Ducks' season over, a bit later than expected

That’s the spirit.

I was at first tempted to make my season-ending cartoon along the Cinderella / clock strikes midnight theme, but in the end, it didn’t really make sense. There never really was that moment where the wheels came off this bus and the Ducks played like their midseason versions. They played exclusively against the west’s best and truly never looked out of place.

Well played, Ducks. Enjoyed it immensely.

And also, enjoy your vacation, you’ve earned it.

Well, it’s mostly just that I won’t be putting together any real hockey posts for a little while. I’ll still be around in the comments and may have some wayward nonsense.

But thanks!

If it’s worth anything to you Earl, it feels like we just played Jason Voorheis 7 times.

It’s quite worthwhile in my book. My postseries thoughts would have gone a way different version had the Ducks gone the way of the Jackets.

You want to know the amazing thing about the Ducks’ run in my book? The Ducks gave the Sharks 12 1/2 more minutes of power play time than Anaheim got (43:59 vs. 31:28), and the Ducks gave the Wings 15 more minutes of power play time than Anaheim got (50:59 vs. 36:02), and despite those discrepancies — Anaheim’s power play outscored each of their opponents.

I think it’s getting to that time where the Ducks get serious about evening up that discrepancy — imagine what could have happened had thipower play time been even close. Note: I am not blaming the refs here, Ducks dug their own grave. Still, some food for thought.

Pahlsson is now the only player I can think of (offhand) who is 2-0 lifetime in playoff series against DET. I guess I can sort of keep Giguere in that category if I include an asterisk about how he barely played in this series.

That’s Champions To You Son! Not Scum!11 Nice game today also. We’ll see what happens!!! GO WINGS!!!

Also, if I had access to cool pictures and stuff as part of SBN, I’d totally rip off RK and get a picture of Darren Helm showing everyone how big his dick is. I love that guy.

biggest pussy team

So what does that make Detroit, when they got man handeled by the Ducks every game and could not even match Scott’s toughness?

Sir Snipesalot, I’m sorry your mother never loved you, or whatever reason it is you like pissing in cornflakes.

If you would like to talk about the team with less hyperbole, well, you’re not banned yet.

Sleek, I might tap you for some input on a Ducks salary cap outlook. Just sayin.

James, I won’t have one answer for you until Niedermayer(s) and Selanne have made their announcements. We can talk roster theories all we want, but those are huge huge pieces to the puzzle of “what to do for next year” — I really won’t have answers before they do.

Just sayin.

do you guys really think chris pronger is a all around clean player… i mean he was trying to get pav to drop the gloves in game three…

No, we’re not fools, though I think we all have to admit he played a much cleaner playoffs than I think any of us expected. He had his aggressor moments, sure, but a damn lot of the time you saw a “thinking” Pronger.

I hated Pronger before he was a Duck, so it’s not like I can’t relate — I don’t have any problem with fans tossing “dirty” or “thug” labels (or worse), though sometimes those can get in the way of actual discussion.

But I’ll root for him — I was thinking last night, I don’t know if there’s anybody in the league right now I wouldn’t root for in a Ducks sweater (assuming they help you win) — and for sure Pronger does that. He was our best player in the ‘07 playoffs, and he was Edmonton’s the year before.

My only problem really comes when folks try to hold their higher standards over me, like I’m some sort of sinner for being a Ducks fan. Sure, Lidstrom’s cleaner — nobody disputes that. But if becomes a case of “Ethically, I could never root for Pronger, and you must be a scumbag because you do”, well I just don’t know about that reasoning. If you want to be a better person than me, go found an orphanage or something. Don’t apply superiorism to sports fandom — by definition we’re all terrible people for wasting time on that.

It’d be like trying to brag about how “I only give money to college-educated strippers” or something. A non-useful distinction in my eyes.

BTW, most all of this comment is not directed at you, bond. More just getting a general beef off my chest.

Yeah, he fell apart, though we haven’t seen a whole lot of Giguere in the past two months to know if it has passed or not.

Not terribly sure what’s wrong with him — I’m not the best at critiquing goalie technique, I more just look at results — but his struggles definitely could be related to his dad’s death mid-season (left the team for a bit to visit his dying dad), and I still think part of what was clouding him was being named the ASG starter for some (probably made up) reason.

Giguere’s not destined to stay terrible, I don’t think, and if there’s one reason to keep him on the roster the next two years, it’s that each of Anaheim’s most successful playoff runs (‘03 and ’07) have exactly coincided with Giguere’s two most recent contract years.

Thanks, man. One of my goals for BoC has always been to demonstrate that hockey knowledge can exist in California. And sometimes, even from us.

I don’t think Pronger fucked up his positioning, it was someone else. The guy that was on Zetterberg should’ve followed him into the corner and continued harassing him, as Pronger worked the front of the net. He didn’t, so instead, Pronger had to pressure Zetterberg to keep him from stepping into the crease and trying to hammer one home, with help for rebounds/passes in Cleary. So Zetterberg responsibility was passed off to Pronger, when it really shouldn’t have been. Pronger moved to him, but no one took Cleary. Whoever was initially following Z should’ve followed him into the corner and tried to body him out and turnover the puck. Failing that, if he passed off responsibility for him to Pronger, then he should’ve pick up Pronger’s man, which was Cleary. Because this exchange of defensive responsibility for a man in front is dangerous, the guy who was originally on Z should’ve just carried him to the corner.