Phoenix Coyotes (21-12-2, t-6th  in west) at Anaheim Ducks (13-14-7, t-14th in west), 1 pm
Anaheim Calling talking fowl, Five For Howling talking fur.

No time for anything meaningful today -- I have choir concerts tonight and tomorrow, but I'll be around for this afternoon's game, which starts right about now.  Here's an old PuckToon, though, from my FanHouse days:

I really wasn't allowed to cut-and-paste for PuckToons -- I cheated a bit with this cut-out Bryzgalov.

Two years ago, the Ducks gave the 'Yotes a franchise netminder.  What should we get them this year?

Continue reading this post »

Anaheim Ducks (13-13-7, t-14th in west) at San Jose Sharks (19-8-7, t-2nd in west), 7:30 pm
Anaheim Calling for the birds, Fear The Fin for the fish.

Some teams don't celebrate the season of Positivity, evidently.

I brought this up in last night's comments, but here's the crazy accomplishment of positivity the web-footed ones achieved with a win last night: If the season ended right now, the Anaheim Ducks would have a lottery pick in this summer's entry draft, but not their own!  They've not only passed the Philadelphia Flyers point-wise, but crazily, are now sitting "ahead" of SEVEN (!) eastern conference teams.  Here's how the bottom of the league standings look, from the Ducks on down.

Mirtle has more on the one-sidedness of the conference power balance this season, and it's crazy to compare standings boards right now -- if the Ducks were transplanted to the eastern conference, they'd be two points out of eighth with two games in hand!  As it sits in the west, the Ducks are still at the bottom but only six points out of eighth -- but with six extra teams in their way.

Continue reading this post »

Anaheim Ducks (12-13-7, 15th in west) at Vancouver Canucks (19-14-0, t-9th in west), 7 pm
Try Anaheim Calling or Nucks Misconduct for your Ducks/Nucks yucks.

Ducks visit the Canucks tonight and the Sharks tomorrow -- a two-game stint straight from Life Aquatic!

Man, this image is more than three years old.

And while the Kings and Sharks guys are talking depressedly about shit sandwiches and derailed seasons and general suckitude while they sit near the top of the league standings, I'm still rolling in positivity while occupying the western conference's basement -- despite the 15th spot, I really think the Ducks are an improved team from when they started this season.

Plus we have a little bit of history repeating itself, which is at least hopeful from an optics standpoint.  Last spring, Spade and I went to a Sharks game where the Ducks lost a close regulation game and we declared the season dead; after that game the Ducks went on a playoff-securing tear that featured only two regulation losses over the next eleven games (9-2-0).  Earlier this season, Spade and I went to a Sharks game where the Ducks lost a close regulation game and we declared the season dead; since then the Ducks have played eleven games with only two regulation losses (5-2-4).  Of course it's not really the same thing -- last year's stretch featured a 4-0 record in overtime/shootout decisions; this year's stretch the Ducks are 2-4 in extra frames.  Also, last year's stretch the Ducks outscored their opponents by 15 goals in 11 games; this year's stretch the Ducks have outscored their opposition by 2.

Still, the recent ability to stave off regulation losses is key, and the Ducks have plenty of season left to continue their ascent from last place.  They may not be able to force overtime tonight -- Vancouver's a strangely decisive team that has played 33 games and seen overtime only twice.  We'll see, though; the Ducks had played four straight overtime games before their regulation win in Columbus.

50 games to go, 8 points out of a playoff spot, and heck, even a game-in-hand on eighth -- I have to say, that doesn't sound nearly as bad as "last".

Continue reading this post »

Anaheim Ducks (11-13-7, 15th in west) at Columbus Blue Jackets (14-11-6, t-10th in west), 4 pm
Alternate reading: Anaheim Calling for the Ducks, The Cannon for the Jackets.

Hooray for Positivity!  Quietly, the Anaheim Ducks have earned standings points in eight of their last ten games.  Sure, four of those came via OT/SO losses, but when you're 15th in the west, there's no such thing as shameful standings points -- they're all precious!

Regulation is for suckers.

