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About Curtis Zupke

Curtis Zupke grew up in Los Angeles and got hooked on hockey (along with thousands of other Southern Californians) upon Wayne Gretzky’s arrival to the Kings in 1988.

He covered the Anaheim Ducks for the Orange County (Calif.) Register from 2006 to 2011.

His work has also appeared in The Hockey News, Associated Press and QMI Agency (a Quebec-based wire service that serves 250 daily and weekly newspapers in Canada).

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Ellis getting comfortable in Anaheim Print
Monday, March 14, 2011 23:20

Dan Ellis has transitioned nicely from a backup in Tampa Bay to starter in Anaheim, making it look easy. The Ducks will need him if they intend on making the playoffs.

ANAHEIM – The transition from seldom-used backup to starter is not easy to make for a goalie.

It’s a different mindset, different routine and a brighter spotlight. Throw in the pressure of the Western Conference playoff race and it’s enough to turn one’s brain to jelly.

But Dan Ellis has ably filled the role for the Anaheim Ducks, who are banking on his veteran presence as they cling to aspirations of a top-eight spot in the West.

Ellis brought a 5-1-1 record with a 2.21 goals-against average over seven straight starts with the Ducks into Sunday night’s divisional matchup with Phoenix.

That’s impressive considering Ellis hadn’t started consecutive games since Dec. 26 and 28 for Tampa Bay, and had just four starts in 2011 prior to coming to Anaheim.

“It’s a little bit of an adjustment when your role changes quite drastically,” Ellis said. “You have a few things that you have to do differently, how you prepare yourself, your conditioning level, how you practice and work on a few extra drills.

You don’t have quite the energy level to do that in practice and then play every single night. You’ve got to find a happy medium to manage yourself, manage your body and prepare yourself to give yourself a chance to win. Right now you just do what you can.”

Ellis and the Ducks are trying to do what they can without Jonas Hiller, who remains out indefinitely with vertigo symptoms.

Ellis was brought in through a Feb. 24 trade with Tampa Bay to stop the bleeding after former Ducks backup Curtis McElhinney struggled mightily. Formerly relegated to backup duty behind Dwayne Roloson with the Lightning, Ellis is thrust back into the starter role that he lost to Pekka Rinne in Nashville.

While he’ll become a backup whenever Hiller returns, Ellis is the man for now. Sunday’s 5-2 loss to Phoenix was the first time in eight starts that he allowed more than three goals and he was replaced by Ray Emery, who played his first NHL game since Feb.1, 2010.

But Ellis has proved he is up to the task. He has beaten Detroit’s Jimmy Howard, Kari Lehtonen of Dallas and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers.

Now comes the hard part: Helping shoehorn the Ducks into the playoffs with the four other Pacific Division teams in the top six in the West as of Monday morning.

Ellis, one of the better-spoken players in the locker room, seems cool, calm and collected for whatever comes next as he shrugged off Sunday’s letdown.

“I don’t know if it was bound happen but it does happen at times,” he said.

“Sometimes things don’t go your way. Things have gone very well to this point but now it’s a chance for a bounce back game. You just have to use it as momentum to turn things around.”

Notes

The Coyotes’ ownership saga turned contentious last week when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman threw a public jab at the Goldwater Institute when he reportedly said that it "has placed a cloud on the bonds" needed to complete the sale of the Coyotes to Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer. Glendale needs to complete the agreement to keep the Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena ... Injuries have forced Dallas and Phoenix to put prospects Tomas Vincour and Brett MacLean in significant roles. Vincour, 20, has played with Brad Richards and Loui Eriksson on the top line while MacLean, 22, has been used on the second line and was credited with his first game-winner in his fifth NHL game in last Thursday’s 3-0 victory against Calgary … Anaheim rewarded defenseman Luca Sbisa for his progression this season with a four-year contract extension worth $8.7 million. Sbisa was the throw-in piece to the trade with Philadelphia that brought Joffrey Lupul to the Ducks for Chris Pronger. … Los Angeles improved to 20-for-20 on the penalty kill over its last six games Sunday and has killed 21 consecutive power plays overall. … San Jose has been involved in perhaps the two best games this season: a 5-4 shootout loss to Vancouver last Thursday in which the teams scored three times in the final 2:13 of regulation and a 5-4 shootout victory against Philadelphia on Dec. 8 that many called the game of the year.

Photos by Getty Images

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Last Updated on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 09:22