Anaheim Ducks fans 'paint it orange' but far cry from MTS Centre

Hundreds of Ducks fans showed off the team's "paint it orange" campaign — their version of the Winnipeg "Whiteout" — to show their support for the team in the upcoming round of NHL playoffs.

One of them, Michael Decarlo, happened to be at the Anaheim Ducks official practice facility watching his son on the adjacent rink.

"The hockey here is good," he said. "It's not a big community but it's a good hockey community."

Hockey in Anaheim is easily overshadowed by all the other entertainment options available: Next door to the Honda Centre where the Ducks play is the field for the Los Angeles Angels major league baseball team.

Disneyland is right down the road.

And this weekend the Ducks have to battle against a Star Wars celebration, which is expected to draw anywhere from 45,000 to 60,000 people at the four-day convention. 

On top of that, Anaheim is essentially a suburb of Los Angeles.

Hockey fans from the Orange County area likely grew up watching the Los Angeles Kings and have now split their allegiances between the home team and the most recent Stanley Cup Champions just 55 kilometres up the interstate.

"Hockey has really grown in southern California in the last couple of years," said Brett Montgomery, a Calgary native who moved to California at age 10 when his father transferred for work.

Now, the father of two took the "paint it orange" skate as an opportunity to bring his five-year-old daughter out to enjoy the atmosphere.

Montgomery says when he moved to the area years ago, there was only one skating rink.

Now, the Anaheim franchise operates seven hockey facilities, both ice and inline hockey rinks in the region, all in an effort to grow the game.

But most of those facilities are running out of ice time.

When you walk into the Honda Centre, it feels almost as grand as the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, a far cry from the modest cement floors and prairie-made wall coverings of Winnipeg's MTS Centre.

But make no mistake; fans here want nothing more than another championship, and the first task is to get past the soaring Winnipeg Jets.