Afternoon reading: old friends face off

Over the past week, a number of connections between the Kings and the New Jersey Devils have been unearthed. Here’s a final one: both teams have 27-year-old American captains, meaning that for the first time since 1999, an American will captain a team to a Stanley Cup. (Dallas’ Derian Hatcher did it in 1999.)

Brown and Parise know each other well. They were both drafted in the first round in 2003 (Brown at No. 13, Parise at No. 17) and they were teammates on the 2010 United States Olympic team that won a silver medal in Vancouver. Brown and Parise were alternate captains on that team. They are also friends, albeit not for the next couple weeks. Here’s a story from NHL.com on Brown and Parise…

Parise, Brown ready to make U.S. hockey proud

In a similar vein, at least one alum of the University of North Dakota will be very happy this summer, as Matt Greene faces former teammates Parise and Travis Zajac…

Former North Dakota teammates square off in Final

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