Why The Ducks Should Upset The Sharks

Pressure – with a presidents trophy, there’s extra pressure to continue that trend. You HAVE to win, otherwise everything they worked for the whole season was a waste. The Ducks have absolutely no pressure at all and can be loose and have fun.

Hot – The Ducks have been hot winning 10 of their last 13 contests while San Jose has been slumping.

Familiarity – many of the Ducks players have been deep in the playoffs with Carlysle and many know what it takes to win a cup unlike their counterparts that can’t seem to get past Calgary. Taking nothing away from McClellan and his many trips to the playoffs and cup with Detroit, but this is a whole new ball game.

Heart – My friend jt once said to me “As long as Joe Thornton is the Sharks #1 center, they will never win a Stanley Cup”. When asked why, he said “he’s got no heart”. The Ducks, however, have a ton of heart. Selanne, Perry, Getzlaf, Pronger, Nedermeyer have more heart as an 8th placed team than San Jose does as a #1 team.

Defense – I’ve never been a fan of Danny Boyle and I think he gets absolutely exploited during this series. Rob Blake has also lost many steps. Despite his experience and winning a cup, he won’t be able to handle the speed.

The return of the Ducks Beauchemin to go along with Whitney gives the Ducks an equal if not better advantage over Lukowich and Vlasic or Ehrhoff and the hard hitting Murray.

The only advantage the Sharks will have is in the physical departement. Why the Ducks shipped Travis Moen off, I'll never know, but coupled with Mike Grier and the aforementioned Murray, that's one aspect of the Ducks game that will be missing from their cup run (the loss of Brad May doesn't help either).

Should be a great series.