Anaheim Calling Contributor Tryouts: Kristen (2)

ARTHUR:

We're continuing our contributor tryouts for the offseason with another entry from Kristen.  She's interested in doing gamedays for us but, as there are currently no Ducks games to gameday, has turned to the past for inspiration for her audition.  Stanley Cup Finals 2007 Game 1 after the jump.

KRISTEN:

May 28. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped the ceremonial puck, and Game 1 of the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals began.

This series against Ottawa will pit our future Hall of Fame defensemen, Niedermayer and Pronger, against their ‘big line’ (Daniel Alfreddson, Dany Heatley, and Jason Spezza).

We are the favorites to win the Cup, and we have managed to live up to the critics’ expectations thus far. We vanquished the Wild in the quarterfinals. Our semifinal series – an overtime-filled dance with the Canucks – was more of a challenge, but we still managed to finish them off in five games. And it took us six games to defeat Detroit in the Western Conference Finals, but the series is remembered for Teemu’s OT goal in Game 5, the result of an Andreas Lilja turnover.

Five. It must be our lucky number.

Tonight, we faced ‘Canada’s Team,’ the Ottawa Senators (I never understood that either…). And it seems as though five may be their lucky number, too. They beat Pittsburgh, New Jersey, and Buffalo, all in five games. It is difficult to say how this series will end (play along!), but hopefully, we’ll have a Cup by Game 5.

But I don’t want to tempt the fates. Let’s just talk about tonight:

• Ponda Center was sold out (17,274 were in attendance). Woohoo!
• Ottawa struck first – as they had against their previous three opponents – with a Mike Fisher PPG at 1:38 in the first period. Wonder if we’ll see him again….. (Andrej Meszaros and future celebrity spouse Mike Comrie were credited with the assists).
• Andy McDonald can light the lamp. He answered Fisher’s goal with the help of a Teemu assist at 10:55.
• Wade Redden scored another PPG for Ottawa at 4:36 in the second period. Don’t think we’ll see him again after this series…
• The ‘Kid Line’ – left wing Dustin Penner, center Ryan Getzlaf, and right wing Corey Perry – has been stellar. Getz hit the back of the net at 5:44 in the third period (with assists from Corey Perry and Ric Jackman). The 21-year old currently leads the team in playoff goals with six, and all of them have occurred at home.
• Travis Moen has provided crucial secondary scoring throughout the playoffs, and he scored the GWG (with assists from Niedermayers 1 and 2) with less than three minutes left in the third period.
• We also outshot Ottawa, 32-20.

Final score: 3-2, Anaheim. Can’t wait for Game 2!