ARTHUR:
First, a couple of quick mailbag shout outs.
A high school classmate of Dakota Eveland emailed me yesterday to remind me the Anaheim-born '91 birth was playing for Colorado College, who were eliminated by Michigan over the weekend. Eveland had a great final season with Omaha of the USHL, as well as a hot start with Colorado College, when I saw him early this season. He's definitely a player to be proud of in terms of small California forwards in the NCAA system.
Another shout out to the handful of people who have already answered the AC cattle call for new contributors. I will be putting together a formal post with more information, probably Monday, but I hope to get back to some of you on individual questions as well. I'm glad to see enthusiasm in the Ducks blogosphere.
Back to hockey...
Daniel and I were at the Los-Al race track recently-- no, seriously, this will be about hockey --betting on the quarter horses on a rainy night. The favorites were winning pretty much every race, but they were making it interesting, sitting back, then absolutely flying to the finish line.
Quarter horses are drag racers, trained and bred sprinters. Some of the best have that innate sense of when to shift gears.
The Western Conference playoff race has become that quarter horse race on a rainy night. It seems like everyone's winning, everyone's capable of sprinting their way to the finish line, but they've all burned the fuel in their tank at different times.
The Sharks and Blackhawks went on parallel winning streaks to cure the damage they had done to their point totals in what looked like struggling seasons at the midway point. But the Sharks have held position, while the Hawks are trying to hold their ground to place or show. The Stars are limping to the line after firing out of the gate, suddenly flirting with becoming the poster boys for torn betting slips in the hands of longshot addicts.
The Ducks? They're galloping, showing speed and determination uncharacteristic of the lazy gait they had to open the race. They're making it interesting. Too interesting for a rainy night in Orange County? Hold on to your slips.
FOWL!