They deserved it. They out-played, out-muscled and out-hit the Ottawa Senators, and proved they could also match the Senators speed.
I’m thrilled for Teemu Selanne, who waited fifteen years to finally play on a Cup champion, and he was able to do it for the team with which he’d had most of his greatest individual success.
I’m happy for the Niedermayer brothers, who got to win a Cup together.
I’m also happy for warhorses Sean O’Donnell and Todd Marchant, who like Selanne went years without playing for a winner and now, in the twilight of their careers, are part of a Cup championship.
I'm happy for guys like Ric Jackman and Chris Kunitz, who were fortunate to be picked away from struggling teams to end up playing key roles in the Ducks success.
GM Brian Burke deserves full marks for taking a team with lots of promising young talent, bringing in some key veterans like Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, Selanne, O’Donnell and Marchant, hiring Randy Carlyle as head coach, and forging a championship team.
But some credit also goes to Ottawa Senators head coach – and Burke’s predecessor – Bryan Murray, as the Ducks two brightest young stars, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, were drafted by him.
Speaking of the Senators, they deserve credit for getting this far. They’re a very good team, one that has made significant strides in their growth, and finally shook off the “choke artist” label. This is a team that, with a bit more grit and scoring depth, could find themselves hoisting the Cup in the near future.
I think this Ducks team is built to last, but then again, so many of us thought the same thing about the Carolina Hurricanes and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The salary cap broke up those Cup champions, and it remains to be seen if the Ducks will suffer the same fate.
But that’s in the future. For now, all that matters is the Ducks are the 2007 Stanley Cup champions, and deserving champs at that.
If the Ducks can hold onto everyone here I think that they'll have a great chance of repeating as long as their players aren't too lazy in the offseason like the Hurricanes were this season.
I agree with Pronger and Selane being overdue for winning a cup, but I'm happier to see Burke win the cup. Am I the only person who doesn't like him as a GM? I actually like the fact that he hates the media and is usually a jerk when asking questions. Really, if you were a GM would you want to sit around answering the same damn questions over and over again?
Now the real season starts for the 28 teams that did not get there this season.
Congrats to the Ducks. I still despise your team.
Spector,
I was reading your Rumor prt of your webpage and was a little dissappointed the fact it was all about the Habs, New Jersey, Philly the Islanders, Edmonton.
There have got to be some Rumors south of the border and west of the Rockies worth reporting on.
Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Jose,
I respect what you do but the only way you mentoned any of the above teams is if there was either an Eastern team or Eastern based player involved in the Rumor.
Throw us a bone out west is all I ask
Last edited by True_kings_fan on June 6th at 9:28 PM.
The player I am most happy for is Rob Niedermayer.
The guy has lost 2 times in game 7 of the finals. Now he has got his cup. To have your older brother hand it to you must have been a great feeling.
I have loved the way Rob playes sence his days with the Panthers and have dreamed for years that somehow LA would pick him up.
I hope Teemu rides off into a nice California sunset and hangs up the skates.
Jiggy there is a nice crease and lots of dollar signs waiting for you about 20 miles up the 5 freeway at Staples.
Cograts as well to Sean O'Donnell Aaron Rome and George Parros the 3 ex Kings on the Ducks roster. You guys go on the list of good players that leave the Kings to get a ring. George please shave the porno stash.
Look at the bright side. Your team will get a shot at the Champs next season when they actually are forced to leave the Eastern timezone and head out west. But of course the NHL Schedule gods will make it a nice short 5 game 7 day trip in October.
Last edited by True_kings_fan on June 6th at 9:40 PM.
Best day for Southern California hockey EVER!!! Hopefully this will give the Ducks some respect. If winning the cup doesn't i don't know what will! If Giguere resigns with the Ducks. I can't help but say they'll repeat.
TKF: I know you're not deliberately trying to #### me off here, but for the umpteenth time I DON'T SHOW FAVORITISM TO EASTERN TEAMS, and I resent the implication that I'm only posting rumors about those teams.
There's a very simple reason why there's been almost no rumours "south of the border and west of the Rockies" to report on, and that's because there's been almost nothing in the media to report.
I can also tell that you don't often check out my rumors page, because if you did you'd know that Sharks rumors have appeared there quite frequently every week over the past six weeks.
Don't worry, with the playoffs now over the the draft a little over two weeks away and the UFA deadline starting a little over three weeks from now, I'm sure you'll see plenty of rumors about those teams.
