4th Annual Cut For the Kids

Every year, Anaheim Ducks enforcer George Parros goes under the scissors for a good cause: he donates his season-long locks to nonprofits that benefit children with leukemia. Fans are invited to participate as well, and space at the event usually goes quickly as adults and children alike line up to donate their hair for children's wigs.


This year's event was held at the Rinks-Huntington Beach Inline


Stylists from the TONI&GUY Hairdressing Academy volunteered their time and skills to provide new do's for the donors

I'd wanted to participate in the event last year, but the job that pays the bills interfered. This year, I had the day off. I was a bit nervous about cutting off most of my hair... it had taken me a year and a half to grow it. But this was a good cause.

And doing it alongside George Parros made it all the more special.


Georgie in the stylist's chair


Ahhh! There it goes...


Sporting his new hairdo, George speaks to Kent French and Element TV


After the cutting, George signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans for a donation to the Childhood Leukemia Foundation

Consider growing your hair out to join George next season at his Cut For the Kids!

Ducks vs Florida Panthers

Not just another day at the office for George

This was a great game. Period.

And not because there were big names involved or because it was a special giveaway night at the Ponda. Most people might have passed on tonight's game because it was a random Wednesday night, against a random East Conference team that doesn't generate a huge following.

But for those Duck faithful who came out, we were treated to a fun, raucous game capped off with a Ducks win. You really had to be there.


Man of the hour, George Parros, grinning big in his new role of goal scorer


The Ducks enforcer scored two goals in tonight's contest, with a tussle against Darcy Hordichuk thrown in between

Padded with some nice goals from our big line, we Duck fans didn't have to sweat it out too badly. I mean, if anyone knows how quickly and painfully a lead can be lost, it's Duck fans.


High-fives at the bench after Getzlaf's goal

But with the last 15 minutes or so of the game, the minimal crowd at the Ponda got louder and louder. People screamed every time Parros took the ice. Murmurs of "Hatty" and "One more for Georgie" buzzed through the air.

Best of all, you could tell the big man and everyone on the Ducks bench were absolutely loving it. So glad Georgie could do this one at home, where the home fans could really make it special for him.


Bobby Ryan sealed the deal with an empty netter dug out from underneath the Panther defender

In the end, there would be no hatty for George, but there would be two points for the Ducks.


The boys celebrate the victory with Jonas Hiller

Ducks vs Vancouver Canucks

Our hapless Ducks went into tonight's contest against the Vancouver Canucks with the loathsome record of 3-6-1, second worse in the Western Conference. Having sat through three gameless days with the bad taste of Monday's 6-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs lingering in their mouths, our Ducks sounded determined to turn things around.

As a fan, I can say, "Oh, I've heard that before..." and roll my eyes. But, as a TRUE Ducks fan, I can say, "Okay boys, we still believe in you, the season is still young, let's fight for this..." and then pray that we come out of tonight with a win.

The season is only young for so long, of course, and our Ducks do need to be playing better if they expect to get anywhere near playoff contention. While it's natural to feel angry and frustrated, I'd say these are the times that are the most important to show our support for our boys. After all, anyone can support a winning team. Only loyal fans stick with a losing team.

It was with a certain amount of anxiety that fans filed into the Ponda Friday night, Halloween Eve. Would our boys leave dressed as game winners? Or would they drop yet another game and fall officially into last place (the Minnesota Wild won their game that night so a loss would drop our Ducks to the bottom)?


Duck's starting lineup during the National Anthem, probably saying their own prayers under their breaths.

The night started off bleak, with the Canucks finding the net a mere 66 seconds after puck drop. They would score again for a 2-0 lead later in the first period.


Bobbyhead surveys the miserable scene from the 224B Suite Box

And then, miracle of miracles, our boys decide to show up. Jonas Hiller would pull his game together to stop every remaining Canuck shot on goal, Corey Perry decided to add to his point tally as lead scorer for the team, and our fourth line rallied to put some points on the scoreboard too.

Perry's first goal would come towards the end of the first, as Joffrey Lupul shot a tight pass to him at the top of the slot. Converging on the net, Perry wristed the puck past netminder Andrew Raycroft.

Our Ducks would blow the game wide open in the second, with big George Parros and Mike Brown scoring their first goals of the season. Georgie's goal came from a bid on net by Ryan Carter, thankfully back on the ice since his foot injury. George was right in front of Raycroft and, falling through the crease, pushed the rebounding puck twice, the second time past the goaltender.

Mikey's goal came off an odd-man rush. He, along with Carts who assisted, sped towards Raycroft and cleanly netted the puck with a neat backhander. A nice career-first shorthanded goal for Mikey, scored against his former team.


Mike Brown, I repeat, one of the best things we ever picked up from Vancouver

Perry would put in his second goal of the night before the period's end with a tip-in in front of his favorite spot in the crease. My boy Bobby Ryan would grab an assist on this one, and then put in his own goals in the next period. Captain Scott Niedermayer grabbed the second assist, his official 700th NHL point. We fans gave him a standing ovation.


The large number of Canuck fans before us sat begrudgingly as Duck fans jumped to their feet to celebrate another Duck goal

Bobby's first goal came off a beautiful cross-slot feed from Ryan Getzlaf during the power play. Bobby quickly converted with a slap shot that beat Cory Schneider, who took over for Raycroft at the start of the third. His second goal came less than three minutes later, with Perry lending the assist. Bobby caught a rebound off Schneider and was able to wrist it over the netminder's pads. See, good things happen when you hang around the crease!


Yours truly is personally VERY happy to see Bobby add to that goal tally, and judging by the huge grin on his face after, I don't think I'm the only happy one!

