If you ask the average hockey fan on the street who the Ducks' number one rival is, I'd be willing to bet 90% will say the Kings. I belong in the other 10%. The main reason for that, in my opinion, is the lack of any significant competition between the two teams. It's an often repeated fact that the Ducks and Kings have only made the playoffs in the same year once, last season. That can mostly be attributed to the fact that both teams have been mediocre for most of those seasons, and other teams in the division, namely the Sharks and Stars, haven't made a ton of room for multiple other teams to squeeze in.

Between the lack of meaningful games and playing in a vast "non-traditional" hockey market with so many other entertainment options the "rivalry" is left sterile and bland. Most indicative of that was the internet campaign to "Name the Rivalry" back in 2008. Although the "Freeway Faceoff" seems to have caught on, it feels forced. The Home and Home mini-series to end last season, with both teams fighting for playoff spots, and home ice still up for grabs was a watershed for the rivalry. There was true emotion in those games on the ice and in the stands at both arenas. Teemu Selanne got in a fight for Pete's sake, but two games does not a rivalry make. Going back any further than that, I am having a very tough time thinking of any iconic moments between the two teams. Bobby Ryan had an incredible hat trick at Staples in 2009 and Teemu's 1,000th point came against the Kings in 2006, but those two events would have stood out equally if they were against the Florida Panthers. Seriously, if you have any others let me know in the comments because I'm drawing a blank.

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CHRIS:

As I walked into Honda Center Wednesday night, I had a plan. I was going to pick a Duck and focus on him whenever he was on the ice and do my best to break down his game for you kind readers. That will have to wait, because before the first TV timeout Nashville was up 2-0 and the beer in my hand became the first of many. So instead it's the second installment of Duck U: RIV 101 - Nashville Predators.

I am a hockey addict. To support my addiction I have a full time job. While I'm there I do anything I can to immerse myself in the game; mostly this means piping a constant stream of hockey talk directly into my brain by listening to NHL Home Ice on my phone's Sirius/XM app. There usually isn't a whole lot of Ducks talk on the station, and when there is it can get repetitive. If I had a dollar for every time I heard the phrase "arguably the best line in hockey" ... but I digress. The Ducks/Preds game being one of three Wednesday and the pre-game chirping bought us some air time.

As the "War of Words" heated up, the game was hyped as a grudge match - a budding rivalry between two non-traditional markets and a rematch of last year's grueling playoff series (which nobody watched because Chicago was playing Vancouver). At first I was reluctant to admit it, but there does seem to be the makings of a rivalry between Anaheim and Nashville. They've played in the playoffs, the players clearly have a healthy distaste for one another and, I don't know about you guys but I have some issues with the Nashville fans.

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JEN:

In an effort to keep you, the faithful reader, up-to-date on everything Anaheim Ducks, I find myself needing to add one more writer to make our team complete for the season. Let me introduce to you our newest writer, Chris. Chris has been blogging about the Ducks on his own, and I think he's going to be a great addition to our site. Don't believe me? Check out the Duck U story he submitted as a try-out. Without further ado, here's Chris!

CHRIS:

Hello Class, I'm Professor Chris Kober. In this class we'll be discussing what makes an NHL rivalry and a general overview of how that can be applied to the past, present and future of the Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks franchise. If the course is allowed to continue, the rest of the syllabus will consist of breaking down the Ducks' top rivalries.

Before we begin, its important to note that Rivalry Theory is an extremely subjective course, based in opinion and couched in emotion. There are no right or wrong answers per se, only effective and ineffective arguments. Also, the rivalry discussion isn't black and white. To paraphrase Peter Venkman from Ghostbusters 2, we have more than two grades of opponents there aren't just rivals and non-rivals, there are many subtle levels.

Generally speaking there are two types of rivalries. First is the rivalry between the teams on the ice. If the players seem to have feelings ranging from a genuine dislike to hatred for each other there is a foundation for a rivalry.

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JEN:

Welcome students Applied Simmonsology. In this series of courses, we will be analyzing the work of ESPN.com's Page 2 and Grantland writer, Bill Simmons (also known as "The Sports Guy"). Mr. Simmons is not traditionally a hockey writer, but instead, a writer on all things sports. He writes the same way we like to teach here at Duck U - from the fan perspective. I highly recommend visiting his websites.

In Simmons' 2009 book, The Book of Basketball, he covers everything basketball. In one chapter Simmons discusses what it takes to build a championship team, dubbed as "The Secret". Granted he breaks down this method as it relates to basketball, but in my reading, I believe that this can be applied to all sports. We are going to review each part of "The Secret" to show how it relates to hockey. We'll compare the 2007 Stanley Cup winning team to the the 2010-11 Ducks roster that couldn't get past the first round in terms of following each of "The Secret's" steps. This exercise is meant to expand your critical thinking skills by considering what is needed for the 2011-12 roster to get back to where they were in 2007.

