The Ducks played their final game of the regular season on Sunday night at home against the Avalanche, and it was a pretty special night at the Honda Center. The beloved Teemu Selanne, who has spent fifteen years over two different stints playing for the Ducks, dressed for what was likely his final regular season game of his illustrious NHL career.
The Ducks and their fans had a great send-off for Teemu, making sure he was honored in several ways. The Ducks, usually captained by Ryan Getzlaf, gave Selanne the ‘C’ to wear for the night. The team honored some of Teemu’s greatest career moments in a tribute video prior to opening puck drop. Check out that video below:
Hell, the arena was even selling pretzels in the shape of Teemu’s #8:
Teemu pretzels in Anaheim pic.twitter.com/eJcMGvR8Bg
— Helene Elliott (@helenenothelen) April 14, 2014
But the best moment came when Selanne was honored with all three stars of the game immediately after the Ducks’ 3-2 wins over the Avs. The Finnish legend took a lap around the rink to acknowledge the fans’ standing ovation.
Then, after shaking hands with Colorado’s players, Teemu took another lap hand-in-hand with his former teammate, Avs’ goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who also may be have played his final regular season game on Sunday. The two played alongside each other in Anaheim for seven seasons and, from the looks of things, are both still very, very popular around those parts.
The moment was just another example of Teemu’s selflessness and why he’s considered one of the most beloved players of all time.
