A banner night for Ducks of old

The banners rose slowly toward the steel-girded ceiling of the Honda Center, ascending in the order in which the Ducks had earned them.

First to rise, sent skyward by Rob Niedermayer, Chris Pronger and Chris Kunitz, was the banner proclaiming the Ducks the 2007 Pacific Division champions.

Next up was the Western Conference flag, given a nudge by Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne.

Finally, and to the biggest roar from the crowd, club owners Henry and Susan Samueli launched the banner that affirmed the Ducks as 2007 Stanley Cup champions, a banner bolder than its mates with its orange background and suspended higher than the others, deservingly apart.

Within each piece of cloth was woven a season’s worth of dreams, the memories of wounded knees and wounded pride, the joy of an array of disparate personalities evolving into a team.

Within those banners were the echoes of Coach Randy Carlyle’s caustic remarks, the thunk of pucks hitting Giguere’s pads as he made yet another improbable save in goal, the notes of Selanne’s joyful whoops after each of his team-leading 48 goals.

The sounds of people brought together for a purpose and so strongly united for so short a time.

Their time ended soon after the Ducks’ victory in June, brought to a conclusion by economics, circumstance and the toll of physical and mental exhaustion. On Wednesday, the team was together again, or mostly so, with Selanne and Scott Niedermayer again in their midst if only briefly.

Selanne and Niedermayer skated off the ice as champions in June and have not decided whether their legs and their hearts can carry them through the grind of another Cup chase. Back among their teammates Wednesday, as they were Monday when players and coaches got their dazzling, diamond-studded Cup rings, each acknowledged the tug of kinship and loyalty.

And each professed to be touched when the fans, first in dissonant choruses but then in loud unison, begged them for “one more year.”

But neither was prepared to commit to returning, for reasons they can’t fully articulate.

For Selanne, who had to play 15 seasons before he saw his name etched on the Cup, the problem may be that he knows it would be impossible to top what he accomplished last season, that it may be better to simply quit while on top.

“I had to wait so long,” he said during the Ducks’ 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins in their Anaheim opener.

“This game, this league, this level, you have to be sure you’re motivated. I’m going to be very honest with myself. If I don’t have that feeling, there’s no reason to come back.”

Tan and rested, he spends his days taking his three sons to school and soccer and hockey practice. He also plays golf, works out and plays golf.

General Manager Brian Burke has not pushed him, not once, Selanne noted. That may be good for him but not beneficial to a team that could lapse into thinking it’s OK to lose a game or two because Selanne will come to the rescue.

“I’m happy I haven’t had to make a decision yet because I want to make sure this decision is right,” he said.

He didn’t watch much of the Ducks’ first five games -- which is just as well -- and said he was unexpectedly moved when he returned to the familiar surroundings Wednesday.

It’s difficult watching games, he said, “especially when you’re watching your old teammates, or still your teammates. It’s kind of a weird feeling.

“So far the situation has been very easy because I haven’t faced it every day.”

Niedermayer’s situation has been difficult because he faced questions about his future every day while back home in Canada for the summer. He never had time to mentally unwind, to separate exhaustion from emotional depletion and determine whether he has the drive to go for one more ride.

Minus the gray-streaked playoff beard he grew last spring, he looked younger than his 34 years. Now, it’s a matter of whether he feels that way.

“I got a lot of advice from friends, family and people I didn’t know, so it was hectic up there,” he said. “Coming back down here the last five, six weeks has been very relaxing. It’s been good and hopefully it will allow me to make the correct decision.”

He clearly has not fully separated himself from the team that still features his brother, Rob, a team Scott led last season as its captain and its conscience.

“No doubt, I feel a responsibility to the guys in the room,” he said. “When things aren’t going well, it’s hard. I feel I should be out there, helping in any way I can.

“That’s been my mentality as long as I’ve been playing hockey. It’s sort of hard to turn it off.”

Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.