Los Angeles Kings at Home in the South Bay

Most of the players live in the beach cities, where they're welcomed.

By Ted Chen and Melissa Pamer

| Saturday, Jun 9, 2012 | Updated 3:52 PM PDT

This South Bay bar is one of several that welcome and celebrate the Los Angeles Kings, many of whom make their homes in the beach cities.

Most of the Los Angeles Kings, who could capture their first Stanley Cup during Game 5 Saturday, are actually South Bay residents.

They're kind of the "South Bay Kings," if you think about it.

Almost all of the Kings players are beach lovers who live in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach or Redondo Beach. They've even got their own special section at Sharks Cove Sports Bar on Manhattan Beach Boulevard.

And in a part of greater Los Angeles with quite a few professional athletes as residents, many locals find the Kings to be good neighbors.

"It's great. They're the nicest guys. They'll talk to you," said longtime Kings fan Carol Dziadkowicz.

"The local community here supports them, and now they recognize them, that they are superstars in the NHL," Carol's husband Ed said.

And since hockey players are recognized in public quite a bit less than players of other professional sports, you never know when you might run into a King in the South Bay.

Players and team executives are active in the local community and they practice just up the street in El Segundo.

For South Bay Kings fans, all of that just makes the possibility of a Stanley Cup all the more tantalizing.

"It's gonna be a dream come true, after so many years of following the Kings," Ed Dziadkowicz said. "We just want one more win."