I have this really bad habit of taking after my dad, he is a huge St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams fan, has been his entire life. But my dad also seems to think it’s the Rams year, every year. He was right once and then they fizzled out. While I don’t think the Ducks will win every year, I do think this year is their year. So that means they have to beat Detroit, which I think they can do in six games. But I also said that I would give the Red Wings some time, so that is what I will do. I will go against my religion and point out things about the Ducks that I think Detroit can exploit, Babcock, take notes. So here we go…

I am not from Detroit, I have never been to Detroit and I will probably never go to Detroit but if I know one thing, it is that the city adored Steve Yzerman. The man was given a key to the city and has an official Steve Yzerman day, January 13th, in the state of Michigan. Sports Illustrated gave him a special cover, they never cover anything in hockey, just that little one page run down at the end, so you know he was special. I don’t think any athlete was as cherished by a city as he was in Detroit, very classy Detroit, that makes me feel good about being a fan of this wonderful game.

Now that era is over, this is Nicklas Lidstrom’s team now, if you want to go through Detroit, you have to go through him. Sheer talent, the mold of what a two-way defender should be, he is the best. I say that being the Ducks fan I am with both Pronger and Neidermayer on the team. If he were a little bigger and nastier, he would be the blend of Pronger and Neidermayer. So is he enough to carry his team this year, especially with Mathieu Schneider gone for the playoffs? Time will tell that story, lets keep rambling on. But, lets keep on the same track and talk about the defense and the last line of defense.

Chelios, Lebda, Lilja, Markov and Quincy all played in game six against San Jose, so those are the ones I am going to go off of. Combined they are a +13, Quincy and Lilja are the only minus players and that is -1 for each, that is pretty impressive (Chelios is tops with +7). In contrast, the Ducks “D” is +8. That is good for the coaches to know, that way they can get the matchups they want. Detroit knows it has its best chance of scoring when Kent Huskins and Joe DiPenta are on the ice, but if Randy Carlyle is smart, he wont dick around this series. A steady diet of his at least one of his other four defensemen should be on the ice at any given time, playing with DiPenta or Huskins. Babcock should salivate with the last change if he sees both of those players paired together, rolling out Zetterburg and company.

Now the goalie matchup is a clash of the titans in this round too. Giguere defeated Backstrom and Luongo while Hasek took out Kiprusoff and Nabokov. I don’t think you can say any team had the edge in that department, all four of those guys are top notch netminders. In this round it comes to a showdown, who can make that unbelievable save to keep the game tied or keep the lead for their team. The man with the age and all those trophies or the one who has something to prove, that 2003 wasn’t a flash in the pan. This will be the last great goalie dual this playoff season, so lets see how many times we get to see these two go at it.

Then there is the forward battle. This is going to be a pretty even matchup as well, but I have to give the edge to Anaheim on this one. The first two lines of both teams cancel each other out, but the checking line for Anaheim can actually produce a decent amount of points. They have given the Ducks 15 points and a +5 rating, while playing against the Sedins and Gaborik. Detroit’s checking line has 7 points and is a +6. I am not sure if they matchup against the opposing teams top line, only allowing them one more goal seems kind of fishy. Scoring will come down to who wants to get the dirtiest, who wants to crash the net the most and who can take the least amount of penalties. The Ducks will rub Hasek a lot, count on that. Can the Ducks keep Holmstrom’s stick tied up, clear rebounds and keep Todd “Mr Irrelevant” Bertuzzi from having a big series? Personally, I think yes to all of those questions, but I have my own biased opinion.

Ducks fans know Mike Babcock’s style of hockey, we know what to expect and we know why it works. Play solid team, defensive hockey, create a turnover and use your transition game for scoring opportunities. The Ducks used it because the team had speed up front and pretty decent defensive core, it worked obviously. The 2007 Red Wings don’t lack as much punch as the 2003 Mighty Ducks, so they can open it up a little more. Time will tell if it is enough to beat the Ducks four times though.

Who wants to step up in this series, who wants to make an impact? Can the Wings withstand the physical beating that they will take from the constant forecheck? Chris Kunitz, where are you? Todd Bertuzzi, please stand up. Detroit, you better stand up to the physical play, otherwise it’s over sooner then later.