Quacked

Big hat tip to Alex (the lesser-known but equally important half of the team behind Quacked) for pointing me to this one.

HFBoards user buckridesagain has uploaded a clip from an old VHS tape celebrating the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim’s inaugural season.

See how many familiar faces you can recognize. While you’re at it, try to envision how many penalties and suspensions would be handed out if the events in the video were taking place today.

For those without a Center Ice television package who may not have seen Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s new gear and threads…

Click for high-res. (PHOTO: Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Smacks of generic, doesn’t it? I miss Robo-duck.

It’s not exactly an Anaheim Ducks artifact, but hockey history like this from any walk of the game is too cool not to share. Today’s video is a walk through the old Boston Garden, an arena infamous for its small size and hostile conditions toward visiting teams. If the description is to be believed, the video was shot by a salvage crew shortly before the building’s demolition in 1997. More incredibly, it was found in a video camera purchased on ebay.

Who knows where the next undiscovered gem from hockey’s storied history is hiding?

Thanks to tweep (that’s twitterspeak for ‘user’, and yes, I hate it too) BuckyHermit for pointing out that Ducks analyst Brian Hayward did more than tend goal as a member of the Winnipeg Jets.

Hayward, who appeared more comfortable as the punchee than the puncher, seemingly escaped this brouhaha with nary a fine or suspension. Maybe there are some cues new disciplinary honcho Brendan Shanahan can take from that?

(PHOTO: Josie Lepe/Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service)

Look, I’ll be upfront about this: I don’t want this site to become a repository for blogspam. But when a relevant issue or topic becomes a point for discussion, I don’t see any harm in passing it along.

In that vein, the folks over at Anaheim Calling have an interesting question for our consideration: is this year’s version of the Ducks the deepest fans have seen since 2009?

Since the departures of Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger, the Ducks don’t have that larger than life presence on the blue line, but as [Dan] Ellis went on to explain, there is “a little bit of everything” in the Ducks’ defense this year.

It’s hard to argue that the Ducks of ’09 didn’t overachieve relative to their eighth seed positioning in the playoffs. After first defeating the Presidents’ Trophy-winning San Jose Sharks, they pushed arch-nemesis Detroit to a full seven in the second round. Is it unreasonable to expect the Ducks to go at least as far this year given the relative inexperience among its bottom-six forwards? If last season proved anything, it was that seeding and home-ice advantage didn’t matter when the games really counted.

If nothing else, it looks like coach Randy Carlyle may still be leaning on his star players a little too much, regardless of the team’s overall depth.

In case you missed the link in the previous post, here are two shots of Jonas Hiller’s awesome new Movember-inspired mask:

For anybody who missed Bobby Ryan’s homage to Mario Lemieux last night:

(PHOTO: Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)

The following was first posted on Quacked in August 2009. Although the original site has long since disappeared, I thought I’d rehash one or two of the good stories that were collecting dust in the old database.

Few athletes throughout the annals of sport have managed to raise the bar of excellence for on-field play to legendary heights, the likes of which mere mortals can only dream – fewer still have done the same for the pre/post-game interview, arguably professional sport’s weakest link.

Enter Ilya Bryzgalov: interview superstar (or super-tsar, if you will). Proving to be equally adept at delivering both saves and quips, Bryz treats the Score to a few gems regarding the Canadian climate.

Next we see Bryzgalov and fellow ex-Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere describe designs featured on their respective masks (after the break).

Apologies for the extended delay and downtime, but it appears our server issues are resolved for the time being. Load times are still slow, however, so bear with us as I debate with our host over the semantic definition of the word “fixed”. This post began as a “Fun Friday” bit (hence the tags), but has since been commuted to Saturday because of our unexpected vacation yesterday.

In the midst of what has been an intense six weeks of hockey for the Ducks, it only seems appropriate to take a minute out for some humor and retrospection now that Anaheim has punched its historical ticket into the playoffs (historical because it marks the first time all three California-based teams have made it in the same year). The video below shows Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan engaged in an “anything you can do I can do better” contest with national pride on the line, and predictably hilarious results ensue.

Below (after the break), see what Getzlaf is forced to do after Perry wins his bet to score 50. Unexpected comedic relief comes courtesy of Teemu Selanne, who is still ambivalent about a return next year– much to Getzlaf’s amusement.

It’s easy to understand how people could get a totally incorrect perception of a sequence of events based on a single screen capture from a video of said events.  With that in mind we give thanks to NHL.com for an image adorning its front page today:

The source link below has an impressive list of wild and wacky celebrations from NHL players past and present.  Click past the break to see a picture that’s worth (at least) 76 dollars to Ducks – and maybe Winnipeg Jets – fans.