Remember back in October, the Ducks had won 4 straight and we were all celebrating a season that started different than those of years past?

It was a great feeling. Everyone had high hopes for the next six months – we had looked at beating San Jose in consecutive meetings as a sign that the tides of the Pacific Division had changed.

Then Movember happened and the whole damn plan went to hell. A dismal December followed that grim month with more losses and January started out much the same.

Then, with a bit of luck and a visit from a few crappy teams, the Ducks once again find themselves on the right end of a streak with three consecutive WINS (with 2 nifty hatties to add to the collection).

But it still doesn’t feel as exciting as those first wins in October, does it? Perhaps that’s because it’s not as sweet or the phrase, “it’s about damn time” rolls too easily off the tongue.

Is it too soon to ask how the rest of the season will go? Oh, hell yes.

Go ahead, ask yourself that one question that is on the tip of your tongue…is it more likely the Ducks will make a serious run at the playoffs, or at a high first round pick? Be honest when you answer.

Three games…that doesn’t buy you a new lease on the season. It’s a start, don’t get me wrong but nothing has really changed. Has it?

Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps things have changed. Maybe the new coaching staff, who I do love by the way, has found a way to run a system that this team can work with. A system that suits these players to what skills THEY posses. Maybe the team as a whole has begun to embrace this new style of play and they better understand their skills and talents with which they have to contribute.

Maybe that grizzly of a bear has been woken from a very long slumber. Maybe the constant reminders that their jobs are in jeopardy were enough to put some serious effort on the ice. And if that is the case, what the hell took them so long?

Or maybe not. The Ducks who have been having what I believe to be a hell of a time in goal, may have just taken a further step back from that. With both Dan Ellis and Jonas Hiller suffering from groin issues, it’s going to be the talk of the NHL if the “never heard of them” duo of Jeff Deslauriers and Iiro Tarkki can pull them through. Perhaps we’re seeing that the Ducks can continue to improve offensively, as it seems the lines are starting to stick. And defensively, well, we’ve seen far worse.

Of course, now I’ve basically talked about it, I’m sure I’ve thrown all that is good and evil in the hockey world into a cosmic meltdown of epic proportions. I’m not being pessimistic intentionally, I’m simply being realistic. It is definitely nice to cheer and come home from a win smiling, but let’s face it, I’m not about to get my hopes up.

So if you’re asking me, go ahead – ask, have the Ducks actually started to make themselves into something other than the horror we’ve witnessed through the first half of the season?

No. Not a chance. Ask me again next month.

Then again, you know how much I love being wrong about this kind of thing.

GO DUCKS!!!

SK.