The Messier Promise

Excuse me while I step out of the Duck spotlight and expose thoughts on modern sports.

It seems that nowadays there are a lot of athletes who think that they can guarantee some sort of win when they are in a hopeless situation. Several basketball and football athletes can be named who did so. 

I think that this is a gesture that should only be made at the right time (it's easy to say that it is the wrong time when the team ends up losing, isn't it?) and made by the right player. 

Joe Nameth. I don't know much about football. I can tell you who plays for what team, the legacy of the Packers and Steelers, why L.A. can't keep a football team, but really I can't defend all the guarantees made. Now, I can say that Joe Nameth stepped up and did it. I know he wasn't huge beforehand, but he made his professional career out of that event. 

Ever since Adam, a friend of mine who writes a darn good sports blog (go-cougs.blogspot.com), mentioned that he could name a few hockey players. Gretzky, Lemieux, Lindros (this surprised me), and Messier. Now Messier was already a great player before he played with the Rangers. Five Stanley Cups in Edmonton.  

This, however, is what most people who don't know anything about hockey should remember. 

The Ducks' 2008-2009 Schedule at First Glance

Yesterday, the Ducks announced their 2008-2009 Schedule. As many of us know, the NHL is trying to round out the schedule a little more. This year, the Ducks will play every other opponent in the NHL. Games against division rivals have been reduced to 6 each in order to bring up the amount of inter-conference play to 18 games, and the 4 games against the other Western Conference teams remain the same. The three Eastern Conference teams that the Ducks face both home and away are the Rangers, the Hurricanes, and the Sabres.

The schedule starts with a very important sequence of games against division rivals, the hated Oilers, and, quite randomly, the Hurricanes. The start of any season is very important because it can set the tone for the rest of the season, but going against division rivals (and the hated Oilers) is exponentially more important. Every game against the Kings, Coyotes, Sharks, and Stars is a must-win, as each of those games is a four-point game when looking at the standings. However, on the brighter side of things, four of the first 6 games of the season are at home, and the two away games are short travels to San Jose and Los Angeles.

The Ducks have two lengthy stretches at home: a 6-game homestand in November, and a 5-game stretch in March. The one in March is a very fortunate and important one for them, as the season will be winding down and every point will count. The home advantage during this time will be very helpful facing the Stars, Wild, Canucks, Sharks, and Predators, all very competitive and dangerous Western Conference teams. Their longest road trip is in late-February, spilling into March.

This season, the Ducks have 17 sets of back-to-back games, one more than last season. Last year, they were 15-14-3, not terrible, but far from spectacular. However, these games will be excellent times to get young Jonas Hiller some more NHL experience in net.

The end of the season looks very similar to the start of the season: filled with division-rival games. I see April being a very exciting, nerve-wracking time, more so than usual. And, as we host Phoenix to open at home, it only seems fitting that we close the season as visitors in Arizona.

On a personal note, there are two games that I’m very happy about. First is the home opener, Sunday, October 12 against the Coyotes. Not only is this the home opener, but I will actually be in California visiting for the three-day weekend. So, with luck, I’ll be able to be there to welcome the boys back to the Honda Center. The second is Thursday, February 26 at Boston. Why is a game against the Bruins so exciting? Because I live in Boston, and for the past two years while attending Emerson, the Ducks have not been to Beantown. I fully intend to buy tickets right by the visiting team’s tunnel so I can cheer them on between periods and make sure they know they have a fan in the house.

RIP: Rumor in Progress: Mathieu Schneider

One of the rumors we have run into a lot this summer is the departure of Mathieu Schneider. Schneider did the best job he could filling the void for Niedermayer, but cannot be looked over for contributing to the trade of C Andy McDonald to St. Louis. 

I like Schneider. I think he is a good defensemen. However, with Scott Niedermayer back for his, most likely, last season, Schneider has been rumored to be off to another team. I have heard L.A. wants him, Phoenix will trade for him, and that Barry Melrose's mullet could see him in Tampa. 

