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The Stanley Cup is making the rounds of LA Kings homes in Canada and on the East Coast this week, but a wonderful new gallery of photos from last week's visit to Slovenia and the home village of Anze Kopitar has been posted on the Los Angeles Times website. Several of them ran in the paper this morning, including on the front page and, on the cover of Sports, an image of Kopitar carrying the Cup to the grave of his grandmother. Times staff photographer Robert Gauthier, who was in Slovenia, talks about the scene on the paper's Framework blog.
For the first time that day, the cup looked heavy in his arms as Kopitar slowly paced toward the grave of his beloved grandmother Fanci Kopitar, who recently died. She supported his dream to play hockey as a young boy. Fanci would skate and pass her toddler grandson pucks on their backyard rink.
Flanked by his grandfather, mother and father, Kopitar wept quietly as he knelt with the cup.“I just thinks she deserves that moment,” he said. “Even though she’s not with us anymore. I’m sure from somewhere she saw it and she enjoyed it just as much as I did.”
More at the Times blog.
Hockey notes: The Kings' backup goalie, Jonathan Bernier, got his day with the Cup this week and told a Canadian TV station that he asked to be traded during the past season and "expects" to be traded before training camp begins this fall. And veteran scorer Teemu Selanne, 42, said he will return next season to play with the Anaheim Ducks in his 20th NHL season.
LA Times photo: Robert Gauthier
Previously on LA Observed:
Anze Kopitar brings the Stanley Cup home to Slovenia
Summer of Stanley Cup joy about to hit the road
Ex-Kings broadcasters admit to some tears this week
