Anaheim Mighty Ducks Hockey Team

What did the Detroit Red Wings ever do to Ron Wilson? Well, they fired his father, Larry Wilson, as coach in 1977. They fired his Uncle Johnny too, in 1973. Then there was the time they told Ron's father he'd be playing in the minors for a few games. "Two weeks of conditioning," Ron remembers, still incredulous. "It ended up being 13 years." And all that was long before the Red Wings beat the Mighty Ducks in the first game in franchise history--smoking the Ducks, 7-2, on Oct.

Their Olympic medals aren't even stored for safekeeping yet, but the Kings and Ducks who won them are rapidly returning to the ice as the NHL season resumes. Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick and forward Dustin Brown, both silver medalists on the U.S. team, stepped onto the rink at the Kings' practice facility in El Segundo Monday morning by 10 — about 19 hours after Canada won the gold in overtime in Vancouver. The pair rode the bus back to the Olympic Village after the game, caught a cab that took them to a car they had reserved and then rode to Bellingham, Wash.

This was a familiar Mighty Duck sibling situation. Paulie and Stevie were locked in another don't-make-me-turn-this-car-around moment. Steve Rucchin went into the corner after the puck and Paul Kariya, looking very much like a little brother, followed. As they scrapped through the practice drill, Rucchin accidentally dropped Kariya with an elbow. "I guess that shows why Paul doesn't come into the corners and play some defense during games," Rucchin said later.

vs. Phoenix, 5 p.m., FSN Prime Site -- Honda Center. Radio -- 830. Records -- Ducks (0-1), Coyotes (1-0). Record vs. Phoenix (2007-08) -- 3-1-4. Update -- Phoenix acquired Finnish center Olli Jokinen in an off-season trade with Florida and he paid dividends in the season opener Saturday night, producing a goal and an assist in a 3-1 victory over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets. The Coyotes are also expecting big things from second-year forward Peter Mueller, who also scored against Columbus.

The controversy that won't go away: Jean-Sebastien Giguere's pads. The finger-pointing at the Mighty Duck goaltender that began during the playoffs last spring still sporadically flares up, with yet another seemingly unsubstantiated charge arising again. Two teams have complained to the NHL about Giguere's goalie pads not being legal, a hockey source said. League officials monitor every game to check pads, comparing game video to digital photos taken of every NHL goalie during training camp.

There was a time when hockey was a simpler matter, hardly more complicated than lacing one's skates, removing one's teeth and being versed in terms such as "icing," "high-sticking" and "mild contusion." Things change, of course, and hockey is no different. It's as likely to be played on a cul-de-sac as on a frozen pond these days; witness the sport's popularity here in Orange County, an area better known for ocean breezes than winter freezes.

As he stood in 3 inches of slush on the tarmac at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in the wee hours of the night, Mark O'Neill's day was winding down. Or had just begun. The distinction is rarely clear. Wherever the Mighty Ducks go, 1 1/4 tons of equipment must follow, and two men, O'Neill and assistant equipment manager John Allaway, are responsible for all of it. There are skates, of course, two pairs for every player. Helmets, gloves, hockey pants.

Milos Holan reported for his preseason physical with the Mighty Ducks in September full of excitement about the season ahead--a season destined, he was sure, to be his best yet. Instead, he learned within weeks that he has a slow-progressing form of leukemia. Twenty-two years ago, Minnesota Twin shortstop Danny Thompson entered a doctor's office with the same sense of anticipation about the coming baseball season.

The Kings and Mighty Ducks played one final exhibition at the Great Western Forum Monday night. And what an exhibition it was. For the record, the Kings defeated the Ducks, 8-1, before a roaring crowd of 12,559, who bid a fond farewell to the dingy old arena at the corner of Prairie and Manchester. The Kings move into the sparkling, $375-million Staples Center Oct. 20. The Ducks didn't seem particularly sentimental about Monday's finale.

