How do you get down off an elephant?

... you don't get down off an elephant; you get down off a duck!

Embarrassingly, I never got that joke until many years after I first heard it; and only then when my big brother explained it to me.

How do you get down from a Stanley Cup championship in southern California? If you're a Duck, it's from meeting a hot team in the first round of the playoffs.

The Dallas Stars were full measure for their eliminating the defending champion Anaheim Ducks in 6 games. Stars netminder Marty Turko was almost unbeatable much of the time. I think the Ducks just never quite recovered from that blowout in game one on home ice.

Am I disappointed? Yes. However, the Ducks did provide an exciting season, especially with the return of Scott Niedermeyer and Teemu Selanne who scored several key goals down the stretch.

I am mostly disappointed that the Ducks have missed the opportunity to repeat as Stanley Cup champs. Winning back to back may have placed them among some of the great teams in NHL history. But it was not to be. Quack.