A Wealth of Experience : Although the Ducks Haven’t Been in the Playoffs, Several Players Have

Jari Kurri’s five Stanley Cup championship rings are safely locked in a bank vault at home in Finland. He once took them out to wear on the same hand, but couldn’t get the fifth one to fit.

“Thumb’s too big,” Kurri said, smiling.

Brian Bellows scored 16 seconds into his first playoff game while with the Minnesota North Stars in 1983. Ten years later, Bellows hoisted the Stanley Cup in celebration with the Montreal Canadiens.

J.J. Daigneault was Bellows’ teammate in 1993. They defeated Kurri, Warren Rychel and the Kings in that final.

Last season, Rychel earned a championship ring as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.

Even though the Mighty Ducks haven’t yet played a Stanley Cup playoff game doesn’t mean they’re a team devoid of postseason experience or success.

“I don’t think any team can win with experience only,” said Kurri, whose five Stanley Cup titles rank second among active players behind the six won by former Edmonton teammates Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe and Mark Messier. “You need a good mix of veterans and hungry young guys.”

The Ducks certainly have that, what with Kurri at one end of the spectrum and Joe Sacco at the other.

Sacco has played 338 regular-season games without making a playoff appearance, the longest drought of any active NHL player. He was a healthy scratch with Toronto during the 1993 playoffs.

The streak ends at long last tonight.

“I’m looking forward to ending that stupid streak,” said Sacco, one of three remaining original Ducks, along with Bobby Dollas and Guy Hebert. “I didn’t even know about it, but it’s over with now. Three years without playing in the playoffs is a long time. This is the year. It’s going to be an exciting time.

“A lot of guys have a lot of playoff experience, like Jari, Brian Bellows and J.J. Hopefully, they can throw a little bit of that experience my way.”

Despite their differences in playoff experience, Kurri can identify with Sacco and other Ducks making their postseason debuts.

In fact, Kurri sees many similarities between his first NHL team, the 1980-81 Edmonton Oilers, and the 1996-97 Ducks.

Kurri was a rookie fresh from Finland when he and other stars-to-be such as Messier, Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey led the Oilers to the playoffs in 1981. Messier and Gretzky were only in their second seasons in the league and Coffey was a rookie.

“We were all a bunch of young kids--Gretzky, Messier, Coffey and those guys,” Kurri said.

The first tentative strides toward the Oilers’ run of five Stanley Cups in seven seasons can be traced to a first-round victory over the Canadiens, with the series-clinching win at the Montreal Forum in 1981.

“It meant more to the other guys--the Canadian guys, who grew up watching Hockey Night in Canada and knew what it meant to beat Montreal,” Kurri said. “I’m European, so it wasn’t as important to me.”

By 1984, the Oilers were Stanley Cup champions. With Kurri’s help, Edmonton also won in 1985, ‘87, ’88 and ’90.

“I would like to believe this is the first step for the Ducks,” said Kurri, who has scored 105 goals in 185 playoff games. “It means a lot to this organization.”

For the Ducks, Paul Kariya will be playing his first Stanley Cup playoff game. However, he has played in other big games, including the gold-medal game at the 1994 Olympics and the 1993 NCAA championship game.

And for all his acclaim as a goal-scorer, Teemu Selanne has only six games of playoff experience--all during his rookie season with Winnipeg.

“The first game is a nerve-breaker,” Kurri said. “A lot of times if you don’t have experience, you get too excited. There are things you shouldn’t worry about. There are other things you should worry about.”

Kurri is not concerned about Kariya’s response to the increased intensity and pressure of the playoffs. Kurri believes Kariya will shine in the brighter spotlight of the playoffs.

“He’s a strong person,” Kurri said. “He’s going to have a great playoffs. He’s a great player under pressure. Players like him are even greater in the playoffs.”

Said Bellows of Kariya and Selanne: “It’s another opportunity for them to prove to the rest of the league how good they really are.”

Duck Coach Ron Wilson often said during the regular season that every game since Nov. 1 has been like a playoff game. After a 1-9-2 start and with Kariya sidelined 11 games because of an abdominal injury, Wilson insisted each game was must-win.

Playoff pressure? What playoff pressure?

“We should be conditioned to it by now,” said Wilson, coaching his first playoff game. “There’s been a desperation in our game. At no time have we relaxed. We’ve never said, ‘We’ve made it.’ We’re a young team with a couple of superstars, but it’s not just talent that wins. It’s character.

“I could bring back Gordie Howe because he’s got all this playoff experience, but he’s got to get the job done.”

Last season, Bellows helped the Tampa Bay Lightning, which entered the NHL one season before the Ducks, to its first playoff appearance. Tampa Bay was eliminated by Philadelphia in six games in the first round.

When Bellows joined the Ducks after a Nov. 18 trade from Tampa Bay, he noticed a different, more determined attitude to excel in Anaheim.

Going 13-3-7 in their final 23 regular-season games is a good reflection of the Ducks’ intensity, according to Bellows.

“I felt in Tampa too many guys were satisfied just to make [the playoffs],” said Bellows, who has 43 goals in 111 playoff games. “It came from management too. Here, we’re not just satisfied to make it. You can just see it in the guys’ faces.

“Let’s face it, the last 20 games have prepared us for the playoffs. I don’t know who is playing better than us right now.”

Sacco certainly qualifies as one Duck eager to make his mark in the postseason. But there are others, including Dollas and Hebert.

Dollas appeared in nine playoff games for the Detroit Red Wings during postseason trips in 1991 and ’92.

“It wasn’t the same as this, though,” Dollas said. “This one feels like I really had a hand in it. With the other teams I was just the sixth or seventh defenseman. I was just barely there.”

Hebert’s 15 minutes of playoff fame adds up to a mere three minutes during a tight playoff game for St. Louis in 1993. He filled in briefly after starting goaltender Curtis Joseph was injured and had to be treated on the Blues’ bench.

Hebert made one sprawling save on Toronto winger Nikolai Borschevsky, then departed to a standing ovation from the Maple Leaf Gardens crowd.

“So that was my playoff experience,” Hebert said.

Starting tonight, there will be new experiences for the Ducks: more hitting along the boards and in front of the net, more determined rushes up-ice, more willingness to do whatever it takes to win.

“It’s not going to be pretty,” Rychel said. “The grinders and muckers are going to come to the forefront. The scorers are going to be checked harder. It’s the guys who fight through the checks who are going to succeed.

“With the people we’ve got here, we could go a ways in the playoffs.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Mighty Ducks’ Stanley Cup Winners

Jari Kurri, Edmonton Oilers

Five (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990)

Brian Bellows, Montreal Canadiens

One (1993)

J.J. Daigneault, Montreal Canadiens

One (1993)

Warren Rychel, Colorado Avalanche

One (1996)