Team Teal in the Twin Towns

Okay, Maybe This is my Last Post

2009-04-28T19:43:00.001-05:00

I have a few thoughts about the depressing collapse of the Sharks on my new blog.

All Good Things...

2009-04-03T18:25:00.002-05:00

I have a new blog. This is my official last post at Team Teal in the Twin Towns.

Writing this blog was great fun and very rewarding. It's clear from a quick glance at the archives, however, that it had been a long time since I had posted here. I take that as a sign that it's time to move on to other things.

My new blog, Close Personal Friends With the Duke!, is intended to be more general in its subject matter. Skate on over and check it out.

Many very sincere thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my puckhead ramblings over the past year or so.

Go Sharks!

Chris

They Shoot. They Score.

2009-01-02T11:48:00.003-06:00

The NHL held its second New Year's Winter Classic outdoor game in as many years yesterday. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 6-4 in front of more that 40,000 fans at Wrigley Field.

Talk about an event going off without a hitch! Everything about the game was just about perfect. All of the decisions the league had control over (the teams involved, the venue) turned out to be right on the dot, and the things that no one has any control over (i.e., the weather) cooperated as well. By all accounts the ice conditions were excellent, and the absence of any snow on the rink (picturesque as it was last year) permitted the pace of play to be much higher than it was during the last Winter Classic in Buffalo. Scoring was commensurately higher--let's face it, ten goals is better than two, when it comes to holding the interest of the casual fan. Could even a player as gifted as Pavel Datsyuk have produced a goal quite this beautiful in last year's ice conditions? Almost certainly not.

Perhaps it's just the afterglow of the event's success, but I no longer have any reservations about making this an annual event, as I did last year. The Winter Classic represents an opportunity for the sport of ice hockey to step up and genuinely be in the spotlight for one day a year. (And yes, I do think it is possibly to effectively compete with that traditional sporting occupant of New Year's Day, college football...certainly as long as the NCAA adheres to its current, absurd method of determining a champion, which dooms all New Year's bowl games to being meaningless exhibitions). The fact that its occurrence on the calendar (provided it is always held on New Year's, as it should be) is set far in advance will allow people to plan events around it, as they do for the Super Bowl. I had a few friends over for last year's game and a few more over for this year's game, and I hope to make it an annual tradition.

With the fatalism of a long-time NHL fan, of course, my thoughts immediately turn to an obvious question: How will the league screw this up? Certainly the very worst move the NHL could make would be to stage some sort of exhibition game--such as the NHL All-Star Game--as its annual outdoor event, rather than a meaningful regular-season game. As I've mentioned in this space before, the All-Star Game is inevitably an intrinsically flawed event, and in my opinion ought to be phased for something better, anyway. (Both this year and last year, non-hockey fans have asked me, with respect to the Winter Classic, "Does this game count?" When I respond in the affirmative, their interest level immediately goes up...you can see it in their faces.)

I've heard some talk from some quarters about doing precisely what I opposed in the last paragraph, but as near as I can tell there is no movement in the league's front offices for any such thing. More worrisome to me is the potential for the game to be staged someplace that doesn't have genuine, honest-to-goodness winter on 1 January...such as Ross McKeon's suggestion, in the sidebar to this article, that an outdoor game be played in Las Vegas. "No doubt, the players and fans would enjoy the Sin City setting," McKeon writes.

Um...sorry, wrong. I am in general a big advocate of Sun Belt hockey (I root for a team from California, for crying out loud) and I don't have an ideological opposition to playing hockey in climates with no natural ice, as do some hockey fundamentalists. But much like a Green Bay Packers game from Lambeau Field in December, the aesthetic that comes with the "Winter" part of the Winter Classic provides much of the appeal, especially for the casual fan. As much as the snow mucked up play in Buffalo last year, it was unquestionably positive from an aesthetic point of view. So places like Boston, New York, Montreal, and (ahem) the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul should all be candidates for the next several years. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Tampa Bay? Not so much. Maybe, if the event truly becomes well-established over the next decade or so...maybe then you consider putting it someplace warm, just to mix things up a bit. Until then, though, let's keep it cold.

