Duck Season

The Anaheim Ducks have taken the Mighty out of their name, but yesterday, they were definitely, Mighty Ducks

The game started out great for the Ducks as they had 3 early power plays, and they scored on 1 to get a lead. Rob Neidermayer then scored on a beautiful rush to give the Ducks a 2-goal lead. After a period of the teams exchanging goals, the Ducks put the nail in the coffin scoring 2 goals to get a 4-goal lead. The Ducks held on for the rest of the game. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks are the 2007 Stanley Cup Champions.

For the first time, the Stanley Cup can enjoy an NHL western home, and the Ducks' victory came at the expense of Canada. The cherished trophy was born in Ottawa, but no team north of the border has won it since Montreal in 1993.

"Canada loves their hockey, and from what I heard out there, we have quite a few fans who love their hockey out here, too," said captain Scott Niedermayer, a four-time champion from British Columbia and this year's Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

When Scott Neidermayer raised the cup in front of the home crowd, the 1st person he gave it to was his brother, Rob. In 2003, it was much different, as the only things the brothers exchanged were handshakes, as Scott prevailed with the Ducks.

"I don't think I'll ever have a better feeling than that in my career," Rob said. "When he came here, I know he turned down a lot from New Jersey and he had a lot of fond memories there.

"I never touched it when he won. He's won so much, but he's never been a guy whose ever rubbed it in a guy's face. He's been rooting for me my whole career, and I'm just lucky to have him as a brother."

Teemu Selanne, who started his NHL career 15 years ago finally raised the cup over his head. "I was just like, 'I couldn't believe it, it's going to happen,"' Selanne said. "So much hard work, so many years to dream about that moment.

Possibly the player who has gone through the most adversity this year to win the cup was Chris Pronger. Even in this game, he played with a separated shoulder. "I just kind of got hit awkwardly there and went into the boards funny and separated it," Pronger told TSN.

He played the rest of the game, following a brief absence, before returning.

"I was going to be on the ice, no question," he said.

The "choke label" may be put on the Ottawa Senators again. They did get to the final, but didn't play like they did in their 1st 3 series and lost in 5 games. "They had more depth than us in this series," Alfredsson said. "We didn't play our best. We tried to come back in the second period, but that didn't last. It seemed like they were better than us."

Congratulations to the 2007 Anaheim Ducks