Where do I start?

Wow. what a game. If last night wasn’t a good preview of things to come, i don’t know what is. The Ducks played like an elite team. Sure there were too many goals scored…but for today’s post i wont focus on the obvious negatives. instead I am going to write about everything that was great last night.

Score First!- I love the fact that we drew blood first by scoring the two goals right away. it seemed like before they started scoring we punched the life out of the entire arena! I could almost see the look on the face of the dude that sat next me when i was in Vancouver shaking his head saying, “Darn these Ducks, they’re doing it again.”

Return the favor!- At one point it seemed like the scoring would never end. As Ducks commentator John Ahlers said, “Don’t go away from you t.v. because you just might miss another score.” Although Hiller was being bombarded by goals (slightly negative observation), I love the fact that the Ducks kept returning the favor! “First one to 10 wins!”-John Ahlers

Brendan Mikkelson- this kid really shined last night. it was one momentous play where he took the puck and designed a play that included Teemu scoring off Luongo. As soon as Mik got the puck, i could see where he should be going with it, and then he did! He was a play maker last night, and I think he showed us a glimpse of the hockey player he can be.

Guts- the last two games the Ducks have shown they have guts. Last night i cant recall if it was the wiz, or someone else but they took a shot and had to leave the ice only to come back. Todd Marchant took a puck to the chest against Edmonton that floored him, only to have him come back in and part of a scoring drive minutes later.

The new guys and Bob Murry- Christianson, Noki, Wiz, Brown, Brokeback…they’re all kicking ass! Bob Murry said it a while back. he said we had the tools to win but something just was not clicking. Something was missing. Duck fans were mortified at the deadline when we traded Moen, Sammy, Huskins, Montador and Morrison crying certain defeat for our team. Since then it has been virtually night and day in terms of results. Balls of steel folks.

Getzlaf and Perry- The wonder twins. It took a while, but they have arrived.

Bobby “F’n” Ryan (Cheers)- This kid is for real. I hope someone in the front office already has the new contract all filled out, less Bobby’s signature.

Hiller- i cant help it but to ask the question, would have won with Jiggy in goal last night? I must be totally honest, i thought it was time to pull Hiller after Vancouver scored their 3rd goal. “Crazy” Carlyle stood by his goalie and left Hiller in net, and ultimately won the game for us. Hiller is not only nails in the shootout, but becoming so comfortable now, i think he is ready to raise his game to the next level (I’m not going to say it)

Andre Ebbet- The new improved Andy McDonald. This kid’s speed kills!! he is fast, feisty and is all over the place. he’s annoying and has grit. I am really impressed with this guy and he has definitely helped Teemu’s play improve.

Miller- *see Andrew Ebbet comments

I’m going to stop here….if i continue i think i may end up congratulating the entire team. Bottom line is that last nights game was a barn burner and the Ducks played like a championship team. The next 2 games are big, in the sense that is could be a 1st round preview of things to come. I know the talking heads were drooling at a “Battle for California” conference final in 2007; and they would love nothing better than a playoff match up between these two teams. This might be the year it happens….or not. Whatever the case may be, Saturday and Sunday will war for the Ducks and Sharks.

So that’s all for now, but before i go, the good luck ducks are in my pool again….that’s all I’m saying. Go Ducks!!!!

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Scrambled Pucks

My brain is running at a million miles an hour right now. I’ve been “going” non stop for the last 16 hours and I haven’t even had a minute to slow down and take in the action from last night. Here’s why:

Timeline of my evening (all times approximate)

5:00: Race home…check in on Detroit and St. Louis from time to time. Wonder what the problem with Detroit is and then rejoice that they might be getting cold at the BEST POSSIBLE TIME!

5:30: Continue to scream at the traffic in front of me, “Get outta the way…!!!!”. 1.5 hours to puck drop…3+ hours until I get to watch it unfold.

6:15: Home. Double to check that OCTiVo is ready to record.

6:20: Race to Michael’s for cake decorating class.

6:30: In class; post Tweet that I would be away from my phone until I am able to watch the Ducks game later that evening. Begin “freaking out”.

