30 Greatest Moments of 2007

4/29/08 Moments 26 through 30 - Greatest Moments

5/6/08 Moments 25 through 21 - More Moments!

5/13/08 Moments 20 - 16 - More great moments!

5/19/08 Moments 15 - 11 - Greatest Moments Continued...

5/28/08 Moments 10 - 6 - Cont'd Moments

6/2/08 Moments 5 - 1 - Top 5 Moments in the whole year!

**This entry will be updated with each article with the moments as they get posted on the Ducks website. All articles are from he Ducks website.

Ryan Carter signed to 3 year deal.

The Ducks announced today that they have signed center Ryan Carter to a three-year contract. Per club policy, financial terms were not disclosed.

Carter, 24 (8/3/83), appeared in his first NHL season with the Ducks in 2007-08, scoring 4-4=8 points with 36 penalty minutes (PIM) in 34 games. On Feb. 8 at New Jersey, he scored his first two career NHL goals against Martin Brodeur less than eight minutes apart to lead Anaheim to a 2-1 win. In addition, he played in six Stanley Cup Playoff games for the Ducks, going scoreless with six PIM in the 2008 Western Conference Quarterfinal Series against Dallas.

Carter also played in 13 games for Portland, Anaheim’s primary development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL). In his 13 AHL appearances, he scored 3-2=5 points with a +3 rating and 38 PIM. Carter collected 2-2=4 points in his last seven games with the Pirates, including the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Springfield in his final AHL game on Dec. 16 in Portland.

A native of White Bear Lake, MN, Carter was originally signed by the Ducks as a free agent from Minnesota State University on July 12, 2006. He made his professional debut with Portland during the 2006-07 regular season, recording 16-20=36 points with 85 PIM in 76 games. Carter also appeared in four games with the Ducks during the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs, including Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 4, 2007 at Ottawa.


SOURCE: Anaheimducks.com

Getzlaf, Kunitz named to Team Canada

Ducks forwards Ryan Getzlaf and Chris Kunitz were among the nine additional players named to Team Canada for the 2008 IIHF World Championship in Halifax and Quebec City, which begins May 2.

In addition to Getzlaf and Kunitz, the players named by GM Steve Yzerman and assistant GMs Doug Armstrong and Luc Robitaille were goaltender Mathieu Garon, defensemen Brent Burns and Ed Jovanovski and forwards Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza. The two alternates named were defenseman Mark Giordano and forward Sam Gagner.

Getzlaf led the Ducks in in points (82), assists (58) and plus/minus (+32) this season. His plus-minus rating was the second-highest in club history (Kariya, +36 in 1996-97).

Kunitz played in all 82 games and led the Ducks in game-winning goals (six) and hits (159) while ranking third on the team in goals and assists.


Source: Anaheim Ducks.com

Burke Staying in Anaheim!

We've all heard the rumors of Burke possibly going to Toronto, and today Burke has confirmed that he will be staying in Anaheim.


From the Ducks official website:

Brian Burke to Remain with Ducks

The Ducks announced today that Executive Vice President/General Manager Brian Burke will remain with the team through at least the 2008-09 season, which is the last under his current four-year contract. Negotiations between the club and Burke on a contract extension will continue.

“I work for the best owners in sports,” said Burke. “After meeting with Mike (Chief Executive Officer Michael Schulman) this morning, we’ve decided to end all unnecessary media speculation and commit to working together for at least one more year while continuing to discuss my long-term future with the Ducks.”

Burke led the Ducks to the 2007 Stanley Cup Championship, the first-ever by a California-based club. Including their run to the 2006 Western Conference Finals, Burke has led the Ducks to six series wins in his three seasons in Anaheim. He was recently ranked as the No. 1 General Manager in the NHL in The Hockey News Annual GM Rankings (March, 2008).

“Brian Burke is the best general manager in the NHL and we always expected him to return,” said Ducks Owner Henry Samueli. “Our goal is to sign him to a long-term agreement beyond next season.”

“I met with Brian this morning to discuss his future,” said Schulman. “We agreed to move forward, as planned, under his existing contract while working toward a contract extension.”