Freakin Sens!!! They go and toss my Sabres around and then go and, only win 1 game? I was like 110% sure they would win, I mean hell Detriot atleast won 2 games... Grrrrrrr
However on a side note it is nice to see and Unusual team win the cup. A nice mix of older players and Youngins. Good Job to Giggy for not choking this time around.
Quack Quack !!! Congrats to the Ducks and their fans.
Am I the only one who was left wondering why Niedermayer got the Conn Smythe ??? Me and my friends were floored by that decision. Everyone was in agreement it should have been Giguere or maybe even MacDonald. I even suggested that Prongers elbow was more deserving. Not that Niedermayer didnt play well, but I thought others were deserving. Wow, a whole 10 points for this years playoff MVP.
Personally, I think its a joke that Niedermayer has won both a Norris Trophy and a Conn Smythe and Scott Stevens never won either.
What a dominating performance by the Ducks. Congrats!
I'm happy for Selanne, the Niedermayer brothers and Dustin Penner. It's amazing that Penner went undrafted and not too long ago was playing in a rec league! He was outstanding for the Ducks in the playoffs. I was a bit surprized Scotty won MVP, but when you really think about it he was their leader, in ice time and in the locker room. He kept them calm and focused and lead the way when Pronger was out of the lineup. Every time the Sens would pressure he would slow things down and make smart decisions. In the end he deserves it. I'm not so sure that the Sens have totally lost the "choke tag" yet. All playoffs I kept waiting for them to cave, they just waited until they got on the big stage. Is it just me or was that not the worst Emery has ever looked? He just wasn't into it at all. I expected the Sens to play desperate hockey last night - no sign of that at all.
I'd be embarrassed to be a Senator right now. No heart at all. Anaheim was better skilled and played with heart. Pronger with the bad shoulder and I'm sure Scott Nidermayer will annouce that something was wrong with his foot.
Gregsky:
No, it's not just you. Emery fell to pieces in the final two games of the series. In the end he was no different than the goalies of Ottawa failures past. There were a bunch of reasons why the Sens fell short but the goaltender match-up was definitely one of them. One day they will get a Vezina-caliber netminder for the playoffs and it might be the tipping point for them. Since about 1996 they seem to always have an abundance of skating talent and (with the exception of Hasek) average-to-below average netminding. It finally cost Jacques Martin his job, and he was the best they'd ever had in their brief modern history.
There were a lot of deserving candidates for the Ducks. Pahlsson, Jiggy, McDonald, even brother Rob did plenty to merit consideration. You would not have gotten much of an argument from me if any of those guys had won. Likewise for Scott N.
He was a steadying presence all playoffs long and was involved in many alert, game-changing plays, including his series winner against the Canucks.
What's with all the Sens bashing going on. If Ottawa are stll chockers, then what are the St-Louis Blues. Did they make the playoffs for 20 years straight and nothing to show for. And why would Sens fans be embarrassed? The Sens beat out 14 other teams to make it to the Finals. It's an accomplishment that only 1 other team can say they achieved this season (Ducks). When team Canada doesn't win the Gold metal or World Hockey Championship, are they label Chokers. No. Then what's with all the negativity. I think people that saying these things are very jealous or really immature and need to grow up or find another past time.
I'm actually kind of relieved that Buffalo didn't end up facing the Ducks. They were not ready for that sort of game. Regier and Ruff had better figure out what went sour and prepare to face physical play from now on.
TKF:
C'mon now, the Western part of New York is a really great place to live! Although I don't live there now, there are plenty of big-name people that could live anywhere they please and choose to live there. Scott Bowman, Jeremy Jacobs, Marcel Dionne (formerly had a bar in the area). It's not L.A. but it's not Siberia either.
I wouldn't call them chockers, after all isn't this season a success for them. I just don't thing they tried hard enough. A guy at work put it best "it wasn't an elimantion game of the finals, it was game 30 of the regular season after playing the night before"
Sensfan - Maybe "choke" is too strong a word, but you have to admit that until this roster actually wins that dark cloud will hang over them. That same cloud hangs over the Blues. Spezza is a teriffic player but he mailed in his performance. He just isn't willing to pay the price for his team. Alffie is a great player but is he the leader this team needs? When they needed to play desperate and crash the net they barely mustered any shots and were nowhere near the crease and in the face of Giguere. Game 4 broke their will, their body language last night screamed it. I'm not trying to bash them, I'm just pointing out things I notice.