And while the Ducks have blown plenty of leads over the past couple of weeks, I still think it's encouraging -- earlier in the season they weren't leading games much at all.  Check out how they've done over the first forty minutes of their last ten games:

Continue reading this post »

Anaheim Ducks (11-13-6, 15th in west) at Detroit Red Wings (14-11-5, 11th in west), 4:30 pm
Anaheim Calling - Winging It In Motown - Abel To Yzerman - The Triple Deke -- choose your own adventure.

Aww, remember when this matchup was playoff-relevant?

Well, this is awkward -- two teams still sore at each other for last spring's second-round playoff series get another chance at G7 revenge -- except now with both teams sitting outside of playoff spots, it's also become two critical "catch-up" points for these once-playoff-mainstays.

I did have a good time watching the Ducks' last game at a bar with commenter/pal Gordon Bombay and another Ducks friend, and one thing that he impressed upon me was that I was being entirely too blog-despondent about the Ducks' 15th seed (and at that time, the 3-goal deficit) -- I needed to exhibit more Positivity!.  "After all," he pointed out, "the season's only about one-third done, and the Ducks are only eight points out of a playoff spot."  I had to look it up to verify, and was shocked to see that he was right -- I had just assumed that things were worse.  And after the comeback win Tuesday night, the gap has now even closed to seven standings points.

So yeah, Coach Bombay is right -- I have been too melodramatic about the whole start of the season.  It is high time I threw some Positivity! into these posts.  Who cares that the Ducks haven't won a road game in two months?

Doin' the Positivity Shuffle!

Continue reading this post »

Dallas Stars (13-8-8, t-7th in west) at Anaheim Ducks (10-13-6, 15th in west), 7 pm
Anaheim Calling and Defending Big D more game-relevant perspectives.

Well, with the Ducks still winless in December I figured today was a good opportunity to do something distractionary.  Plus it's a big date on the blog calendar -- exactly one year ago today, us misfits at Battle of California packed up our bags and left the old blogspot home to relocate our silliness to SB Nation.

Thank goodness I didn't make this cartoon about regular season dominance.

It's been a pretty crazy 2009 for the ol' BoC, and while this isn't really the blog's true birthday (that's in May, mom), it's nice to do something besides bitch and moan about the Ducks' current failings.  It certainly helps that the past year was highlighted by the first ever playoff meeting between BoC squads, of course, which was huge -- added plenty of fuel to the divisional fire and gave me a permanent Twitter background, too.

This past year has had plenty of drama from all sides, though -- fake intra-BoC trades (Pronger to the Kings, Marleau to the Kings), actual blockbuster trades (Heatley to the Sharks, Smyth to the Kings, Pronger to the Flyers), emerging young stars (Doughty, B. Ryan), a wealth of superstars (Kopitar, Getzlaf/Perry, Thornton), and even the ill-fated Presidents' Trophy, which is still quite an achievement.  It's been a blogger madhouse, that's for sure -- there's been optimism, pessimism, prognostication, superstition, bets made, bets paid, and even squirrels!

Plus it's been a good year for State Rapes, too -- victims include Chicago, Columbus & St. Louis, Edmonton, St. Louis (again) & Boston, plus even the surreal California-on-California -- what a busy year for porno-cartography!

Continue reading this post »

Ottawa Senators (13-10-4, t-7th in east) at Anaheim Ducks (10-13-5, 15th in west), 5 pm
To reminisce about the Best Cup Finals Ever!, visit Anaheim Calling or Silver Seven.

Whoops, running really late today!  I did draw a cartoon, though.

We should do this playoff matchup again some time -- probably not this year, though.

Since the lockout, the Ducks and Senators have faced each other eight times -- three regular season plus five Cup Finals games -- and the Ducks have won seven of the eight.  Thanks again, Chris Phillips.

Prediction: Ducks actually win this one 4-1, goals by Perry, Nokelainen, Scotty, and Ryan.  Unfortunately, the win is only worth two standings points, so the Ducks stay in fifteenth.

Go Ducks.

Anaheim Ducks (10-13-4, 15th in west) at Minnesota Wild (11-12-3, 14th in west), 5 pm
Anaheim Calling and Hockey Wilderness -- already making reservations for next summer's entry draft.

Woo hoo!  Basement Battle tonight, pitting the 14th-ranked Wild vs. the 15th-ranked Ducks!  Which team's losing tendencies will outmatch the other's?

I am somewhat cheered up by this jovial Wild characterization.  Not sure, but the Duck might be British today.