Shuttin' 'Em Down

2008-12-24T12:34:00.004-06:00

I tuned in to the game between San Jose and Vancouver last night at just about the midpoint of the second period. (I have been reading Dave King's memoir of his year coaching Metallurg of Magnitogorsk in the Russian Super League, entitled King of Russia...I was in one of those reading grooves and wanted to push through to the end. It was good...maybe in the future I'll provide a review in this space.) By this time the Sharks had built a 5-0 lead, which I was pleased to see. What I was less pleased to see was the way in which the Canucks controlled the play for the remainder of the second period and indeed the game.

The game ended 5-0 because the two best players on the ice last night were Evgeni Nabokov and Vancouver goalie Curtis Sanford, who relieved starter Cory Schneider after the Sharks scored their fifth. I felt very good about Nabokov's performance--he made some tough saves and always looked in total control of his net. His focus was still exceptionally sharp, even though his team had a huge lead.

Combined with his seventeen third-period saves against the Rangers on Saturday, instrumental in preserving that 3-2 win, it's been a great couple of bounce-back games for Nabokov after looking dreadful in the high-profile 6-0 loss to Detroit last week. Like those of defensive backs in scrimmage football, the mistakes of goalies are obvious on the scoresheet and critical to the outcome of games. There is nothing that can send a team into a lengthy slide quite like a stretch of poor play from its top goaltender. Since every goalie has the occasional three-sigma-bad game that just doesn't go his way, the ability to get right back on the horse is crucial. Nabby has done that, and he looked in top form last night; that's why he's one of the best in the world.

Ugh

2008-12-18T21:03:00.004-06:00

Ugh. Just...ugh.

The outcome of the big Sharks-Wings tilt in Detroit tonight? Wings 6, Sharks 0.

Hopefully we can leave all the excessive and factually misleading* gushing about the Sharks' "historic" start behind us, now.

The Sharks played reasonably well for the first ten minutes tonight. Then Evgeni Nabokov gave up a couple of featherbed-soft goals and they folded like Superman on laundry day.

Best case? This is a wake-up call that serves to remind the Sharks that however many points they have, they are not the league's best team.

* The Sharks only set a record for total points through thirty games because there are ways of getting points now that didn't exist several years ago. If all of their overtime/shootout wins were counted as ties (as they would've been in the past) their record would be more modest.

More Than Atmosphere

2008-12-13T11:27:00.001-06:00

You hear it all the time, when two rival teams who are playing well collide during the regular season..."playoff atmosphere". Usually a term used to describe the feel, the buzz, surrounding the game--and the potential for the teams to meet in the postseason--the characterization often cannot be extended to the play itself.

However, Thursday's game between San Jose and Anaheim--which the Sharks won 2-0--transpired much as a playoff game would transpire. It was a tight, nasty, very competitive game from start to finish, with the Ducks effectively preventing the Sharks from engaging in the type of free-flowing hockey that San Jose has used to such good effect so far this season. Evgeni Nabokov played exceptionally well; his counterpart in the Anaheim net, Jonas Hiller, played okay, too, although he maybe let in one soft one. The dislike between the two teams, which has existed for years and been amplified in recent seasons when both clubs have been amongst the league's elite, was palpable from the start and only grew as the game went along, punctuated by a good fight between George Parros and Jody Shelley (winner: Shelley) and finally coming to a head in a scrum in the last minute that saw dozens of penalty minutes handed out. Even though the teams don't meet again until March, a dark cloud of unfinished business hung in the Tank as the players skated off.

As a Sharks fan, I found this to be the most satisfying win of the year so far. The Sharks will meet teams during the regular season against which they can impose their superior offensive talent and fire forty or fifty shots, and that's outstanding, but the playoffs ain't going to be like that. Playoff hockey is a tight-checking, very physical affair, and Thursday's game was a great dress-rehearsal for April. It was very encouraging to see the Sharks play full-bore for sixty minutes of tough, often ugly, always physical hockey, and very encouraging to see them bite back when the bullying Ducks (much like the Flyers teams of the '70s, dirty cheating has served Anaheim well) attempted to push them around. (Although there's a very fine line between refusing to be bullied and falling into the trap of playing the other team's game and finding oneself constantly shorthanded).

