Ducks at Boston, vs Bruins

When I found out Veniza-trophy winner Tim Thomas was going to be in net tonight, I got nervous.


Norris-trophy winner Zdeno Chara was also going to be in the lineup.

I wonder if our Erik Christensen was slightly relieved to find out he'd be spending the game up in the press box as a healthy scratch, considering Z's the one that seems to have permanently screwed up his shoulder seasons ago.

Yours truly watched this one at the first official Duck Watch Party of the season at O'Connell's Sports Bar and Grill in Huntington Beach. It's always fun being in the company of other sports fans when your boys are playing. O'Connell's is a small yet cozy place, with some awesome lunch specials. Baby Rebel was not cooperating with the harsh lighting, so no pictures from the scene.

Our Ducks haven't been able to get a win yet this season, would they be able to defend against such a decorated team? Last season's top seeded Eastern Conference team who handed them a humiliating 0-6 shutout the last time they shared ice? It definitely wasn't going to be easy. The Bruins came out with guns a-blazing, making some good bids on net, but they were handled very well by Jonas Hiller.

Hillsy did let in a five-holer which, I'm sure, he would've loved to take back as it looked as if it went right through him. My boy Bobby Ryan had a number of scoring chances in that first period (and throughout the game), none of which he could capitalize on. Our hometown heroes were looking good though. Feet were moving, forechecks were aggressive, our boys were moving into shooting and passing lanes, and dominating in the faceoff. They were doing those little things as well as much improved tape-to-tape passing... maybe it would just be a matter of time.

The second period saw the Bruins make a couple of crucial mistakes. They ended up with overlapping penalties, and our Ducks were gifted with a beautiful 69 seconds of 5-3 power play. Teemu Selanne found net on both penalties, the first with a slap shot that sped past a Corey Perry screen and between Thomas's legs. The second, showcasing what the Ducks do best on the doorstep, came off a Thomas rebound. Saku Koivu caught the puck bouncing back in the slot, his bid rebounding again off Thomas to Perry, who tapped it to Selanne as he approached the net on the left. It was Selanne's infamous backhander that slid the puck in behind Thomas's leg, and our Ducks would take the lead, 2-1.

Not that our boys were able to stay out of the sin bin themselves, but I'm glad it wasn't a revolving door. I noticed some favorable changes in our boys' penalty kill. Saku and Todd Marchant whittled penalty minutes by possessing the puck for extended periods of time, and both acted as pests making it difficult for the Bruins to penetrate the zone, more or less set up. Once they were set up, Saku intercepted a number of passes, sending the puck back down the ice and requiring the Bruins to set up once again.

Maybe it helps having a veteran former captain on our team who's had history playing against these Eastern Conference teams, but I was very pleased with our PK this game. Yours truly loves having Saku on the PK unit.

Our boys would score again with a beautiful play by Perry. Not the first time he's made good with this display of patience and solid puck handling, Perry skated the puck down the left wing off a feed from James Wisniewski, then across the slot in front of the crease. Faking with a shoulder, he baited both Bruin D-men and Thomas, who went down expecting a short-sided wrister. Once the goalie went down, Perry patiently slid the puck around to the opposite side of the net and lifted it top shelf.

Simply beautiful.

Our defense is doing a better job at keeping the doorstep clean, but I think there's still work to be done there. Opposing guys and pucks still linger around the crease a few seconds longer than they should. Every game our boys play though, has gotten increasingly better than the last. And that's a good thing. Credit to Steve Eminger and Luca Sbisa, who are both looking more and more like gritty Duck D-men.

Our boys headed into the third period with a nice 2-goal lead. Learning their lesson from Tuesday, when they blew their 3-goal lead and lost in overtime, our boys kept the foot on the gas through the third. There was a lot more puck possession in the offensive zone. And it paid off.

Big guy Evgeny Artyukhin caught a pass from Joffrey Lupul and, catching the Bruin D off guard, sped off to the races. I'm always amazed to see such a large player burn rubber the way Arty does, and that man sure can skate. With Hunwick on his heels, Arty bore down on Thomas and snapped the shot five-hole.

That's the second goal for Arty in three games. Again, big grins on the bench from the Russian. Fast becoming a fan-favorite?

