Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar shared what his emotions were like as his career wound down to its final few minutes on Sunday, and how much the fans meant to him over the past 20 years.
It's the end of the road for Anze Kopitar. After announcing that this season would be his last in September, being eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs made it official.
Two decades with the Los Angeles Kings and in the NHL, a pair of Stanley Cups, and he's grateful for every moment.
That includes the final moments of his NHL career when the clock was winding down in Game 4, and the fans at Crypto.com Arena were chanting his name. And around that time, he slowly started to realize that it was the end.
"It hit me about five, six minutes to go that this could be it," Kopitar said in his final media availability on Sunday. "For the last 20 years, I've never experienced that emotion. 'There's always a next year, there's always a next year,' and now it's done. So, it's hard to comprehend."
In the closing minutes of the contest, Kings fans began chanting, "Kopi, Kopi," and "Thank you, Kopi."
The love that the Los Angeles faithful have shown to the Kings' captain has not been lost on Kopitar. In fact, their support is something that he'll cherish and remember forever.
"It was hard to keep it together, really," Kopitar told reporters about what it was like to hear the fans chanting his name.
"Being here for 20 years, more than half of my lifetime, it's extremely special. I really appreciate the fans; they've been behind me personally, they've been behind the team for all those years.
"I can truly say that they're probably one of the best fan bases in the entire league," Kopitar added.
The 38-year-old signs off with 1,628 regular-season and playoff games, scoring a total of 1,405 points in all those years of being one of the best pros in the sport.
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