Anaheim Ducks

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Anaheim Ducks
Conference	Western
Division	Pacific
Founded	1993
History	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 1993 – 2006 Anaheim Ducks 2006 – Present
Home arena	Honda Center
City	Anaheim, California
Colors	Black, metallic gold, orange, white
Media	FSN Prime Ticket FSN West KDOC KLAA
Owner(s)	Henry & Susan Samueli
General manager	Bob Murray
Head coach	Randy Carlyle
Captain	Scott Niedermayer
Minor league affiliates	Bakersfield Condors (ECHL)
Stanley Cups	2006–07
Conference championships	2002–03, 2006–07
Division championships	2006–07

The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California, USA. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). Since their inception, the Ducks have played their home games at Honda Center.

The club was founded in 1993 by The Walt Disney Company as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, a name based on the film The Mighty Ducks. Disney sold the franchise in 2005 to Henry & Susan Samueli, who changed the name of the team to the Anaheim Ducks before the 2006–07 season. In their 15 year existence, the Ducks have made the playoffs seven times, winning one Pacific Division title (2007), two Western Conference Championships (2003 and 2007), and the Stanley Cup Championship (in 2007).

[edit] Franchise history

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Mighty Ducks primary logo (1993–2006). The logo was subsequently used in the Disney movie D2: The Mighty Ducks. Disney design elements appear in this logo, such as team mascot Wildwing's goalie mask.

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were founded in 1993 by The Walt Disney Company. The team's original name was chosen from the Disney movie The Mighty Ducks, based on a group of misfit kids who turn their losing youth hockey team into a winning team. Disney subsequently made an animated series called Mighty Ducks, featuring a fictional Mighty Ducks of Anaheim team that consisted of anthropomorphized ducks led by the Mighty Duck Wildwing.

The team was the first tenant of the Anaheim Arena (later the Arrowhead Pond and now the Honda Center), a brand-new arena in Anaheim located a short distance east of Disneyland and across the Orange Freeway from Angel Stadium. The arena was completed the same year the team was founded, with the naming rights originally being held by Arrowhead Water.

The Mighty Ducks selected Paul Kariya fourth overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. He would be the star of the franchise for many years to come. The Mighty Ducks selected Steve Rucchin, who the Mighty Ducks drafted second overall in the 1994 Supplemental Draft. After their first two years the Ducks had never made it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In the middle of the third year the Ducks had acquired right winger that would compliment their left winger Paul Kariya. On February 7, 1996, the Mighty Ducks made a blockbuster deal with the Winnipeg Jets. The Ducks sent Chad Kilger, Oleg Tverdovsky, and a third-round pick to the Jets in return for Marc Chouinard, a fourth-round draft pick, and right winger Teemu Selanne. These three Mighty Ducks would become one of most potent lines of their time, adding to their success and possibly reaching the playoffs. The Ducks would reach the postseason for the first time during the 1996-97 NHL season, where they won their first playoff round in franchise history against the Phoenix Coyotes. However, in the second round they lost to the Detroit Red Wings in a four game sweep. The Ducks would miss the playoffs in 1998 but would follow it up by finishing 6th in the Western Conference in 1998-99 NHL season but would again be swept by the Detroit Red Wings this time in round one.

The Ducks did not reach the postseason again until 2002-2003 NHL season. They would start a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Finals by defeating the defending champion Red Wings in a sweep, the Dallas Stars in six games, and the Minnesota Wild in a sweep where Jean-Sebastien Giguere would only allow one goal. Anaheim could not complete their Cinderella run, though, as they lost a hard-fought game 7 to the Devils 3-0. The series was also noted because every game was won by the home team. For his fine play during the post-season, Giguere won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. He became only the fifth player, and fourth goaltender, in NHL history to have won the trophy as a member of the losing team. Giguere had 15-6 record, 7-0 in overtime, with a 1.62 GAA, a .945 Sv. Pct. and a record 168 minute, 27 second shutout streak in overtime.

During the summer of 2004, as the NHL and the NHL Players Association's labor dispute was headed towards a long lockout, Disney tried to sell the team but received a low offer of $40-million US, less than the franchise's original price. In 2005, Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli of Irvine, California and his wife, Susan, bought the Mighty Ducks from The Walt Disney Company for a reported $75 million (USD). The Samuelis pledged to keep the team in Anaheim, unlike Arturo Moreno did when he purchased the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from Disney and decided to turn the team into a Los Angeles based franchise.