The Sharks were a difficult and no doubt unpleasant team to play against on Thursday night, and that's a good thing. Much like baseball, in which the reptilian fear of getting hit by a pitched ball is fundamental to the way in which the pitcher-batter duel plays out, and is therefore fundamental to the sport, you want teams that step on the ice against you to feel a lurking dread and to be acutely aware that there is nowhere to hide. (Teams obliged to play the Flyers when they were winning Stanley Cups were frequently afflicted by "the Philly Flu".) For all of their talent in the past several seasons, one has rarely had the impression that the Sharks inspired much fear in their opponents. Perhaps that is changing...and a welcome change it would be.

Improvement, But Not Perfection

2008-11-23T15:13:00.004-06:00

The Sharks defeated the Southeast Division-leading Washington Capitals last night 7-2. The margin suggests a more lopsided game than what actually took place.

The Capitals are in the midst of a difficult road trip and were missing two of their most talented players--offensive D-man Mike Green and team goal-scoring leader Alexander Semin--due to injury. Even tired and short-handed, the Capitals controlled play for much of the evening and held an edge in shots-on-goal until relatively late in the game. San Jose's second goal was a gift from Washington--in soccer, it would have been scored "Own Goal: Shaone Morrisonn"--and their last goal came with less than a minute left in the game, long after the outcome was no longer in doubt. Despite taking advantage of early opportunities to score three quick unanswered goals, the Sharks still demonstrated that they don't know quite what to do when they get a big lead...the Caps came out and were clearly the better team both at the start of the second and the start of the third periods, getting goals in each sequence that allowed them to sniff a rally. Really, without Morrisonn's own goal and with a few key stops by Caps goalie Brent Johnson, the final score would've reflected the much closer game that this actually was.

On the other hand (it occurs to me I write those four words a lot...one has to, writing about this team) there are substantial reasons for Todd McLellan to be happy about last night's game, outside of the obvious. Although criticism of the Sharks for allowing the Caps to get back in the game is warranted, it's worth noting that San Jose followed up Washington goals with goals of their own, righting the proverbial ship and keeping the Capitals from building too much momentum. (In that nightmare game against Calgary in the playoffs last year, once the Flames got their first goal one could not avoid feeling that the Sharks, win or lose, were at a minimum not going to score again that night.) Hopefully this is a sign that the team is at least improving its ability to play with a lead, something that's been a persistent problem.

The production from the blue line continues to be extraordinary...Rob Blake had in what my opinion was his best night as a Shark (four assists) and is one of a remarkable three San Jose defensemen (the others are Dan Boyle and the suddenly blossoming Christian Ehrhoff) who are amongst the top five in the league in scoring, as of this morning. That particular part of McLellan's preseason plan has gone about as well as anyone could've possibly hoped.

And at the end of the day the Sharks did exactly what they needed to do with their opportunities. You get a tired team nearing the end of a road trip in your building when you've had a chance to rest up, and you have to clobber them...the Sharks did. (And as a fan of a Western Conference team, I pretty much have a cry-me-a-river attitude when it comes to road trips by Eastern Conference teams...gee, sorry you guys have to travel out of sight of the Atlantic Ocean for once.) You get a 5-on-3 at a crucial juncture, you need to capitalize on it...the Sharks did. Ice hockey, as I've said in this space numerous times, is really all about taking advantage of those islands of opportunity in a sea of broken, anarchic play. By this measure, the Sharks were a great team last night, worthy of their 17-3-1 record.

The fact that they've accomplished this while still having room for improvement...right now, writing in November of 2008, it really seems that the sky is the limit for this team.

Back Online!

2008-11-19T22:11:00.002-06:00

Okay, we're into the new place and officially hooked back up to the internet. So expect that I'll resume normal posting soon.

