Ducks ready to climb the biggest step

And now, after nine months of turning lofty expectations into reality, the Ducks are down to the moment that they've pointed to since gathering together on the first day of training camp.

They are playing for the Stanley Cup.

They've talked about it from the beginning and openly embraced the possibilities that, for once in the franchise's 14-year history, seemed very realistic. Certain moves, such as trading for Chris Pronger last summer, announced that the Ducks were serious about winning it all.

Game 1 of the Cup finals unfolds today at the Honda Center with the Ottawa Senators as the final team left to conquer on the way to hockey nirvana.

"It's what you've dreamed about as a kid all along," said Ducks center Todd Marchant, a 12-year veteran playing for his first championship. "It's always something that's in your head.

"Every single guy in the league has dreamed about it. And now we're the only two teams left."

Products of the NHL's expansion in the 1990s, the Ducks and Senators may not be the desired big-market matchup from a ratings standpoint, but they bring the possibility of a long, entertaining series because both are willing to push the action.

The Ducks are in the Cup finals for the second time in four seasons, but this version hardly resembles the 2003 group that shocked the hockey universe. That team might have had goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, but there was no Pronger, Scott Niedermayer or Teemu Selanne.

"I think 2003 was more of a learning experience where we had nothing to lose," said Giguere, one of four players from that team still with the Ducks. "This year is a goal that we set at the beginning of the year that we have a chance to play for."

Ottawa isn't only playing for its first Cup since the franchise's first incarnation (it last won a Cup in 1927). Save for diehard Toronto Maple Leafs fans, the Senators have an entire nation behind them.

No Canadian team has won a Cup since the Montreal Canadiens brought back the silver chalice to the birthplace of hockey after their 1993 triumph over the Kings. Ottawa will attempt to change that after Calgary lost to Tampa Bay in 2004 and Edmonton lost to Carolina last season.

"We're hockey historians also," Senators center Jason Spezza said. "I think having the opportunity to bring a Cup back to Canada and become Canada's team is definitely another driving reason for us to try and win."