Interesting to Note...

A friend brought up that the Ducks seemed to be mirroring the Colorado Rockie's 2007 season. While I hesitate to compare the great sport of hockey with something so mundane as baseball, I noticed a difference that perhaps the Duck's latest sucess has a lot to do with their vetrans, and not so much the incapability of the Sharks but their inexperience in the playoffs.

Allow me to defend this by first saying that since the 2005-2006 season, the Sharks have not had as many playoff games as the Ducks have, obviously due to the fact that the Ducks completed the quest for the cup in 2007. Compared, the Sharks have completed 40 games in the past 4 seasons, while the Ducks have been to 48.

A closer look at some of the players is also revealing. If you look at Joe Thoron, he's played 304 games since the 2005-2006 season with 96 total goals in those regular season games. In the playoffs he's got 40 total games played and only 6 goals to show for that. Experience really does make a difference. Teemu Selanne has played in 253 games as a Duck since 2005-2006 and has had 127 goals during that time. In the playoffs since then, he's been in 48 games and has 13 goals during that time. Incidentally enough, Ryan Getzlaf has also been in 48 playoff games since 2005-2006 and has also scored 13 goals in that time.

The Ducks have 12 players from the original 26 that won the cup in 2007. In addition to those vetrans, they have Bret Hedican who won the cup with the Hurricanes in 2005-2006. 13 players with extended playoff experience can only help your team.

The Sharks have 6 players on their current roster with a Stanley Cup Championship ring, all from other teams, as the Sharks have yet to win a championship thus far.

Both teams continue their quest for the cup tomorrow at 7:30 at the Honda Center. The series is now 3-2 in favor of the Ducks. If the Sharks win, it will tie the series, making it do-or-die for the Ducks on Wednesday. Should the Ducks win tomorrow, they will advance to the next round, playing the 2nd seeded Detroit Redwings.

Lets Go Ducks