My "dream on" trade would be Jussi Jokinen for Schneider and a 3rd round pick in 2009. That would free up some cap space for a possible Selanne re-signing. It would also give the Ducks something they have needed since the 05-06 season- power to win a shootout. The Tampa Bay Lightning lost Dan Boyle to San Jose. Sure, they picked up Matt Carle and some other picks, but they lost their Power Play Quarterback. With Pronger, Beauchemin, Niedermayer all on the power play for the Ducks, I think we can see the departure of Schneider. We need some more power up front. Brendan Morrison should help fill that void, but I will get to that another day. 

Schneider, we love you, but we would rather have Selanne + a younger forward. Nothing against you, but it would help out your fantasy team too. 

I'm Nemmy, I'm 20, and I'm a hockeyholic.

I was born to a family that never watched hockey. My parents had only been in the US for about 5 years when they met each other and I spawned out of nothingness. I was their only child at the time, and during elementary school, none of my friends watched sports. If you were to ask me today about how I became a hockey fan, I really wouldn't have a good answer to that. Nobody introduced it to me.

I remember coming home from elementary school and turning on the TV. I'd just sit on the couch, browsing the channels until I came across something interesting. I was lucky enough to be home before 4:30 every day. I was lucky enough to be on pacific time. I was lucky enough to catch eastern and western games on ESPN. I really can't tell you what it is about hockey that held my interest, but it did. I'd come home every day and turn on the TV and watch a hockey game for an entire 3 hours. A hockey fan was born.

I remember the dynamic duos of the day, tearing it up across the league. When you watch Kariya-Selanne, Sakic-Forsberg, Tkachuk-Roenick, Lindros-Leclair and Messier-Gretzky, you get entranced. You get captivated. You're forced to be a fan.

Similarly, it was Kariya and Selanne that really got me hooked onto the Ducks. The movies were great and all, but it was those two that got me hooked onto this team.

In the present, I'm still a hockey fan and going strong. Unfortunately, I'm probably the only person my friends know that follows hockey religiously. I make my passion for the sport well known, hoping to catalyze positive reactions to the sport. When you're a fan of a sport that takes a backseat to basketball, football and baseball, you've got to do your part in the community.

Ducks Transactions: Todd Bertuzzi

I have never liked Todd Bertuzzi. He has always seemed dirty and didn't fit my "fantasy team" style. But since 2004, Todd Bertuzzi has stuck out in everyone's mind because of his incident with Steve Moore, the Colorado Avalanche rookie. If you don't follow this, you aren't really into sports, or were unable to follow at the time, because it was broadcast everywhere. However, you can watch it here.

Steve Moore has not played hockey since. He was in a neck brace for a year. Bertuzzi had a 17 months suspension (by the way, that was during the lockout too) and returned to play. For some magical reason, Bertuzzi hasn't performed as well since then. Since returning to the league in the 05-06 season, Bertuzzi has been on five teams; Vancouver, Florida, Detroit, Anaheim, and now Calgary.

I don't know why Brian Burke signed him as a free agent last summer. I don't know why he was getting making more than Selanne was during Selanne's 48 goal season. He wasn't worth the $4 million a year (the average superstar in the NHL can make on average 8.5 plus bonuses because of the new CBA). 

I fully support the decision to buy out the remaining year on his contract. His game will never be the same again. He may have been great with Morrison and Naslund on Vancouver's top line, but bad karma will follow him wherever he goes. Good luck Flames fans. I don't think he will be helping you out anytime soon. 

How Hockey Has Affected My Life

Like I said in my introduction of myself, I have been a hockey fan, and a Ducks fan, since I was five years old. My older brother took up roller hockey when he was in middle school, and I followed in his footsteps when I was in elementary school. However, as many hockey fans and players know, the sport is not easy on the wallets. With the direction that my young hockey career was headed, it was not worth the continued funding after only a few years.

