| Carlyle plans to steal away with the Cup |
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| Written by Admin |
| Wednesday, 06 June 2007 19:01 |
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ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -Anaheim Ducks coach Randy Carlyle played 17 seasons in the NHL and never won the Stanley Cup. His players helped make that happen with a 6-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night. ``I'm going to savor this for a few days,'' he said. ``We'll allow more than the 10-minute rule that we have.'' Carlyle retired as a player in 1993, remaining with the now-defunct Winnipeg organization's staff and becoming an assistant coach in 1995-96. He became the Ducks' head coach two seasons ago. Carlyle played in four NHL All-Star games and won the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman in 1981. He scored nine goals in 69 postseason games without a championship. He's already planned where he will spend his 24 hours with the Cup, an honor given to members of the winning organization. ``It will go back to Azilda Arena where I played minor hockey in my hometown,'' he said. ``Go there for half a day and take it to my cottage. There's a community center in the hamlet of Rockville on Manitoba Island, and I'd like it to go there.'' --- CALI'S FIRST TIME: The Ducks became the first California team to win the Stanley Cup, 14 years after the franchise began. They were just the fifth West Coast team since 1926 to play in the finals. The Ducks are the first West Coast team to win the Cup since the 1925 Victoria, Canada, Cougars, and the first U.S. West Coast team to win since the 1917 Seattle Metropolitans. ``Canada loves their hockey,'' said Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer, the MVP of the playoffs. ``From what I heard out there, we have quite a few fans who love their hockey out here too, and are going to have a lot of fun with this. ``We have great fans who supported us all year and they need to enjoy this as much as us.'' --- COMING UP EMPTY: After scoring 34 goals in the regular season and seven more in Ottawa's first three rounds of the playoffs, Ottawa's Jason Spezza came up empty in the Stanley Cup finals. He made no excuses. ``I knew if I didn't play better it would be tough for us to win,'' said the Ottawa center, who turns 24 next week. ``It's extremely disappointing to come this far and lose. We rolled along pretty good for three rounds. We couldn't get everybody rolling in this series.'' Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley, the other members of Ottawa's top line, were also held mostly in check by the Ducks - Alfredsson had four goals including both scores Wednesday night, and Heatley had one goal. Spezza said he thought his line's ineffectiveness was a combination of their ineptitude and Anaheim's fine play. ``We didn't seem to create enough,'' he said. ``They did a good job of neutralizing our chances.'' Alfredsson said the Ducks' superior depth made a difference. ``It seemed like they were better than us,'' he said. --- JIGGY'S FUTURE: Jean-Sebastien Giguere becomes an unrestricted free agent when the Ducks' season ends. The 30-year-old goalie earned $3.99 million this season. That's relatively cheap compared to Vancouver's Robert Luongo and Dallas' Marty Turco, who each made $6 million. Giguere made 11 saves in the Ducks' 6-2 victory Wednesday night that earned the team its first Stanley Cup. That could boost his price considerably when negotiations open this summer. ``I'd love to re-sign here,'' he said before the game. ``This is a team that's going to be good for many years. You want to be part of a team like that.'' Giguere has personal reasons for wanting to stay. His son, born April 4, has a deformed right eye that needs medical attention. ``I've got my house here, I feel very comfortable around here and my son's doctors are all around here,'' he said. ``There's many reasons why I would want to sign here. Is it going to happen? Hey, I don't have a magic ball.'' --- NO PRACTICE: The Ottawa Senators didn't practice Wednesday, keeping up a pattern they established during the first two games of the finals in Anaheim. ``They won't give us the ice until 10:30 in the morning,'' coach Bryan Murray said. ``We asked them for ice time here. They said you can have 10:30.'' Murray agreed, then asked what time the Ducks were having their optional skate. He was told 9 a.m. or 9:30, so he proposed the Senators go at 7 a.m. ``They wouldn't let us,'' he said. ``I thought the NHL would give that allowance to us, but that wasn't the case. We would even go out with the officials this morning and play shinny, and they wouldn't let us do that.'' --- ICE CHIPS: The Ducks will celebrate with their fans outside Honda Center on Saturday night. Fans will receive free hot dogs, soft drinks and potato chips, along with free parking. ... The Ducks improved to 7-0 at home in Stanley Cup finals games and 8-0 at home in series-clinching games, including 4-0 this season. ... Scott Niedermayer was the only Ducks player who had previously won the Cup, making Anaheim the first team since the 1989 Calgary Flames to have one or no player with a title. |
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