Like a Duck to ice water: the fairy-tale Mighty Ducks have taken to a style that reminds people an awful lot of another team--the Devils, whom they're meeting in this year's Stanley Cup finals. (NHL Stanley Cup Finals Preview).

Mickey Mouse vs. Mickey Mouse? Get the jokes out of the way early. The Mighty Ducks were named after a Disney movie. The Devils once were called a "Mickey Mouse organization" by Wayne Gretzky. Isn't it funny they are meeting in the Stanley Cup finals? It's laughable unless, of course, you're the Red Wings or the Stars or the Senators.

In these Cup finals, an experienced, veteran team with an aging core is playing an up-and-coming team with a core and a goaltender that are just starting to realize their potential. But the teams have used strikingly similar methods to get there.

The palm trees outside the Pond might say Southern California, but the style on the ice has its roots on the country's opposite coast. The Mighty Ducks are looking in a mirror, albeit slightly distorted, when they take the ice against the Devils.

"They're really similar teams--really similar style of hockey," says Ducks right winger Petr Sykora, who played for the Devils from 1995 until he was traded in July. "You start with the goalie. We have Jiggy (Jean-Sebastien Giguere), and they have Marty (Martin Brodeur). We both structure around defense. That's the only way for us to win."

Focusing on defense is the only way for the Devils to win too, particularly with Patrik Elias and Scott Gomez having trouble finding the net in the playoffs.

With the Ducks playing the Wild, another defense-first team, in the Western Conference finals, a trend seems to be forming: Is the up-and-down, offensive Western Conference slowing down and becoming more conservative? Have no fear, fans of run-and-gun, firewagon hockey--this is not a sign of things to come.

"It's not a trend," says one Western Conference scout. "(The Ducks) got by Detroit, and the difference was Giguere. He won that series for them. They've certainly built on that and gradually have gotten better as a team, discovering they've got an opportunity. They've discovered the style that's…