What's new with the team? Well, the Sharks are 16-3-1, and there's reason to believe they can play even better. It's enough to make you say "Wow".

More later...for now I just wanted to announce that I'm back online.

Half-Full? Half-Empty?

2008-11-12T17:04:00.002-06:00

Some Sharks fans will look at last night's 4-3 OT loss to Nashville--with San Jose launching a franchise-record 57 shots--and say, Hey, their goalie robbed us. That's the way it goes. Nine times out of ten we win that game...it's just a little bump in the road.

Other Sharks fans will look at the loss and see a second consecutive blown two-goal lead, and start to worry.

Count me amongst the latter camp.

Personal note: I'm going to be moving over the next few days, so my connectivity will be intermittent. Look for more posts once we get settled in to the new place and all the wires are going where they're supposed to go and carrying the electrons they're supposed to carry.

Swiftly Turns the Tide

2008-11-09T21:34:00.006-06:00

I made pasta for dinner this evening. I started cooking it up during the first period of tonight's game against Phoenix. The Sharks had just taken a 2-0 lead on a power play goal by Ryan Clowe when I fished out a piece of spaghetti and determined that it was properly done. It looked as though maybe the poorest functioning piece of the San Jose machine this year (the power play) was finally running smoothly, and I allowed myself to believe that perhaps the Sharks were on their way to a convincing and pleasantly unexciting victory.

In the time it took to drain the pasta, the Coyotes got two goals to even the score. Phoenix went on to win, 4-2.

Disappointing game tonight after a promising start. Brian Boucher, getting the start in goal for an injured Evgeni Nabokov, came back down to Earth following a spectacular start to his career in teal--he was okay, but this was his first loss as a starter for the Sharks. (Although I have to give a tip of the cap to the string of remarkable saves he made at the end of the game, when, down 3-2 and with three men in the box after the officials apparently decided there is a new minor penalty in the NHL called Playing Defense and quickly punished the Sharks for being guilty of said penalty, San Jose's desperate attempts to pull one back playing 3-on-5 left him hung out to dry numerous times. Phoenix's fourth goal came with Boucher on the bench for an extra skater.) Overall, the Coyotes generally showed more spark and energy tonight.

Something that bothers me about the Sharks' three losses is that it seems they played down to the level of their opposition in each. Their first loss of the season was to Anaheim, and the Ducks, although on a hot streak now, were playing poorly then...in fact, that win was their first of the season. The second loss was against a decidedly mediocre Florida team. And the Coyotes, although possessed of much young talent and likely to be on the brink of a swift rise in the league, are a team the Sharks really ought to beat, especially if they have them down by two goals.

San Jose still leads the league in points, and by just about any measure they are one of the top if not the top team in the league right now. Every opponent is going to look at a game against the Sharks as a test, and will bring a little bit extra to the rink. Team Teal has to learn to match that extra energy, and close out the games they're supposed to win.

Ban the Mass Noun Nickname (Redux)!

2008-11-09T17:37:00.003-06:00

Country music star Taylor Swift, quoted by Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker, prior to playing a show in St. Paul at the X:

"So the hockey team is the Wild or the Wilds?"

You see! Mass noun nicknames are not just awkward, they're confusing!

Obviously I rest my case.

Say What?

2008-11-09T12:12:00.004-06:00

I seriously wonder at the hockey savvy of some of the guys who write game recaps for the Associated Press.

With reference to last night's 2-1 San Jose victory over Dallas, the winning goal of which was scored by Patrick Marleau off of a mishandled puck by Stars goalie Marty Turco in the game's final minute, AP "Sports Writer" Greg Beacham writes the following (link here):

"Dan Boyle also scored and backup goalie Brian Boucher made 23 saves to stay perfect as a starter with San Jose, but the NHL-leading Sharks’ seventh consecutive victory came down to a horrendous mistake by Turco, the veteran goalie whose puck-handling skills have long been criticized."

