DUCKS MEET OLD NEMESIS DETROIT HAS ENDED ANAHEIM'S PREVIOUS TWO POSTSEASON RUNS.Byline: Brice Nixon Staff Writer ANAHEIM - It's either a fitting end or the next logical step in the semi- Cinderella story that has been the Ducks' turnaround season of 2002-2003: They face the Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. in the playoffs. Back in the postseason for the first time since 1999, the seventh-seeded Ducks open their first-round series of the Stanley Cup Stanley Cup: see hockey, ice. Stanley Cup Trophy awarded annually to the winning team of the National Hockey League championship. Named for its donor, the Canadian governor-general Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley of Preston playoffs today in Detroit. The second-seeded Red Wings red wings see combretum platypetalum. are the defending Stanley Cup champions This is a list of Stanley Cup champions, including the finalists/challengers. Originally, it was referred to as the "Challenge Cup"; the champions held onto the Cup until they either lost their league title to another club, or a champion from another league issued a formal , a popular choice to win the Cup this time around and the team that has brought an abrupt end to the Ducks' two previous playoff play·off also play-off n. Sports 1. A final game or series of games played to break a tie. 2. A series of games played to determine a championship. Noun 1. appearances. It's either a cruel world, or maybe just fate if the Ducks want to prove they've really come as far as they think they have. ``This is the best team that we've gone to the playoffs with,'' said Ducks captain Paul Kariya Paul Tetsuhiko Kariya (born October 16, 1974 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), is a professional ice hockey player who plays for the St. Louis Blues. Personal life , a veteran of the first two playoff meetings. Both of those ended in sweeps by the Red Wings. ``Every time we've made it, we've played them,'' Kariya said. ``Playing the Stanley Cup champions will be a huge challenge for us, but we all look forward to it. Any time you're playing the Stanley Cup champions, they're going to be favored, but it doesn't matter once the puck drops. We've got a lot of confidence going in.'' The Ducks might have reason to feel that way. They have many more options this time around. Kariya didn't even lead the team in goals, and he had the lowest full-season total (25) in his nine-year career. Petr Sykora, a Stanley Cup winner with the New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Devils have won the Stanley Cup three times, in 1995, 2000, and 2003. , led the team with 34. Still, the Red Wings remain one of the top teams in the league. They finished the season on a 21-3-1-2 run. They have the NHL's top power-play unit, which scored nearly a quarter of the time (23.8 percent) they had the man advantage. And they have their customary star-studded lineup A criminal investigation technique in which the police arrange a number of individuals in a row before a witness to a crime and ask the witness to identify which, if any, of the individuals committed the crime. . The biggest question mark is in goal, the worst question to have hanging over a team's head in the playoffs. Curtis Joseph Curtis Shayne Joseph (born April 29, 1967 in Keswick, Ontario, Canada, as Curtis Munroe), is a professional ice hockey goaltender in the NHL who is currently a free agent after having spent the past two seasons playing for the Phoenix Coyotes. hasn't shown he's capable of carrying a team in the playoffs. That at least leaves the teams even in that category. Ducks goalie Jean-Sebatien Giguere has been consistently solid and at times superb. But he has no playoff experience. There's no guarantee he'll be able to carry over his regular-season success, but he'll solidify so·lid·i·fy v. so·lid·i·fied, so·lid·i·fy·ing, so·lid·i·fies v.tr. 1. To make solid, compact, or hard. 2. To make strong or united. v.intr. his standing as a top goaltender if he does. And he'll make the biggest difference in whether the Ducks avoid repeating their playoff history. Kariya must also be the superstar player he's been for this team to have any chance of advancing. He doesn't have to score all the goals any more, as he's shown throughout this season, but he'll have to do better than the one he's scored in the last 18 games. Kariya is the least of Ducks coach Mike Babcock's worries: ``If I was a betting man and looking at who's going to be the best player, are you betting against him? I sure wouldn't.'' The Ducks' power play has struggled recently, but Babcock is concentrating on the team's penalty kill, obviously a key component against the Red Wings. The Ducks were second-best in the league this season (87.4 percent). ``When you go out on a power play and you don't score, guess what? You're still even,'' Babcock said. ``But when you go out on a penalty kill and they score, you're down one. The penalty kill's the most important thing.'' The Ducks had a strong run to finish the season, going 25-11-2-3. One of Detroit's three losses during its late-season run was a 4-1 setback to the Ducks. That gave the Ducks a 1-2-0-1 record against the Red Wings this season, but the playoff newcomers remain confident facing the perennial power. ``I'm not worried one bit about intimidation,'' Babcock said. ``We'll be ready.'' To Babcock, the rookie rookie a novice; often an athlete playing his first season as a member of a professional sports team. [Sports: Misc.] See : Inexperience coach, the recipe for success seems simple. ``You decide it's about will, not skill,'' he said. ``You decide you want the puck more than them. We have enough skill. If we decide we're going to be committed to one another, and to our foundation, because our team play will be vital, we have a chance to have as much fun as anybody's had ever here.'' CAPTION(S): photo, 2 boxes Photo: The Ducks may find celebrations few and far between when they meet the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the playoffs. Chris Carlson/Associated Press Box: (1) STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS (2) MIGHTY DUCKS
Mighty Ducks is a half-hour Disney animated series aired on ABC and The Disney Afternoon in the fall of 1996. Twenty-six episodes total were produced. vs. DETROIT - Brice Nixon |
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