STANLEY CUP FINALS NOTEBOOK

updated 3:05 a.m. ET June 7, 2007

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Anaheim Ducks coach Randy Carlyle played 17 seasons in the NHL and never won the Stanley Cup. His players helped make that happen with a 6-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night.

“I’m going to savor this for a few days,” he said.

Carlyle retired as a player in 1993, remaining with the now-defunct Winnipeg organization’s staff and becoming an assistant coach in 1995-96. He became the Ducks’ head coach two seasons ago.

Carlyle played in four NHL All-Star games and won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman in 1981. He scored nine goals in 69 postseason games without a championship.

He’s already planned where he will spend his 24 hours with the Cup, an honor given to members of the winning organization.

“It will go back to Azilda Arena where I played minor hockey in my hometown,” he said. “Go there for half a day and take it to my cottage. There’s a community center in the hamlet of Rockville on Manitoba Island, and I’d like it to go there.”

Cali's first time
The Ducks became the first California team to win the Stanley Cup, 14 years after the franchise began.

They were just the fifth West Coast team since 1926 to play in the finals. The Ducks are the first West Coast team to win the Cup since the 1925 Victoria, Canada, Cougars, and the first U.S. West Coast team to win since the 1917 Seattle Metropolitans.

“Canada loves their hockey,” said Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer, the MVP of the playoffs. “From what I heard out there, we have quite a few fans who love their hockey out here too, and are going to have a lot of fun with this.

“We have great fans who supported us all year and they need to enjoy this as much as us.”

Coming up empty
After scoring 34 goals in the regular season and seven more in Ottawa’s first three rounds of the playoffs, Ottawa’s Jason Spezza came up empty in the Stanley Cup finals.

He made no excuses.

“I knew if I didn’t play better it would be tough for us to win,” said the Ottawa center, who turns 24 next week. “It’s extremely disappointing to come this far and lose. We rolled along pretty good for three rounds. We couldn’t get everybody rolling in this series.”

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Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley, the other members of Ottawa’s top line, were also held mostly in check by the Ducks — Alfredsson had four goals including both scores Wednesday night, and Heatley had one goal.

Spezza said he thought his line’s ineffectiveness was a combination of their ineptitude and Anaheim’s fine play.

“We didn’t seem to create enough,” he said. “They did a good job of neutralizing our chances.”

Alfredsson said the Ducks’ superior depth made a difference.

“It seemed like they were better than us,” he said.

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