6:40: Resist urge to pick up phone. (I don’t go anywhere without it…hell, I had to have it surgically removed just for this one evening.)

7:00: Become insanely aware that the game has started…hear the instructor say something about icing. Can she read my mind?

7:15: “Accidentally” peek at phone while looking for a pen in my purse. See a Tweet regarding Parros, assume it’s regarding a fight.

7:16: Wonder if MAYBE it was a GOAL?

7:20: SCORE?

7:21: SCORE?

7:25: Need a good reason to go back into my purse to check my phone…

7:30: Yum, frosting. What’s the score?

8:00: It’s got to be the first intermission, what’s the score?

8:05: 25 minutes left, come on lady, frost the cake already! “Accidentally” see another Tweet regarding the high score of the game. “FREAK OUT” becomes ADRENALINE PRODUCING “PANIC”

8:15: Make a Ducks themed cake? Are they WINNING?! Is Hiller in net?

8:30: Yea yea yea…bring cake next week…SEE YA! It’s DUCKS TIME!

8:35: Somehow manage NOT turn on radio in car…

8:40: WHERE’S MY PHONE?!

8:45: Run to room. In passing, hope my dad doesn’t give me that look of, “ouch, they’re getting their asses beat”.

8:50: Fast forward to the beginning of the game…I LOVE YOU OCTiVo!

9:00: Knowing that the game will be ending soon, resist urge to fast forward through the first two periods of the game.

9:15: 2-0 AWESOME! Mom comes in to tell me they will be scoring more. GET OUT!

9:20: WHAT IS GOING ON?! TIED?! (Remember that they are apparently going to score more goals…thanks mom!)

9:35: LOSING?! What happened?!? MORE VANCOUVER GOALS?! (Did she not see the score correctly?) So quickly outscored 4-0 in ten minutes of play!!! PLEASE DON’T PULL HILLER…

9:45: Thank you BOBBY EFFIN RYAN! Ducks pull within one…wait…wait…down 5-3…

9:50: Corey Perry…right place, right time!

9:55: Teemu Selanne saves me from a heart attack.

10:15: HEART POUNDING, NO BREATHING, PACING…maybe I’ll still be having that heart attack anyway.

10:20: OVERTIME…HILLER HUGE SAVES!!!!

10:22: SHOOT OUT! WIN!

So yea, it was a pretty quiet evening.

These Ducks are HOT right now people. It couldn’t have come at a better time for them. The best part? There is only ONE team that can decide whether or not the Ducks make the playoffs. That team?

The ANAHEIM DUCKS.

They are in there people. Only the Ducks can ensure that they stay there. This reminds me of something that UJ and I were talking about just a few weeks ago. While trying to predict their chances of making the playoffs, what teams needed to lose and just how many games the Ducks needed to win, it was decided that only the Ducks can dictate their future. They did that in nail biting fashion last night! WHEW!

ACTION! The whole game was a rough, physical, fast, and goal filled extravaganza! I KNOW these Ducks can be successful when they play hard hitting hockey and we saw that in them again last night. Vancouver has the ability to wear down a team with their quick puck moving offense. The Ducks responded with their own form of solid puck handling.

Weeks ago it seemed as though these Ducks were done, but just as they have been showing us for the past few weeks, they did it again last night in a huge comeback. Tying the game at 5 apiece and ultimately relying on a shootout.

Jonas Hiller is apparently some sort of shootout prodigy. I’ll take it. He struggled a bit there during the game (as did the Ducks’ defense). Luckily enough for the Ducks so did Roberto Luongo. Hiller had some huge saves throughout the game and while giving up 5 goals is quite ridiculous…getting 5 goals from your teammates surely does help out quite a bit!

Spending too much time in the sin bin as a result of lazy penalties, the Ducks suffered a great deal during the beginning of the 2nd period when they were forced to kill off a lengthy Vancouver 5 on 3 opportunity. On that same PK, James Wisniewski did just what I had suggested and took a page form the “self sacrificing” book of Todd Marchant. He was clearly in pain as he took a puck off the outside of his knee. Since seeing Wisniewski come to the Ducks, he’s clearly been a great addition to the struggling defensive core. It was a bit scary to see him hit the ice like that. A huge sigh of relief when he came back out to finish off the game. These are the kind of battles that the fans want to see these Ducks winning right now. These are the battles that are going to take a team (ANY team) far into the post season.

