Headed in Right Direction

The Ducks have defeated San Jose.

The Ducks have scored again on the power play.

The landmark achievements just keep coming for this plucky little crew of ice skaters and nose breakers.

Next up: the 100th regular-season game in Mighty Duck of Anaheim history. That will happen Friday night in Winnipeg, and the host city reportedly is planning a gala celebration. (Word is they’ve already rolled up the sidewalks in eager anticipation).

The First Hundred Days for the Purple and the Jade.

So, how’s the state of the union?

Among Southern California hockey franchises, the Ducks rank first in victories, last in goals, first in tickets sold and last in stupid trades consummated.

Status quo, in other words.

It could be worse. The Ducks didn’t trade Oleg Tverdovsky for Grant Fuhr when they had the chance. The Ducks don’t have a coach obsessed with purging the roster of every player shorter than six feet and lighter than 200 pounds. This means Paul Kariya gets to stick around a while.

Yet the Ducks are tied for last in the Western Conference in goals scored (32 in 14 games), tied for next to last in points (11), last in the league in power-play percentage, last in the league in penalty killing and are 2-6-1 in their last nine games, including Saturday’s breakthrough/aberration (take your pick) against Arturs Irbe and San Jose.

After 33 victories in their inaugural season and the subsequent additions of Kariya, Tverdovsky and Valeri Karpov, something more than treading water was expected at The Pond. These are supposed to be the younger, faster, better-at-moving-the-puck Ducks. So what were they doing scoring one goal in three games, or losing six of seven before Friday’s tie with the Canucks, or losing consecutive games by scores of 7-2, 9-2 and 5-2?

Theories abounded, and Tony Tavares, Duck president, says he heard all of them.

“I can give you 10 different reasons,” Tavares says.

“ ‘We traded too many veterans.’

“ ‘We’re playing too many rookies.’

“I can keep going. Which is right? Who knows? All I know is the talent level on this team is better than the way we have played. And the talent level on this team is better than what we had last year.”

That much you can see by watching Kariya’s line skate one shift. Remember all that hooey last spring, during the initial weeks of Kariya’s holdout, about Kariya maybe not being ready for the Ducks? If anything, the Ducks aren’t ready for him. Too often this season, Kariya has been spotted spinning around an opponent, darting to one side of the net and zipping a pass across the crease so hard and true that the intended receiver--usually Karpov or Tony Semenov--is rendered immobile, totally ambushed by the puck. Karpov and Semenov immediately mutate into Bo Jackson, swinging and missing and miss, blowing another scoring opportunity.

Basically, the Ducks need to catch up to Kariya. That could take, what, four or five more entry drafts? Meanwhile, General Manager Jack Ferreira and Coach Ron Wilson are hearing a species of second-guessing that must be unprecedented in the annals of the NHL.

Boy, they really miss Troy Loney.

Where’s Bill Houlder when you need him?

I knew they wouldn’t be able to replace Terry Yake.

These names were among the expansion fodder allotted the Ducks in June of ’93. Other teams’ castoffs, bit players, surplus merchandise.

Yet in Anaheim, after one improbably pleasant season, they achieved an almost mythic air. Wasn’t Loney the captain, heart and soul of this Pacific Division juggernaut? Did Yake lead this offensive machine in scoring?

How could the Ducks ever let these guys go?

And, look, aren’t they suffering without them?

“That’s a cheesy excuse, I think,” Wilson says. “We went through the same kind of dry spell last year. After 12 games this year, we had 24 goals. After 12 games last year, we had 24 goals. The same amount. The difference is, we’ve given up six more goals in those 12 games, although it’s less than that now . . .

“No, I don’t buy that. These are the growing pains. You can’t hide behind players who are not going to be here in two years. We had to get younger this year. The young guys just have to pick up the slack, pull up their pants a little higher. I love the young guys we have here right now.”

Goaltender Guy Hebert who has faced a withering barrage while those young guys on defense figure out how to backcheck, takes a pragmatic look at the Ducks’ in-and-out baskets.

“Troy Loney was an exceptional leader, a guy who led by example--and a lot of guys in this room followed,” Hebert says.

“Terry Yake, he could turn it on one night, then you wouldn’t see him for the next five games, then he’d come back with a hat trick.

“Sean Hill and Bill Houlder were ice-breakers in the locker room. They were fun-loving guys who loved to be at the rink. They took a less serious approach to the game, and that loosened up a lot of the guys.

“There’s no question they played significant roles. But did we make too many changes? I still think the three months we spent away (during the lockout) are what’s hurting us. . . .

“We’re still a hard-working club that relies on teamwork and needs time to get back in a groove.”

Talking with a couple sportswriters, Wilson puts it this way:

“It happens to writers, too. You go like hell for a year, you get the Pulitzer Prize, then you go on vacation for three months. Then you come back and you get writer’s cramp.”

How true. Consider how difficult it was, after a three-month layoff, to write these words Saturday night: “The Mighty Ducks defeated the San Jose Sharks, 6-3.”

It takes time to shake off the rust.