Champs are a real hot ticket

Years ago, they had trouble giving away tickets. Now the Ducks’ bandwagon is bursting at the seams.

As they attempt to defend their first Stanley Cup, the Ducks announced Wednesday they have reached a franchise-record 15,000 season tickets sold for the coming season and from this point on will sell only individual game tickets.

The record includes mini-season plans, and anyone wanting to purchase season tickets will be put on a waiting list. To get on the list requires a $100 deposit.

“Our community has enthusiastically responded to our success over the last two years and we thank them for their tremendous support,” said Tim Ryan, Ducks chief operating officer and president of Anaheim Arena Management. “We’re averaging about 25 deposits a day for the waiting list.”

Tickets for individual games will go on sale Sept. 15. The club, which has sold out 34 consecutive games, is expecting to announce sellouts for all 41 of its home games at the 17,174-seat Honda Center in the 2007-08 season. Their first game at home is Oct. 10.

The Ducks had a season-ticket base of 7,000 when Henry and Susan Samueli bought the team in June 2005. By the end of last season, the base had grown to 12,500.

Earlier this week, the Pittsburgh Penguins put a similar cap on their season-ticket sales after reaching the 13,500 plateau. Other teams that have waiting lists include Detroit, Buffalo, Minnesota, the New York Rangers and five of the six Canadian teams -- only Ottawa does not.

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-- Eric Stephens