They’re Ducks Out of Water, Searching for New Homes : Hockey: Players are used to moves, but new franchise has no veterans to offer tips on local housing and schools.

Randy and Susan Ladouceur are new in town. They’ve found a home--one that will be bare for another couple of weeks, until the furniture arrives. Randy starts his new job Wednesday, and the first day of school is just around the corner--third grade for Nicole, kindergarten for Joshua.

Their days are full of details and preparation. Even calling the electric company takes more time than you’d think.

“ Name? “

“ Randy Ladouceur .”

“ Employer ?”

“ Uh, the Mighty Ducks .”

“The girl at the power company was quite a fan,” said Ladouceur, a 33-year-old defenseman and former captain of the Hartford Whalers who is one of about 45 players preparing to report to the NHL expansion team’s first training camp. “We were on the phone for 15 or 20 minutes, and we talked about hockey half the time. It sounds like people are excited.”

Moving to a new city to join a new team is nothing new for professional athletes. They and their wives become adept at packing and unpacking, at saying goodby to friends they haven’t known long enough to consider old friends, and at saying hello to new ones who might not last a season.

But when players arrive in a city after being traded or signing a new contract, they join teammates who already know the real estate market, the schools, the golf courses and the baby sitters.

This time, everyone is new.

“I’ll tell you, it was a little bit different,” said Pam Grimson, whose husband is winger Stu Grimson. “When we went to Chicago, our last team, several players had been there many, many years. So they’d say, ‘Don’t go to this doctor, here’s a great dentist, don’t use this plumber.’ This time, everyone’s new.”

The team tried to ease the transition by bringing most of the players and their wives in for an orientation in August, allowing many of them a chance to look for housing.

The Grimsons rented a townhouse, but they also had another important piece of business.

“We’re having a baby in November, so we found a hospital,” Pam said. The couple also have a daughter, Erin, 22 months.

Troy Loney, his wife, Aafke, and their children--Reed, 3, and Ty, 1--moved from Pittsburgh where Troy played for two Stanley Cup champions. After eight years with one team, the Loney household wasn’t very mobile.

“You get a lot of stuff in your house,” said Loney, 29.

The family proved very mobile after arriving in Orange County. They’ve already moved.

“I rented the wrong house,” Loney said, laughing. “We were lucky though--the moving van was coming that afternoon and the other place we liked was still available.”

Of course, it isn’t so complicated for everyone. Single players simply rent an apartment close to the rink and figure they won’t be there much anyway. And not everyone has to move cross-country or across the Canadian border.

Lonnie Loach, 25, a winger who played for the Kings last season, simply transported his family 40 miles south from El Segundo to Anaheim Hills.

“It was the shortest move we’ve ever made,” said Loach’s wife, Janis.

Like many of the players, the Loach family used the same real estate agent, the mother-in-law of a team employee. Anaheim Hills has been a popular choice.

“We have a family (Ryan, 5 and Mitchell, 9 months),” Janis Loach said. “Most of the players do have families and wanted to get in a good area with good schools. And it’s close to the rink, you don’t have to get on the highway to get to the rink.”

The players’ families will get to enjoy a Southern California winter. The players themselves will have to endure an expansion season.