It's been a busy week already here in Ducks land, and that's the way we like it. Because when it's busy, that can only mean one thing:

Ducks hockey is back.

Okay, it's not quite back yet, but we have the first day of training camp coming up Saturday (more on that in a bit) and so much else going on this week that signals the long-anticipated start of a new season.

Monday brought the third annual Get Your Ducks in a Roll event at RA Sushi in Tustin, at which Ryan Getzlaf, Bobby Ryan and new Duck Andrew Cogliano were joined by fan Jeff Banner in a sushi-rolling competition. Each contestant worked with RA Sushi chefs, to create original sushi roll recipes that were sampled by the more than 200 people in attendance, and Cogliano got a nice "welcome to the Ducks" moment by winning top prize.

I was lucky enough to be on the judging panel for the competition, and chose Cogliano's Breakaway Roll by an nose over Getzlaf's Captain Crunch. (When interviewed by host Kent French about my choice, I uttered some cheesy line about how I like the name of Cogliano's roll because he was "breaking away" from Edmonton and starting fresh in Anaheim). Here's more on the event, along with some photos.

Tuesday was ... well not much, except for the Ducks employees co-ed company softball team losing its final game of the year to finished the season 0-9-1. (I wish I were kidding, although when people ask what our record was, I'll say, "Oh...nine and 1.")

Yesterday was the 17th annual Anaheim Ducks Golf Classic at Oak Creek GC in Irvine, and for the second year in a row, foursomes were allowed to "draft" the Ducks player/coach/broadcaster to join their group for the afternoon. I was a last-minute addition to the draft, and it showed when I was picked dead last and immediately dubbed "Mr. Irrelevant" (a takeoff on the honor given to the last NFL draftee every year). I could take solace in the fact that it was an unusual draft in which George Parros was taken first overall and Ducks broadcaster Brian Hayward was taken second. (Georgie even tweeted before the event, "Heading to the one place where I am a first round draft choice... The ducks golf tourney."

All I cared about was getting drafted ahead of Frenchie, and I failed in that goal, as he went just ahead of me with the 23rd pick (here's proof). Still, it was a great time at a great event, one that was won by Jason Blake's group. We'll have a photo gallery from the event later today.

Yesterday also brought the long-awaited release of the schedule for Ducks training camp, which will be moved from The Rinks - Anaheim ICE to Honda Center, but will remain open to the public. Doors will open at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday and there will be a concession stand open. The Ducks won't scrimmage, however, until Monday. Then we have the first preseason game (still hard to believe) on Tuesday against Phoenix at Honda Center.

There's still more to come this week before that first day of on-ice camp, including the players reporting tomorrow for physicals and photos tomorrow, during which we'll be providing video, photos and some other stuff on the website, Facebook and Twitter.

And as far as Teemu goes? We'll hopefully hear soon enough.  UPDATE: HE'S BACK