Say what? I would hope that anyone who writes about the NHL for an institution as august as the Associated Press would be familiar enough with the sport to know that Marty Turco has long been admired around the league for his excellent puck-handling skills. Yes, Turco has had a horrible year and has caught all kinds of flak about every element of his game, but to assert that his "puck-handling skills have long been criticized" is absurd.

Sometimes I seriously question if the people who write these recaps have even watched the games they presume to write about. I have seen recaps that have credited the wrong player with a key goal, and recaps that have described particular plays in ways that are factually incorrect.

C'mon, Associated Press...could you please assign some writers to write about our sport who actually know what they're talking about and care enough to get it right? Thank you.

Uh-Oh

2008-11-07T06:24:00.004-06:00

The Merc is reporting that starting goalie Evgeni "Shoulda Won the Vezina" Nabokov appeared to have twisted his left knee during the Sharks' 5-4, come-from-behind shootout win over St. Louis last night.

The Sharks have been fairly free of injuries to their core of key personnel in recent years. Losing Nabokov for any length of time would be a huge hurdle to overcome for a team that is off to a hot start. Stay tuned, I guess...

A Tough (but Triumphant) Triplet

2008-11-05T21:34:00.005-06:00

After a relatively soft start to their schedule, the Sharks have faced tough opposition in their last three home games. Back-to-back games against Pittsburgh and Detroit saw them face last year's Stanley Cup finalists, and last night's matchup pitted them against another division leader--the Minnesota Wild. And there was a road game against Colorado thrown into the mix as well.

The Sharks won all three of those home games in convincing style (and the game in Denver, too). They are still undefeated at the Tank. Yet as impressive a run as this is, there is still an important caveat to each win.

The Sharks dominated possession against the Penguins and won 2-1, holding the Malkin-and-Crosby-led defending Eastern Conference champs to only eleven shots...

...but the Sharks were facing Pittsburgh's backup goalie, Dany Sabourin, rather than first-stringer Marc-Andre Fleury, and the Penguins have a gaping hole in the blue line with Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney out with injuries.

The Sharks beat the defending champs 4-2, and hockey writers across North America breathlessly scribbled about how San Jose had successfully out-Winged the Wings with possession-oriented, puck-pursuit hockey and a ton of shots...

...but the Red Wings were tired, having lost a tough OT game in Anaheim the previous night. And, once again, the Sharks drew a matchup with Detroit's second-string goalie.

The Sharks clobbered the Wild with a dominant third period, outscoring Minnesota 2-0 and outshooting them by a whopping 22-5 margin in the final frame en route to a 3-1 win...

...but Minnesota was without Brent Burns, one of their top defensemen, and Marion "The Iron Man" Gaborik, who is, shockingly, injured (for the jillionth time in his career).

So that's the list of caveats. But some of them should be given little if any weight...Dany Sabourin played great against the Sharks, and it's not like Chris Osgood (Detroit's primary netminder) is exactly a brick wall this year. And anyway, even if San Jose did get some of these teams while they're a bit down...who cares? Hockey is fundamentally about being opportunistic, both tactically and strategically. If your opponent has a weakness, you have to make them pay. The important thing is that San Jose won all three of these games, and in reasonably decisive fashion. Any time you beat the Red Wings you've accomplished something. Any time you hold a team with Crosby and Malkin in the lineup to eleven shots, you've accomplished something. And any time you launch 49 shots against a Jacques Lemaire-coached team, you've accomplished something.

These were three great wins. I'm feeling genuinely optimistic about this team's chances.

Ban the Mass Noun Nickname!

2008-11-02T21:32:00.005-06:00

The Sharks defeated the Colorado Avalanche tonight 5-3. No, it wasn't 11-0, but I'll take it.

I love beating Colorado. Not only are they another one of those teams stolen from their proper home, but they have a horrible mass noun for a nickname.

A few weeks ago I was in Madison for my girlfriend's brother's wedding. I had the opportunity to get to know a friend of the bride & groom who happens to despise mass noun team nicknames as much as I do. It was instant brotherhood. (Also, I give him credit for suggesting the term "mass noun nickname", which concisely and perfectly describes what I'm railing against.)