Getting goals from the guys we EXPECT to see score on a nightly basis always makes me feel better. If this team is going to dominate, they’re going to need to rely on Teemu Selanne, Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry to find the back of the net regularly. In the end, this was a battle of talents. Both the Ducks and Canucks have some of the most impressive players in the league on their rosters and both are currently boasting red hot goal tenders. The match up between these two teams over the course of this season has been nothing short of dramatic. From a 13 round shootout, another disappointing 4-3 loss for the Ducks in the midst of a plethora of 4-3 losses, a 3 on 3 overtime battle…it was only fitting that this game also went to a shootout.

I expected to see this dramatic fight from both teams. The Canucks are struggling against Calgary for the top spot in the Northwest Division and we all know that the Ducks are just hoping to make it to the playoffs…PERIOD.

The way the Ducks produced a win last night is a huge for the morale of a team headed into San Jose to play one of the best teams in the NHL this season. The Ducks need to keep this fire alive, they need to continue to produce offensively and hold strong(er) on the defensive end of the ice. I’d expect we’re going to be seeing JS Giguere in one of these upcoming games. Now is the time for the defense to play hard, provide support for their struggling net minder and provide him with some needed confidence going into the POTENTIAL playoffs (still no guarantees yet people).

Games like this are just another reason I never leave early, never turn off the TV. You NEVER know what is going to happen. Goals can be scored only seconds apart. Games can be decided on crazy stick measurements, last minute penalties, or shootouts.

Remember that fat lady? She got restless in Anaheim. As you read this, she’s on her way to LA to sing for the Kings. Turns out for the Kings…it’s over.

GO DUCKS!!!

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“Curse you TEEMU!”- Sith Lord MacTavish

Grrr...

Grrr...

I could not help it but laugh nervously after the refs deemed Teemu’s stick legal. I give credit to Super villain MacTavish for trying! Ron Wilson got us the last time he ordered Teemu’s stick be measured so why not try it again? Lucky for us, his gamble failed. His face was priceless. He looked like Lex Luthor after being duped again by Superman! So classic.
Moving on…tonight is another MUST win. Actually, scratch that. As long as the Ducks continue to play like they’re having fun, I am happy. They are playing very well as of late. In fact they look like the 07 team again. No matter what happens, I still say Bob Murry made a great move in those 5 trades! Tonight we have the Canucks. Its a mellow arena, and they definitely respect us there as i learned on my trip to Vancouver this year. It should be a good game, and as long as the boys are having fun we should be OK. I like that every team around us in the rankings has been losing and getting hurt. Every little bit helps. So lets see what happens tonight….Go Ducks!!!

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Ducks in a Row

I’m thinking we’re going to be seeing Jonas Hiller in net tonight. For many reasons – but mostly because I want him to be there…which, we all know, doesn’t count for anything. But lets face it, Hiller won 6 of his 8 starts in the month of March. He SHOULD be in there.

Once again, I don’t think it matter WHO scores…just that it happens. Often.

But just for the heck of it…

Scott Niedermayer, Ryan Getzlaf, Bobby Effin Ryan, and Petteri Nokelainen (I just love that guys name!)

Just WIN!

GO DUCKS!!!

*Tonight I’ll be away from the TV until about 9pm (I know…I’m slighty having a nervous breakdown about it…). I will be turning off my Twitter for the evening and I’ll be ignoring my phone until I have watched the game Tivo style. :)

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Now we’re talking!

Ironically, the final score was the same as last Friday; 5-3. But this time, the team getting 2 points was the same team who SHOULD have won last week.

I’ve really had such an up and down emotional season with this Ducks team, as I’m sure we all have. I would never ask for a season that started the way the majority of these first 67 games have gone…but in the last ten, the Ducks are 8-2-0. WOW. Is this the time to get hot? OH, you bet your ass it is.

