For years, the grimy industrial town of Jesenice in northwestern Slovenia lived for ice hockey. In other parts of the country, soccer or even basketball had always been more popular, but in Jesenice, a town surrounded by mountains and dominated by a steel mill, hockey was a way of life. For decades, Jesenice's steelworkers would spend cold winter evenings on or around the municipal ice rink, where they would be cheered on by enthusiastic crowds.

The town's passion for hockey translated into an absolute dominance in the Yugoslav league. Between 1957 and 1971 alone, Jesenice became the Yugoslav champion every single year; it lost just four games in 14 years. Jesenice's winning streak continued after independence, and in 2006, Jesenice even joined the Austrian-based Erste Bank Ice Hockey League (EBEL), going head-to-head with teams from neighboring countries.

But then the unthinkable happened. After years of mismanagement, the hockey team could no longer pay its players, and it kicked out of EBEL. Suddenly, Jesenice's historic hokey arena went silent, and local residents no longer had a team they could rally around. The glue that held the town together was gone.

Several days ago, however, Jesenice's ice hockey arena once gain found itself full of cheering crowds. They were not cheering for Jesenice's hockey team, but for one playing thousands of miles away: the Los Angeles Kings.

The reason for the excitement: Anže Kopitar, who grew up in the village of Hrušica, just outside of Jesenice. A product of the famed “Jesenice hockey school,” Kopitar joined the NHL in 2006, and is now the star player of the L.A. Kings. He was the highest scorer in the playoffs and ranks among the league's biggest stars.

Because of the intense interest, local authorities came up with an ingenious idea. They decided to organize free screenings of the NHL finals in Jesenice’s hockey arena – the very venue where Kopitar started his career. After a long break, hockey-deprived locals once again gathered at the storied arena to cheer for their hometown hero's team. Because of the time difference, a sleepy town known for its lack of vibrancy came alive in the middle of the night, with hundreds of fans, young and old, reveling in the type off atmosphere that had put Jesenice on the map as a hockey town.

The long-desistance support apparently did the trick. The Kings ended up winning the Stanley Cup for the second time in three years by defeating the New York Rangers.

Kopitar will bring the Stanley Cup on a tour of his hometown later this summer, most likely on June 26. The people of Jesenice are already planning a major homecoming celebration, proving that even without a professional team, their small town in northwestern Slovenia is still united by its passion for hockey.