The 2007-08 Ducks went 47-27-8 for 102 points, finishing fourth in the Western Conference. The team set new club records for fewest goals allowed (184) and most home wins (28). The Ducks were the first team since the 2003-04 New Jersey Devils to record over 100 points the year following a Stanley Cup Final appearance.

Burke will speak to media via conference call at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon and his comments will be posted here.

Quarterfinals Game 6: Ducks @ Stars

@

GAME 6
6 PM
[TV: FSN PT, VS, TSN]

Ducks Lose 4 - 1, Dallas wins series 4 - 2.

They played great for the first 40 minutes, all they had left was 20 minutes, but 52 seconds of those 20 minutes changed everything. :-/ I am at a loss for words, I don't know. I was hoping for the Ducks to force a game 7 and they didn't. They're done, it's hard to grasp that their season ended in Dallas. The team that had our number in the regular season, and now unfortunately, had our number in the playoffs this year too. It's depressing. They were the better team in the regular season but they were not in the post season, Ducks just played like crap for too many games and dug themselves a hole... Dallas won though so I can only say Congratulations. Going to be hard for them to make it out of the 2nd round though if we gave them trouble.

Game Day Quotes for the last time of the 07-08 season will be posted when I find some. And that will conclude the last game day post for the 07-08 season.

I'll keep this blog up to date with any breaking stories (Selanne, Niedermayer possible retirements? Burke going to TO? Perry re-signed or moving on? You'll be able to catch those updates here when they break. It's going to be a long summer.

GAME DAY QUOTES:

"I don't think anyone wants it to end this way," said Scott Niedermayer. "It's disappointing because we believe we could do better. Our sights were set higher than this. When you come up short it explains itself."

"They're a team that plays a very tight defense," Niedermayer said. "They had all their guys back and protected the middle of the ice well and made it hard to penetrate."

"They played very well," said captain Chris Pronger. "Their power play, what did they get? Ten goals? They had quite a few. Their penalty kill did a good job bottling us up in the neutral zone. There were a couple games where we just couldn't mount much of an attack. You gotta give them a lot of credit but part of that fall on us too."

"Anything short of the Stanley Cup is a disappointment for this group," said Giguere. "Our goal is set on going all the way. I don't think it was a lack of effort. We tried but we just couldn't come up with the win."

Added Carlyle: "Every guy gave everything they had. You thank them for their work ethic over the course of the season, but their lack of execution in the playoffs was a concern and we’ll address that in the offseason."

Teemu Selanne, who came out of a brief retirement to rejoin the Ducks in January called it, "not a very happy ending. But what are you going to do? I think the work ethic is there. You have to be proud of that. When you give everything you have you can't ask more than that. Everybody wants to beat you when you're the champions. You try hard but when you're a little bit off here and there, it's a lot to overcome."

SOURCE FOR QUOTES: http://ducks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=Recap&seas=20072008>ype=3&gnum=186

Quarterfinals Game 5: Ducks vs. Stars

vs.

GAME 5
7:30 PM
TONIGHT

[TV: FSN PRIME TICKET, VS, TSN]

Special Video for the Ducks:


DUCKS WIN 5 - 2 !!!!! Dallas Leads Series 3 - 2.

Any real Ducks fan went into that game tonight KNOWING the Ducks would not go down so easily. If we go down, we're gonna go down the hardest way possible. Not Tonight! Ducks came out of the gates ready to go, got the first (seemingly most important) goal of the night, as most of you have witnessed by now the team who scores the first goal usually wins the game. I can't explain it, but that's how it's been happening. Ducks got it. Dallas fought hard, they tried. They came back at points, but it wasn't good enough. Ducks fought harder.... and the result is, they get to go back to Dallas for game 6... and God willing, come back to Anaheim for a crucial game 7. :)

GAME DAY QUOTES:

"I felt really good tonight," said an upbeat Giguere. "My job is just to try to give the team a chance to win. If I do that, I feel like we have the guys up front that can score some goals and we did that tonight. Dallas is a good team. It wasn’t always pretty, but we did the job and found a way to win.

"It was do or die and I wanted to leave it all on the table." -- Giguere

"I thought that was a pretty entertaining game, much better than the first two games we played here," Giguere said. "We probably owed one to our fans. Hopefully, they got their money’s worth tonight."

