- [Announcer] At the goal line, Brown with it.
- [Announcer] Brown down the right side with it.
- [Announcer] Brown, into the zone, feeds it.
- [Announcer] What a hit by Brown,
Dustin Brown on a breakaway!
A hat trick for Dustin Brown!
- You don't get to a thousand games by yourself.
You have a lot of help.
A thousand games started for me 14 years ago
but it really starts when I was five years old
and my dad's pushing me on the ice,
because I don't know how to skate.
You just have a lot of help, and it culminates
in that one moment.
(cheering) (soft music)
- Los Angeles Kings are pleased to select,
from Guelph of the Canadian Hockey League, Dustin Brown.
(cheering)
- As a player who's expected to be drafted,
you don't really have a team picked out.
I remember the Kings table sitting in front of me
and knew they were going to pick me.
I hadn't been probably west of Chicago
my whole life so, oops.
It was probably going as far west as I could.
(soft music)
- He was a very quiet kid when he came in,
you know kept to himself.
Did his own type of preparation, and he was very composed,
I think, at a young age.
- [Announcer] Off the draw now, Corvo a shot, save,
rebound, score, Dustin Brown!
- Right away when he came in the league
and I was still a player, we saw that
he was a special player.
Dustin was a great listener as a kid when he came
into the league, like Matty Norstrom
took him under his wing.
- I think you learn a lot from really good players.
I'm still learning from really good players
that's the thing, 'cause you never really stop learning.
It's just where you are at in your career
and your perspective on things.
- [Announcer] Robitaille, oh!
Right over the boards by Brown right into the Kings' bench.
- Coming in, trying to make an impact as a young guy,
I mean I was a pretty good scorer in junior but,
the NHL's a whole nother ball game.
And for me to have an impact, I found a niche
in the physicality department.
- [Announcer] He's running around and hitting everybody.
- [Announcer] He doesn't pass up
the opportunity to hit anybody.
- I'm not sure you can find a guy who's played
a harder thousand games than Dustin Brown,
he goes in hard every game.
- [Announcer] Wow that's a high hit by Brown on Couture.
- A lot of it's just luck of the draw,
how you're put together, stuff that, genetics.
I'm put together well.
I can run into things and feel okay.
- [Announcer] Oh what a hit delivered by Dustin Brown!
- It's amazing what he's been able to accomplish
because he hasn't missed that many games due to injuries
and that's, I don't think people realize how hard
that is, to play the way he plays.
- That's probably the one thing I do take pride
in is not missing games.
Most guys, there's maybe 10 games a year
that a player actually feels perfect.
- Brownie's a guy that leads by example.
He's a tremendous role model and the Kings organization
has been extremely fortunate to have,
have him a part of the organization for this long.
- [Announcer] Henrik's down Bob and he's having a difficult
time getting up, he was run over.
(cheering)
(horn buzzing)
- For him to help us get the first Stanley Cup
for the LA Kings is tremendous.
He understood what it meant for our organization
and for our fans.
(cheering)
- You're lookin' at a guy that from the moment
he was drafted, has poured his heart
and soul into this organization.
(cheering)
- I think Dustin Brown has elevated himself
to another level.
We never won a Stanley Cup until he was leading our team
and he's helped us win two Stanley Cups.
You can't put numbers, you can't put goals, assists,
or anything like that to what this meant for the LA Kings.
(cheering)
- He's obviously the all-time winningest captain
in Kings history, and it's just a testament
to who Brownie is.
I mean, it's no secret that he's had some ups and downs
but you know he's never wavered
and that's a testament to his character.
- [Announcer] Two Stanley Cups in the last three seasons,
but they are eliminated tonight from playoff contention.
- So I think there's areas of our game that we need
to get better individually I need to be better.
But at the same time you don't want to sit here
and say oh this team's no good anymore.
- People sometimes underestimate how the game
can get stuck in our head.
- [Announcer] Four games to one, San Jose over the Kings.
The third place Sharks over the second place Kings.
- Disappointed is probably, I mean that's probably
the general word but when you're in here
for 80-something games together,
all working towards the same goal,
it's much bigger than one word.
- It was stuck in his head because he cares.
'Cause Dustin Brown cares.
He cares every day and he wants to be the best
he can be and he wants to help the team.
- As hard as those three years were personally for me,
I was more mad at myself, more frustrated
with myself for not performing,
and I think if you ask the team collectively,
it's probably the same feeling.
(soft music)
I know we get to play a game for a living,
and it's a lot of fun, but if you're not enjoying
what you're doing it's really hard to perform
at a very high level.
There's a change of scenery, and I came in
with a new attitude.
All the players were excited about the opportunity
to go in this year.
There's excitement again, and that's something
we had and we lost it.
(horn buzzing)
- [Announcer] It's a team game,
but this individual stat means something,
1,000 games played.
A feat achieved by relatively few in the history
of the league.
Dustin Brown hits it tonight, all as a Los Angeles King.
- As a team, the Stanley Cup is the most coveted thing
you can do, but I think personally for a lot of players
a thousand games is a testament to endurance.
This guy I think in the last 12 years has missed 15 games.
- It's not an easy thing to do, but I was drafted
in 2003 by Dave Taylor, who was the only other guy
who's done it for this organization,
so it's kinda full-circle for me.
- [Referee] Congrats on a thousand Brown.
- Thank you.
The actual game, I mean, I played a thousand of them.
So it's another game, like, in reality it's,
it's a big milestone personally.
Guys are aware of it in the room
but it's not the main focus.
AI, I don't take face offs in my thousandth game.
Alright boys, penalty kill here let's go!
You just go over top if Kopi wins it,
jump hard if they don't alright?
The funny thing is I didn't play very well.
(cheering)
But sometimes you find a way to have a storybook ending.
- [Announcer] Three-on-three overtime is what we will play
here at Staples Center.
Landiskog goes off, here's Brown through center.
- Very few players are able to elevate their game
in special moments and he certainly found a way to do it.
- [Announcer] Brown through center, Dustin Brown!
Yes, he scores!
Oh my!
(cheering) (horn buzzing)
- With the ups and downs that Brownie's been through,
I think sometimes in life things have a way of working out,
and I think there's a little bit of poetic justice there.
- Give me a hug, yeah!
- A lot of times until you're done and you sit back
and you start seeing other guys accomplish
a thousand games and you're like wow,
that's a pretty good accomplishment.
- I know a lot of great hockey players
who haven't even reached a thousand games,
and for him to do it with one team, it's pretty outstanding.
(horn buzzing)
- Any time we bring a young guy into our locker room,
you just say just look at Dustin Brown
and treat yourself the way he treats himself
and you're going to have a long career.
- [Child] Daddy!
- There's not very many players in the league like Brownie.
He really is the total package and I think
that's I think that's kinda hard to find.
- Here ya go Brownie.
- Thanks.
- You gotta use that tonight.
- That's what I wanna do.
- [Man] I'm glad he plays for our team
and not somebody else.
- As a young boy growing up in Ithaca, New York,
I don't think I could ever imagine that I'd play
in the NHL, let alone a thousand games.
- When you think about the LA Kings,
you think about Dustin Brown.
The dedication it takes to play this game
at the level he's played is incredible.
- Most importantly, I wanna thank my teammates
for going to war with me every day, day-in and day-out.
And the best part about it is you guys make
it fun every day.
I have a lot of fun with you guys.
Ultimately I just want to play until I feel like
I'm no longer effective as a player, as a teammate.
Then it's time for me to move on
but I don't foresee that happening anytime soon.
- [Announcer] Kings fans, the newest member of the 1,000
games played fraternity, Dustin Brown.
(cheering)