Brian Burke, former Vancouver Canucks General Manager and President, was appointed GM and Executive Vice-President of the Mighty Ducks on June 20, 2005. On August 1, 2005, former Norris Trophy-winning defenceman Randy Carlyle was hired as the seventh coach in team history. Burke was familiar with Carlyle's coaching ability, as the latter had coached the Manitoba Moose from 1996–2001 (International Hockey League) and 2004–05 (American Hockey League); the Moose had been the Canucks' farm club since 2001. Carlyle replaced Mike Babcock, who later signed on to coach the Red Wings.

The 2006-2007 Ducks were considered a cup favorite bolstered by two All-Star defenseman Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer. On November 9, 2006, the Ducks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6–0 at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia to improve their season record to 12–0–4. The win set an NHL open era record by remaining undefeated in regulation for the first 16 games of the season, eclipsing the previous mark set by the 1983–84 Edmonton Oilers. They were subsequently shut out by the Flames the following game, 3–0, ending their streak. On January 16, 2007 the Ducks played in their franchise's 1000th regular season game, and on March 11, the Ducks recorded their franchise's 1000th point with a 4–2 win over the Vancouver Canucks, which improved their franchise all-time record to 423–444–155, 1001 points. On April 7, the Ducks won their first Pacific Division title in franchise history, when the Vancouver Canucks defeated the second-place San Jose Sharks at HP Pavilion in the Sharks' final game of the season. On June 6, the Ducks defeated the Ottawa Senators 6–2 at Honda Center to claim their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Scott Niedermayer won the second Conn Smythe Trophy in Ducks history. The Ducks became the first California team, and the first west coast team since the 1925 Victoria Cougars to win the Stanley Cup.

The 2007-2008 Ducks were a bit more disappointing, finishing with 47 wins and the 4th seed in the Western Conference. They were eliminated in the First Round of the Playoffs in 6 Games by the Dallas Stars.

After an extremely slow start to the 2008-2009 season, the team struggled to make the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Nevertheless, the Ducks defeated the number one seeded San Jose Sharks in six games in the first round before being eliminated in the conference semifinals by the eventual Western Conference Champion Detroit Red Wings in seven games.

[edit] Team colors and mascot

[edit] Logos

The Ducks' logo features a webbed foot forming a "D" followed by the other letters in the word "Ducks" in upper-case letters. The text itself is gold (which sometimes may appear as bronze as well) with orange and black accents (forming a three dimensional appearance). The entire logo is in turn outlined by white. The city of Anaheim's name appears in smaller upper-case print, above the team name. The Ducks are one of three NHL teams to feature their team name spelled out in a scripted form on the front of their jersey rather than a logo. The New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals are the other two. This does not include alternate jerseys or throwback jerseys worn by other teams.

The old logo of the Ducks prior to the name change featured an old-style goaltender mask, shaped to form the appearance of a duck bill. Behind the mask are two intersecting hockey sticks, a black circle and a triangle (the color of the triangle is either green or gray, depending on how the logo is used).

[edit] Jerseys

The Ducks have officially worn two unique regular jerseys and three unique third jerseys in their franchise history:

[edit] Original Mighty Ducks Jerseys

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim jerseys: 1993–2006.

The original jerseys of the Ducks (then the Mighty Ducks) used jade green, aubergine (eggplant), white and gray as primary colors for both the home and away jerseys. The team's dark jerseys were dominantly eggplant in color with diagonal gray and white stripes; the jersey is jade green below the stripes, which appear on the arms and waist. The white jerseys were similar, except that the eggplant is replaced mainly with white. On the shoulders of both jerseys are patches featuring a forward-facing version of the main logo's "duck mask," surrounded by a circle reading "Mighty Ducks of Anaheim."

[edit] Ducks jerseys after 2006

Anaheim Ducks jerseys: 2006–2007.

About a year after the team was purchased from the Walt Disney Company by the Samuelis, Brian Burke initiated a name change dropping the "Mighty", after consultation with the fans showed that the typical fan had a willingness to update the "Mighty Ducks" name and jersey and also a desire to keep part of the traditions of the franchise. Burke sought inspiration for the jersey from the United States Military Academy^{[citation needed]}, ending up with diagonal gold, white, black and orange stripes down the arms and waist with the word "Ducks" on the front. The jersey is similar to the team's most recent third jersey prior to the name change. The orange pays tribute to Orange County^[1], where Anaheim is located.

The Ducks are not the first team from Southern California to win a title in the same year as a major uniform change. The Anaheim Angels won the 2002 World Series the same year that they changed to their current red-and-white uniforms.

[edit] 2007–08 jerseys

For the 2007–08 NHL season, the Ducks, like all NHL teams, changed over to new Rbk Edge jerseys. The new team jersey shows only minor modifications from 2006–07, including a small NHL crest just below the neck, and a smaller ducks logo on the chest There are no third jerseys for this season.

