Cup Craziness
Alrighty where to begin....where to begin....well, in what follows you will undoubtedly find lots and lots regarding my search for an advisor, my update on all things Ducks, and a story about me (finally!) doing something I've always wanted to do. It's going to be exciting, I promise!
So first, the advisor search. I went to talk to Professor Merkurjev and he agreed to do a reading course with me in the fall to see if I would be a good fit for the kind of math he likes to do. This is good for several reasons: first, he's a big name in the world of algebra, so being at UCLA he's the best I could ever hope for; second, there are a lot of other students interested in algebra and not many profs who study it, so it seems I now have the inside track with Merk over these other students; and finally, it's really what I want to do so I'm sure I'll enjoy it (as much as one enjoys the pain in the ass that is the PhD dissertation). So I have several books to read this summer, many for Merk, but also one for that nagging final qual that I have to take in the fall (boy will I be happy when that little fucker is over and done with).
But now onto more important things, of the Duck variety (there's a lot, so be warned!). So when last I posted, the Ducks were in the first round with the Minnesota Wild, and were up 3-1. They were actually up 3-0 at one point (winning 2-1, 3-2, and 2-1 in the first three games) before the Wild unloaded on the Ducks in game 4, winning 4-1. The Ducks answered with a 4-1 win of their own back at Honda Center (formerly known as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim; many now call it the "Ponda" but I haven't taken to that yet). Anyways, the first round wasn't terribly exciting, as I never truly believed that the Wild could beat the Ducks.
The second round against the Vancouver Canucks was more interesting, and for many reasons. It started out nicely enough, with the Ducks hammering the Canucks in Game 1 5-1. Game 2 was the first interesting piece of this series....the Ducks lost Game 2 in double overtime....with JS Giguere in net.....so for those of you who don't know, that was his first (and still his only) loss in a playoff overtime game EVER (he's 12-1 in his career, including these playoffs....that loss made him 8-1, so he's won four since). Game 3 the Ducks retook home ice advantage by winning 3-2 in Vancouver. Game 4 was the next interesting piece of this series, as the Ducks were down 2-0 going into the third period, but an early goal by Chris Pronger and a late goal by Teemu Selanne tied the game and sent it to overtime, where Travis Moen scored to give the Ducks a 3-1 series lead. But HERE'S where it gets even more interesting, because immediately after Moen's goal went in and I knew the Ducks could close out the series at Honda Center in Game 5, my friend Ferenc and I got onto the Ducks website and bought tickets for Game 5! So we got to go to the game, and saw an excellent, double overtime win by the Ducks 2-1 to finish off the Canucks! But it gets better....
The third round put Ducks against the Detroit Red Wings, whom I hate a lot. What's worse is that Detroit has Todd Bertuzzi, who I think should've been banned from the NHL after that hit on Steve Moore a few years ago. Anyways, so Game 1 rolls around and the Red Wings come out hard and win 2-1 behind great goaltending by Dominik Hasek and two (kinda flukey) powerplay goals. It would become a theme in this series that Anaheim would own the Wings 5-on-5 but would get burned when they took penalties. Game 2 rolls around on Mother's Day, and so I watched the game at home with my mother and sister (neither are big with hockey, but realize how much it means to me and how important the third round of the playoffs is, so we all sat and watched it) and the Ducks win in Detroit 4-3 in overtime!!! So I think everything is going well for the Ducks.....series tied 1-1 and headed back to Anaheim.....but then in Game 3 the Red Wings hand our asses to us 5-0. To make matters worse, Chris Pronger (probably our best player) lays a stupid hit on Thomas Holmstrom of the Red Wings and gets himself suspended for Game 4 (I'm not sure it should've gotten a suspension, since I think part of it was that Rob Neidermeyer had hit Holmstrom a second before and Pronger is so big that the hit did more damage than intended, but whatever, it happened). So here I'm beginning to think our season might be circling the toilet, but I knew the Ducks responded well to tough losses all year long, and this was no different as the Ducks came out and won 5-3 to even the series 2-2. Game 5 back in Detroit was very interesting....we get Pronger back, but Detroit outplays the Ducks in virtually every category and has a 1-0 lead with 1:47 left in the game (and the Ducks have literally had nothing go their way all afternoon). Then the Red Wings take a penalty and the Ducks pull their goalie to have a 6-on-4 advantage, and it pays off as Scott Neidermeyer scores with 47 seconds left to tie the game 1-1! Then we head to overtime where the Red Wings turn the puck over right in front of Hasek.....to Teemu Selanne....who backhands it home and gives Anaheim a 3-2 series lead. But here's where it gets interesting again....again immediately after the Ducks scored to win game 5, I got online and again found tickets to see the Ducks and Wings play Game 6 at Honda Center, so I bought them and we went! So we got to see the Ducks close out the Wings (4-3 was the final score) at home and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals!!!
