Inspiration can come in a variety of ways, and sometimes in the most unexpected ones. Such is the case for the Ducks and a certain high school baseball team in Northern Nevada.
As the Ducks are making their way through these Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Spanish Springs High varsity is making a postseason run of its own.
The Cougars are led by head coach Matt Guthrie, a former hockey player whose wife Janel (who also has a son on the team) reached out to the Ducks this week with this uplifting story:
Our team travels every preseason to Anaheim to compete and prepare for our season. In the past, coaches have organized a trip to Disneyland for the team prior to competition.
Coach Matt Guthrie was a hockey player who grew up in Anchorage Alaska, and this season he decided that the team bonding experience would be at an Anaheim Ducks game. Many of the young men on the team had never seen a hockey game in their lives. Well, the trajectory of the entire season began with the game they attended.
Anaheim was down and had an incredible comeback win. From that moment on, the team channeled that winning attitude and translated it into their baseball program. In adversity, be like the Ducks! When behind, be like the Ducks. Their experience at the hockey game ignited their season.
Our official school mascot is the Cougars, but these boys only refer to themselves as Ducks. They paste pictures of ducks all over the school walls, line ducks up in the dugouts, and have duck calls for good plays. A senior even got a duck tattoo! They will never be Cougars again, and our entire community has embraced their enthusiasm.
