Rocking the Pond: The First Season of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

Ian A. Andrews is a high-school social sciences teacher and editor of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association’s Focus.

In the true entrepreneurial spirit of the Disney Corporation, Dean
Chadwin has chosen to entertain readers by playing the role of
cheerleader for the new entry in the National Hockey League’s 1993-94
season, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. With partisan commentary, Chadwin
attempts to persuade readers that the Mighty Ducks were “one of the
most successful expansion teams in NHL history,” on the basis of a
season in which they lost 13 more games than they won and failed to make
the playoffs. The success came not on the ice, but in marketing and
promotion.

The reader is left with the impression that Anaheim had assembled
remarkable personnel in management, coaching, and on the ice. The season
is chronicled game by game, goal by goal, with obvious emphasis placed
on the prowess of the Mighty Ducks.

Nor is Chadwin reluctant to express his opinions about other teams and
personalities, or about hockey in general. He states that “first-year
teams don’t get any breaks from the refs,” especially after an
Anaheim loss, and maintains that the Ottawa Senators are “the
league’s worst joke, playing at a level of incompetence that the
Mighty Ducks had never approached.”

Rocking the Pond is best suited for adolescent, or adult, fans who are
hooked on the glitter and promotion provided by the owners of the Mighty
Ducks, the powerful Disney Corporation. Dean Chadwin is, without doubt,
one of those fans.