Wilson Enjoys Working Vacation : Hockey: Off-season for Duck coach includes leading the U.S. in the World Championships, draft homework and rest, perhaps.

There’s a road runner on Ron Wilson’s back fence and the Stanley Cup finals on his TV. Surprisingly, he’s trying to watch both.

June figures to be a month of relaxation for Wilson, a chance to reflect and to look ahead. He can golf and take his family on vacation, temporarily pushing aside concerns about slow-skating defensemen.

The Mighty Ducks didn’t make the playoffs, but Wilson might as well have. He spent the better part of three weeks in April and May coaching the U.S. national team to a fourth-place finish in the World Hockey Championships. Only now is he beginning to enjoy his summer vacation.

There’s been a lot to digest, almost all of it surprising and pleasing.

“You go through one experience and you think, ‘Maybe I was just lucky, maybe it was just a good group in Anaheim and maybe they managed themselves,’ ” Wilson said of coaching the Ducks to a 33-46-5 record and a fourth-place finish in the Pacific Division.

“I went over there (to the World Championships) thinking, ‘This could turn out to be a real disaster.’ But things worked out. We approached the games the same way as with the Mighty Ducks. I guess it’s helped reinforce the things we did this year.”

No TV announcer blathered about miracles on ice. Newspapers devoted no more than a few paragraphs to the story. There were no post-tournament parades or visits to the White House.

But for Wilson, there will always be fond memories of May 4 in Milan, Italy.

After all, he coached the United States to its first victory over Russia since the 1980 Olympics. That Duck goaltender Guy Hebert stopped 53 of 54 shots in a 3-1 quarterfinal victory, made it even sweeter for Wilson.

Injuries and superior opposition sent the U.S. team off course in the semifinal and bronze medal game. The United States lost to Finland, 8-0, in the semifinal, then was beaten by Sweden, 7-2, in the third-place game.

A disappointing finish to be sure, but Wilson’s confidence soared after the victory over the Russians.

“It takes a little bit of the fear off next year,” he said. “Everybody’s been telling me it’s going to be twice as difficult next year. Of course, they were the same people who told me not to take the Duck job.

“You have to be confident when you do things that turn out well. Now, I’m looking forward to next year.”

These are feel-good days for Wilson, who can’t seem to go wrong with his simple, grinding game plan. The Ducks followed the clutch-and-grab style to 33 victories, tying Florida for the NHL expansion record. And the U.S. team used the system to gain its best World Championship finish since winning a bronze medal in 1962.

“I’ll go to my grave saying if Guy didn’t get hurt we should have had a medal,” Wilson said.

Hebert injured a hamstring, then pulled a groin muscle midway through the semifinal. Finally, Wilson was forced to take him out of the game. The pain was too great and the game was clearly lost by then.

Wilson had seen Hebert perform well all season, but his play in the World Championships still surprised him.

“I couldn’t believe he played so well,” Wilson said. “Incredible. To be honest, when we had the injury to Hebert our chances went down the drain. I didn’t realize how important he was.”

The game against the Russians matched Hebert against Duck teammate Mikhail Shtalenkov.

Before the game, Wilson cornered Hebert and Shtalenkov and delivered a tongue-in-check motivational speech.

“I said, ‘All right guys, whoever wins this game is our No. 1 goalie next year,’ ” Wilson said. “Not many people realized how good our goalies were until this tournament. It was really fun for me. I didn’t know who to root for.”

Rest assured the American players had no such feelings. According to Wilson, they believed the Russians tanked their final pool-play game, losing intentionally to avoid playing a stronger Canadian team in the quarterfinals.

“They were figuring we were an easy mark, but it was easy motivation,” Wilson said. “We were just flying after that. We went over there to have fun, but we changed our game, going to a more trapping game. They were unprepared for that. And with Guy’s goaltending we won easily.”

On defense, the Ducks’ Don McSween excelled, according to Wilson. Forward Craig Janney, who joined the team after the Blues’ first-round playoff loss to Dallas, was the offensive standout. Edmonton forwards Doug Weight and Shjon Podein also played well.

But like the Ducks, the U.S. team struggled to find goal-scoring.

So Wilson kept things simple, introducing an aggressive fore-checking system for the first few games before going into a defensive shell in the later rounds.

“I was a little disappointed at the end that we didn’t have it,” Wilson said. “But (Duck General Manager) Jack Ferreira says, ‘Look at the lineup you had.’ Everyone over there said, ‘Jeez, you guys did really well.’

“But you always think you should have done better.”