By this time, the Duck victory was safely in the bag, but just to be safe, the Ponda thought it might help out with a fluke goal that sealed the Canucks' fate, 2-7. Lupes would send the puck along the glass and into the Canuck zone and Schneider, expecting to move things along behind the net, left his crease to meet the puck. A strange bounce off a stantion angled the puck directly at an open net. Lupes would get credited with the goal, one of the strangest ones I've ever seen live.

But we'll take it!


Bobbyhead kickin' it on the suite couch. Scoring two goals and an assist in one game is tiring! (photo courtesy of @HillerNtheNet)

It was like our boys could do no wrong, at least for the 2nd and 3rd periods. The Duck faithful fans in attendance were strongly rewarded for their loyalty, and we were more than happy to be there. Now, if our boys could only use this newfound energy to springboard a winning streak?


Ducks celebrate a long-awaited win with second star of the night, Jonas Hiller


First star of the night, Bobby Ryan

Ducks at Minnesota, vs Wild

Hoping to forget the awful home opener, our Ducks made their first appearance of a four-game road trip tonight in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hopefully what the kinder analysts had to say would be true: an early road trip gives a team with a lot of new players the chance to bond, thus improving their game.

Some items of interest to look forward to in this game:
- J.S. Giguere will be in net tonight.
- Niklas Backstrom, an amazing butterfly goaltender in his own right, will be in net for the Wild. Offense will have to step it up on both sides to get by these veteran netminders.
- This will be only the fifth matchup of the Koivu brothers. Which team has the better Koivu?
- Andrew Ebbett and Nick Boynton will suit up for the first time this season. Yours truly is quite curious to see how they will do.

The 1st period of the game went scoreless, but I was happy to see that our Ducks didn't look like they were skating through quicksand (as they looked in their opener against the Sharks). Passes were completed, there were considerably less Duck turnovers in the neutral zone, and the forecheck looked good.

Our hometown heroes blew the game wide open in the 2nd period, with three Ducks earning their first goals as Ducks. Joffrey Lupul redirected a one-timer from Ryan Whitney into the net, before blocking a puck with his face later which sent him off for the rest of the period. Backstrom was beat a second time by a quick pass from Corey Perry across the slot to Evgeny Artyukhin, who hammered it home. The big smile on Arty's face afterwards said it all. And the third goal would come from Saku Koivu, off a rebound from James Wisniewski's bid on Backstrom.

It started to look as if our boys had found themselves. Ebbett added a welcomed element of speed and energy to the Todd Marchant-Mike Brown line. Grit and physicality dominated. Passing and shooting lanes were more effectively blocked, and some big hits were made. Jiggy looked top-notch between the pipes with great positioning and few rebounds.

Unfortunately, the 2nd period ended and the 3rd period began. Our boys started to look tired and less aggressive. Big George Parros got worked over in a fight with John Scott, and the game went rapidly downhill with three Wild goals (Koivu, Sykora, Belanger) that brought on OT. Wiz took an ill-timed roughing penalty and the Wild capitalized to win it.

It shouldn't have been. Our Ducks basically threw in the towel with 10 minutes left in the game. The defense isn't strong enough to withstand 10 minutes of continual puck chipping into the offensive zone and then trying to protect against the opponent's rush. Throw in a flat-out dumb penalty and... ugh.

Let's hope for a better outcome Thursday as the Ducks take on the Boston Bruins. If our Ducks can improve as much as they did from Saturday's game to tonight, I think they might actually win the next one. At least, it couldn't be worse than the last time they faced the Bruins (0-6).

Offseason highlights

Just a few more tidbits to feed Ducks fans during the looonnnggg offseason month of August...

How about this for an awesome picture? Ex-Duck Chris Kunitz and his new baby with Lord Stanley's Cup. I love it, although the pic really makes me miss Kuny in a Ducks jersey.



There was an extraordinary article in the OC Register about Duck forwards George Parros and Bobby Ryan visiting Fort Irwin out in the Mojave Desert. Great pictures to boot. Check it out: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/parros-soldiers-ryan-2528070-combat-military



Bob Murray has most likely finished up his offseason trades with one last round. Drew Miller and the Ducks' 3rd round draft pick were sent to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for bruiser Evgeny Artyukhin, whose last name sounds like an attack move in Street Fighter. Mixed feelings about this one. I've heard some bad things about Artyukhin... that he's a goon, that he takes bad penalties, etc. And at 6'5", 270lbs, the guy is a friggin' monster. Ugh.

And then I'm also sad to see Drew Miller go. He may have not been a huge point scorer, but the guy had a heart of gold. Read this story if you don't believe me: http://www.hockeytalk.biz/francis.htm



Yours truly has finalized her mini-plan for next season. I'm doing the 15-game pick 'em plan, so I got to choose, more or less, which games I get to go to. First up will be our preseason game against the Coyotes. Looks like I'll be sitting in Row H of any one of three sections throughout the year: 414, 431, and 436. Shout-out to Kyle for hooking that up!

Season tickets are hitting the mail around Labor Day.

Thinking our Ducks roster is more or less set for the 2009-10 season, I updated the pics in the sidebar. Saku Koivu is added, but I'm going to update that pic as soon as we get some press on him in his new Ducks gear. Joffrey Lupul gets an automatic add into the sidebar, seeing as he's been a Duck more than once. As for the new guys (Boynton, Sbisa, McCarthy, Arty, etc.), I'll wait and see what they do on the ice first. I had to remove Chris Pronger and Frankie Beauchemin... but I still cannot remove Kuny. Maybe I will if the Penguins beat our Ducks November 3rd.

So exciting! Hockey is finally getting close enough for me to taste.