"I thought Giguere was the best player on the ice tonight," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle.

"It certainly felt good," said O'Donnell, whose turnover in Game 4 led to a big Dallas goal. "Whether it’s good or bad, you don’t want to dwell on it for too long. You don’t want to get too high or too low. We’ll call it even these two games. I cost one, I got one, so we’ll go back for Game 6."

"We got here a little early today, and right from the start it was business as usual," Getzlaf said. "I think we knew what was in front of us. We had our backs against the wall tonight and faced elimination. The turnaround is tough on the legs, but it’s a lot easier on the heart. You learn to forget about those other ones really quick because we have a second chance right now."

"The biggest game of the year," Carlyle said, "is Sunday night.”

SOURCE FOR QUOTES: http://ducks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=Recap&seas=20072008>ype=3&gnum=185

Quarterfinals Game 4: Ducks @ Stars

@

GAME 4
5 PM
THURSDAY APRIL 17TH

DUCKS LOSE 3 - 1

So the Ducks look to be down, but they are not OUT. Yet.... I will stick to my stubborn ways and believe in the upset. They out skated and out shot the stars tonight but it just didn't work. Officiating wasn't it's best but that's been fairly normal and I'm not one for blaming the officials, that's incorrect. I'm hoping they can come home, win at home, and go back to Dallas with the momentum, and bring it BACK here for game 7 and send Dallas to the golf course. We'll see. Odds are in Dallas' favor. We can beat the odds. It'll take a lot of work, but the Ducks can beat those odds.

GAME DAY QUOTES

"It's a challenge but the reality is we have got to win the next game and then focus on the next one after that," Anaheim netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. "We can't think about what it's going to take to win the series. We have got to think about what it's going to take to win the next game. They are outplaying us it seems and when they have a chance they seem to bury it, which is not ok. We haven't played to the level we need to be successful."

"We knew the schedule was coming and unfortunately we have to play back-to-back," Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle said. "We understand the situation and we have to win the next hockey game. We have to give ourselves a chance."

"It was an unfortunate play, and I'll have to look at it again," O'Donnell said. "I saw Teemu there, and from the read that I had the guy had his back to me. I thought I could snap it real fast to Teemu. I don't know if he turned around to hit it or maybe it was an unfortunate bounce. That first goal put us on our heels a little bit. I would like to have that one back." (O'D on giving the puck away that cost a goal)

"We went down and I threw it at him a little bit in front of me," Sutherby said. "I tried to curl it from one foot and bring it to my stick. I didn't see what happened, and the next thing I know the puck is in the net."

"I thought he was a little rusty but I thought the more he played, he showed the ability to get back in it," Carlyle said of Perry. "You run a dangerous slope in trying to play a guy like that a bunch of minutes."

SOURCE FOR QUOTES: http://ducks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=Recap&seas=20072008>ype=3&gnum=184

Quarterfinals Game 3: Ducks @ Stars

@

GAME 3
RIGHT NOW!
5:30 PM
[TV: KDOC, TSN]

Ducks Win 4 to 2 !!!!

The REAL Ducks came to play tonight and it was so NICE to finally see the team I KNOW playing out there. They had a solid 40, almost 50 minute play, the last 10 or so minutes were kinda sticky where Dallas managed 2 goals and put on the pressure! What a game to watch, I was on the edge.... Glad they pulled of the win because Dallas put on great pressure in the last 10. Wow. Alright I have to go run 1 mile for 1 win, off I go. :)

GAME DAY QUOTES:

"It was nice to chip in," Pronger said. "We had a lot of guys step up and improve their efforts. It was better than it was in Anaheim, that's for sure. ... We realize the mistakes we made. We did a good job correcting those the first 33 or 35 minutes."

"We looked jittery and made some uncharacteristic mistakes," coach Dave Tippett said. "The reality check came in tonight about how hard this series is going to be."

"In these situations you want to keep it as simple as possible. There was pressure to play a good hockey game," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We had to play our best game of the series and we did. Are we going to have to play better? For sure. ... We were fortunate to jump out to an early lead. But we found a way to keep it exciting at the end."

"It's the start we wanted," Pronger said.

"We showed can win against this team," Giguere said.

