hockeymom95

Wait, I'm confused. In another thread, some of the Red Wing fans are saying that the NHL doesn't want the Red Wings to win because Bettman wants to spread the Cup around and doesn't want the Red Wings to win it two years in a row. There are some other conspiracy theories as well as to why the NHL doesn't want the Red Wings to win. Now in this thread, you fans are so excited because a Ducks player touched an octopus which will virtually guarantee victory in this series for the Red Wings. Wow, I really feel sorry for Hossa, Lidstrom, et al, who are playing their butts off each night because obviously no one has told them that they absolutely have no control over the outcome of any of this. The outcome has already been decided and almost anyone could be put in their skates and it wouldn't make a bit of difference either way. Good thing they get lots of money for being the lucky fools chosen to be meaningless pawns. And you all think Ducks fans don't know anything about hockey...

Maybe Bettman got all upset because he's also dated some of Avery's ex-girlfriend's No seriously, the NHL was just looking for any reason to suspend him. Do they really want a guy playing in the league who admitted that he used to beg his babysitters to bring over their dolls so he would have something to play with??

Cuba Gooding was in the dressing room with the Ducks on the night they won the Stanley Cup so he's seen it up really, really close. As for the Cup being in Hollywood, it was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno a night or two after the Ducks won, it was in Manhattan Beach already because that's where O'Donnell lives, etc. The Cup made it's way around Southern California last year so Chelios bringing it out here again is just pretty much a return trip.

Except for a bunch of dead Red Wings who were beaten in the 1st round by them, an 8th place team in 4 straight games, the year after the Wings won the Stanley Cup. At least the Ducks didn't lose to the 8th seed in 4 straight games like your team did in 2003. Time heals all wounds I guess and dulls the memory as well.

Here's what Avery does in his personal life: When he was playing with the Kings and dating Rachel Hunter he would attend her son's youth hockey games. Any play that went against him, and there were a lot, he would yell at the refs. You can imagine what he said. This was a game between 12 year olds and the refs were sometimes 20 year olds. He got kicked out of at least one that I was at. Lots of other ex-NHL players and current NHL players have kids in hockey out here but never has anyone out here seen one of them act like that idiot.

I came on this site to see the Photoshop Wars which I remember from last year as being truly funny. Another spectacular job and can't wait to see more. But... Sorry Vlady, but I was there too, and didn't hear boos. I saw a lot of people leaving after the 4th goal was scored and lots more after the 5th (which was commented on in the papers, but even they didn't say booing and they are saying some pretty negative things against the Ducks today and on Friday). I heard people clap after Giguere made a save after the 4th goal was made, but definitely no boos. Lots of head shaking or no sounds at all, but not any booing unless a call went against the Ducks. And you're right, the "REFS YOU SUCK" is just stupid and being said by the dumb fans who think it will really make a difference. But to be fair, I've watched other games on TV this year between other hockey teams and heard the same chant. There are classless fans everywhere. The Ducks do look bad and you probably should hope for them to win at least a couple from Dallas since it looks like you'll sweep Nashville. At the very worst, Pronger might not care about being suspended for the beginning of the season next year, and take out Richards, Morrow, or Modano for you.

Have to comment on this one as I did in another post... First of all the fan base this year is the one of the worst I've ever seen since I've been a Ducks fan and that's because of the Ducks' management decision to sell 2 season tickets and then give 2 away with their playoff package last year. Lots of bandwaggoners did take them up on that offer. That left about 1.500 affordable tix for the regular, non-fairweather fan to buy each game this year. Those two extra seats were almost always empty since the "fan" that got them tried to auction them off at a ridiculous price to pay for the two he did sit in and this year's or last year's playoff tickets. This was the first time in 10 years that I couldn't get a ticket for the opening game that wouldn't have cost as much as a playoff ticket so I didn't go. The management isn't doing it this year though and I don't know how many "fans" from last year will renew their tickets. And Orange County isn't as rich as last year at this point in time either. The subprime market that was once king here has ruined a lot of people's lives. I was one of the few Ducks posters last year that defended the non-sellouts in Detroit because of the economic issues keeping fans from buying tickets and now it's hit Orange County. The only buzz here right now is the price of gas, food, and how much value your house has lost. Orange County may never be the hotbed that Detroit is for hockey and you can continue to hold that over our heads for as long as you want to, but hockey is alive out here...it's just that people like Marcia Smith won't comment on that part of it. A week ago, there was a team from my son's hockey club, LA Selects out of the LA Hockey Club, that beat your Detroit Honeybaked team for the National PWAAA Championship. Four other teams from the club also made it to the National Championships as well. Those of us who are real fans of the game know what inroads are being made here in SoCal with hockey even though it is taking time.