Gregsky,
I completely agree with your observation of the Sens, in particular the lackluster performance of Spezza. I do think Mike Fisher had a great series, but beyond him I didn't see much from their players.
It was great seeing the Niedermeyer brothers win and I thought it was pretty cool to see Selanne hoist the Cup especially after all of the criticism he has received in the past. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Congratulations to the Ducks.
well done Ducks. I am completely unsurprised. I also think the result is indicative of the stronger western conference this year ...
*pokes LGB to see if he responds*
I was actually delighted to see Burke win. I like his aggressive style of hockey and his no-nonsense approach to media. Bombastic maybe but always entertaining. I like Dave Nonis as well but I still think it was a huge mistake when Orca Bay ran Burke out of Vancouver ... freakin' idiots.
Completly agree cymru, Burke made the canucks a competitve and profitable team. Were they not losing 20-30mil a year before he came. Burke is brillant and i can't believe that there are some people who don't think he is any good.
Brian Burke, Brian Burke, Brian Burke, that's the reason, great GM, took a lot of heat letting Babcock go, made all the right moves and it has paid off in full. He's a no BS guy who knows how to put a playoff team together.
Major congrats to Teemu, who has been so good for so long, was great to see the cup over his head last night.
Let's do what we can to keep Giggy and maybe we can make it a habit out here. The cup looks really good in the sunshine and the palm trees.
Cup Junkie here, OK congrats to the Ducks' fans, whoever they are. As far as repeating well... They either keep Pronger of Giguere, I mean both games that Anaheim played without Pronger they won and it just seems to me that Giguere is more valuable than Chris. If Anaheim wants a shot at repeating they'll have to keep Giggy, depending of course on how much he asks for.
On another note for all you Habs fans, tonight might be the night that Carey Price wins the Calder Cup with the Bulldogs. The last time a rookie came out of Junior to win the AHL championship for Mtl's farm tean is... you guessed it St-Patrick, and with players like Ryan O'Byrne Kyle Chipchura, Corey Locke, Maxine Lapierre showing leadership and getting a taste of what it's like to win big don't be surprised to see some of them make the jump next year. Remember Mtl had 8 or 9 rookies in'86 when they won the Cup, most if not all had won the Calder Cup in Sherbrooke the year earlier.
So as I said congrats Anaheim, Ottawa you had your chance, now move over 'cause Le Bleu Blanc Rouge is coming back.
Last edited by Cup_Junkie on June 7th at 11:29 AM.
So funny sometimes, how these hockey circles work. 4-5 years ago Burke was the NHL's iron hand of discipline. Fast forward to 2007 and he's Stanley Cup champion GM on a team featuring one of very few players in history to be suspended twice in the same playoffs.
Well guys another hockey season has passed and a winner declared.
I think we owe a big Thank You to Spector for all his efforts to give us timely topics to add our two cents to.
Thanks from me Lyle. Many an entertaining hour I spent here at my wifes Lingerie Shop, taking a break from putting the #### in the panties, reading your blogs.
In my opinion , you're the best at what you do man.
Cobra
CupJunkie: I've been keeping an eye on the Bulldogs run for the Calder Cup, and I'm very excited about the Canadiens future because of those kids you mentioned, but especially Price, who in my humble opinion is going to become Montreal's starting goalie within the next two years, and one of the best in the NHL.
Thanks for the kind words, Cobra. I love my job, but yours sounds like a lot more fun! ;)
You're very welcome Lyle. My job is ok until they leave their old dirty panties in the dressing room. But I am going to turn displeasure into money, I think. I am going to save the soiled undies, put them in a big caldron, boil them and serve clam chowder on fridays. What do ya think? A moneymaker?
You aint kidding about the Sabres going against the Ducks, I mean Ottawa pushed them around a bit, and then to see Ottawa to get pushed around Especially Chris Neil getting pushed around is a big statement I mean he is the main center of attention when It comes down to dirty in Ottawa. I suppose the Ducks Wanted it more....
LGB
Mike Fisher in Buffalo would be an awesome plus hell you could swing Breire for Fisher and Neil and that there will take care of the physical game with Gaustad in the mix :P
Congrats to the Ducks. That's hard to say coming from a hardline LA Kings fan but overall, it will do so much good for the sport in So Cal and the west in general.
I sincerely hope that AEG and the Kings management get their act together fast and learn from the Ducks' success and put a winner at Staples Center.
Kings fans and the city of Los Angeles have been patient all these years and deserve nothing less.
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