But hey, positivity!  Uhhhh.... at least the Philadelphia Flyers are slumping.  After a stretch where the Flyers won 7 of 8 games, they've since lost 6 of 7 in regulation and are currently outside of a playoff slot.  They'll probably turn it around, of course, but if they don't, it may be that the Ducks end up with two excellent first-round draft picks for next summer's entry draft in L.A.  C'mon, Pronger -- make it so.

Prediction: I'll be absent from game comments today also; watching this one late-night on Center Ice DVR delay (Hooray!  No Hayward!).  Still, I think I can guess what's going to happen -- just at the moment when you think the Ducks might win a valiant game in honor of Teemu's broken hand, they'll lose.

Go Ducks.

Anaheim Ducks (10-12-4, t-14th in west) at Dallas Stars (12-8-7, t-7th in west), 5:30 pm
Anaheim Calling or Defending Big D, somebody's bound to have something to say about the Stars.

Man, it's tough to get excited about tonight's game; here's some reasons why:

2: The number of road wins the Ducks have this season, the last one coming nearly two months ago, when the Ducks pulled a Finnish Flash miracle in the second half of the third period + shootout.

1: The number of wins the Ducks have against Pacific Division teams this season, the only one coming nearly a month ago, where the Ducks nearly blew a 4-goal third-period lead but held on.

0: The number of road victories the Ducks have this season against western conference opponents -- you know, the ones that sit in front of Anaheim on the ol' standings board.  In fact, the last time the Ducks beat a western conference team in their own building was exactly seven months ago, and afterwards I drew this.

Plus, I'm not even going to be around to watch & comment -- you're on your own tonight.  Play nice!

The Ducks needed a solid homestand over the past two weeks and showed improvement to some degree -- 4-2-1 certainly looks better than their prior record -- but really, they played seven critical games at home and won two in regulation and lost two in regulation. 5 western opponents came in to Honda Center, and 4 of them left with at least a standings point -- that's not good enough for a team trying to dig out of the basement.

Continue reading this post »

Phoenix Coyotes (14-11-1, 8th in west) at Anaheim Ducks (10-11-3, t-14th in west), 5 pm
Extra credit reading assignments: Anaheim Calling on the Ducks and Five For Howling on the Coyotes.

Well, on the one hand, despite some recent winning, the Ducks are still tied for last place in the western conference.  On the other hand, they do sit only six standings points out of the eighth seed with a chance to close the gap tonight -- seems kind of hopeful.  But yeah, screw it -- the Ducks have played better since I declared the season dead; I shouldn't try to mess that up with any optimism today.

We did have a great time at Friday's day game, though.  It's the second straight year I've attended the Black(hawks) Friday game with my kid brother, and the second straight year the Ducks have won via shutout.  I'll have to make that my top priority game next year, I think.  Corey Perry did tie Selanne's franchise record 17-game scoring streak (on a Teemu goal, no less), and of course he has a chance to take the record outright -- and yup, the game isn't televised at all tonight.  Good luck, Radio Perry (or if anyone has a link to make him into Internet-Video-Stream Perry, feel free to leave it in the comments).

* * *

In the meantime, I've been alerted that the NHL Arena boards are holding some sort of Ducks Blog-Off (Round 1), which pits Duck fansites against each other in a poll.  I don't know, though -- Rudy's not on the Kings list; Chen's not on the Sharks list.  So I'll say "whatever" -- go vote for Anaheim Calling.  I will, however, be using these poll lists to update our dated Pacific Division blogroll.  One of these days, I'm sure.

Also, my first submission for Chamber of Comics' cartoon marathon is posted -- it's pretty random and generally reflects my hunger at the time I was sketching.  I was inspired by Mike W's (and pals') attempts at a 30-cartoons-in-30-days challenge -- I'm not truly participating, but I did mess around with a few things style-wise: drawing with ball-point pen instead of a Sharpie and working a bit more with multi-panel formats.  I must say, multi-panel in particular has been a bit of a struggle -- I'm still not sure whether it's best to start writing from the first panel or from the last.  Also, I have a tendency to put too much storyline in, as I did with my second submission (after the jump).  It's a cute idea and even has a holiday theme, but my first draft had twice as many panels and 300% more explanation -- now I've slimmed it down to its basic essentials.

Continue reading this post »