Semi-Final Matchups in King of Kings Tournament

With three rounds now completed in the King of Kings tournament, around 10,000 votes were cast across the Elite 8 matchups – while nearly as many debates raged across social media. Fans felt passionately about all of the players involved; and rightly so, you’re talking about eight of the greatest in LA hockey history. In the end, though, only four men remain in play to determine who is worthy of earning the ultimate crown.

Similar to previous rounds, voting was slightly different across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And, this time, one of the matchups was beyond super close.

ROUND 3 RESULTS

Jonathan Quick 51% def. Wayne Gretzky 49%
Anze Kopitar 62% def. Drew Doughty 38%
Luc Robitaille 88% def. Rob Blake 12%
Dustin Brown 77% def. Marcel Dionne 23%

I’ll refrain from sharing any personal comments until the entire tournament is over, for fear of swaying votes one way or the other. Yet, I’ll pass along several items mentioned during the voting and include a few other tidbits below.

Blake defeated Rogie Vachon in the previous round by a narrow margin, so I was curious to see how he’d fare vs. Robitaille. Considering, in general, people tend to favor offense over defense, both Blake and Doughty appear to have suffered a similar fate in Round 3.

Quick vs. Gretzky was the first time in this competition where ‘the other guy’ had more support on one of the social media platforms, yet lost the overall vote. Throughout the tournament we’ve seen different voting patterns. In the opening round, Jim Fox and Mattias Norstrom were the first matchup to actually tie on Instagram and we needed the votes from elsewhere to determine the eventual winner. Here, in just the latest example of how close things were in the voting, Gretzky and Quick took things to a whole new level.

UPSET ALERT!!!

In our first #KingOfKings Elite 8 matchup, Quick def. Gretzky! Many will be shocked.

What's even more amazing is how he did it. After nearly 2,000 votes came in across Twitter, FB, IG, he won by FOUR TOTAL VOTES.

Twitter +14 votes
IG tie 50/50
FB +10 for Gretzky https://t.co/T2hfb4d4h3

— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) September 26, 2019

While some of the other matchups may not appear to be as close, they certainly weren’t lacking in spirited comments from all sides. Here’s just a small sample:

Without Gretzky we wouldn’t have Quick.

— Sabre Rattler (@sabrerattler) September 25, 2019

I get the w/o Gretzky blah blah blah, but the contest is who is the #KingOfKings so I’m going Quick

— Tony Mercado (@no_3putts) September 25, 2019

Really tough choice. Have to go with the first Conn Smythe winner in Kings history.

— Jack Stride (@js737) September 25, 2019

I’m just going to be straight up honest. Without Gretzky I wouldn’t be a Kingsfan today to place this vote.

— Arron Klapprat (@Kingofpeg) September 25, 2019

Why is everyone so angry. This is for fun. When one guy wins the popular vote it doesnt negate the others value and contributions. #team99

— tohspals (@tohspals) September 27, 2019

The real poll should be Doty VS Kopidor. They are the real #KingofKings since they get way more media exposure.

— Michael Berkowitz (@Berkalicious) September 27, 2019

Can’t vote on this one.

— MMF (@mfryer4) September 26, 2019

Somewhere in the Kings offices pic.twitter.com/ikdWqLPS2z

— It's Forum Blue (@19Lak11) September 27, 2019

Hardest match up for me, as they are my two most admirable players, albeit completely different era's. But Brownie brought home the hardware. He gets the nod. #LAKings

— Steven Niebow (@Neeebski) September 28, 2019

What’s next? Well, only three more matchups remain to determine the King of Kings winner.

As noted in the original announcement, the rules for the tournament are pretty straight forward. Each morning leading up to Game 1 of the regular season, a new matchup will be featured in a poll across all MayorsManor social media accounts, giving fans the opportunity to vote for their choice of player to advance in the tournament and ultimately determine who is truly worthy of wearing the crown and claiming the King of Kings title.