I'm sure the game felt like it had turned a complete 180 for Jonas Hiller, who could've sat down with a lawn chair and a margarita during the third period. He faced 19 shots on goal in the first period, but only four during the third (for a total of 15 for the second and third combined).

Finally, finally! Bobby gets his goal. It's off a slap shot from the Captain at the blue line, which hits Bobby's leg on the way to the net, and then shoots past Thomas five-hole. Unbelievable, but Bobby will take it!


Picture by Elsa/Getty Images North America

Our boys looked quite comfortable with their 4-goal lead with 3 minutes left in the game. A couple of penalties gave the Bruins man-advantage opportunities, but our much-improved PK killed them all. On one of these, Perry would tally his second for the evening. Lupul would go down on one knee to block a shot from the blue line. Perry caught the bouncing puck and went on a short-handed rush. Not exactly known for agile speed-skating, Perry managed to shoot the puck which was easily blocked by Thomas. The puck rebounded, bouncing off Perry's shoulder and helmet, flipped over Thomas's shoulder and became Perry's first shorthanded NHL goal.

The cameras caught subsequent grins and laughing from coach Carlyle and the boys on the Duck bench.

"Sometimes you get to be lucky. But to be lucky, you've got to fight for it."---Jonas Hiller

Lucky bounces went the Ducks' way in tonight's game, but when it happens as many times as it did tonight, you have to admit there was more than just luck involved. Our hometown heroes ended their night with a well-earned 6-1 Bruin beating and what looked to be an altogether fun game to play. It was definitely a fun one for us fans to watch. Next up, a reunion with Chris Pronger and the Flyers in Philadelphia this Saturday.

Some interesting stats about today's game: Teemu logged his 115th career multi-goal game and Ryan Getzlaf played his 300th NHL game.

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).

Ducks vs San Jose Sharks (season opener)

Ugh.

The nausea-inducing score of 1-4 says it all. Our Ducks got trounced in their season opener against the San Jose Sharks. It's unfortunate that it had to happen in front of a packed house at the Ponda. It's unfortunate that it had to happen after a rousing opening ceremony. It's unfortunate that it had to happen after a final preseason game a little less than a week ago that showed so full of promise.

It's unfortunate that it had to happen at all.

But, if it helps any to try to rationalize it, we can point out that the Sharks came to Anaheim with a lot of pressure on their shoulders. They've been in town as early as yesterday morning, practicing at Anaheim Ice. Coming off a devastating 2-5 loss in their season opener against the Colorado Avalanche who, incidentally, finished off the 2008-09 season dead last, the Sharks were fueled for vengeance.

They had to prove that they could make their highly-publicized Joe Thornton/Dany Heatley combination work. They had to prove that they weren't just the President's Trophy winners who got knocked off in the first round of playoffs. There are a lot of analysts watching the Sharks... a whole heckuva lot more than those who are watching the Ducks, that's for sure.

And besides, there's a huge rivalry between these two teams, and that's enough to chap anyone's hide.


Ducks: *growl*
Sharks: *snarl*

What I'm hoping is that our Ducks take some valuable lessons from this game. For one, everyone needs to step up the defense. EVERYONE. Chris Pronger is no longer there to sweep rebound pucks off the doorstep. He's not there to make things uncomfortable for any opponent who chooses to hang out in our goal crease. Frankie Beauchemin is no longer there to hold up our blue line.

Jonas Hiller did all he could tonight, but when your defense is severely lacking, it makes your job all the harder.

As our Ducks struggled, they got angry and sloppy. They let emotions get the best of them. Top scorers like Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf ended up in the penalty box, where they are of absolutely no help to anyone. When a penalty would get whistled for the Sharks, there would be so much pushing and shoving that a Duck would also end up in the box too. Goodbye man-advantage. Not that it did much good, our power play just couldn't buy a goal.

I hope our Ducks were humiliated. I hope they remember how much this stings and vow to themselves not to let it happen again. After all, there's many more games to be played... and won!



Now let's focus on what was good today, a welcome back ceremony for Ducks fans including an afternoon on the red carpet.


It was a beautiful sunny day for Duck watching!


