The roughneck Ducks are the NHL's best and baddest

	Chris Pronger personifies the Ducks' image as bullies who enjoy a good scrap. Jeff Gross/Getty Images
	MAILBAG Darren Eliot will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Everyone loves to hate a villain, and in the NHL, the Ducks are exhibit A -- as in Anaheim. Even their makeover from the cartoonish Mighty Ducks to their more Dark Wing inspired motif fits. They fought more than any team during the regular season, and they continue to win in the playoffs despite taking penalties at an alarming rate. It's part of playing a relentless forechecking style and banging bodies at every opportunity.

Marauding defenseman Chris Pronger is the bad boy of the moment, having returned from a one-game suspension for pasting Tomas Holmstrom's head into the glass. With Pronger back on patrol, the Ducks won Game 5 in Detroit and stand on the brink of returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in four seasons. There they'd face the Ottawa Senators -- this year's Hollywood version of the good guys, with the feel good story of the spring in captain Daniel Alfredsson.

Not that the Ducks would care one spit about Sens sentimentality. They have their own storylines, from their crusty coach, Randy Carlyle, to their robo-goalie extraordinaire, J-S Giguere. They also have their own elder statesman as the face of the franchise in Teemu Selanne. Selanne provided the heroics with the overtime game-winner in Game 5, while Giguere made 37 saves in essentially stealing the last two games by employing his shot-blocking system to near perfection.

And the Ducks aren't done yet. They still haven't dispatched of the Red Wings. But even their young stars, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, play with big body bravado -- barging their way to scoring chances as often as they finesse them. The Ducks will provide a much ruder challenge for the Senators in the Cup final than the Red Wings, and the chase for the chalice by this pair of first-timers adds uniqueness to the proceedings.

Actually, the historical context is unique in its own right. Ottawa won Stanley Cups as part of the original NHL, but this incarnation of the franchise has only experienced postseason exasperation. The Ducks' history is dubious, as they morphed into existence as a marketing extension of a Disney movie franchise. Free of that burden, the Ducks have a chance to be the first team from California to win the Stanley Cup -- a coup the Kings of L.A. haven't been able to pull off during their existence, dating back to 1967. Nor have the Sharks. No need to mention the old California/Oakland Seals.

I don't know if the Ducks will advance, but I do know that they have been the best team in the league all season and are close to eliminating Detroit despite not playing their best hockey over the past couple of games. But if they play what Carlyle calls "hard hockey" --an ominous term if there ever was one -- they should face the Senators. I, for one, welcome their California challenge. By playing tough, in-your -face, aggressive hockey, the Ducks have a chance to do what Joe Thornton-led teams in San Jose and Gretzky or Dionne teams in L.A. failed to do: bring the big silver Cup to the Golden State. Oh, and while they're at it, vanquish a team from Hockeytown and be vilified by all of Canada for denying the Cup's return to its place of origin for the first time since 1993.

Sounds like evil versus good to me.