By Jim den Hollander
Editor/Publisher
Saukhockey.info
October has been a crazy month for the Dells Ducks and they saved the craziest part for month’s end.
The team will wrap up a six-game week with four games at the Blaine (MN) Showcase being held at Fogerty Ice Arena starting tomorrow (Wednesday, Oct. 25). They will be one of eight Midwest-West Division teams taking part along with others from the Midwest-East, Great Lakes and Northwest Divisions.
Showcase play began Tuesday with a pair of games and the Ducks will open its Showcase with the third start of the day Wednesday, against the Isanti Outlaws who will be already facing off for a second time, dropping an 8-4 decision to the Nashville Spartans Tuesday.
On Thursday, the Ducks will return to play its first cross-division match of the season when they lineup against the Chicago Cougars. Friday the Ducks will play twice, facing off against the Steele County Blades from their own division and followed up by the Decatur Blaze from the Midwest-East.We
Following is a quick look at each game Ducks will play.
Game 1 – Wednesday Oct. 25, 11:10 a.m. (CDT) vs. Isanti Outlaws.
A case can be made why all four games are vital for the Ducks, but this one out of the gate carries a ton of importance.
A quick look at the division standings shows the Ducks at 1-8-1-1 currently sitting at the bottom of the Midwest-West Division in ninth place. The team has had plenty of promising moments and periods but so far has gotten just one win to the finish line.
As the ninth-place team, the Ducks would be excluded from the playoffs if it started today.
Particularly disappointing was the Ducks’ home opening weekend against the Outlaws who captured the first win in a shootout and wrapped up the weekend with a more lopsided 6-2 win.
Take away its pair against the Ducks and the Outlaws have just one other win, also coming in a shootout.
It’s way too early to panic, but the Ducks clearly need to make the most of the games against teams close to them in the standings if they hope to be playing playoff hockey this season. The Outlaws currently sit three points and three positions in front of the Ducks so if they don’t want to see the Outlaws riding off into the sunset, they need to get things together Wednesday and close the gap.
Game 2 – Thursday, Oct. 26 10:40 a.m. vs. Chicago Cougars
The Cougars and Ducks play in different divisions but there is a rivalry between them going back to the Cougars’ first days.
Both teams were brought to the league by former owner John Schwarz so until a few seasons ago, they were sister clubs. In their early seasons, the teams squared off frequently and had a couple memorably playoff series.
Since the Midwest-East was formed, the Cougars have been the division’s top entry, but the Ducks always seem to play them tough. Last season, thanks to the goaltending of Chris Maszurek, but the Ducks captured a 1-0 win against the Cougars at the Chicago Showcase.
The Cougars roll into Blaine playing at .500 with a 3-3-1-1 record an both teams will be hungry for a ‘W’ on Thursday.
Game 3 – Friday Oct. 27, 11:40 a.m. vs. Steele County Blades.
The Blades are one of three Midwest-West Division team the Ducks have yet to play this season.
Both the Ducks and 2-4-0-1 Blades expected to be off to stronger starts this season. The Blades hae played four fewer games than the Ducks
Currently both are in a pack of bottom four teams, sixth to ninth separated by a total of three points. A good Showcase could move one or more of those teams closer to the top five which is starting to move away from the bottom pack.
Last season, the Ducks and Blades split their four meetins. This season with the Showcase game, they will faceoff five times against each other.
Game 4 – Friday Oct. 27, 5 p.m. vs. Decatur Blaze
The Blaze had no wins in 44 games last season, but turned some heads when they opened the 2023-24 season taking two of three on home ice against the Cougars. Since then, the Blaze has lost eight straight and come into the Showcase even with the Ducks, both with four points in 11 games.
Hopefully by the time the Ducks roll into this finale, they will be looking for a cherry on top of a great showing in Blaine and not looking for some consolation to take home. The Ducks seldom match up with the Blaze but have mostly been successful against them in the past.
Overall – This is a chance for the Ducks to salvage the month and head into an equally busy month of November. The main thing missing for the young squad is game confidence and backing it up by doing whatever it takes on the ice. This week could decide whether the Ducks make their move as expected into the Midwest-West mid-pack or continue to slog with the other teams in the basement. These are four big games.
Duck Quacks – So far this season, the Ducks have relied heavily on goaltenders Anthony Falzone and Michael Carden. Injuries have delivered a great opportunity for Juan Aguilar and Jack Freiburger to make decisions tougher for the coaching staff. bru
Both Carden and Falzone turned in solid efforts against the Moose the past weekend. Carden got to the end, but later displayed concussion symptoms so he is out of action this week. Falzone left the game early suffering what turned out to be a bruised sternum. He would currently be classed as questionable for these games.
Aguilar went to the crease against the Isanti Outlaws in the Ducks’ home opener and turned in an amazing effort, ultimately surrendering a 4-3 decision in Shootout. An’other solid performance or two in Blaine would make the goaltending decision tougher.
Freiburger joined the team recently from Dubuque and got his first chance to stop pucks Saturday after the injury to Falzone. He came off the bench and stopped 10 of 11 against the Moose.
It will be interesting to see where the Ducks sit, but the time they arrive back in the Dells Friday night.
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