"There were 45 minutes where we played well," Morrow said. "We battled hard, outshot them and maybe outchanced them. The third period, we got some momentum and we'll look to use that on Thursday."

"I'm very disappointed in the outcome. But we're in a fix-it mode, not get angry mode," Tippett said. "We were chasing the game early."

"We have to play the way we did there," Robidas said. "We have to be ready to jump right off the bat and be willing to compete with them. ... We've got to realize we have to play well at home too and give a better effort."

SOURCE FOR QUOTES: http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?service=page&page=Recap&gameNumber=183&season=20072008&gameType=3

Quarterfinals Game 2: Ducks vs. Stars PREVIEW

vs.

Game 2
7pm
[TV: FSN PRIME Ticket (HD), TSN, Versus]

Ducks Lose 5 - 2, Dallas Leads Series 2 - 0

So disappointing. So disappointing that disappointing isn't even the correct word to explain this one. Speechless. I don't know. I don't know what the answer is. I don't want to believe that the answer is Dallas is better than we are. They're not. They were for the past two games but that wasn't the DUCKS. That wasn't the real Ducks. I want to know where the real Ducks are and if they plan to arrive soon, because they are running out of time. 5 games left in the series but Dallas only need 2. We need 4.... It can be done, but will it be done? I refuse to believe that Dallas is the better team. They don't strike me as the better team. I know what the Ducks are capable of and the past two games isn't it. Tonight was like a sneak peak of what the real Ducks are... but still not them.

GAME DAY QUOTES:

"We were down 2-0 and we battled hard and came back," Giguere said. "I thought we were doing a good job and it was looking good for the third period. As soon as they scored that third goal on the power play after we had two power plays, I guess it just collapsed us. It’s just unacceptable."

"We are all guilty of not playing as good as we can right now," Giguere said. "We’re not making the saves, not playing well defensively and not scoring enough goals. All together it’s pretty ugly out there. We have to do a better job."

"We have to realize that we still have life and two days here to regroup," said Scott Niedermayer. "Maybe that will be good. We’ll get on the road, have a little change of scenery and go from there."

Added Selanne: "It’s going to be a bumpy road. We’re very disappointed that we have to go there down two games. We’re going to stick together and stay positive. Everything is still in our own hands. We can control our destiny. Obviously, it’s not going to be easy, but it’s nothing we haven’t done before."

Source for Quotes: http://ducks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=Recap&seas=20072008>ype=3&gnum=182

Quaterfinals Game 1: Ducks vs. Stars

vs.

GAME 1
7 PM
AT HONDA CENTER

[TV: FSN PRIME TICKET, TSN, VERSUS]

Ducks Lose 4 - 0, Stars Lead series 1 - 0

I don't think I'm the only Duck fan that left disappointed tonight. But I was one of the few who stayed to the bitter bitter end. It wasn't a pretty game by any means, well, unless you're a stars fan. Then it was beautiful. I don't know what happened, all I know is that the Ducks team didn't look like the wanted it. They looked like a joke out there, a complete joke. However, if I know this team like I think I do, they'll respond to that quite nicely. :) I've got faith in them. This is a 7 game series, not 1. We're no where close to being out. It's time to look forward to Saturday, and forget today and pretend it never happened.

GAME DAY QUOTES:

"Our penalty kill really did not do a good job," said Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer. "There were a lot of things that weren’t as good as they should have been. We did take some bad penalties. They seemed to find a way to score almost at will. We have to do better as penalty killers. We have to answer the bell better."

"Overall, I can’t say that anybody played well," said Ducks winger Teemu Selanne. "The frustration hit there. You can’t do that. You have to be smarter than that. Obviously, we have to be better. There’s no question."

"It’s going to take a lot better effort on our part in two nights to try and get a win," Niedermayer said. "That has to be our focus now. There’s obviously nothing we can do about what just happened other than improve on it in two days."

Added Selanne: "There’s a reason why these games are best-of-seven. Obviously, it was not pretty tonight, but we’ll come back tomorrow, work on a couple of things and go from there. I want to see a hungrier team on Saturday."

Round 1: Quarter Finals: Ducks vs/@ Dallas

(Graphic created by Bucky; Ducks Central. )