The Anaheim Ducks. You’ve heard of them. Hockey club down in Orange County. Everything the Los Angeles Kings are not.
Well-run. Well-led. Home-grown, much of the time. Stable.
Successful.
The Ducks are in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, having already ousted the San Jose Sharks, the winningest team in the National Hockey League regular season. They now have the defending champion Detroit Red Wings at 3-3 in the second round.
Which reminds me. We don’t deserve this franchise. A real hockey town does.
The reality is, most of Southern California is not paying the slightest attention to this really noteworthy franchise. There are the Lakers, especially, and the Dodgers and Angels … and Kobe and Manny. And the past few days, the Ducks have fallen into the same schedule as have the Lakers. Both teams played Sunday, and the gametimes overlapped more than a little. Both teams played Tuesday night, and their games overlapped almost entirely.
And you know how an NBA vs. NHL schedule conflict is going to go, in Southern California. About 20 to 1 in favor of the Lakers — and that number may be conservative.
I haven’t seen this club in person since last season. That is, the season after they won the Stanley Cup, the most recent Big Four sports championship in the market, and the only one since the Lakers in 2002.
What I like about the Ducks are some of the generic hockey things: The players are accessible and remarkably down-to-earth. Personable, even. I have suggested before that this is because 1) many of them are Canadian and 2) lots of them are missing most of their teeth, and something about not having your own teeth while still in your 20s takes a lot of the snarkiness out of you. (Just a theory.)
What I also like about the Ducks is the steadiness of the franchise. Its commitment to a core of players that seems to change far less often than the usual NHL roster merry-go-rounds. If you knew the Cup team of two years ago, you pretty much know this team. Selanne, Getzlaf, Perry, Niedermayer, Pronger, Marchant, Parros, Jean-Sebastien Giguere … all still there. (Though Jonas Hiller has displaced Giguere in goal.)
I really like that, in a team. Keeping a core together.
Anyway, they play hard and they play smart. They are not a soft or frilly franchise, even if they were saddled with that silly nickname. They spend money, but they do it intelligently.
This is not to say I’m watching the Ducks at the expense of the Lakers. Of course not. And neither are you.
That’s why, at times like these, I think the Ducks ought to be based somewhere cold. Somewhere with a bigger, deeper hockey culture than the little crust of hockey fans atop the big cauldron of SoCal sports fans. Maybe Winnipeg. Moose Jaw. Any Canadian town of any size that doesn’t have a club. Or instead of some of the klutzy American franchises in traditional hockey hotbeds. Boston, till quite recently. New York.
This club is underappreciated here. I am part of the problem.
Just saying. I realize this much.
This is something of a model franchise, run by clever people and staffed with more than a few high-character players, with a lot of great history, lots of clutch moments, and genuine success … and I at least can mention that. Even as I watch the Lakers, on Thursday night, instead of the Ducks in Game 7 in Detroit.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Turner // May 13, 2009 at 1:25 PM
I’m a huge Parros fan.
2 Jacob Pomrenke // May 14, 2009 at 12:58 AM
Well, I would be watching every minute of the Ducks games — if only Cox Cable in San Diego wasn’t embroiled in that stupid dispute with the FSN channels, which we don’t get down here.
As it is, thank god for satellite TV and DVR.
Anyway, two points to dispute:
1) We DO deserve the Ducks, who averaged 16,990 fans for 41 home games this season (selling out 98.9 percent of their seats), according to ESPN. The Kings, meanwhile, in a much larger arena, averaged 16,448 fans at home (89.1 percent of capacity — 21st in the league.) For a fan, and the Ducks have many, they’re one of the better professional sports experiences in the Southland.
2) The Ducks, at least this season, have hardly played “smart.” In fact, they’re one of the most undisciplined teams in the league, second in the league in penalty minutes. And while that didn’t hurt them too much against San Jose, a much stronger Detroit team has exploited that weakness throughout this series.
Hiller is by far the biggest reason they are still alive for a Game 7. Anything can happen tomorrow night. Should be fun. Don’t miss it.
3 JSchultz // May 14, 2009 at 7:04 AM
Finally … some hockey.
I’m torn when it comes to the Ducks. Being a Kings fan when I lived in Southern California, I always considered the Ducks to be their goofy, younger brother. How anyone could back a team spawned from a Disney movie was beyond me.
That being said, I can appreciate the team the Ducks have become. They have completely buried the Kings in both talent and grit over the past six or seven years. And while I’m still not a fan, I desperately want them to beat the Wings (because I HATE the Wings).
I do agree with Paul. So Cal does not deserve the Ducks. I’ve never been impressed with the Ducks fan base. There isn’t a more welcoming place for an opposing team’s fans than Honda Center … and I’ve been to many, many games there.
You can wear your team’s colors at Honda Center without fear of retribution, harsh language or even good-natured ribbing. I’ve never felt so comfortable rooting for an opposing team than I did at a Ducks game.
Another example: Early in THIS YEAR’s playoffs, I was receiving e-mails from the Ducks saying tickets were still available for games being played that night. Now I know the economy has been rough, but we’re talking playoffs! And I don’t see any other teams having trouble selling out during the playoffs.
And finally this, from Game 4 of this series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xsaXzdaK8M
I don’t care what the circumstance … you do not get drowned out by the opposing team’s fans in your own barn. Ridiculous. We aren’t talking about Kings fans, who live just down the road. We’re talking Detroit fans, who took over the Honda Center in Game 4.
Now … Detroit is a popular team (one of the most popular in the league), but do you mean to tell me there weren’t enough Ducks fans in the building to fight back? Can you imagine being a professional athlete, battling in the playoffs, on home ice, and all you can hear is the opposing teams’ fans? I watched that game on TV and it happened throughout. There were a few instances when you could hear the fans chanting “Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy” for Wings goalie Chris Osgood.
Southern California does not deserve the Ducks. But they aren’t leaving anytime soon … much to the chagrin of Kings fans.
4 Ryan // May 14, 2009 at 10:08 AM
You can actually watch both the Ducks’ game 7 and the Lakers’ game 6 tonight. The Ducks play at 4 and the Lakers don’t play until 6:30, which is perfect because it’s right around the time the Ducks game will end.
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