February 7, 2017- For the second season in a row, the Kings will be going to the championship game. The defending Spring league champions will have the chance to defend their crown when they face the best regular season team in the regular season, Slap Richards.

A loss in the final game of the regular season saw the Kings chances at the number 1 seed drop them to seed #3. They would get quite a challenge would they would face the top two seeds to start the playoffs.

As the Kings would go out and score a goal, Shot and a Beer would respond as the two teams would trade off goals through the first two periods of play. Tied up at 3-3, the Kings would take over the third period, would Frankie Negrette would give the Kings their fourth lead of the night a minute into the third period. Half way though the period, he would tally another after some nice moves up the middle, and finally making a final deke and wrapping the puck around the defenseless goaltender Howard Shen. Ryan Cordes' power play goal in the closing minutes sealed the game, and the Kings would take a huge win against the #2 seeded Shot and a Beer with a 6-3 victory.

Stefano Palazzolo continued his hot play into the playoffs, with a goal and 4 assists. Negrette finished with 2 goals and a helper, and David Avila and Tyler Esswein with the other Kings goals.

Five days later, the Kings would face their toughest challenge when they would face the leagues best Slap Richards. Would made it even more challenging for the Kings would be the amount of skaters the Kings would dress-- 8 skaters and a goalie. But it was the Kings that would jump on Slap Richards early. A 2 minute roughing call put Slap Richards short handed. Ryan Cordes made the penalty costly with a slap shot from mid point, and the Kings were up 1-0. But this would be the last we would see from Cordes in the scoring department. Cordes and Slap Richards Matthew Hendricks would be both asset game misconducts for an altercation in front of Slap Richards goaltender Marty Miligan. The ejection threw Slap Richards top point producer against the Kings Hendricks out of the game. However a more costly penalty for the Kings; not only departing the services of the talented Cordes, but leaving the Kings with only 7 skaters for over 2 periods of play.

The Kings would survive the rest of the first period without any damage, taking the 1-0 lead into period two. They would add to their lead 4 minutes into the game when Bert Weinheimer would skate off on a breakaway, and put in his first goal of the playoffs. But Slap Richards would cut the lead in half halfway through the game, when they capitalized on a tired Kings core when they were stuck on the ice without a stoppage of play. The Kings were clinging to their 1 goal lead at 2-1 with 1 period left to play.

In the third period, Slap Richards were able to finally nod the game up when Mike Lee got behind the Kings defense and made a move around Lennie Lopez and slid the puck in. The game was all tied up at 3 with 10 minutes left in the game. But the Kings did not roll over; the Kings did not give up. Jordan Esswein was able to spot a streaking Marvin Lee, who ripped one home and gave the Kings the lead back. Once again, Slap Richards battled their way back against the tired, yet never give up Kings. Matthew Martin was able to snag a clearing attempted on the blue line, walk in to the faceoff dot and wrist a shot past Lopez to once again tie the game back up.

The back breaker came 32 seconds after Slap Richards would tie the game once again, gaining their first lead of the night. After the Kings failed to once again clear the puck, Eric Moore intercepted the clearing attempt, threw the puck in front of the Kings net, where it was re-directed by Eric Moore who was parked off to the side of Lopez. In a matter of seconds, the Kings went from a 1 goal lead, to 1 goal down with less than 6 minutes remaining.

In the final minutes, the Kings put on a final rush in attempts to tie the game. With the goalie pulled, the Kings nearly put the tying goal in the net, getting chances down the final seconds. However they couldn't find that final goal, and Slap Richards would complete the comeback, edging the Kings 4-3. "I am extremely happy with the play by the guys that showed up tonight. We had an extremely short bench, and we gave them a run. We showed a lot of heart out there," commented captain Mike Brewster following the game. It was a loss on as their record would show, but the Kings gained some momentum, taking the best team in the division to the limit.

The Kings would hit the ice a week later knowing that the loss would put them in a must win situation for their final 2 games of the playoffs. They would face the Predators, who even though finished the #5 seed, always play the Kings tough. It was important that the Kings jumped on the Predators early, and kept the pressure throughout the game, as the Predators are a team that tend to come back on the Kings late in games.

The Kings did get what they wanted, when they jumped on the Predators for 3 goals in the first period. The Negrette line with Goodey and Palazzolo remained one of the hottest lines in the division, accounting for all 3 of the Kings goals in the period. Jeff Hernandez would score for the Predators, but it was Kings domination, and with a scoreless second period, the Kings went into the third period with a 3-1 lead.

Third period was all Kings. Weinheimer would net his second goal of the playoffs, followed with Cordes' third, and Goodey's first of the 2017 playoffs. The Kings would take the roar out of the Predators with a 6-1 victory, and a win away from the championship game.

The Kings final round robin playoff opponent is their oldest rival, the Flames. The Kings and Flames rivalry dates back to the Spring of 2003 when the arena was named Disney Ice. The two longest tenure adult hockey teams at Anaheim Ice both had a shot at the championship game, with the Kings a win away, where the Flames needed this game, and another. However the Flames would not only be short handed, but without their top point producer Aaron Kovall, who was out on injury.

Without Kovall and with a Kings team that is beginning to peak at the right time was not good news for the Flames. The Negrette line continued to steamroll their opponents, putting in the first 3 goals of the game. Goodey, Palazzolo and Negrette all would net goals to put the Kings up 3-0 to start the game. Steven Lees would add a Flames goal late, but the pace of the game and the way the Kings were playing was setting up for a very dominating game for the boys in black.

The Kings would score 6 goals in the second period, and 4 in the third for a total of 13 goals. Of the 13 goals, not 1 Kings player would have a hat trick. Palazzolo, Negrette, Weinheimer, Cordes, while Tyler and Jordan Esswein, Goodey, Avila and Lee tallied a goal. Even though the 13 goals sounds like a record, it was not the most the Kings have scored in the playoffs. The Kings have scored 14 goals last years playoffs, when they defeated Genterra 14-7.

The Kings next opponent will need to be on notice, as if they are going to win the championship, they will need to stop the Negrette Palazzolo Goodey trio. That line has 30 of the Kings 63 points in the post season, or 48% of the point production. The Kings are also getting great defensive support and transition, and all three lines are clicking. Secondary scoring has been coming from the Weinheimer line with Marvin Lee and Scott Delong. The one-two punch of scoring has made it difficult for teams to stop consecutively. Then the Kings throw out the Esswein line with the Daves--Young and Avila. The shutdown line has been very difficult to play against, shutting down opponents and doing a tremendous job grinding along the boards and wearing the other team down. The championship might come down to this line, and quite possibly putting the pressure on and coming up with a big goal of their own. And waiting in the back is the Kings defenseman Ryan Cordes who shares the team lead with 5 goals. Yet their defensive core and netminder are second in the league in goals against, and will need to be on top of their game against Slap Richards in the championship game.