Mike Brown and the lovely Skylar from 'The Element'


Eric Christensen gets interviewed by Skylar


Big George Parros signing autographs


James Wisniewski


Evgeny Artyukhin


Jonas Hiller


Ryan Whitney


My boy Bobby Ryan who, I believe, was on the red carpet longest because he took so much time signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans.


Ryan Getzlaf... who I'm afraid will be completely bald before the end of the season =X


Sheldon Brookbank got married this summer. Sorry ladies!


Steve Eminger, who looks like he should be in on the cover of GQ. Hello ladies!


Andrew Ebbett... and the back of some lady's head.


J.S. Giguere


Arriving last, Teemu Selanne was quickly ushered down the red carpet and could only give fans a paparazzi-style wave

Oh, and another highlight? Yours truly got to ride the zamboni.



Our Ducks get a chance to let this one sink in before redeeming themselves next Tuesday in Minneapolis.

Hockey is here!

And the hockey world rejoiced as pucks were dropped on a number of season openers... Hockey season is finally here!

Our hometown heroes will have their own season opener in less than 24 hours. Only two other previous times in NHL history has there been so much hockey on one day. This Saturday will mark the third---all 30 franchises will be playing. Where will you be? At a game? Watching Center Ice? Watching Game Center? Listening to a radio feed? Yours truly will be at the Ponda hoping to see our Ducks start off on a winning webbed foot.

Until then, there are a few moments I'd like to share. Even though they aren't Duck moments, I think we, as hockey fans, can still enjoy the emotions that only our wonderful game can evoke.

First, Denver Avalanche's Joe Sakic's retirement ceremony and the raising of his number 19 to the rafters of the Pepsi Center...



The man is truly one of hockey's greatest. It makes me misty-eyed to think that we will see a similar tribute for Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer soon.

Second, the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup ceremony at the Mellon (in two parts)





The Penguins went on to win their opener 3-2 against the New York Rangers tonight, as their interstate rivals, the Philly Flyers, trounced the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0. As much as I miss Chris Pronger, I was happy to see that he seems to be making himself right at home with the Flyers.

Let's hope the Ducks can deliver a similar trouncing, sans Prongs, at the Ponda. Go Ducks!!

Meet the Team 2009

One of the most anticipated Duck gatherings at the beginning of each season is the annual Meet the Team event. This year's soiree was held at [seven-degrees] in beautiful Laguna Beach.


Picture by John Maioriello



Guests in attendance spent an intimate evening mingling with Ducks staff, coaches, and players which, as was announced earlier in the morning, would not include Brendan Mikkleson and Logan MacMillan.

Those two were the last of the cuts made to the 2009-10 Ducks roster. Not wanting to ruin the mood with too much analysis, I will just say that I believe the coaches were right in sending these boys down for more game time and learning in the minors. I am also glad that Luca Sbisa will be kept with the team and, most importantly, given the chance to learn from future Hall-of-Famer Scott Niedermayer.

[seven-degrees] was elegantly appropriate for such an event, allowing a cozy environment for guests to talk, take pictures, and enjoy wine and hors d'oeuvres.


Picture by John Maioriello


Picture by John Maioriello

The festivities were complete with speeches from a few honoraries including Captain Scott Niedermayer and GM Bob Murray and a celebratory champagne toast to open the 2009-10 season.


Bobby will drink to that!


Jonas Hiller doesn't know who will be starting in between the pipes for Saturday's home opener against the Sharks, but he says he feels good about the season


Joffrey Lupul assured us that his back is feeling much better. He is expected to play this Saturday.


Evgeny Artyukhin, Ryan Whitney, Steve Eminger, and Luca Sbisa


My boy Bobby Ryan might have a little surprise for readers in the not too distant future...


Saku Koivu says he's loving the weather here in Southern California and that his family is adjusting nicely.

To check out more of John Maioriello's photos from the event, visit 944's site at: http://www.944.com/nightsites/gallery/meet-the-anaheim-ducks/.

Also, you can visit the Anaheim Ducks photo gallery page at: http://ducks.nhl.com

Get ready, Anaheim's first game to kick off the season is this Saturday at the Ponda. Hockey season is finally here! GO DUCKS!!