Avalanche. Lightning. Wild. Thunder. Heat. Magic. They're all awful. I'm pretty sure you can draw a correlation between how seriously (or not) a professional sports league is taken and the number of mass nouns employed as team nicknames. Why is the NFL the most successful league in the world? Because of good, honest nicknames like Steelers and Packers and Vikings. Why is MLS on the fringe? Because of the Columbus Crew, Los Angeles Galaxy, and Houston Dynamo, that's why!

(I'm willing to give a pass to the Alabama Crimson Tide due to the tremendous history associated with the University of Alabama's athletic programs, and the fact that "Roll Tide!" is a cool cheer. But that's the only concession I'm willing to make.)

Perhaps what's needed is a grassroots movement to rename the Avalanche, Lightning, and Wild. Heck, I can't see any reason the Minnesota team can't be named the Minnesota North Stars...if the AHL can have two teams named the Admirals, the NHL can have a North Stars and a Stars. Better yet, rename the Dallas team something else. (At the moment, it's hard not to suggest Sieves. Tee-hee.)

Speaking of the North St--err, Wild, the Sharks play host to them on Tuesday. Like San Jose, Minnesota is off to a great start. Should be a heck of a collision.

Test Passed

2008-10-31T23:58:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to get in a quick post on the subject of this week's games against last year's Stanley Cup finalists. The Sharks beat the Penguins 2-1 on Tuesday night, and the Red Wings 4-2 last night.

Both wins were pretty convincing. The poor defense I complained about in my last post was in little evidence for San Jose...they held Pittsburgh to only eleven shots on goal, and conceded few good chances to the Red Wings. In both games the Sharks came out with a high level of energy and sustained it throughout, in contrast to the team's habit of coming out flat time after time last season. Most importantly, Team Teal is possessing and pursuing the puck in a way that I don't think I have ever seen; the reason the Penguins only had eleven shots is that the Sharks dominated time of possession.

Any team is going to have ups and downs over the course of a long season, but I think it's very fortunate that the Sharks have started off the season strong. Hopefully the good start will aid the credibility of new coach Todd McLellan's system in the locker room. If the team continues to play at the level they demonstrated this week, they'll have to be included in any discussion about which team is the best in the league.

There are still a couple of worrisome areas. There still appears to be some vulnerability to letdowns at crucial times...in the Pittsburgh game, no sooner had Mike Grier put San Jose up by two than the good team defense falls apart, guys start to chase around anxiously, and all of the sudden Ruslan Fedotenko puts the puck behind Nabokov and the finish is far more dramatic than it needs to be. The ability to grimly close out opponents in a boring, efficient way still seems to elude this team.

Also, the play of Evgeni Nabokov this year has been highly average. Detroit's opening goal, by Marian Hossa, was a shot Nabby should've stopped. Coming into the year, it was presumed that goaltending would be one of San Jose's strengths, but this hasn't been the case. I'm confident that Nabokov is just fighting through a rough patch, though...I'm sure his game will improve, and it's a good thing that the rest of the team is clicking at the moment and they're piling up the points, anyway.

All in all, a good week for the Sharks. There are still some things that need to improve, but so far this team looks like a legitimate Cup contender.

Next game Sunday against Colorado, one of my most hated teams. I'm hoping the Sharks win 11-0. Nice and boring.

Pause & Reflect

2008-10-26T11:13:00.005-05:00

All thirty teams in the NHL were in action yesterday, and today they all rest. My own life has been joyously busy for most of the last two weeks, and while I've been having a blast I have not had much of an opportunity to update this blog. So today, while the NHL is taking a league-wide timeout, seems the perfect moment for me to get back on the proverbial digital horse.

So, where are the Sharks nine games into the 08-09 season? Honestly, it's tough to tell.

