TheDucksBlog

As the avid Duck fan would know by now, the Ducks have now won both games at HP Pavilion, stealing home ice advantage and some.  I’ll readily admit that this came as an utter surprise, as I expected them to split the first two games.  I was rather unsure of myself when I made the “Ducks in 6″ prediction in my last post, but it seems that the Ducks are on track to achieve this.

But the Ducks surprising me is not the subject of this post.  It is how the Ducks are surprising the league (even if they won’t admit it yet).  After game 1, I decided to go on a mission: to find out how many people predicted the Ducks to win 4 first.  I scoured sports media and fantasy hockey pages alike.  I scoured blogs and forums.  My findings?  Out of all the team-neutral bloggers, writers and analysts, only two predicted the Ducks to win the series: Barry Melrose and Fantasy Hockey Columnist Ryan Ma.  For all other hockey fans that fell outside this category (from forums and article/blog comments) only a very select few predicted the Ducks could do it (I could count them with the fingers on my right hand).  This year’s Ducks is the team that half of hockey fans believe would give the Sharks a tough time but wouldn’t be good enough to eliminate them, while the other half believe that the Ducks wouldn’t even put up a fight.  Most poeple cite the fact that the Ducks have only half of the 2007 roster left, as if it was any indication that they wouldn’t perform well.  I didn’t see anybody last year say that the Wings only had 1-2 guys left from the Yzerman cup winning days and thus, wouldn’t go far in the playoffs.  What do these projections and flawed reasoning tell me?  Nobody believes in the Ducks.  Such notions were so widespread that even I began to question my prediction.

What does this mean for us Ducks fans?  That we need to continue believing in our team even when the rest of the hockey world doesn’t.

More satisfying than the Ducks taking a 2 game lead in the series is the fact that the Ducks have silenced half the naysayers that predicted the Ducks wouldn’t put up a fight.  Lets all hope that the Ducks can silence the other half  by sending the Sharks to the country club.

PS.  Here are some at-a-glance predictions from various writers and analysts.  Do take note of how many predicted Sharks in 4 or 5 (who are wrong already) and how many predict Sharks in 6, a tall order for the Sharks to accomplish.

TSN

ESPN

DobberHockey

Popularity: 9% [?]

Ever since the beginning of time, the rivalry between Northern and Southern California has existed.  Shamefully (or not), for many years, I have been a part of this.  I can safely say that my college campus is not the least bit short on “Which is better? Norcal or Socal?” discussions.  The arguments are long, well thought out, and surprisingly deep for a subject so trivial.  On Thursday, however, this triviality ends.  It is time to stop taking the civil route of respectful exchange of ideas and arguments.  It is time to throw down the gauntlet and “Wham! Bam! Thank you ma’am!” our way to a verdict.  And hopefully after all the dust and nuclear fallout have settled, the Ducks, representative of the better part of California, will be victorious.

But really, you’re not here to participate and support my shenanigans, you’re here for playoff predictions.

Ducks in 6.

The last 3 years the Sharks have been a fantastic and consistent team (something the Ducks wish they could lay claim to).  However, they haven’t gone far in the playoffs any of those years, so I’m not banking on them to go far this year either.  On paper, the teams look pretty even – the Ducks with the deeper defense, while the sharks with the deeper offense.  However, the Sharks just simply lack the extra gear.  Sure, they have Rob Blake and Dan Boyle, but last year they had Brian Campbell and Craig Rivet – a slight but not substantial upgrade.

I attribute the Ducks early playoff exit last year to a lack of chemistry.  This lack continued into the first half of this year during which, as boxscores would confirm, we played like garbage.  Coming into the playoffs, I think this problem has been put behind us, as the team is gelling quite nicely, especially our top line.

Should this not be the playoffs, I would call it Sharks in 5 or 6, but because the intangibles are so important in a playoff series, and the Ducks’ “extra gear”, I’m going to have to say that the Sharks’ Stars will fizzle and the Ducks will be the Kings of California (couldn’t work in the Coyotes into this sentence, sorry).

Popularity: 9% [?]

You know who I want for Schneider (and picks)? Jussi Jokinen.

Popularity: 9% [?]