Mighty Ducks and their Mighty Cup [J. Mark English]

Hard to believe that a team named for a Disney children's movie will now have their names engraved on Lord Stanley's hallowed cup. This should have been Ottawa's time to reclaim what was once their for so many decades ions ago.

But alas, this is a new age, and for the first time in 82 years a team from the west coast has prevailed and will drink from the Cup. Here is a great wrap up from Allen Panzeri of Canada.com:

The post-mortem is not going to be pretty. Nor should it be.

While the Anaheim Ducks were very much the superior team and full marks for their first Stanley Cup title, which they clinched Wednesday night with a 6-2 victory, the question in Ottawa will be: What happened to the Senators?

The team that fell on its swords in only five games in the best-of-seven NHL championship final was not the team that needed only 15 games to win the first three rounds.

Something disappeared between the clinching game in the Eastern Conference final and the start of the final round, and no one could find it despite persistent probing by coach Bryan Murray.

Whether Murray will be around to help answer that question is a question. He’s now without a contract, and owner Eugene Melnyk could well be looking for a scapegoat to carry the can. He can’t be happy, not only with his team’s loss in only five games in the final, but also with the way it lost.

Maybe Murray will decide he doesn’t want to be around for another shot. He has to be bitter to see such a promising season unravel in five games.

Yet, there will be more than enough blame to go around. Few will have to worry about not getting a proper share.

The Ducks become the first California team to win the Stanley Cup and the first Western-based team to win it since the Victoria Cougars in 1925.

Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.