L.A. Kings, Galaxy meet with President Obama at White House

Consider it a ceremony fit for a king.

The Stanley Cup-winning L.A. Kings -- along with the back-to-back MLS champion L.A. Galaxy -- traveled to the White House on Tuesday, where players met with President Obama and presented the commander in chief with personalized jerseys.

“Now, it is great to have both teams here, not just because they share a hometown,” Obama said in the East Room. “I’m a little resentful coming from Chicago that L.A. seems to be getting all these championships. But they don’t just share a hometown, they also share a pretty good comeback story.”

The president said the Galaxy overcame an “injury bug” in what had appeared to be a rebuilding year before securing its second straight Major League Soccer title.

The Kings’ story “is a little bit different,” he said. “These guys were not defending champions.”

Obama congratulated the team for “squeaking into the playoffs” as a No. 8 seed and for winning “game after game after game.”

“America found out that Southern California actually has some pretty intense hockey fans,” the president quipped.

The Galaxy’s Landon Donovan and Kings captain Dustin Brown then presented Obama with jerseys -- Donovan also gave him a ball that the president headed. Players then participated in a question-and-answer session for First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign.

Several players tweeted about the experience.

“Had a great time at the @WhiteHouse, back to work now, off to #stlouis,” Kings goalie Jonathan Quick wrote.

“1600 Penn. @whitehouse. Should be a fun day. #barry,” Brown said.

“Meeting the most powerful man in the world today... #heartbeatisabithigher,” center Anze Kopitar wrote.

And for those tracking the globe-trotting Stanley Cup itself, the trophy also made the trek to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

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Twitter: @katemather | Google+

kate.mather@latimes.com