MVN - Most Valuable Network

Retro Game - Ducks vs. Red Wings, 2003 Playoffs

The local sports channel must have had an absence of poker, bass fishing or strong man competitions and actually re-ran game 1 of the Ducks-Red Wings round one playoff series from 2003. Talk about a walk down memory lane! Things have changed drastically and yet haven’t changed much at all.

At that time, the Red Wings were the defending Stanley Cup champions and were cocky little buggers. Round one looked easy to them based on previous experience. The Red Wings had home ice advantage and the Ducks had won at Joe Louis just twice in the their previous 10 years of existence. They had been swept by the Red Wings in two previous playoff match-ups. Media pundits were betting another sweep, maybe 5 games at most.

So game one begins and Brendan Shanahan scores the first goal. Adam Oates, now retired and hoping to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame some day, ties up the game. Jean-Sebastien Giguere was in goal for the Ducks, his first ever playoff experience at age 25. Untested, unknown, still wet behind the ears. Giguere made save after save and came up big when he had to. He made 31 saves in regulation and then it went into overtime.

In the first overtime came the defining moment of the series. At the halfway point of the first overtime, it appeared that Luc Robitaille (who had to go to the Red Wings to win a Stanley Cup before returning to the Kings, where he now resides in management) scored the game winner. The light was slow to go on, but the fans went nuts, the Red Wings started heading to the locker room, cocky fans headed out the doors to go home. Giguere waved his arms signalling “no goal.” He was adamant. The puck had hit the crossbar and left a mark. It never went in. Giguere was confident and the long review confirmed Giguere was right. The Red Wings never quite recovered from that and Giguere’s confidence merely grew.

Finally in the third overtime, Paul Kariya, the captain who jumped ship that summer, scored the game winning goal past Curtis Joseph and left the Red Wings and their fans stunned. The Ducks needed to win at least one game in Detroit to have a chance in the series and then they had to hold home ice. There was a glimmer of hope.

The Ducks did go on to win the series, by sweeping the reigning champions right out the door. The Ducks went to the Stanley Cup finals, losing in a heartbreaking game 7 to the New Jersey Devils that year. The Ducks did finally win the cup in 2006, going once again through Detroit in the Western Conference Finals. Media folks were making plans to get from Detroit to Ottawa in the finals (some things never change), but the Ducks had other plans.

Detroit finally won the Cup again this year, and will be engraved right next to the team that took away hopes of another back to back championship in 2003. Only three names remain from that team that are engraved on the Cup - Giguere, Rob Niedermayer and Sami Pahlsson.

The coach in 2003? Mike Babcock, who is now behind Detroit’s bench and finally gets his name on the Cup after coming so close.

Henrik Zetterberg was a rookie in 2003, playing in his first playoffs. He showed great promise back then and this year he won the Conn Smythe trophy for MVP of the playoffs. In 2003, Giguere won those honors with his exceptional play.

Mathieu Schneider was a defenseman for the Wings in 2003 and now he wears a Ducks uniform, although how long is unknown. Schneider, who was signed to replace a tentatively retiring Scott Niedermayer, now becomes redundant as Niedermayer will finish off his contract with the Ducks. $5.75 million will go a long way to help sign remaining RFA’s.

Scott Niedermayer defeated brother Rob in those 2003 finals and now has won a Cup with his brother. Chris Chelios is still old and still unsportsmanlike when it comes to the Ducks - he refused to shake hands after the series ended in 2003 and refused to shake hands in 2006 after the conference finals ended. Somehow he was able to find it in him to shake hands this year after winning the Cup. I guess winning makes you more gracious than losing.

Sergei Fedorov left the Wings to become a Duck for a short period. He never seemed comfortable in a Ducks uniform, though, and was traded to Columbus for Francois Beauchemin and Tyler Wright. Todd Marchant was put on waivers by Columbus shortly thereafter and conveniently picked up by the Ducks. Beauchemin and Marchant both contributed to the Ducks Stanley Cup win in 2006.

So many familiar Ducks names were on that 2003 roster and are no longer. Steve Rucchin. Stanislav Chistov, who played well with Steve Thomas for the brief time Stumpy was a Duck. Stumpy retired and Chistov never reached his potential. Mike LeClerc played in 2003 on one knee, the other completely thrashed and operated on after the playoffs ended. LeClerc has since retired, unable to play because of that knee. Petr Sykora was in the finals again this year, but playing for the losing Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that has rejuvenated his career. Jason Krog is now in the AHL and played exceptionally well for Chicago, but cannot seem to crack into an NHL line-up again.

Kurt Sauer was a rookie defenseman who was just signed in the off-season by Phoenix. Patrick Kjellberg went back to Sweden before the Ducks even made it to the finals in 2003. Keith Carney is gone, as are Ruslan Salei, Vitaly Vishnevski and Niclas Havelid. Sandis Ozolinsh did well with the Ducks, while he was sober, and has made numerous trips to rehab since 2003. Back up goaltender, Martin Gerber, reached the finals again the next year with Carolina and then again with Ottawa in 2006. The Ducks now have another Swiss goalie backing up Giguere on the bench in the likes of Jonas Hiller.

Much has changed and much has stayed the same, but it is always fun to take a trip down memory lane and relive a great game that was the sign of change and great things to come for the Ducks. May 2008 also bring new memories that will block out the Cup hangover of last season and may the Ducks once again foil the Red Wings attempts at a back to back championship.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 8:54 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.