Now that would be good enough, but even that's not the best part.....
In 2003 the Ducks also made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, and tickets sold out in 30 minutes, and sadly I couldn't go see them play. I swore to myself that the next time the Ducks made it to the SCF, I would do whatever it took to see them play. So the tickets go on sale and sell out in 10 minutes! So I'm without a ticket and very bummed out....so I'm looking on the Anaheim Ducks message board, and I see a post discussing ticket prices on ticket exchange and on ebay ($300-$500 for nosebleed seats) and this woman makes the comment that her friend hadn't been able to sell his tickets for $150 and that she might suggest he put them on ebay. I respond that I would've gladly paid $150 for those tickets, and she sends me a private message saying "I knew someone would be smart enough to catch on." Hah! So she hooks me up with her friend Jason, who happens to have tickets to games 1 and 2 of the SCF against the Ottawa Senators for sale, although not for the $150 she had said, but whatever. Game 1 tickets were $200 each and Game 2 tickets were $225 each. So Ferenc and I bought tickets to games 1 and 2! Game 1 was last night and we won 3-2!!! So I've now been to a Stanley Cup Final game to see the Ducks play and we win!!! And if one wasn't good enough, I get a second one tomorrow (which hopefully we also win)!!!!! THAT is the best part....that I have now been able to do something I've always wanted to do....see the Ducks play in the Stanley Cup Finals at Honda Center, and they win the game!!! Man this is so awesome!
So now we're 3 wins away from a Stanley Cup! I'm hoping that I don't see the Ducks lose another tough SCF series, but this time I believe Anaheim really is the stronger team in this series AND we have home ice (last time the road team won a Stanley Cup was 1997), AND we have a 1-0 series lead right now. Hopefully this continues, so we can finally win a Cup!!
So I'm proud of you if you read all of this! If not, I don't blame you, it's a lot.
So first, the advisor search. I went to talk to Professor Merkurjev and he agreed to do a reading course with me in the fall to see if I would be a good fit for the kind of math he likes to do. This is good for several reasons: first, he's a big name in the world of algebra, so being at UCLA he's the best I could ever hope for; second, there are a lot of other students interested in algebra and not many profs who study it, so it seems I now have the inside track with Merk over these other students; and finally, it's really what I want to do so I'm sure I'll enjoy it (as much as one enjoys the pain in the ass that is the PhD dissertation). So I have several books to read this summer, many for Merk, but also one for that nagging final qual that I have to take in the fall (boy will I be happy when that little fucker is over and done with).
But now onto more important things, of the Duck variety (there's a lot, so be warned!). So when last I posted, the Ducks were in the first round with the Minnesota Wild, and were up 3-1. They were actually up 3-0 at one point (winning 2-1, 3-2, and 2-1 in the first three games) before the Wild unloaded on the Ducks in game 4, winning 4-1. The Ducks answered with a 4-1 win of their own back at Honda Center (formerly known as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim; many now call it the "Ponda" but I haven't taken to that yet). Anyways, the first round wasn't terribly exciting, as I never truly believed that the Wild could beat the Ducks.
The second round against the Vancouver Canucks was more interesting, and for many reasons. It started out nicely enough, with the Ducks hammering the Canucks in Game 1 5-1. Game 2 was the first interesting piece of this series....the Ducks lost Game 2 in double overtime....with JS Giguere in net.....so for those of you who don't know, that was his first (and still his only) loss in a playoff overtime game EVER (he's 12-1 in his career, including these playoffs....that loss made him 8-1, so he's won four since). Game 3 the Ducks retook home ice advantage by winning 3-2 in Vancouver. Game 4 was the next interesting piece of this series, as the Ducks were down 2-0 going into the third period, but an early goal by Chris Pronger and a late goal by Teemu Selanne tied the game and sent it to overtime, where Travis Moen scored to give the Ducks a 3-1 series lead. But HERE'S where it gets even more interesting, because immediately after Moen's goal went in and I knew the Ducks could close out the series at Honda Center in Game 5, my friend Ferenc and I got onto the Ducks website and bought tickets for Game 5! So we got to go to the game, and saw an excellent, double overtime win by the Ducks 2-1 to finish off the Canucks! But it gets better....