At first glance, the state of the team looks very good indeed. They are 7-2 and atop the Western Conference with 14 points. Captain Patrick Marleau, who I asserted would be the bellwether player for the Sharks this year, leads the team in points (9) and is tied for the team lead in goals (5) with the emerging Devin Setoguchi. Unlike last season, the team is getting balanced scoring--after Marleau, there are four players with eight points each. The promised increase in blue-line contributions to the offense has indeed transpired--Dan Boyle has two goals and six assists and, more surprisingly, the talented but (formerly) frustrating Christian Ehrhoff (who had one goal all last year) has identical numbers. Furthermore, there is substantial reason to believe Ehrhoff's increased production will continue, simply because he has clearly taken to heart the importance of putting his shots from the blue line on goal. This was absent from his game last year. Ryan Clowe, who I believe has legitimate claim to being a genuine NHL badass, is showing aptitude for getting to the costly and painful twenty square feet right in front of the enemy goal and causing opposing defenses serious problems. Comparisons to Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom are reasonable.

So far, so good, right? Well, maybe. Look beneath the gaudy record and the surface positives, and there are some reasons for concern.

San Jose's schedule so far this season has been extremely soft. Of their nine games to date, only four have come against teams that made the playoffs last year, and those four games were against two teams (Anaheim and Philadelphia) that have struggled badly so far this season. They lost one of the four (4-0 to Anaheim), and another game, a 7-6 shootout win over the Flyers, had everyone in the organization sour-faced over the dismal defensive effort.

It's the absence of a level of team defense remotely close to what is required of a contending NHL team that has me most worried. Yes, they shut out Tampa Bay 3-0 last night, but the Lightning are the consensus worst team in the league, so I hope my skepticism can be forgiven. I watched the 4-3 loss to Florida on Friday night, and the Sharks made a Panthers team of very modest offensive talent look at times like Gretzky's Oilers. San Jose still put fifty shots on the Florida net and probably would've won if not for the heroics of Panther goalie Tomas Vokoun, but maybe it's good that they didn't...after getting away with similarly bad defense in back-to-back games with Philly, a deserved loss may have provided a much-needed kick in the pants.

The Merc reports that a Saturday-morning meeting of Shark defensemen occurred. Maybe this meeting can be credited for last night's shutout over Tampa. Maybe Tampa's own ineptitude had more influence on the results. Maybe it was a little of both. Upcoming games at home against last year's two Cup finalists should provide a more legitimate test of this new San Jose team.

I'll Have the Roasted Duck, Please

2008-10-10T00:06:00.003-05:00

The Sharks' 2008-2009 campaign began tonight with a convincing 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. (Yay! for the start of the new season!) It's late and I have a busy day tomorrow, so just a few quick comments.

Man, is it nice to stomp Anaheim for once. And it's nice to get off to a good start for once, too.

New coach Todd McLellan promised us more offense from the blue line, and sure enough, there it was tonight. One of San Jose's goals was scored by a defenseman (Christian Ehrhoff, who has apparently been taught that he will score more if he actually hits the net with his shots) and defensemen figured in all four one way or another. Dan Boyle and Rob Blake were both impact players on the power play.

Evgeni Nabokov gave up some scary looking rebounds early in the game--one of which was barely missed by a charging Chris Pronger--but these appeared to vanish after the midway point.

I think this team still has some lessons to learn about the duration of hockey games. Sixty minutes, guys. At about the fifty-four minute mark tonight the Sharks took their eye off the ball, and the next thing you knew Anaheim had a goal and was threatening to make this thing interesting. This was a problem all last year, and absolutely has to be fixed. (Some redemption points awarded for Devin Setoguchi's late clinching goal.)

Overall, though, a good win against a tough opponent and a good start to the year.

Out of town over the weekend...I'll rap with y'all when I get back.

It's a Business

2008-10-08T21:09:00.002-05:00

Veteran defenseman Kyle McLaren has been waived by the Sharks, and as no other team claimed him he has been assigned to San Jose's AHL affiliate in Worcester. (Story here and many other places...McLaren's career stats here.)

