If your last name is Lemieux and you are in the NHL, is it a requirement that you retire for 4 or 5 years before returning to the sport?

Lastly, how many times can one not from ‘Bama tolerate Sweet Home Alabama while imprisoned in ‘Bama before making Charles Manson look like the poster child for Buddhism?

It can’t be any more appropriate that when the Stanley Cup is finally welcomed into the arms of Southern California it be at the hands of a team born from a movie.  And not just any movie, a Disney movie.  I now wonder if Lord Stanley denied the Ducks’ bid in 2003 because he didn’t want the MIGHTY Ducks of Anaheim stamped on his Cup.   Or is it just coincidence that the very year the organization shakes its final vestiges of anything Disney, renaming themselves The Anaheim Ducks, they win the Cup?

I would have given my right nut to see this final series go down between the Ducks and the Sabres.  Then again, I see it only fitting that the Ducks win this legacy against a Canadian team.  A team that has been around as long as the Cup.  Never mind that 60 year gap between seasons for the Ottawa Senators.

My hat is off to you, gentlemen.  Congratulations!  But no one deserves it more than you, Teemu.  Even if you are a Finn!  I can only hope tonight wasn’t your last game.

So how long do you think it will be before they rename themselves The Los Angeles Ducks of Anaheim?

Apparently they are no longer the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.  Now known as simply the Anaheim Ducks I believe they’re slimming down the name in preparation to follow suit with their colleagues across the freeway and soon become the California Los Angeles Ducks of Anaheim in Orange County and Tijuana.  This way they can bridge the gap between the Latino community that has a huge fan base in hockey!

One of the few things I liked about the Ducks was the fact that they referred to their arena as the Pond.  Yes, it’s cheesy and a bit sally-ish compared to the likes of the Shark Tank or the Bank Vault but still.  More officially, it was the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim but God Bless those naming rights and the money that comes with them!  The facility is now just the Honda Center.  Sometimes I really wish capitalism would take a flying leap off a rather tall building. 

Watching the Kings half-arsedly beat the tar out of the Ducks…$153 and a slight case of indigestion.

Would I do it again? You really have to ask?

Playing doesn’t completely relieve the shakes either, especially after a 1-7-2 season! Which reminds me, how does a team produce a 10-2 season and follow it up with the aforementioned massacre? I’m still convinced we pissed off a hockey god somewhere along the way. There were just too many unexplainable blown leads, shots that should have been goals, and some of the “worst calls EVER” by the linesmen. Forgive us, Rocket Richard. But I digress…

I look upon this NHL season with large amounts of dubiety (I love that word). A management that wants salary caps so they can have all the dough and players who want salary hikes so they can have all the dough. Yet neither side seems concerned about the supplier of said dough, the fans. I know the true junkies, like myself, will return if only for the needed fix, but I think this latest squabble may have quashed the last major flow of demand. How can one enjoy the game knowing this amount of greed exists in the organization? Oh wait, there’s the MLB (damn you all, Americans!). Can anyone save this Titanic? I look to you with needful eyes, Mr. Cherry.