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Columnist: Ducks are the Ron Paul of the playoff race

Ron Paul

Republican Presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas signs autographs after talking to supporters during a town hall meeting in Denver, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

AP

The Ducks have been on fire of late. They’re 9-1-1 in their last 11 games and are now just ten points back of eighth place Minnesota in the Western Conference playoff race. With a turnaround like that it’s easy to see why Ducks fans would get excited.

Jeff Miller of the Orange County Register would like to put things in perspective though. Miller says the Ducks chances of making the playoffs are about as good as Ron Paul’s of being elected President.

So, as they open a four-game homestand Wednesday night against Dallas, let’s examine what remains exactly, attempting to forecast just how long of a shot these final nine weeks of regular season represent.

Spoiler alert: Ron Paul is facing kinder odds.

The Ducks have 33 games remaining, 15 at home and 18 on the road, 16 against teams that right now would be out of the playoffs and 17 against postseason qualifiers.

The hole the Ducks got into to start the year is what’s got them so far back now and while they’ve got things rolling with Bruce Boudreau at the helm, as the Devils showed last season, getting to the postseason is a lot harder when you have to climb out of a canyon.

Now we’re left wondering: If the Ducks are the Ron Paul of the Western Conference playoffs, who is Mitt Romney? Detroit or Vancouver? What about Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum? Let’s just quit while we’re ahead, this might get ugly.