Ducks Gameday: Naughty

As is tradition here at Battle of California whenever two teams from the best state in the union face off against each other, today's game posts have a theme behind them. Today's posts discuss, as it is Christmas time, discusses Naughty vs. Nice. This particular post focuses on Naughty.

Are the Ducks naughty?

How does one measure this? Perhaps by their on-ice antics (the sordid off-ice antics of hockey players these days is best left to the websites not devoted to dick and fart jokes)? Let's take a look at how the Ducks have behaved on ice thus far this season...

Well that doesn't seem so bad. That means, out of all NHL teams, they're only the... oh, the fourth most penalized team over all, as measured by total penalty minutes, as of the time of this writing.

Does that mean they're naughty? No, of course not. That just means there are 26 teams who are too cowardly to do what it takes to win (coincidentally, there are 3 savage teams that takes things too far and should really be sanctioned by the league for their reckless style of play).

So I guess that settles that. Good talk, everyone.

Anyway, here's a bizarre 2008 "Naughty or Nice" video I found while doing extensive research for this post. It's from the OC Register and features a Ryan Getzlaf with nearly a full head of hair awkwardly flirting with a reporter, and an uncomfortable Scott Niedermayer.

Gameday

Sharks (19 - 15) @ Ducks (22 - 13)

Monday, Dec 22, 2014, 7:00 PM PST

Honda Center

Prediction

The Ducks have made a habit of losing to these lesser, unwatchable teams, so we'll probably continue that tradition tonight. Ducks lose 3-2, goals from Ryan Kesler and Jakob Silfverberg for Anaheim, and a hat trick from John Scott for San Jose.