Selanne will never be anything else but a Duck and he will never uproot his family to live in the snow like he did when they went to Colorado. SoCal is his "happy place" and it's either here or Finland.

Hey Hank, Giguere and his pads are staying with the Ducks

Capita is stated as the number of people attending the game, not the rally. Read what it says "The first two games of the Stanley Cup playoffs" And the Stanley Cup merchandise has nothing to do with the new Ducks logo...that was a marketing blurb about their store. Maybe it's been so long since your team has been in the SCF that you've forgotten what Stanley Cup Final merchandise looks like, but it has the big Stanley Cup all over it, usually with the two opposing teams' logos and the year that the SCF is taking place. The majority of people are buying game pucks, SCF patches, blow-up Stanley Cups, etc. Souvenirs of the SCF, not the new Ducks logo; that was months ago. And now they're waiting for the license plate frames, new coffee cups, new T-shirts, new picture frames, etc. The SCF logo on everything is going to make the Ducks logo change look like chump change.

QUOTE ANAHEIM, Calif. – The National Hockey League (NHL) announced today that the Anaheim Ducks recorded a $15.38 merchandise per capita (average dollars in sales per person) for the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final. Those figures are up 75.4% over the average per capita in the 2006 Stanley Cup Final (Carolina, $9.26 and Edmonton, $8.28) and 81.6% over the average for the 2004 Stanley Cup Final (Tampa Bay, $8.56 and Calgary, $8.38). “Our fans have proven all season that hockey is alive and well in Southern California and this is another example of that,†said Anaheim Ducks Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer Tim Ryan. Following the renovation of the Anaheim Ducks Team Store (November 2005), the club began a new era by changing their name, logo and color scheme on June 22, 2006. The new look and identity of the Ducks were a collaborative effort, mixing opinions of fans as well as Ducks players, ownership and management. Ducks merchandise is available to fans at 15 locations at Honda Center, including 11 concourse stands, three outdoor tents and the Team Store. In addition, merchandise can be purchased at three other key retail outlets that include Sportmart, Chick’s Sporting Goods and Sport Chalet. Fans have responded to the Ducks’ new look as merchandise sales at the Team Store were up 236% during the 2006-07 regular season. ********************* I'm no marketing genius, but any company I know of would love to have % increases like that. Remember, we have so much money out here that our season ticket holders can choose not to show up to games. Imagine how they'll spend their money now that we're the Stanley Cup champions.

No, I have a house full of them and wouldn't have it any other way.

http://www.insidesocal.com/kings/2007/06/quack_quack.html And there's probably your "iron clad source" This "moment" shared by Mr. and Mrs. Niedermayer has taken on a life of its own. It's been reffered to in local newspapers and at least TSN that I know of. I'm sure if he does end up retiring, everyone will point to that and say "SEE!!!" that's what they were talking about on the ice that night!" Personally I hope Lisa Niedermayer ends up pregnant with their fourth beautiful child and makes all of you "non-gossipy men" look like a bunch of idiots.

The media obsesses over those people, not us. And thanks for helping out with our over-population issue. Wish more people felt like you.

No need to feel bad for us; we won the Stanley Cup. If you want to feel bad for someone, read your local newspaper. There's plenty of sadness there with young men and women dying in wars, senseless murders, homelessness and poverty, etc. Sports is an opportunity to celebrate and be joyous but when you let it consume your entire life it becomes an obsession. To think that the entire State of California would stand still to celebrate any one thing, much less a sporting event, is absurd. We are so diversified out here that we can't agree on anything and if you think that sports is going to be the unifying force, then that's just very simple thinking. Hockey in Anaheim and So Cal is here to stay whether the fans in Detroit or Red Wings fans like it or not. And it is becoming a very desirable destination for players to want to play and live. Players play here and are traded elsewhere but keep their homes and live here during the summer and they're not native Californians, but Canadians. They have the freedom to live anywhere they want during the summer and after their playing careers, but they choose here. If they had been treated so badly by the fans and felt so slighted by the people out here, I doubt they would have stayed. Truth is, they like us out here. And maybe it's because we don't treat them like an obsession, but like people.

20,000 plus people quoted per police estimates. Pennywise was there playing Bro Hymn when the players showed up in double decker bus with firetruck and police escort. Cup and other trophys showed up with captain and asst. captains in helicopter. Arnold Schwartzenegger was there again to congratulate everyone. Teemu still non-committal as to retirement so no one will be surprised either way he chooses. Cup has made a lot of apperances in SoCal so far...Friday night was a big night for "celebrations"...remember we have quite a few young players on the team. What's important is that the players are enjoying their moment with the Cup; they can't seem to take their hands off of it.

Word on the street is that if he doesn't sign with us he may be coming your way...since you guys don't have OUR defense, looks like you won't be getting the Cup next year either.

NHL racism at its finest.