Tetsuhiko Kariya, Paul Kariya's father, died of a heart attack Friday evening in Vancouver, but Kariya played Saturday against the Canucks. Duck officials gave Kariya the option of remaining in Vancouver with his family for as long as needed, but he is expected to play tonight in Calgary. T.K. Kariya, a high school math and physical education teacher in Vancouver, retired in June 2001.

There is no need to find space in the Honda Center rafters to put up another Pacific Division champions banner for the Ducks. The San Jose Sharks will happily address that in their own arena. The late-season surge by the Sharks continued Friday night, and it has culminated in their first division title since 2004. Jeremy Roenick and Curtis Brown ended a second-period tie with goals in a 3-1 victory over the Ducks. And so the Ducks' yearlong reign as division champions ended.

Music wasn't blaring in the dressing room and the playful banter was nonexistent. Smiles were few and far between. A practice session ahead of a travel day for the Ducks is usually short and to the point. But Tuesday's session went a full 75 minutes with Coach Randy Carlyle poring over detail after detail.

ATLANTA -- Until this weekend, Kings forward Anze Kopitar thought of Ducks forwards Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf as enemies. After sitting beside them in the West All-Stars' locker room this weekend, Kopitar gained a new appreciation for his rivals. "We actually became good friends," he said Sunday. "It doesn't really matter if we're Kings and Ducks. They're good guys off the ice. On the ice that's the job and we kind of have to maybe hate each other, but now we can respect each other."

Ted Purcell has been with the Kings for a little more than a week but there are some in the organization who believe they've unearthed a gem. Purcell has yet to score a goal in his four games with the parent club, but the University of Maine product led the American Hockey League in scoring with 53 points before his call-up from the Kings' affiliate in Manchester, N.H. "He's a good player," Kings Coach Marc Crawford said.

CALGARY, Canada -- Name the quickest way to watch a tie score in the third period -- and thus, a four-game winning streak -- evaporate into the Alberta, well, Saddledome, air on Saturday night. The answer: Four straight power plays, plus part of one that carried over from the second period.

CALGARY, Canada -- How does a coach respond to a game in which his team spiraled downward physically and emotionally? Naturally, the thing to do would be to bring the hammer down with a grinding, seemingly never-ending practice. Except Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle has already done that this season. So he took the other route Wednesday in response to his team's 4-0 loss to Vancouver. "It was their practice today," Carlyle said. "Not hands-off. Just let them do their thing."

Wearing his flip flops and blue jeans, looking as shy as any 10-year-old at a party full of strangers, Jason Marshall tries to stay anonymous. Marshall, a hard-nosed defenseman for the Mighty Ducks, has joined his wife, Sonia, at a special party. Sonia works for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization of Orange County and on this holiday evening, at a small office building in Tustin, 50 families have gathered to receive a gift of food, presents and holiday trimmings.

Ending its foray into sports team ownership, the Walt Disney Co. agreed Friday to sell the Mighty Ducks to Orange County technology entrepreneur Henry Samueli and his wife, Susan, seemingly assuring that the NHL franchise would remain in Anaheim. The deal, which must be approved by the league's Board of Governors, was said to be worth $75 million and includes Disney Ice, the team's Anaheim training facility.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Try as they might to convince themselves that they're not feeling the effects of an unprecedented trip to open the season, the Ducks didn't put forth an convincing argument Friday night. Looking as if they were skating around in slush rather than ice, the Ducks were inept throughout as the Columbus Blue Jackets rolled to a 4-0 victory at Nationwide Arena.

The date Sept. 18, 2006, doesn't register in the annals of the Ducks but Bobby Ryan vividly remembers that night. "We got slaughtered," Ryan recalled Wednesday. "It was a bad showing by everybody on the ice." The Ducks' 7-1 exhibition loss to the Kings is long forgotten by most. But it was a low light in training camp for Ryan, the prized prospect who spent most of the night being knocked off his feet.