MIGHTY DUCK NOTEBOOK / ROBYN NORWOOD : After All This Time, Grimson Knows the Score

The date was Dec. 31, 1992.

Ring a bell, Stu?

Grimson, the Mighty Ducks’ popular enforcer, furrows his brow, shakes his head.

It was the date of his last goal, 90 games ago.

“Oh, Tampa Bay last year,” said Grimson, whose career statistics in 225 games look like this: Goals, 3; assists, 9; penalty minutes, 765.

Grimson has had increased ice time with the Ducks, and though he hasn’t broken his goal drought, his assist against Calgary on Wednesday was his fifth of the year, giving him a career-high five points.

The assist came off a perfect passing play. Terry Yake sent the puck out to Grimson from near the goal line, and Grimson sent it right back to Yake, who was open on the side of the net and scored.

Ahem. Actually, Grimson said, that pass was a shot.

“Best miss of my career,” he said.

He fooled more than just the defense.

“Was that a shot?” Coach Ron Wilson said. “I thought it was a pass, too. It wasn’t much of a shot, if that’s what it was.”

Grimson says he isn’t worried about where his next goal is coming from, even though there are occasional attacks from the media and opposing fans about him being little more than a boxer on skates.

“I’m getting chances. It’s only a matter of time,” he said.

Even though Grimson has had a couple of surprising breakaway chances this season, he doesn’t predict his next goal will be anything fancy.

“It’ll be a dirty one. It can be any way it wants,” he said. “I’ve scored mostly off scrambles in front of the net. I’d say every goal I’ve ever scored in my NHL career probably came inside the hash marks (about 18 feet from the net). I don’t expect the next one to be any different.”

Wilson swears Grimson has a terrific shot--hard, if not accurate.

“He’s got a cannon,” Wilson said. “Put this in the paper. Maybe he thinks his shot is so hard, and Stu’s such a sportsman, that he wouldn’t think it fair to unleash his shot because he might hurt somebody.

“I’d love to see Stu score. I don’t know if he really wants to score. One time he had a breakaway and just let the puck go. The crowd will go nuts when he does.”

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Believe it or not, Grimson also has been criticized for going soft.

“Even good Canadian boys like Stu Grimson have been corrupted since they got to Anaheim,” wrote Jay Greenberg in the Dec. 15 Toronto Sun. “The Grim Reaper . . . now plays like Herbie the Love Bug.”

Grimson shrugs it off. He knows that he played almost a month with a broken finger that limited his fighting. He and the team did their best to hide the injury.

“You don’t want to make it a public thing,” Grimson said. “You have to understand, someone in my role, my job is to let the people on the other side know that if they go after our guys, they’re going to get hit back. If they get wind that I’m playing with a broken finger and might not be able to retaliate, it makes it easier for them to pick on our little guys.”

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Reason No. 498 why it has taken the Ducks a while to begin to start playing better at home: Goaltenders Guy Hebert and Ron Tugnutt, backups for most of their NHL careers, were used to getting most of their starts on the road and are more comfortable playing away from home.

“It’s probably where I’ve played 85% of my games,” Hebert said. “It’s more relaxing for me. I don’t have to put on a big show. Definitely you feel more pressure at home.”

Last season, Hebert felt the fans’ wrath in St. Louis whenever he replaced starter Curtis Joseph. As in, “Why isn’t Curtis starting tonight?” Hebert said. “I probably had six or seven starts at home last year, maybe not even that many.”

Hebert’s home and road statistics have evened out lately. He’s 6-7-2 with a 2.97 goals against average on the road, 5-8-1 with a 2.71 goals-against average at home.

Tugnutt, however, is 6-5 with a 2.23 on the road, and 3-9-1 with a 3.87 at home, where he has lost six of his last seven decisions.

Times staff writer Elliott Teaford contributed to this story.