a result of, in his first season with his new team he averaged 20 points in 78 games. He played in most of the team’s games, after not showing a lot with his previous team. As the years went on and on he got more and more points for his team, and more playing time. The past season he got traded away to the New York Rangers, after playing with the Lightning for 13 seasons. Martin and the Rangers are actually playing against the Lightning in the Eastern Conference final right now in the playoffs. He got one stanley cup with the Lightning, and is part of the 1,000 point club, with 1,033 points in the NHL. He has won two gold medals, with 5 points in the Olympics. This season Martin has averaged 52 points in the regular season, and 7 points in the playoffs.
Underdogs
Underdogs have some of the best stories in sports. Dictionary.com states that an underdog is a person or group that is expected to lose in a conflict, or contest. A lot of people root for the underdogs in sports. They may not be noticed as good at what they do, but they show it when they can. People usually don’t give the underdogs a chance. They don’t get to show what they are made of. That is why they make the best of themselves when they can. Underdogs will work hard to not be the underdog. They want to be the best at what they do. They would do anything to be the best at what they do. Many people who are famous today weren’t the best thing ever when they first tried. They were underdogs then. In sports many teams become the best team, but they were underdogs first. Some characteristics of an underdog are hardworking, grit, and they work with others.
One characteristic is hardworking. If you want to be the best you have to work for it. You can’t just not work hard. They have to work for it. You aren’t just given things, you work for things. Hard work will get you somewhere in life. If you want to get somewhere in life you have to work for it.
Another characteristic is grit. Grit is a big part while being an underdog. You got to be tough. When you are going up against a bigger team for example, you got to be tough against them. You have to show that you are tough.
Most important is that you have to work together. You can’t do everything by yourself. You have to stick together. People do the best when they work together. When you are with a team you have to work together. Teams don’t do good when all of the team is playing for themselves.
To conclude Underdogs show a lot of good characteristics such as hardworking, grit, and they work together.
The 2014 Los Angeles Kings
During the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the L.A. Kings were huge underdogs. They just barely made it into the playoffs with 46-28-8 record, and being the 8th seed in the Western Conference. Since they were the 8th seed they had to play the number 1 seed, the San Jose Sharks, in the first round. The first game was on April 17th. The Sharks had a blowout win with a score of 6-3 against the kings. The second game was on April 20th, as the Sharks blew out the Kings with a score of 7-2. The next game they had to work harder. The Kings didn’t want to get blown out three games. The Kings went out in game 3 and gave it they’re all, but still came up short with a 4-3 loss. On the verge of getting eliminated the Kings went out in game 4 and worked as hard as they could and won with a score of 6-3. The Kings now had momentum. They still were on the verge of elimination. But in game 5 and 6 they wouldn’t give up. They won both games 5 and 6, and sending the series to a game 7. This was the final game of the series and the Kings couldn’t give up now. They didn’t want to get eliminated in the first round. The Kings went out in game 7 and they gave it they’re all and won game 7 to advance to the 2nd round.
The second round started on May 3rd, against the Anaheim Ducks. The Anaheim Ducks are a big, tough, and skillful hockey team. The Kings had to work even harder in this round. The Kings would go on and win games 1, and 2. But in games 3, 4, 5 the Kings started to collapse. They lost three games in a row, and once again on the verge of elimination. But the Kings couldn’t give up then. They went into games 6, and 7 and won both of them to advance to the Western Conference final.
The Kings had to play against a long time rival the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks had beaten the Kings the previous year in the Western Conference final, and went on to win the Stanley Cup. The Kings couldn’t lose to the Blackhawks again in the Conference final. Game 1 started on May 18th, where the Kings lost to the Blackhawks 3-1. The Kings got mad after game 1. The Kings went into games 2, 3, and 4 and won them to take a 3-1 series lead. For the first time in the 2014 playoffs the Kings were not on the verge of elimination. The Blackhawks came back in games 5, and 6 to send the series to a game 7. Game 7 was a hard fought battle between both teams, but the Kings came out on top, to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The final series started on June 4th against the New York Rangers. The Kings knew that they could beat the Rangers. The Kings went into game 1 with confidence that they could win the cup. They went on to win games 1, 2, and 3. The Kings were on the verge of sweeping the Rangers to win the Stanley Cup. But the Rangers came back in game 4 and beat the kings. Game 5 was a hard fought game between both teams. But the L.A. Kings went on the beat the Rangers in over time.
To conclude the L.A. Kings were huge underdogs during the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs. Being the 8th seed in the Western Conference, to becoming the 2014 Stanley Cup Champions.
How Pavel Datsyuk Solved his problem of not getting played enough
Pavel Datsyuk is one of the best hockey players in the NHL at the moment.
Pavel is an outstanding player. He can do almost anything. He is considered one of the best danglers in the league. He can shoot the puck, pass, skate. You name it he can do it. Pavel is a center for the Detroit Redwings. He is 36 years old and his salary is 10 million dollars. But Pavel hasn’t always been treated like this. The problem was for many years Pavel wasn’t considered a good player. The Redwings skipped Pavel Datsyuk over in two drafts and he finally got drafted 171st overall in the 6th round of the 1998 draft. When he first got into the league he didn’t get played much. His coach didn’t think that Pavel was something special.
His solution to this was that he would work as hard as he could so that he could get noticed. When Pavel got the chance he would make the best of it. After his first season in the NHL Pavel got 35 points. That is a lot for a rookie. Every season he would get more and more points. And the more and more points he got the more playing time he would get. Pavel Datsyuk would go on to win two Stanley cups, has played in 3 Olympics for Russia, and has a silver medal, and a bronze Olympic medal. Pavel Datsyuk lead his team to the Stanley Cup playoffs this year with 65 points. They got eliminated in the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Pavel got 5 total points in 7 games in this years playoffs. That is very close to averaging a point per game.
To conclude Pavel Datsyuk started off a rough hockey career, but worked hard to get to where he is today.