Dan Sexton Makes a Splash With Improving Ducks

When a woman approached a group of lesser-known Ducks players recently to ask some of the youngest members of the team for autographs, she barely glanced at Dan Sexton.

She handed her pen to the other three Ducks and skipped the 22-year-old forward.

"It wasn't too embarrassing," Sexton said with a laugh. "At least I didn't try to grab the pen or anything."

Sexton is used to being overlooked. He has had to fight for every bit of recognition he gets his entire life in hockey -- he was even cut from his junior league team three years ago. So that makes his big, immediate splash in the NHL this month all the sweeter.

"It has been a huge battle," said Sexton, who is listed at 5-foot-9 (somewhat generously) and 170 pounds. "I think I've probably had a much more difficult road than some people because of my size. Even growing up, it was an issue. But I've always done just enough to make the team, and then kind of moved up."

Sexton, brought in from Manitoba of the AHL because of the Ducks' many injuries, is filling in on Teemu Selanne's line while the Anaheim stalwart is out with a fractured hand -- and he is enjoying unexpected, unheralded success, with seven points in his first six games, including four goals. He hasn't scored in the Ducks' past two games, but his line has been playing well -- and so is Anaheim, at last.

The Ducks, who got off to a dreadful start last season and nearly missed the playoffs, opened up with an even worse stretch this season, but now, despite the losses of regular contributors Selanne and Joffrey Lupul, Anaheim is making up some ground. The team has won three of its past four and has collected points in seven of the past eight.

"Every level, there have been question marks. I've always had to prove myself over and over. After a while, you get sick of it." For the first time in more than two months, the Ducks recently battled back to .500. They have a 14-14-7 mark heading into Tuesday night's game at Colorado.

Sexton has had his part in that little surge, gratifying for a player who never was considered a standout prospect and whose route didn't include the regular powerhouse junior leagues or college programs. He's from Apple Valley, Minn.; after being cut from his junior-league team, he played at Bowling Green, and among his minor-league stops were Wichita Falls and Bakersfield.

He was never drafted, and his twin brother, Joe, was the name in the family. Joe Sexton is a star professional snowboarder.

"Every level, there have been question marks," Dan Sexton said. "I've always had to prove myself over and over. After a while, you get sick of it."

So when the Ducks put him on the roster at the beginning of the month, Sexton wouldn't have been surprised to be a scrub, toiling away in obscurity. Instead, he was paired with two dangerous scorers, Saku Koivu and Bobby Ryan, on Anaheim's second line.

"When I came to Anaheim, they put me in a situation to succeed," Sexton said. "It isn't just a fourth-line role with three minutes a game where I had to prove myself again. They believe in me, which is really cool, and it just built my confidence up.

"I'm glad I could make it seem like a smart decision."

Koivu has been providing Sexton tips, especially ways to get himself more space and more time when he has the puck. Initially, Sexton admitted, the tendency was to try to do too much while on the ice with two highly regarded NHL forwards.

"I didn't want to let them down," Sexton said. "They're such good players and I didn't want to be dead weight. But our group has been productive the past five or six games and recently, we've really turned it on a lot and collected a lot of points. We're kind of picking our way up the the standings, clawing back into it."

And that sounds like a perfect spot for someone who's used to putting up a fight in order to get ahead.