Cool Reception Is OK for Mighty Duck Fans

Toss the ring toss and get ready to study some X’s and O’s. The Mighty Ducks are mixing fun with fundamentals--game fundamentals, that is--at their FanFair charity event.

The organization is deviating from the carnival atmosphere of past events, where fans vied for Duck memorabilia by tossing rings, throwing darts and spinning a wheel at game booths manned by players.

At this year’s FanFair, to be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Arrowhead Pond, Duck Assistant General Manager David McNab will lecture on how the team analyzes and selects players during the NHL’s annual amateur draft. President and General Manager Pierre Gauthier will talk about how Duck management negotiates contracts with players. Coaches will explain on-ice strategy.

Pretty nitty-gritty stuff for a festive event that usually possesses a large family appeal.

But despite these discussions on the behind-the-scenes operations of the Ducks, don’t expect this year’s FanFair to be akin to attending a corporate shareholders’ meeting. The chief appeal of this event is that it gives fans a chance to meet and chat with players. Ducks will sign autographs, and for the first time at FanFair, fans will have an opportunity to be photographed with players.

For an extra $10, attendees will be allowed to skate with three or four players on Pond ice. There will be six sessions, each limited to 50 skaters. Tickets for this segment of FanFair are available only in advance.

“The fans are usually really supportive [of the players at these type of events when the team is playing poorly],” said Duck forward Marty McInnis, who is the player spokesman for FanFair. “Sometimes they give you advice. But mostly they tell you to keep working hard and things will turn around.”

These are pretty dour times for an organization that is struggling through another subpar season. Going into Wednesday’s game, the Ducks were last in their division, with a 13-19-5 record. Beleaguered Coach Craig Hartsburg was fired last month and replaced by assistant Guy Charron. Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne--the team’s best players, as well as two of the NHL’s elite talents--have battled significant injuries this season. And fan interest has waned. On some game nights, the once-packed Pond appears less than half full.

The Ducks’ Disney ownership and Gauthier have been criticized by fans for not assembling a better team. A frequent complaint is that Disney hasn’t used enough of its enormous wealth to acquire top but high-priced talent. (The organization has a higher player payroll than more than two-thirds of the 30-team NHL.) It’s a budget issue that relates to Gauthier’s upcoming FanFair talk on negotiating contracts.

“I’m really proud of the Ducks that they’re [dealing with] hot topics at FanFair,” said Jennie Ghear, who has been a season-ticket holder since the team’s inaugural season in 1993.

“The Ducks, especially Pierre Gauthier, are getting a lot of flak for some of the personnel decisions they’ve made and how some of the dollar values are arrived at in regard to contract negotiations. So for them to put those issues on the table at FanFair tells people in advance that they’re going to have an opportunity to ask pointed questions.”

Ghear, a Lake Forest resident, said some fans may come away from the presentations with a less critical view of Duck ownership and management.

For die-hard Duck fans such as Ghear and her husband, Bob, FanFair represents one of the few chances to interact with players. This is especially true now that the Catch is no longer in business. Until last year, many players and fans converged after home games at the restaurant-bar, down the street from the Pond off Katella Avenue.

Casino Night and Dux in Tux are two other annual charity events where fans can interact with the players. Casino Night will take place Feb. 17. Fans gamble while players deal cards and roll the dice. Dux in Tux transpired in December and featured players acting as waiters for fans at a benefit dinner. Last year, a ticket to Casino Night cost $125; a Dux in Tux ducat was priced at $250. Admission to FanFair is $25.

Ghear said Duck players are far more down to earth and fan-friendly than the Angels.

“I’ve also been a season-ticket holder with the Angels since 1979,” she said. “In all those years I have never felt the Angel players really wanted to be involved or wanted to interact with their fans.”

“Hockey players learn how to respect people [before they get to the NHL],” added Phil Reed, a charter Duck season-ticket holder and a FanFair veteran from Placentia. “They aren’t pampered like football players and basketball and baseball players.”

The proceeds from FanFair will benefit the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation. Spokeswoman Rene Zidan said Duck players are particularly supportive of children’s charities because many of them have kids. She said McInnis and his wife, Missy, jumped at the chance to help spearhead FanFair. They have a 2 1/2-year-old child and a baby on the way.

Although FanFair will not include carnival games this year, participants can play hockey broadcaster at a tape-recorded fantasy play-by-play attraction. Fans also will be able to play table hockey games and fly the remote-controlled Duck blimp around the Pond’s interior.

“We’ve kind of toned down the game portion of FanFair just because when people come down, they really want the autographs,” Zidan said. “That’s why we also added the photo opportunities with the players. And we’ve made it more interactive with the play-by-play [attraction] and the blimp.”

FanFair wasn’t held last year for the first time in the Ducks’ brief existence. The organization instead decided to hold a benefit skate-a-thon where kids raised money for charity by skating with players. Because of demand, the Ducks decided to bring back FanFair this year. Zidan said she expects about 3,000 fans for the event.

Southern California sports fans are sometimes portrayed as fickle and fair-weathered. FanFair is partly a tribute to those fiercely loyal fans such as Ghear and Reed, who stick with the team through thick and thin.

“It’s always good to take part in these events because these fans are the ones that appreciate us the most,” noted McInnis, a Massachusetts native. “They come out to see us play and they keep the excitement up. You play for the fans. Hopefully, you build a loyalty and a trust with them.”

The Ducks will also host a Dodge / NHL SuperSkills competition today at the Pond. Players will compete for titles such as fastest skater, hardest shot and most accurate shot. The Dodge / NHL SuperSkills competition takes place in every NHL market. The event culminates on NHL All-Star Saturday, Feb. 3, in Denver, with a league-wide competition.

* Mighty Ducks FanFair, Arrowhead Pond, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim. Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. $25. (714) 703-2545.

* Dodge/NHL SuperSkills competition, Arrowhead Pond, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim. Today, 4 p.m. $5, (714) 703-2545.