Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Ducks Gameday—Wild logo: Separated at birth?

Game One: (7) Minnesota Wild at (2) Anaheim Ducks

I've put some candidates together, but I can't quite decide. Which handsome fellow (or logo) below represents the Wild’s long lost twin?


Cast your vote in the comments!

Anyway, tonight will be the only game of the series I'll be attending; section 201, Row N. New seats to me, but as I understand it I’ll be directly behind the net that Giguere defends in the 1st and 3rd periods (possibly the 2nd OT as well).

There's really not much to preview; these teams played four games this season, none of which occurred in this calendar year and almost entirely played without Marian Gaborik or Niklas Backstrom, so in a lot of ways we’ll be seeing this Wild team for the first time.

As such, my keys to the game are fairly straightforward: J.S. Giguere has to be great, Sammy Pahlsson has to be awesome, and the less I notice Dipenta and Huskins, the better.

Jim Kelley on why Sammy deserves the Selke Trophy:
There are a lot of candidates, many of whom go unnoticed or don't get the hype from PR machines and writers who think that it's for a good all-around guy who didn't win one of the other majors, but we here at Sportsnet.ca keep an eye on guys who play great D at the forward ranks, win faceoffs on a regular basis and do the things for which this award was created and that's Pahlsson who is a shut-down kind of guy and one of the best faceoff men in the game.
Prediction: Ducks 4, Wild 2.

  • Minnesota sets a franchise record for goals in a postseason game against Anaheim, but still ends up with a loss.
  • I set a personal record for least beers at a postseason game against Minnesota, but still wake up with a hangover.
  • Goals by Teemu x2, Pahlsson, and Getzlaf.
Go Ducks.

11 comments:

RudyKelly said...

I was going to tell you I was jealous, but then I remembered how nervous I feel before a Kings playoff game. Good luck trying to concentrate today!

dbushik said...

Sammy Pahlssom, the key to the Bourque trade... At least thats what BOS fans were told at the time. ANA has pretty much harvested the benefits of him becoming a solid player that they never saw.

Anyway, hadn't thought about it before, but Brak sure does kick Wildwing's ass pretty handly when it comes to cartoon characters.

Anonymous said...

I offer another candidate: http://www.popmatters.com/tv/reviews/x/images/xmen-evolution.jpg

Have fun tonight. :) Go Ducks!

Earl Sleek said...

RK: There is a solution for pre-game angst. Hints: it's liquid, comes in a bottle, and costs a lot more at Honda Center than it does elsewhere.

dbushik: Pahlsson is awesome. It's pretty amazing that Pahlsson-Niedermayer-Moen were able to play 82 games together this year--did any other line in the league accomplish this?

zot: Thanks, bud. I always do.

Miss. Scarlett said...

Oh, definitely the Thundercats logo.

Bleu, Blanc et Rouge said...

Guys, the Ducks are a good team, but I don't like the way they played in the second half.

Not that they were bad, but they felt for me less dominating than the first half they presented to us.

I think also the fact that Minny has a hot goalie (Giguere's good too) who leads the league in GAA and SPCT and team GAA is huge.

And with Gaborik back, I think they'll give the Ducks a run for their money.

If the Ducks played like they did in the first half, they'd be better than Detroit and Buffalo and I would say they would easily beat the Wild.

But, don't write the Wild off just yet, remember a few years ago when they made it all the way to the Conference finals as underdogs?

Anthing can happen, as we have seen before, it should be a very interesting series of speed, scoring and goaltending.

Kudos to a great year nonetheless.

Have fun watching it tonight, I'm stuck with Tampa Bay-New Jersey...oh, and Ottawa-Pit!

Earl Sleek said...

But, don't write the Wild off just yet, remember a few years ago when they made it all the way to the Conference finals as underdogs?

Oh, trust me. Duck fans remember that quite fondly.

Don't take my logo-taunting or my game-day predictions too seriously; I have great fear and respect for the Wild's chances this series. I don't think I've even indicated on this blog yet that I expect the Ducks to win this series.

As for the ANA season itself, well, our second half was pretty marred by a King-like dash of injuries (2-9-2 without Giguere / Beauchemin / Pronger), and while the team is not as good as it was in the first 20 games, it's not that far off any more either.

Should be a good series, either way. Go Ducks.

andy grabia said...

Earl, you'll be happy to know that up here, on TSN's coverage, Glenn Healy just called Pahlsson the most underrated player on the Ducks, and then proceeded to masturbate to footage of him for a good 30 seconds. Happy drinking. I hate you.

Earl Sleek said...

Happy drinking. I hate you.

I was very very drunk last night, something about putting a crazy Russian in net does that to me. Maybe 7 jack-and-cokes? Way too much, considering I drove home afterwards.

I don't have that much to say about the game itself--probably TV viewers got a better handle on game action than I did.

Thank god for the win, and thank god we got things settled before the fourth overtime.

I'll be much more rational for G2, when I can watch from my beloved couch.

p.s. Sammy Pahlsson, third star. Yee-haw.

Alexander Dubcek said...

As for the ANA season itself, well, our second half was pretty marred by a King-like dash of injuries (2-9-2 without Giguere / Beauchemin / Pronger)

I'm sorry, but missing top players at various times for a stretch of 13 out of 41 games is not "King-like," as you put it. To be King-like, you'd have to have the entire top line out the entire second half of the season (and even then, only one member of the top line gets into so much as a game in the first half).

Of course, to be King-like you'd also need a former owner who was a crook (though I think some Disney stockholders might think that description apt for Michael Eisner), and you'd also have to blow a Stanley Cup when your idiot enforcer can't remember to use a legal stick late in the third period nursing a one-goal lead on the road.

So, you might want to keep an eye on Parros these next few days. Just a hint.

Also, where the hell was the broadcast of that game last night? It didn't appear to be on Center Ice anywhere, which was disappointing, since I figured between having Center Ice and getting CBC on cable up here in Seattle, I should be able to watch every single playoff game. At least I was able to watch the CBC's call of Vancouver-Dallas, instead of being stuck with Worses.

andy grabia said...

TSN is doing the Ducks series in Canada.