Part 1

"You build potential champions around one great player. He doesn't have to be a super-duper star or someone who can score at will, just someone that leads by example, kills himself on a daily basis, raises the competitive nature of his teammates, and lifts them to a better place."

2007 Team - Of all the parts required, this took the most thought. Do you give it to Chris Pronger? Pronger coming to Anaheim changed the identity of the team based solely on his reputation for being a nasty player. Did it make the Ducks better? Of course, but he had his faults. I have to believe that Scott Niedermayer fills this role. He's a quiet leader, always has been. He's never takes a shift off or make excuses. The team knows what he expects of them, and to be cliche, he'll put everything on the line for them.

2010-11 Team - This one is also a toss up. I wanted to give it to Saku Koivu, but he went silent in the playoffs. Then there is Teemu Selanne, but he can't "kill himself on a daily basis" because his 41 year old body can only take so much stress. I guess that leaves Corey Perry. His monster run in the second half made everybody play better because they had to keep up with is Midas Touch. But Corey Perry is Corey Perry. He fought when he was frustrated. He took some shifts off. There was a leadership vacuum on this team. Captain Getzlaf hasn't quite figured it out yet.

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PROFESSOR ALEX:

Good day, class! It's so great to see you all back here for the second part of my Crunchology 101 lecture. If you remember, last time we met I discussed the history of hockey in Syracuse and how the Crunch came to be. As I said, the Crunch has been around for eighteen years now.

How have they done it?

Simple, my dear pupils: the team has managed to balance a two-pronged approach to achieving longevity and popularity. The first prong involves simply keeping themselves in the news as much as they can. The second has to do with the actual business of the American Hockey League.

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To understand how far the subject of Crunchology has come, we must look back at where it all began. Hockey in Syracuse can trace its legacy back to the early nineteen thirties, starting with the now-defunct/transformed IHL. The International Hockey League started in 1929, and was a precursor to the American Hockey League (AHL). Syracuse joined the IHL in 1930 as the Syracuse Stars. The city would keep that name when it jumped to the AHL in the league's 1939 inaugural season. The Stars would win the championship their first year in the AHL, making them the first team ever to win the Calder Cup.

Unfortunately, Mr. Calder hasn't been seen in Syracuse since. But that's all going to change this year, right, class? Right!

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JEN:

There comes a time in every editor's life where she feels the need to expand her brood.  This is one of those times. We are looking for another writer or two to join the team this upcoming season.  If you're interested in writing for Anaheim Calling, ask yourself these questions:

1) Are you a Ducks fan? (If the answer is no, thanks for reading random person.)

2) Can you commit to posting at least once a week?

If the answer is yes to both of those, here are the tryout guidelines:

• Write a story for our Duck U series.  The topic can be anything you want that has to do with Ducks past, present and/or future. Don't just churn out words. Write something that people will be interested in reading. Tell a story, give your opinions, and showcase your writing style.
  
• Email me your story with links to any sources included - do not post it as a Fan Post/Shot. You can click on the email icon next to my name at the bottom of the page or email me at AnaheimCalling [at] gmail [dot] com
• I will read over your story. If I like what I see, I'll offer up the post to J.Lo, Randy, Steven Tyler, Seacrest, and Dunkleman (a.k.a the staff) for their opinions.  Once it clears them, it goes up on the site for public consumption.
• From there, we'll look at comments from other readers, site traffic, etc. in making our final decision.

Sound good?  Email me if you have questions.

We all bring different writing styles to the table, and that makes our site interesting. I never thought Arthur would actually take me on, and look at me now! There is a place for every voice.

Best of luck to all candidates.

GAMEKEEPER ROBBY:

Hullo class. Me name is Robby, and I'm the Gamekeeper at Duck U...Okay, enough Hagrid-speak.

As the newest professor among the staff at Anaheim Ducks University, I felt like it would be inauthentic for me to speak authoritatively about our history, but our dean insisted that I had to suck it up [Editrix note: No joke. Those were my exact words - JN]. After some serious deliberation (read: 15 minutes with a Stone Cali-Belgique), I decided to explore Anaheim's role in the Olympics. This topic was of particular interest to me given that Rebecca and I managed to make it to Vancouver to see Team USA's opening round victory over Switzerland (sorry Jonas).

In our first lesson, an overview of the Olympics since the Ducks have had a franchise and take a possible guess at which current Ducks might make an appearance in 2014 in Sochi, Russia (provided the NHL lets them).

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