[edit] Third jerseys

The third jerseys of the Mighty Ducks were created in 1995, 1997, and 2003. The 1995 jersey was jade green with eggplant and white stripes on the collar and on the end of the sleeves. The logo was of team mascot Wildwing wearing a Mighty Ducks jersey while breaking through a sheet of ice. The jersey was short-lived; as severe criticism encouraged management to retire the jersey at the end of the 1995 season.^{[citation needed]}

Third Jersey 1995–96	Third Jerseys 1997–2000, dark 1997–2001, white	Third Jersey 2003–2006

The 1997 third jersey came with a rare fourth jersey partner. The third was a jade green-colored jersey with silver and eggplant stripes at the shoulders outlined in thin yellow, and a silver stripe at the bottom. It had the Mighty Ducks logo in the center of the chest. The fourth jersey was much like it. It was white with jade green, eggplant, and silver stripes at the shoulders of the jersey, but no bottom stripe. These jerseys saw action until the end of 1999–2000, when they stopped playing with their third jerseys, and used only the fourth. At the end of 2000–01, the fourth was also retired.

The 2003 third jersey was black with purple and gray stripes at the waist and on the sleeves. It had the alternate script logo of the present Mighty Ducks and old-style laces at the neck, as well as a shoulder patch displaying an interlocking "MD" (for "Mighty Ducks"). The popularity of this jersey amongst fans was so great it replaced the eggplant and jade jersey, serving as the home jersey for the last half of the 2005–06 season and playoffs. It was dropped following the season as the team went to a modified name, new uniforms, and color scheme; however, this popular jersey influenced the design of the new jerseys for 2006–07. It was the only time in the modern NHL days when a mainly black jersey was not worn with black pants; instead, the pants were purple.

[edit] Mascot

The official mascot for the Anaheim Ducks is an anthropomorphized duck by the name of Wild Wing. He has been the team's mascot since its inaugural season, and his name was chosen through fan voting. He wears a Ducks jersey with the number 93 on the back, referring to the year the Ducks became an NHL team.

He regularly descends from the rafters of the arena when making his in-game entrances.^[2] In one such descent the rigging that lowered Wild Wing from the rafters malfunctioned leaving the mascot trapped fifty feet above the ice for several minutes. Another well known blunder occurred in October 1995 when Wild Wing, attempting to jump through a "wall of fire", accidentally tripped causing the mascot to land on the fire and set his costume ablaze.^[3]

His physical appearance is similar to the duck mask in the original Mighty Ducks logo. A bronze statue of Wild Wing is also located outside the team's arena (Located at the West side of the South Doors), Honda Center.^[4]

The mascot's name was also used for the leader of the Ducks, Wildwing Flashblade, in Disney's Mighty Ducks cartoon series.

During the same time in which the team announced a name change as well as change in jersey designs, there was an attempt by the team's owners to change or replace the mascot, Wild Wing, but was halted after a highly successful petition by fans.^{[citation needed]}

The Mighty Ducks also used a secondary "mascot," a person (without no particular costume) called "The Iceman," during the team's first game in 1993. "The Iceman" appeared occasionally in the stands, played an electric guitar, and attempted to liven up the crowd. However, "The Iceman" was poorly received by fans and was quickly eliminated.

[edit] Season-by-season record

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Ducks. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Anaheim Ducks seasons.