Hockey almost fell out of my life for a while in high school. None of my friends were really into the sport, so I had no one to interact with regarding hockey. Some of my closest friends didn’t even know that I like hockey. Of course, during the 2002-2003 playoffs, I watched the Ducks’ playoff run at home by myself, but during the lockout season, hockey was all but non-existent in my life.

The Ducks’ playoff run in 2006 revitalized hockey in my life. As they advanced further and further into the playoffs, I started to wear my jersey to school more and more. It also inspired me to go into my garage and dig up my brother’s old roller blades and stick which both fit me well enough for me to start skating around again. Oh how I had missed my hockey.

In the fall of 2006, I flew from coast to coast, ending up in Boston for school at Emerson. If you don’t know Emerson, let me give you a brief overview. It’s a very small, private school of arts and communication. Even briefer overview: basically no sports. Meaning no hockey, right? Wrong. During my orientation week, I met someone who was wearing a Bruins hat and I turned the conversation towards hockey. He asked me if I wanted to join the school’s club team (we have no varsity, nor would I be good enough to play on it if we did anyways), and that was that. Hockey was really back in my life.

So after four paragraphs of my hockey history, we finally get to the point of this post: how has hockey affected my life as it is today? Quite a bit, actually. First of all, hockey is a team sport. Being on a hockey team, I have made a lot of close friendships that sprouted from the ice and the locker room. Also, being on my school’s team, I want and need to be in the best physical shape that I can be. Now remember my team is a club team, so we by no means have a strict workout schedule (or any workout schedule for that matter), but I still feel the need to take care of my body. If not for hockey, I think I definitely would have run into our friend named the Freshman Fifteen. Also, I’m not too involved in activities at my school, so hockey gives me more of a life. And on that same note, being involved with the team has opened up work opportunities for me, as I have plans for creating a podcast for the team as well as possibly taking over the team’s website.

Most importantly, however, is the fact that it was through hockey that I met my wonderful girlfriend of almost 16 months. She has been coming to my team’s games since day 1. I hate to say that our fan base has dramatically decreased—disappeared almost—but she has faithfully remained a fan. Yes, even without hockey, we would have had a class together, but I would have just been another face in the crowd. Now, every time I pull my jersey over my head, not only do I feel pride that I am representing my school, but I also always remember that it was because of this team that I’m the luckiest guy out there (Yeah, you heard me. Wanna fight about it? I’m willing to drop the gloves). She started off not knowing much about the sport other than there was fighting and checking (besides the obvious people skating and pushing a rubber disc around with sticks), but she has grown to understand and appreciate the game more and more. She even started learning about the Ducks, both about the players and the team in general. What more could a Ducks fan ask for? Oh, and did I mention she got me Center Ice for my birthday? Last winter, while we were visiting my home in California, I got to take her to her first professional hockey game, and we got dressed for the occasion.

So what would I be like without hockey? Bored. Boring. Lazy. Single. Hockey has really opened up a lot of opportunities for me. Opportunities for socializing, for fitness, and even for work. And that, my friends, is just one of the many reasons why this sport that we love is so amazing.

An Introduction

First off, hello, and thank you for reading my posts! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lance. I grew up in sunny Southern California and I'm currently living in Boston, where I am majoring in Audio Production at Emerson College. I was introduced to the game of hockey when I was five years old, when my dad's company got season tickets for a brand new hockey team that came to Orange County: the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. I immediately loved the sport and I have been a Ducks fan since.

I currently play for my school’s club hockey team, the Emerson College Lions. Are we good? Not really, but we’re a growing program that just started two years ago, and we’re an arts and communications school for Pete’s sake. Am I good? Not really, but I’m having the time of my life playing, and in my next post, you’ll see how hockey has affected my life. Anyways, I play forward: mostly right wing and occasionally center. Last semester, our goalie left to study abroad, so I got to play a semester in net, which was awesome.

