Bob Corkum

Garry Valk, Bob Corkum and Joe Sacco are on the same line--and in the same boat. They're all ready to show they are more the players they appeared to be two seasons ago than the players they appeared to be most of last season. But their roles, as the Mighty Ducks prepare for Monday's season-opener at Winnipeg, are no longer the same as they were in the Ducks' first season (1993-94), when Valk, Corkum and Sacco scored 60 goals combined and Corkum led the team with 23.

When the word came, Bob Corkum couldn't help but cringe. Mighty Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira wanted to see him, wanted to talk. That couldn't mean good news. But it turned out to be nothing more than a pep talk and an assurance that Corkum wasn't on the trading block. It also served as a kick in the rear. Joe Sacco and Garry Valk also were called into Ferreira's office a few weeks ago.

To some, the shortened NHL season must look like a sprint. To Mighty Duck center Bob Corkum, most of it has probably felt like the 20th mile of a marathon. Corkum led the Ducks with 23 goals last season, but he had only three this year until he scored the Ducks' first two goals Thursday night in a 3-1 victory over Winnipeg at The Pond of Anaheim.

The Kings gave the Mighty Ducks shot after shot after shot to beat them Tuesday night. But the Ducks' Bob Corkum gave it all back by making a blunder that gave the Kings one crucial shot with 1:07 left in regulation. A penalty shot.

Those "Results Not Reasons" T-shirts the Mighty Ducks have been wearing in the dressing room mean you're not supposed to make any excuses. Bob Corkum apparently is one of the last players on the team who would. He scored 23 goals last season, leading the Ducks. But eight games into this season, he didn't have his first. Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira thought he was looking at a player who seemed "a shadow of himself." Turns out, he was.

The first few days were restful, almost blissful, for Mighty Duck center Bob Corkum. But when the realization finally hit that his finest NHL season had ended eight games before it should have, Corkum felt only pain. Waves of depression swept over him a few days after he underwent surgery March 28 to repair a ruptured tendon in his right foot. Sitting on the couch, watching daytime television in his Anaheim Hills home, the cold, hard facts became apparent.

Bob Corkum, the Mighty Ducks' leading scorer, underwent successful surgery to repair a ruptured tendon in his right foot on Monday. He is expected to be in a cast for one month and to resume skating in June. Corkum's anterior tibialis tendon was cut by a skate blade during a collision in the third period of the Ducks' 3-2 overtime victory over Philadelphia on Sunday. One of only three Ducks to play in all 76 games, Corkum had 23 goals and 28 assists.

The Mighty Ducks have lost leading scorer Bob Corkum for the rest of the season after a skate blade cut a tendon in his right foot Sunday during the third period of the team's game against Philadelphia. General Manager Jack Ferreira said Corkum will probably undergo surgery today to repair the tendon on top of his foot near the ankle. The examining doctor said the tendon is at least 75% severed.

The Mighty Ducks represented an opportunity for Bob Corkum, a chance to play every night and make a name for himself in the NHL. So far, he hasn't blown it. It probably would have never happened in Buffalo, where his old team, the Sabres, have a lineup stocked with talented centers. Dale Hawerchuk, Derek Plante, Pat LaFontaine and Bob Sweeney occupy the position this season, and it's safe to say a move to Anaheim was the best thing to happen to Corkum.

It won't go down as the prettiest goal in Mighty Duck history, but it surely will be remembered as the first time a Duck took flight in Anaheim Arena. Down a goal to the New York Islanders with time running out and goalie Ron Tugnutt on the bench in favor of a sixth attacker, center Bob Corkum went airborne to tie the score, 3-3, Sunday. Corkum dived over a sprawling Islander defender, getting enough wood on the puck to swat it past goalie Ron Hextall with 32.