Anaheim to the Finals: 2003 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Paul Kariya

Karyia's goal gave the Mighty Ducks an improbable 2-1 triple OT win in Game 1 of their conference quarterfinal series. Goaltender Jean-Sebastian Giguere set a playoff record for most saves in a postseason debut, stopping an incredible 63 of Detroit's 64 shots.

Answer: 2:12

Krog tied the game late in the third period, and Thomas scored just 2:12 later to help give the Ducks a 3-2 win in Game 2, and a surprising 2-0 series lead on the Red Wings.

Answer: False

The Ducks' 2-1 Game 2 win was their first home playoff victory against the Red Wings in five tries, but not their first ever. The Ducks had won three of their four home games in their only other playoff series win, a seven game win over the Phoenix Coyotes in 1997.

Answer: Steve Rucchin

Rucchin's goal off of a one-timer 6:53 into overtime, helped the Ducks finish off a sweep of the Red Wings for just their second playoff series win ever.

Answer: 5

Petr Sykora scored 50 seconds into the fifth overtime to give the Ducks a 4-3 win in Game 1 at Dallas. This game was the second longest game in recent playoff history at 140:50, with Game 4 between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in 2000, being the only game longer at 152:01.

Answer: Mike Leclerc

Leclerc's goal 1:44 into overtime gave the Ducks a 2-0 series lead on Dallas. Anaheim was now undefeated in its first six games of the 2003 postseason, including an incredible 4-0 record on the road.

Answer: 2-1

Jere Lehtinen scored both goals as the Stars finally ended Anaheim's playoff winning streak in Dallas' 2-1 Game 3 victory.

Answer: 28

Giguere who was phenomenal the whole postseason thus far but did not earn a shutout until this game, stopped all 28 Stars shots in Anaheim's 1-0 Game 4 victory. Mike Leclerc scored his second game-winner of the series on a power play with just 1:47 remaining in regulation.

Answer: True

Giguere was pulled after the second period for letting up three goals on 20 shots in his worst game of the playoffs up to that point. Niko Kapanen scored two of those goals, as the Stars gave Anaheim its first road loss of the 2003 playoffs and staved off elimination.

Answer: Sandis Ozolinsh

Ozolinsh scored with 1:04 remaining in regulation to give the Ducks a 4-3 win in front of their home crowd. Anaheim finished off Dallas in six games to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history.

Answer: Petr Sykora

Sykora beat Wild goalie Manny Fernandez on a backhander 8:06 into the second overtime, as the Ducks won Game 1 by a 1-0 margin. The Ducks improved their record in overtime to 5-0, with three of those games taking multiple extra sessions.

Answer: both goals were scored while shorthanded

Both Ducks goals, scored by Rob Niedermayer and Kurt Sauer, were scored during Minnesota power plays. The Ducks, for the third straight series, took a 2-0 series lead while winning both games on the road.

Answer: 2nd

Giguere was only the second goalie in NHL history to record three straight postseason shutouts, the first being Toronto's Frank McCool in 1945. Paul Karyia paced the Ducks in Game 3, scoring two goals in Anaheim's 4-0 victory. Minnesota, who had come back from 3-1 deficits against Colorado and Vancouver in the previous two rounds, was now in a 3-0 hole.

Answer: Andrew Brunette

Brunette's power play goal 4:37 into the first period finally gave Minnesota its first goal, and lead of the series. Unfortunately for the Wild, that would be their only offense of the series, as they lost 2-1 in Game 4. The Ducks completed the sweep thanks largely to two goals by Adam Oates, not to mention a great performance by Giguere on his 26th birthday. Minnesota set a record for offensive futility in a best-of-seven series, breaking the previous mark of two goals set by the 2002 Flyers vs Ottawa.

The Ducks were now off to their first Stanley Cup Finals.

Answer: Ducks

Anaheim came into the Finals with only two losses, both to Dallas in the second round. New Jersey had a harder road to the Finals. They had beaten each of their first two opponents, Boston and Tampa Bay, in five games, but went the full seven in their epic Eastern Conference Finals against Ottawa. With each of the two finalists being right near major metropolitan areas, this series was labeled, "Not Quite New York vs Almost Los Angeles."

Answer: Jeff Friesen

Friesen scored the game-winner and iced the contest with an empty netter in New Jersey's Game 1 win over Anaheim. Friesen had scored the Devils' biggest goal of the playoffs to this point, notching the game-winner in their 3-2 victory in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Ottawa.

Answer: 6th

Brodeur tied Dominik Hasek's postseason record for shutouts in a playoffs with his 6th, as he made 16 saves in the Devils' 3-0 game 2 victory. The Ducks, after leading their other three series 2-0, were now in a hole of that margin.

Answer: Ruslan Salei

Anaheim's faceoff dominance finally paid off in overtime of game 3, as Adam Oates' faceoff win led directly to the game-winning goal on a big wrist shot by Salei, giving the Ducks a 3-2 victory to shrink the series deficit to 2-1.

Answer: Steve Thomas

Thomas buried a rebound just 39 seconds into overtime as the Ducks tied the Stanley Cup Finals at two. Anaheim improved to 6-0 in overtime games, while New Jersey dropped to just 2-4 in games with extra sessions.

Answer: 9

New Jersey took a 3-2 series lead with a 6-3 win over Anaheim in New Jersey. This game was very unusual for a matchup between these two very defensive-minded clubs, but the Devils were still happy to come out on top. Giguere let up six goals on 37 shots in what was by far his worst game of the postseason.

Answer: Scott Stevens

Stevens' open-ice hit on Kariya left him motionless for a few moments, but he came back and later beat Brodeur on a booming slapshot for the Ducks' fourth goal of the game. They would win 5-2 to send the series back to New Jersey for Game 7.

Answer: 9

New Jersey won its third Stanley Cup in nine years after defeating the Mighty Ducks 3-0 in Game 7. Martin Brodeur set a postseason record with his seventh shutout of the 2003 playoffs. Michael Rupp, a call-up to replace an injured Joe Nieuwendyk, ended up being the game's first star by scoring the game-winning goal and assisting on the Devils' other two scores.

Answer: Jean-Sebastian Giguere

Giguere was awarded the Conn Smythe for his unbelievable play in goal throughout the 2003 playoffs. He became only the fifth player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe on the losing team from the Finals, joining Roger Crozier, Glenn Hall, Reggie Leach, and Ron Hextall.

The award was justified, for while many Devils were great, none were spectacular, not even Brodeur. Conversely, the Ducks would not have gotten anywhere near the Finals without the heroics of Giguere.

Answer: Niedermayers

Rob (Anaheim) and Scott (New Jersey) Niedermayer were the first set of brothers to face each other in a Stanley Cup Finals in many years. When asked who to root for, their mother claimed that she was pulling for the Ducks, since Rob had never won a Cup, while Scott already had two before this series.

Answer: he went through a messy separation with his wife, Melanie

Brodeur's affair with a mistress was revealed early in the season by a Quebecois tabloid. His wife immediately left him, and was so angry at Martin that she would taunt him before every one of his games. Melanie would try to throw her ex-husband off of his game by calling him before every game and telling him who she was currently dating. Somehow, these calls did not distract Brodeur in the least bit, as he won a Stanley Cup and the 2002-03 Vezina Trophy for best goaltender. Melanie had to have been one angry lady after her distraction attempts failed.