Ducks Move Into 3rd Place

Things are looking up for the Ducks who continue to soar with their 4th win in 5 games (3-1-1-0). The Whalers came into this game sitting in 4th place behind the Diques by 1 point and ahead of the Ducks by 2 points. If they pulled out any kind of win against the Ducks, they would be in 3rd with a loss from the Diques against the Americans. However, if the Ducks won in regulation they would jump from 5th to 3rd. With the lowly Seals trailing the pack with nothing to look forward to, the 3rd-5th place race is a tight one with the possibility of any team moving up with just one win.

Ducks 2, Whalers 1

The trend for the Ducks lately has been them jumping out to a quick start with the help from Ducks superstar, Adam “Sugar” Banks. “Sugar and Turle are a force to be reckoned with day in and day out. I help them out but most of the time, I just let sugar be sugar and fly around the ice” GM Busta told me after the game. The key to the last few wins for the Ducks has been their 12th round pick, goalie, Ronnie Ilitch. Turtle raved about their last pick, commenting “This guy has been tremendous the last few games and one of the main reasons we are now in 3rd place. Yeah, it’s great that we can score but if Ronnie is not holding down the fort, we have a rough time keeping up with teams. Ronnie was definitely the steal of the draft if he keeps his play on such a high level.” The Ducks controlled almost the entire first period. Possession was lopsided and things looked bad for the Whalers.  Whalers forward, Paul Wolfe spoke about the play in the 1st period, “Our grind line got stuck out there against Sugar and Turtle and it was hard to watch from the bench. I told the guys after an icing that they need to do whatever it takes to stop play. Ice the puck, fall on it, cover it up, fake an injury, do whatever it takes to just slow those f**kers down.” The Whalers ended up taking a tripping penalty when newcomer to the league, Crunk, tripped Ducks goalie behind the net. Crunk must have watched the “On the Bench” video about terrorizing the tendy. Sugar and Turtle took care of business soon after when sugar took a shot on Jflo and turtle banged in the juicy rebound to put the Ducks up 1-0.

The second period got a little better for the Whalers but it did not show on the scoreboard. The Ducks started to slow down like they tend to do. The whalers has multiple opportunities but Ronnie ended up shutting the Whalers down in the 2nd despite all their chances and Jflo did the same on their end. Early in the 3rd, on the verge of his first shutout, Ronnie was holding it down until Trent decided to give it to Pearcy? Pearcy ended up shooting or passing? to Crunk who found the net for the 2nd time this season. Things started to look glum for the Ducks who needed the regulation win to move up to 3rd place.

Setting The Scene For The Dramatic Finish

While everyone from the early game was watching the Seals lose to the North Stars, a thriller was about to take place on the other sheet of ice. Earlier in the season the Whalers scored the last second goal against the Seals to send it to OT. The Whalers ended up wining in a shootout. Some would say the Whalers didn’t deserve that game and this was karma. Back to the game. The Ducks put the pressure on with about 40 seconds left, pushing hard to try and get the regulation win they needed. Pete the and boys played hard when with about 10 seconds, the Whalers tried to get the puck out of the zone. The puck bounced off the boards right to league newcomer, Brian LeRoy, who picked up the puck with 4 seconds left. Leroy, with the pressure building and time winding down, threw the puck at the net, praying for something to happen. Jflo stuffed his attempt only for the puck to slide right to AllanzZ who buried it with 0.8 seconds on the clock. The Ducks bench erupted in joy while the Whaler’s bench just deflated in sorrow. Sugar spoke about that last play saying “It is about time we get some puck luck. We have been working hard all season and it felt a bit Diquey, but things are starting to change. It has been a long time since I have been on a winning team and something just feels right about this group of guys. Turtle and Busta have done a great job putting this team together and not changing lines after a loss. We try to stick with it and not change much like the Diques did last year and the Seals are doing this year. Those two have figured it out with the lines and everyone is just doing their job. Great team win, and it feels good to be in 3rd.”

The stage us set for the 3rd round robin of the season bringing in the Americans to face the HOT Ducks. Americans snuck by last time, bringing in MNL hopeful, Danny Hull, along with Regner to boost the squads talent level.  We will see what kind of tricks the Americans have up their sleeve this week. Who will they try and bring in to beat the Ducks. GM Brauny voiced his concern after the games, stating “the Ducks are down right good. They are better than us on all spectrums of the game. I was afraid of how well they were playing last time so we pulled some strings, found some loopholes and did our best to win. The Ducks are just a scary team and we didnt want to be the first team to lose to them. We did what any American would do. Whatever it takes to win.”

The Whalers look to keep the Seals at the bottom next week and move back up in the rankings. The got a timely W out in the first match up and got their butts handed to them in the second face off. The Seals are a tough bunch and get pucks on net. GM, Todd Otto asked multiple GMs and players what his lines should look like and he might have found the key to victory. He is looking like the Diques of last year changing lines every week. At what point do you stick with one line and just play hockey? they may need to go on a team retreat to find themselves and who they really are.

From Viking Arena, Ducks Junior señor Beat Reporter, Juanito Julio Agulaira Garcia Cabrera Boostámenté