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

[edit] Current roster

Updated July 6, 2009.^[5]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
	Canada 	Boynton, NickNick Boynton	2.0 D	R	30	2009	Nobleton, Ontario
21	Canada 	Brookbank, SheldonSheldon Brookbank	2.0 D	R	28	2009	Lanigan, Saskatchewan
13	United States 	Brown, MikeMike Brown	7.0 RW	R	24	2009	Northbrook, Illinois
20	United States 	Carter, RyanRyan Carter	4.0 C	L	25	2006	St. Paul, Minnesota
26	Canada 	Christensen, ErikErik Christensen	4.0 C	L	25	2009	Edmonton, Alberta
48	Canada 	Ebbett, AndrewAndrew Ebbett	4.0 C	L	26	2007	Vernon, British Columbia
53	Canada 	Festerling, BrettBrett Festerling (RFA)	2.0 D	L	23	2005	Prince George, British Columbia
15	Canada 	Getzlaf, RyanRyan Getzlaf (A)	4.0 C	R	24	2003	Regina, Saskatchewan
35	Canada 	Giguere, Jean-SebastienJean-Sebastien Giguere	1.0 G	L	32	2000	Montreal, Quebec
3	United States 	Hedican, BretBret Hedican (UFA)	2.0 D	L	38	2008	St. Paul, Minnesota
1	Switzerland 	Hiller, JonasJonas Hiller	1.0 G	R	27	2006	Felben-Wellhausen, Switzerland
	Finland 	Koivu, SakuSaku Koivu	4.0 C	L	34	2009	Turku, Finland
29	Canada 	Larsen, BradBrad Larsen (UFA)	6.0 LW	L	32	2008	Nakusp, British Columbia
	Canada 	Lupul, JoffreyJoffrey Lupul	7.0 RW	R	25	2009	Edmonton, Alberta
22	United States 	Marchant, ToddTodd Marchant	4.0 C	L	35	2005	Buffalo, New York
60	Canada 	Mikkelson, BrendanBrendan Mikkelson	2.0 D	L	22	2005	Regina, Saskatchewan
18	United States 	Miller, DrewDrew Miller	6.0 LW	L	25	2003	Dover, New Jersey
44	Canada 	Niedermayer, RobRob Niedermayer (UFA)	7.0 RW	L	34	2003	Cassiar, British Columbia
27	Canada 	Niedermayer, ScottScott Niedermayer (C)	2.0 D	L	35	2005	Edmonton, Alberta
17	Finland 	Nokelainen, PetteriPetteri Nokelainen	4.0 C	R	23	2009	Imatra, Finland
16	United States 	Parros, GeorgeGeorge Parros	7.0 RW	R	29	2006	Washington, Pennsylvania
10	Canada 	Perry, CoreyCorey Perry	7.0 RW	R	24	2003	Peterborough, Ontario
9	United States 	Ryan, BobbyBobby Ryan	7.0 RW	R	22	2005	Cherry Hill, New Jersey
55	United States 	Salcido, BrianBrian Salcido	2.0 D	R	24	2005	Hermosa Beach, California
19	United States 	Whitney, RyanRyan Whitney	2.0 D	L	26	2009	Scituate, Massachusetts
8	Finland 	Selanne, TeemuTeemu Selanne	7.0 RW	R	39	2005	Helsinki, Finland
34	United States 	Wisniewski, JamesJames Wisniewski	2.0 D	R	25	2009	Canton, Michigan

[edit] Team and player honors

Teemu Selanne is a winner of Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy and Rocket Richard Trophy.

[edit] NHL awards and trophies

[edit] Honored members

Hall of Famers:

• Jari Kurri played for the Ducks during the 1996–97 season, and was inducted in 2001.

Retired Numbers:

• 99 Wayne Gretzky retired league-wide on February 6, 2000.

[edit] Leaders

Scott Niedermayer, winner of the 2007 Conn Smythe Trophy.

[edit] Team captains

• Troy Loney, 1993–94
• Randy Ladouceur, 1994–96
• Paul Kariya, 1996–2003
• Teemu Selanne, 1998
• Steve Rucchin, 2003–04
• Scott Niedermayer, 2005–07
• Chris Pronger, 2007-08
• Scott Niedermayer, 2008-present

[edit] Coaches

• Ron Wilson, 1993–97
• Pierre Page, 1997–98
• Craig Hartsburg, 1998–2000
• Guy Charron, 2000–01
• Bryan Murray, 2001–02
• Mike Babcock, 2002–04
• Randy Carlyle, 2005- present

[edit] First-round draft picks

[edit] Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * = current Ducks player

[edit] Franchise individual records

• Most goals in a season: Teemu Selanne, 52 (1997–98)
• Most assists in a season: Ryan Getzlaf, 66 (2008-09)
• Most points in a season: Teemu Selanne, 109 (1996–97)
• Most penalty minutes in a season: Todd Ewen, 285 (1995–96)
• Most goals in a season, defenceman: Fredrik Olausson, 16 (1998-99)
• Most assists in a season, defenceman: Scott Niedermayer, 54 (2006-07)
• Most points in a season, defenceman: Scott Niedermayer, 69 (2006–07)
• Most points in a season, rookie: Bobby Ryan, 57 (2008-09)
• Most goals in a season, rookie: Bobby Ryan, 31 (2008-09)

• Most wins in a season: Jean-Sebastien Giguere, 36 (2006–07)
• Most shutouts in a season: Jean-Sebastien Giguere, 8 (2002–03)

[edit] Broadcasters

• John Ahlers TV play-by-Play
• Brian Hayward TV color analyst
• Steve Carroll Radio play-by-Play
• Brent Severyn Radio color analyst

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of NHL players
• List of NHL seasons

[edit] External links

• Official website of the Anaheim Ducks

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