The third round put Ducks against the Detroit Red Wings, whom I hate a lot. What's worse is that Detroit has Todd Bertuzzi, who I think should've been banned from the NHL after that hit on Steve Moore a few years ago. Anyways, so Game 1 rolls around and the Red Wings come out hard and win 2-1 behind great goaltending by Dominik Hasek and two (kinda flukey) powerplay goals. It would become a theme in this series that Anaheim would own the Wings 5-on-5 but would get burned when they took penalties. Game 2 rolls around on Mother's Day, and so I watched the game at home with my mother and sister (neither are big with hockey, but realize how much it means to me and how important the third round of the playoffs is, so we all sat and watched it) and the Ducks win in Detroit 4-3 in overtime!!! So I think everything is going well for the Ducks.....series tied 1-1 and headed back to Anaheim.....but then in Game 3 the Red Wings hand our asses to us 5-0. To make matters worse, Chris Pronger (probably our best player) lays a stupid hit on Thomas Holmstrom of the Red Wings and gets himself suspended for Game 4 (I'm not sure it should've gotten a suspension, since I think part of it was that Rob Neidermeyer had hit Holmstrom a second before and Pronger is so big that the hit did more damage than intended, but whatever, it happened). So here I'm beginning to think our season might be circling the toilet, but I knew the Ducks responded well to tough losses all year long, and this was no different as the Ducks came out and won 5-3 to even the series 2-2. Game 5 back in Detroit was very interesting....we get Pronger back, but Detroit outplays the Ducks in virtually every category and has a 1-0 lead with 1:47 left in the game (and the Ducks have literally had nothing go their way all afternoon). Then the Red Wings take a penalty and the Ducks pull their goalie to have a 6-on-4 advantage, and it pays off as Scott Neidermeyer scores with 47 seconds left to tie the game 1-1! Then we head to overtime where the Red Wings turn the puck over right in front of Hasek.....to Teemu Selanne....who backhands it home and gives Anaheim a 3-2 series lead. But here's where it gets interesting again....again immediately after the Ducks scored to win game 5, I got online and again found tickets to see the Ducks and Wings play Game 6 at Honda Center, so I bought them and we went! So we got to see the Ducks close out the Wings (4-3 was the final score) at home and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals!!!
Now that would be good enough, but even that's not the best part.....
In 2003 the Ducks also made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, and tickets sold out in 30 minutes, and sadly I couldn't go see them play. I swore to myself that the next time the Ducks made it to the SCF, I would do whatever it took to see them play. So the tickets go on sale and sell out in 10 minutes! So I'm without a ticket and very bummed out....so I'm looking on the Anaheim Ducks message board, and I see a post discussing ticket prices on ticket exchange and on ebay ($300-$500 for nosebleed seats) and this woman makes the comment that her friend hadn't been able to sell his tickets for $150 and that she might suggest he put them on ebay. I respond that I would've gladly paid $150 for those tickets, and she sends me a private message saying "I knew someone would be smart enough to catch on." Hah! So she hooks me up with her friend Jason, who happens to have tickets to games 1 and 2 of the SCF against the Ottawa Senators for sale, although not for the $150 she had said, but whatever. Game 1 tickets were $200 each and Game 2 tickets were $225 each. So Ferenc and I bought tickets to games 1 and 2! Game 1 was last night and we won 3-2!!! So I've now been to a Stanley Cup Final game to see the Ducks play and we win!!! And if one wasn't good enough, I get a second one tomorrow (which hopefully we also win)!!!!! THAT is the best part....that I have now been able to do something I've always wanted to do....see the Ducks play in the Stanley Cup Finals at Honda Center, and they win the game!!! Man this is so awesome!
So now we're 3 wins away from a Stanley Cup! I'm hoping that I don't see the Ducks lose another tough SCF series, but this time I believe Anaheim really is the stronger team in this series AND we have home ice (last time the road team won a Stanley Cup was 1997), AND we have a 1-0 series lead right now. Hopefully this continues, so we can finally win a Cup!!
So I'm proud of you if you read all of this! If not, I don't blame you, it's a lot.