Mark Spector

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Scott Niedermayer has always somehow been blessed. Teemu Selanne only hoped he would be, some day.

You name it, Niedermayer has won it: Four Stanley Cups, Olympic gold, junior titles, international titles.

Then there is Teemu (Silver) Selanne: Second-place man.

“I've been so close to winning an Olympic gold medal, and World Championship gold medal, and it's never happened,” he laments.

He’d never drank from the Stanley Cup either, until Wednesday night in Anaheim, when Niedermayer — the Ducks' captain — took ol’ Stanley from National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman, passed it on through his two assistant captains, and then to the waiting arms of Selanne.

And when we say waiting, we mean WAITING.

“I've been here a long time, and I've played so many games for this dream,” Selanne said after the Ducks had completed a surprisingly tidy five-game series win over the Ottawa Senators, capturing Game 5 by a 6-2 score. “There has been times I didn't know if it was ever going to happen, especially tough times with my knee and everything. There are so many people I should thank and I'm so thankful to make this happen.

“It's a dream come true.”

Over the last few years the hockey world has smiled as veteran players whose careers were all but complete lifted up sports’ finest piece of hardware after many, many years of coming up short. When Tampa Bay won in ‘04 it was Dave Andreychuk. In ‘06 it was Carolina veteran Rob Brind’Amour.

And this year, Selanne, who showed up as an unknown with the Winnipeg Jets back in 1992. He scored 76 goals that year — an NHL rookie record that still stands — and it seemed that success would follow Selanne’s career. A full 1,127 games had to pass, however, before he could say he had the only real success a hockey player cares about.

“We have to wait a long time for something unbelievable. And it really makes it even more special,” he said. “What a great feeling to hold that Cup in my arms. It was heavier than I thought. I've been waiting and dreaming about that moment for so many times, and years, and finally it's in my hands. It's an unbelievable feeling.

Slide show California Cup A visual tour of the Ducks’ series victory over the Senators more photos

“So much hard work, so many years to dream about that moment. So I don't know what to say. It was so emotional and, obviously, I was so happy that my parents were here, my brothers, my friends, and there's so many people who deserve this as much as I do.”

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Selanne was here earlier in his career, teamed up with a fellow named Paul Kariya on the Ducks' top line not long after the then-Mighty Ducks opened up shop down here in 1993. The two made up the quickest duo in the NHL at the time, but sadly, they had little else around them to compete for the Cup.

But then the split, and Selanne ended up in Colorado. There, he aged quickly, a chronic knee robbing him of his trademark speed.

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He was an eyelash from retirement. The game was no fun, and he wasn’t worth the price of admission anymore, slowed by a knee that just wouldn’t cooperate.

“For almost two years, when my knee was so bad, I couldn't even enjoy hockey anymore,” he said Wednesday. “After my knee surgery, when I finally realized that my knee is going to be 100 percent, and I can play like I played my first 10 years, it was an unbelievable feeling. It's almost a feeling that somebody got glasses, when you can't see very well. Then all of a sudden, you can see the world so bright.

“I knew that there's a chance again and, obviously I'm very happy and thankful that (Ducks GM) Brian Burke gave me a chance to come back here. This is the happy place for me and he built a winning team here and everything.  I'm so thankful for this organization.”