As nervous as I was for this game, I was oddly confident while watching (okay, until the final minutes of the game). The Ducks gave up that first goal with some lazy play, but even after that, I still didn’t feel a sense of defeat. They were playing well from the very beginning of the game and that was obvious when Sheldon Brookbank* got his first NHL career goal on a beautiful little set of passes between he and Ryan Getzlaf.

*he’ll be requiring a new nickname now. He’s no longer going to be referred to as Brokeback…that’s what getting your first NHL career goal in a very tight Western Conference race to the playoffs will do for you.

It was the D-mans night against Edmonton. Besides Brookbank’s goal, both Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger netted some beauties. Scotty…once again in the right place at the right time. Pronger, payback for that HUGE slapshot he had on Friday that was turned away by Dwayne Roloson.

You all know I love Bobby Effin Ryan, but come on Effin…we need you to keep the gloves on. Yea, yea…I’m not a big fan of the fighting, but of ALL the people I don’t want to see getting roughed up and spending 5 minutes in the penalty box…Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and BOBBY EFFIN RYAN! Effin is drawing 4 minute high sticking penalties left and right these days, and the PP appreciates it (fans do too. Opponents? Not so much). So stay on the ice, get some more hockey war wounds on your pretty little face and stop fighting! Thanks (Besides, you totally lost that one).

It seems like one advantage to having brothers on the same team is that when they’re hot, they’re hot together. I mean, Scott Niedermayer is ALWAYS the man, but when Rob Niedermayer decides to join in on the fun I can’t help but be overwhelmingly appreciative of him. Robbie’s two goals last night were exactly what the Ducks needed. Just as Robbie got his first goal of the game, there was talk of the Ducks just trying to get out of the 2nd period still up 3-1. I thought to myself at the time…nah, I want another goal first. Then beautiful little pass from Scotty to his brother and BAM…the Ducks get what would eventually be the game winner. And of course, who doesn’t love to see Robbie get those empty netters? No complaints here.

The Ducks were miserably outshot 14-2 in the third period. I can understand that. With a 3 goal lead, I’d rather them focus on playing some tight puck controlling offensive/defense (if that makes sense) than taking unnecessary shots on goal…but I also hope that means they’re actually going to PLAY DEFENSE. It wasn’t until the final 4 minutes of the game that I actually started sweating (we were playing ping pong too…that might have had something to do with it). The Ducks have this tendency to get too comfortable and they are punished for that laziness.

Thank the hockey gods for stick measurements!

I have to laugh about the stick measurement request last night against Teemu Selanne. I was at that game against San Jose in 2007 when the attempt actually worked. I just think the whole tactic is lame. Yea, I don’t think anyone should be using illegal sticks, but to use the measurement as a means to win? Well…it’s cheap. Of course, now that I’ve said it, the Ducks are going to use that same ploy sometime soon and I’ll think it’s lame then too. But none the less, to see Selanne skate back to the bench with that huge smile on his face knowing that the Oilers were about to go a man short on their attempt to try and comeback to win the game…priceless wasn’t it? SUCKAS!!!

Speaking of thanking hockey gods…Jonas Hiller. He’s just what the Ducks have ordered right now. He’s got that smoking glove hand to prove it (I just love when he does that). Here’s hoping that Randy Carlyle doesn’t go all sentimental and try to change things up. I think it’s possible we might be seeing JS Giguere in a game against San Jose on this upcoming home-and-home. I’ll be honest, I hope that Hiller plays the first of the two. If he plays the way we all hope and EXPECT him to play…we might just see him take the second game as well. It’s possible.

I think Todd Marchant is really playing his heart out right now. I appreciate that. Seeing him go down like that during a vital PK and then find the strength to CLEAR THE PUCK! Awesome! He’s skating harder and faster than we’ve see from him in previous years, and it’s paying off.

The Ducks should have won last Friday, but should have doesn’t get you two points. Last night they played like team we all have been expecting to see this entire season. I don’t know that this team would be clicking like this if the trades had not happened. This chemistry is slowly building from a smoldering ember to what will hopefully be a full raging fire over the next few…well, I won’t push it past the final 5 games of the season. We’ll see where these games take the Ducks…but hopefully this is just the start of a full grown Southern California forest fire.

Here we come Columbus…get the hell out of our way!

GO DUCKS!!!

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