On the third day, the Ducks rest.
The Ducks didn't skate on Wednesday, but rather took a day off of sorts.
"We think that it's mentally refreshing to your players to work out, have lunch together, play a little bit of pool, and prepare ourselves for a game tomorrow night against the Nashville Predators," head coach Randy Carlyle said.
The Ducks, on the short end of six of their past seven games, have noticeably improved in their past three. They've allowed two, two and four goals while going 1-1-1, and Wednesday offered a chance to reflect on how the turnaround came about.
"I just think our compete level, and our commitment to playing more of a defensive structure, has been better," Carlyle said.
Captain Scott Niedermayer said that he and Carlyle have spent the better part of two weeks discussing "everything you could possibly think of" to try and right the Ducks' ship. On Wednesday, the laid-back approach was the order of the day.
Hard work on the ice, and commitment to the system, may eventually win out over any drastic personnel moves -- or even a coaching change, as has been suggested in the media.
Asked if he thought the team's confidence in the system ever wavered, Niedermayer said, "I don't really think that would be the case."
"Confidence in general; I don't think necessarily in the system," he said. "Whether it's your linemate and yourself, different things like that, can affect how you play and the decisions you make."
Still, the Ducks' system -- of dumping, grinding, cycling, checking, and generally out-toughing opponents -- was among the topics the coach and captain brainstormed.
"We talked about the system, the work ethic, rest," Niedermayer said. "When a team is playing a system, all 20 guys are playing a system, a lot of different things can be affected."
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About J.P.
J.P. Hoornstra has been covering the Anaheim Ducks since 2007. Eight months after the University of Wisconsin won its third NCAA hockey championship, he was born in a frigid Madison winter. He betrayed his blue-blooded beginnings by graduating from UCLA in 2003, and welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
Hi JP,
My name is John Meyer from South Dakota. I stumbled upon your blog via Google and like what I see. Nice to see a midwestern guy escape to warm weather too!
I'm actually a die-hard baseball fan (Twins) by nature, but am in search of finding a hockey team to follow. This weekend I'm launching a website called PickMyNHLTeam.com (not up yet). It's a video blog where I do a video review of each team and try to garner opinions using social media on which team should be my favorite.
Next Monday I kick off with the Ducks. I'm looking for a Ducks blogger to write a guest post on why a person should be a Ducks fan. Basically, a couple paragraphs on the best things about being a Ducks fan. It could be certain players, the logo, the arena, the history, whatever.
Would you be interested in doing this? You can also publish the post here on your blog and I'll link up your blog on my end and hopefully send you some traffic and give you a shoutout. The site is just starting but I think it can turn into something very cool. The competition will run from Monday until Dec. 31 and you continue to promote the Ducks as the best team to be a fan for!
Feel free to email me at pickmynhlteam@gmail.com if you have any questions. I hope to hear from you.
Thanks
John
@johntmeyer
Did my comment not work?