LONDON -- The Anaheim Ducks have certainly hit the ground running here in London.
But ever since winning the Stanley Cup, it seems that the club has done everything at warp speed.
“Our summer seemed like it was just the blink of an eye,” coach Randy Carlyle said.
Not that anyone is complaining.
“That’s the way you want it,” says J.S. Giguere, the club’s injured goalie. “A short summer is a good summer because it means you have been successful. That’s what we want.”
So you couldn’t find many complaints Wednesday morning as the team took the ice for the first time at the 02 Arena. Not even the fact that the club did not land until late Tuesday night could put much of a damper on things.
”We are thinking of this experience as a great experience,” Giguere said. “It’s not every day that you get to come to London and represent the NHL.”
As such, it appears that the Ducks don’t want to waste a minute of their time here. First, the team took part in a spirited two-hour practice, which was run at high speed by the always demanding Carlyle. But there was a reward waiting for the players at the end of that torture session. The Ducks’ good friend, the Stanley Cup, was on hand. But he was sporting a new look, featuring the names of the Anaheim players engraved on the trophy for the first time.
So, as they approached an old-fashioned bus parked outside the arena, waiting to take them on a sight-seeing tour of the city, the new-look Cup was waiting. Not surprisingly, the players made a beeline for it.
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