Friday Fragments

My Awesome Winning Streak

I suppose a salient detail I ought to mention is the fact that I actually saw the Sharks play the other night. Like, in person...they played Minnesota over at the X in St. Paul, and I was there (in full Sharks regalia, of course). That makes a four-game winning streak for the Sharks at the X, and I've been there for all four...


It was a great game...San Jose took a 2-0 lead into the third, then Minnesota fought back to tie it. But right off the face-off following the Wild's second goal, Cheechoo took it in to score the eventual winner. Did that ever silence the crowd in a hurry! Heh. Still, even though they're The Opposition, the Minnesota crowds are great...totally passionate about their team. Great atmosphere.

Still, there's nothing better than going into an enemy building in your team's colors and coming out with a win.







"I got that guy's hockey card at home. I'll show it to ya."

My folks got me some packs of hockey cards as a stocking-stuffer for Christmas. And what card do I get...?



Oh, you know it's Big Joe! He shoots, he scores!!!

Thanks, folks!


Elsewhere Around the League

I watched the first half of Atlanta and Carolina's home-and-home on Wednesday, and kind of half-watched tonight's game while puttering around the apartment and writing this. Some observations...

Ray Whitney scored a goal tonight for Carolina and had a pretty assist on the game-winner. Whitney broke into the league with the Sharks many years ago...followers of Team Teal may remember his sudden-death series winner versus Calgary in the 1995 playoffs. (My roommates at the time may remember me running around the house and screaming with joy.) His goal tonight was his 20th of the year...obviously he is still playing top-notch hockey. This is a guy who's quietly put together a great career, and it's nice to see him doing well. The Hurricanes are, as of this writing, on top of the Southeast Division, but they're having trouble in goal and have suffered a raft of injuries--they had some emergency call-ups from Albany tonight who looked like they were barely old enough to drive. To right the ship, they'll need a guy like Whitney to provide leadership.

Another guy having a great year is Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk. This is a guy who for many years had a rep as a fabulously talented goal-scorer, but a one-dimensional player with a bit of a questionable attitude. He always seemed to end the year, like, -30 or whatever. This year, though, he's gone from being merely a talented goal-scorer to becoming a great hockey player. In addition to his highlight-reel goal on Wednesday that I raved about in a previous post, he had three assists in that 5-4 OT win, including a perfect dish to Marian Hossa for the winner. (Oh, did I mention he's leading the league in goals?) I'm betting this is the year he finally becomes a force in the NHL.