Although I’m about as far away from Anaheim as you can get while staying in the US, I still love my Ducks. I created and maintain a group on facebook that is currently the largest group for Ducks fans. I check up on my hockey news and rumors daily, and I watch as many games on TV as I can. All my friends in school know that I’m a big Ducks fan. I even “Ducked Out” my dorm room last year. I thought I had pictures but I don't. That's unfortunate.

If you asked me who my favorite Duck of all time is, I wouldn’t know what to say. I grew up idolizing Paul Kariya. His heroics in Game 6 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals still give me chills.

However, as he has gone his separate way, I found a new favorite: Andy McDonald. I love his speed and his playmaking ability. People say that he was only good when put on a line with Teemu Selanne, and I hope he can prove them all wrong, even now that he’s been traded to the St. Louis Blues. The news of that trade devastated me. While I was getting back into the game of hockey playing for my school, it was McDonald who I looked up to and tried to model my game after. My favorite current Ducks are Ryan Getzlaf and Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

So you may be wondering why I chose the blogger name Rufio19. For Halloween a couple years ago, I dressed up as Rufio (yup, the one from Hook), and at my hockey game the following week, the fans started the Rufio chant every time I took a shift.
The nickname caught on in the locker room and with my friends. 19 is for the number I wear on my team, which I chose in honor of former Duck Andy McDonald.

Photo Credits of all pictures with me in them: JLW

Red Wings & Blackhawks at Wrigley Field/Reflecting on the Ducks & Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks will face off at Wrigley Field on January 1, 2009. 

I think this is awesome. I do have to say that I would rather see someone else other than Detroit there, but there is a fan base obviously. The drive isn't bad from Michigan either. Chicago has a young team, exciting to watch, and they feel they have a lot to prove. I like their off season moves so far. Huet will be solid in net.

Detroit is a great team. The best at this point. I hate to see them win. I think that the only team in the west who can beat Detroit in the playoffs is Anaheim. I find myself on the Anaheim Ducks facebook group a lot because of the lack of hockey attention in Utah. Denton, a fellow admin of the group, and I discussed this back when the Ducks were ousted by the Stars in the playoffs. 

Dallas was the one team I didn't want to face. I wouldn't want to face L.A. either. Why not? Los Angeles had the worst record in the western conference? Doesn't matter. Whenever we face these division rivals, none of our other stats seem to matter. There is too much rivalry there. Detroit won the cup because they didn't have to play Anaheim. The Stars put up a good fight, but couldn't pull it off. 

I think there was a huge sigh of relief in Detroit when the Ducks lost to the Stars 4 games to 2. If you don't remember how much pain Anaheim caused Detroit back in the '07 playoffs take a look at Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. Detroit is up 1-0 with 45 seconds left. Scott Niedermayer flips a shot to the goal, deflecting off the Wings Captain's, Nick Lidstrom, stick and puts the game into OT.  The game winning goal is my choice for "Goal of the '07 Playoffs."

This is the place

I am a Ducks fan. A huge one. 

The only problem is that I live in Utah. I stay on top of things as much as I can. 

I read the rumors, a few blogs, and hope to start my center ice subscription this fall.

I grew up in Southern California as a Kings fan. I loved to watch Robitaille, Nichols, Gretzky, Coffey, Kurri and all the other great L.A. Kings of the early 90's. However, Robitaille left the Kings and to me that was too sad. The Ducks were new in town, run by Disney, and exciting. The Kariya and Selanne relationship lured me away from L.A. to become an Anaheim fan. 

I moved to Michigan during those years and stayed true to the Ducks even though the Red Wings won the Cup twice. 

I lived in Rio de Janeiro as the Ducks went to the Stanley Cup finals and had my girlfriend's brother, now brother in law, record every single game for me. It's not easy to watch a hockey game in Brazil. 

Now I am back to reality and watching every Ducks game I possibly can. 

This blog is dedicated to those who love the game of hockey and the ice it is played on in Southern California.