This Week in Ducks History: We're Thankful for Selanne, Saku, Sammy and Sykora

This Week in Ducks History:

Nov. 18, 1996
Acquired the rights to LW Brian Bellows from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a sixth round pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.

Nov. 18, 2000
The day that, unbeknownst to us all, sparked thousands upon thousands of man-crushes: The Mighty Ducks acquired C Samuel Pahlsson from the Boston Bruins in exchange for RW Andrei Nazarov and D Patrick Traverse.

Nov. 18, 2008
Named David McNab Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations.

Nov. 19, 1976
RW Petr Sykora born in Plzen, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic). I always think of Sykora as one of the coolest/nicest guys ever. Between Larry Robinson and Patrik Elias wearing his jersey on the ice while he was in the hospital as the Devils raised the Stanley Cup in 2000, calling his shot to Pierre McGuire when he scored the overtime goal in Game 5 of the '08 Final and the one time he complimented me on my Steve Rucchin jersey he just seems like someone who is great to be around, not to mention he's pretty good at hockey. Too bad his career will almost inevitably be one of the casualties of the lockout, even if he's been on the back nine for a few years.

Nov. 19, 1996
Acquired LW Shawn Antoski and D Dmitri Mironov from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for LW Alex Hicks and D Fredrik Olausson.

Nov. 19, 2006
Chris Kunitz scored his only hat trick as a Duck in a 6-4 win over Phoenix; Teemu matched the franchise record for most assists in a game with five (Dmitri Mironov 12/12/97 and Ryan Getzlaf 10/29/08); And with five points from Teemu, four from Kunitz and four from Andy McDonald, the Ducks tied a franchise record for most players with four or more points in a single game, set Jan. 1, 1999 at Buffalo.

Nov. 19, 2007
Acquired C Brian Sutherby from Washington in exchange for Anaheim's second-round selection in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

Nov. 20, 2005
Lost their eighth game in a row, 3-2 to Vancouver. This tied the franchise record longest losing streak, set in the dismal month of Oct. 1996. The streak started with a 3-4 loss at Colorado on Nov. 3 and was officially broken with a 2-1 win in Phoenix on Nov. 22.

Nov. 21, 2010
Acquired LW Patrick Maroon and RW David Laliberte from Philadelphia in exchange for D Danny Syvret and C Rob Bordson.

Nov. 22, 2006
Teemu Selanne scores his 500^th career goal in a 3-2 loss at Colorado (Note: This game can be found on the NHL Vault).

Selanne's 500th (via NHLVideo)

How great is it that the announcer in that clip starts by saying that Teemu has been quiet all game? Seconds later, it's goal number 500. Classic Teemu; Classic announcer's jinx.

Nov. 23, 2010
Acquired D Nigel Williams from the NY Rangers in exchange for D Stu Bickel.

Nov. 23, 2010
Acquired C Stefan Chaput and RW Matt Kennedy from Carolina in exchange for C Ryan Carter.

Nov. 23, 1974
C Saku Koivu born in Turku, Finland

Nov. 24, 1981
D Kurtis Foster born in Carp, Ontario, Canada

Nov. 24, 2001
Lost 5-3 to the Islanders at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, bringing their winless streak to 9 games, tying the longest winless streak in franchise history (0-7-2) set in Nov. of 1995 and matched in - you guessed it - Oct. 1996. The streak started on Nov. 7 (3-3 vs Calgary) and was officially broken on Nov. 25 with a 3-2 victory over the Rangers at the Garden.

Nov. 24, 2002
Ducks tie Florida 4-4, as the Panthers set the NHL record for most consecutive road overtime games. Note: This must be the most obscure game listed in the "Classic" section of the NHL Vault.

Ducks related #RandomNHLfacts from @NHLhistoryGirl:

On this date [11/20] in 2010, #Leafs Brian Burke presided over his 1,000th NHL game as a GM.

On this date [11/19] in 1983, #Oilers Jari Kurri scored 5 goals and Wayne Gretzky notched 8 points in a game. [against New Jersey]. Note: How is this Ducks related? Kurri eventually became a Duck (also was Teemu's idol and friend), and after the game Gretzky famously called the Devils a "Mickey Mouse Organization" a decade before Disney actually bought a franchise.

On this date in 2011, #Flyers Chris Pronger appeared in his last NHL game to date. Note: This also was probably the last game of his career. No matter what you think of him, that's a shitty way to end a Hall of Fame career ... or any career for that matter.

Brian Burke threatened #AHL w/lawsuit on behalf of Ross Lambert, over rule preventing player who played overseas from signing in AHL same yr

Bruce Boudreau was the 30th #AHL player in history to reach 100 points in a season. #RandomAHLfact

On this date [11/21] in 2001, #FLAPanthers beat the #NHLDucks 6-0, tying the team record for largest margin of victory at home

On this date [11/21] in 1993, #NHLDucks Ron Tugnutt made a (then) franchise-high 46 saves.

On this date [11/21]in 2008, #NHLDucks @BretHedican played his 1,000th NHL game.

*swoons* Tulsa Oilers Change Name to Gotham City Crusaders (at least for a day) Note: I don't care if it has nothing to do with the Ducks or History. THAT'S EFFING AWESOME! What could be better than Hockey and Batman together?!