You should have seen the practice rink that your Wings sent the Ducks to when they arrived in Detroit for Games 1 and 2. The Ducks' practice rink at home is nicer than the one that they were sent to and my son has played youth games at nicer rinks. There are pictures on the "On the Road" topic on the Ducks website if you want to see it. And to top it off, the "classy" Ducks found out that the nice lady who was running the rink was going to be out in California for a conference when Game 6 was taking place so they gave her 2 tickets so that she and her friend could see the game. Remember Game 6? The really important game that I know some Red Wing fans out here paid $1000 for to get in to see the game. Well the classy Ducks organization made sure that the nice Red Wings lady got in for free to see HER Red Wings as a way to thank her for helping them out at the rink she ran. I know because I talked to her at Game 6 and she told me how nice she thought the Ducks organization was for doing that. Bryan Murray knows what the situation is about 5PM games and morning skates. He's just being a whiner. Here's an idea. Since none of you are going to watch the game, why didn't we just play it at 7PM to accommodate all of us on the west coast and then Bryan and the Sens could have had the morning skate after us and we all would have been happy.

Pretty well known in SoCal. Fedorov was a prima donna when he was here. He "played" only when he felt like it even though he was on the ice. He was sick 3 or 4 times with the "flu" during the 1.5 years he was here. How many superstor players do you know that do that? At the hockey shop where I get my son's stuff and lots of Ducks players come in as well, he was known to be a joke and not in good favor with Babcock or his system. In the 2003 playoffs, Babcock had a term for his favorite players and that term was "greasy" meaning that they worked hard; a blue collar type player. It carried over to 2004. Fedorov was never called "greasy". Pahlsson, R. Niedermayer were greasy...Feds never. I just can't see Feds wanting to come back to the Wings and play for Babcock when he was the one who gave him such a hard time and also has a defensive minded system that would make Fedorov be physical. The only player on the Wings that Fedorov even keeps in contact with anymore is Chelios. Fedorov made a big deal in the papers out here dissing all the Wings players by saying how they didn't keep in contact with him except for Chelios and didn't even say good-bye to him when he left. He always felt like he was playing second fiddle to Yzerman, Shanahan, Chelios, etc. How do you think he would feel now with Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Zetterburg, and the rest of the Swedes? He ripped management by saying how they botched his negotiations. He's not a humble man and my guess is he's not going to go back crawling to the Wings or be willing to play hard during the last few years of his career.

One big problem...Feds doesn't like "Babcook" as he called him and "Babcook" doesn't like Feds.

Time to call for his head... Wait you don't have to; I think Emery is!!

I'm a Ducks fan and think his suspension is totally warranted and if you read Helene Elliott's articles in the LA Times, she's giving him a big not only on this but saying he's becoming a goon. Doubtfull he'll be talking to her in the locker room at home. But for all he's done, people out there still want his autograph and that's in Ottawa as well. Looks like most have Ducks things, but there's probably some Sens people there too, but won't admit it. The Ducks people put pix of the team's goings on where they're on the road and there he is signing things for people waiting in line outside the hotel. People are fickle; they'll think a player is the worst and then want his autograph. Personally I feel less and less respect for him as a player and wouldn't care to even go out of my way to see him unlike some of the other players on the team. But that's just me. Until people stand by their convictions, he'll continue to be seen as a star in the NHL and be treated as such.

Actually the players on Carolina, Tampa Bay, Anaheim, Nashville, etc. DON'T agree with you. There was an article the other day in which Teemu and other Ducks talked about how great it was that after 2002, it wasn't predictable who would be in the SCF. It showed how the smaller markets couldn't match the buying power of teams like Detroit's 2002 Red Wings teams and showed the differences in salaries between that team and others like Anaheim, etc. It pointed out how parity in the NHL is like it is in the NFL now with more different teams going to the SCF like more different teams going to the Super Bowl. You may not like it or agree with it, but the players like it, and after all, it is THEIR game. THEY are the ones playing for the Cup and the dream, not us fans. If THEY like it and don't feel that it's hurt the game, then that really is all that should matter to us, THEIR fans, right?

Anyone care to mention that the opener was on a major holiday in the US? People still do things on Memorial Day instead of watch TV don't they? I live a mile from the beach here in Orange County and you can't get a fire pit after noon because that's what they do here along the coast on Memorial Day. Remember the game started at 5PM on the west coast when many people were just returning home from their 3 or 4 day weekend. On Wednesday, I had to listen to the entire 1st period on the radio because I was the carpool mom and had to pick up the boys from spring football practice. It's a week before hockey tryouts here in SoCal and the rinks are full of kids doing tuneups and worrying about what team they're going to be on instead of the watching the SCF. The NHL doesn't make it easy to get the viewing numbers up for even those who do like hockey.