The placing of McLaren on waivers was a move that even the most casual Sharks watchers saw coming. Something had to happen to get the team under the salary cap, and he was pretty clearly the odd man out in a defensive corps that features three new imports (Dan Boyle, Brad Lukowich and Rob Blake) and three up-and-coming homegrown players (Christian Ehrhoff, Douglas Murray, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic).

He didn't have a very good year last year--he struggled with injuries, and I'll bet he couldn't be as physical as he wanted to be--but as a fan of the team, I have to recognize that McLaren was an essential member of some of the best Sharks teams ever to hit the ice. This seems such a melancholy way for him to leave...dismissed by the team, unwanted by any other, sent to Worcester to suit up against the Lowell Devils and the Hershey Bears. A tough reminder that at the end of the day, professional sports is a business, and a particularly hard-nosed and unsentimental one at that.

I hope McLaren catches on with another NHL team. He's been a tough, solid player for many years, and I hope that when the end of his career comes it can be on his terms.

"Starting in Goal, Number Seventeen..."

2008-10-06T21:49:00.004-05:00

A curious story in the NHL as the regular season gets underway concerns the Vancouver Canucks and their new captain, Roberto Luongo.

What's curious about it is that Luongo is the Canucks' goalie.

The official role of the captain in ice hockey is actually pretty limited...the captain (or one of his alternates, if he is not on the ice) is the only player empowered to engage in discussions with the officials about the rules (and then only when invited), and has various other relatively minor functions concerning communications. The captain is identified by a letter "C" stitched to his sweater.

The rules of the sport prohibit goalies from acting in the capacity of captain or even from wearing the "C". (The intent is to prohibit the goalie from constantly leaving the crease and interrupting play to converse with the officials.) Apparently the Canucks are going to get around the latter provision by painting a "C" on Luongo's mask, but there's no way they'll be able to get around the former.

Of course, the unofficial role of the captain--to be the team's emotional leader, to be the go-to guy at critical moments, to provide a source from whence the other players can draw confidence and intensity when adversity strikes--far outweighs any official nonsense about who supposedly gets to talk to the refs. So since Luongo is by far the best player on a weak-looking Vancouver team, maybe making him captain makes sense...although it smells a bit gimmicky to me, and besides is something that Just Ain't Done.

I understand the purpose of the rule prohibiting goalies from being captains. But another thing that Just Ain't Done, apparently, concerns the numbers worn by goalies. In all my years of watching hockey, I don't think I've ever seen a goalie wear a sweater number between 2 and 19.

There are plenty of goalies who are number 1, and there are plenty with really high uniform numbers--Jose Theodore wears number 60, just to name one. But you're not going to see any goalies wearing 8, or 11, or 17.

What's up with that? As near as I can tell there's no rule governing how players are numbered, as long as it's with an integer between 1 and 98 (Gretzky's 99 having been retired league-wide). There are particular rules that apply only to the goalie, but his identity on the ice is of course obvious...it's not like scrimmage football, in which uniform numbers serve to distinguish eligible from ineligible receivers. As near as I can tell, it's just a cultural thing.

Does anyone have any insight into this? Can anyone provide a counterexample of a goalie wearing a uniform number between 2 and 19? In the NHL or any other league? If you can, please leave a comment...I'm interested in hearing from you.

Drop the Puck!

2008-10-04T13:49:00.003-05:00

And...we're underway!

Even though most teams are still finishing out their preseason games, the NHL regular season officially began today with a pair of games in Europe. The New York Rangers just defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Prague, and they're just about to drop the puck in Stockholm for a game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators. (The Sharks open next Thursday against the Ducks).

Wow. Pittsburgh already leads 1-0 on a very soft goal against Martin Gerber forty seconds in. Goalie woes continue in Canada's capital, apparently.

As the world gets smaller, all the North American pro leagues are looking to expand the market for their products. With so many Europeans playing in the NHL, countries like Sweden and the Czech Republic would seem like "low-hanging fruit" for the league's efforts in this regard. England--where the league opened last year with back-to-back games in London between the Ducks and the Kings--would really be virgin territory. And our very own San Jose Sharks are looking even further afield, sponsoring China's only pro hockey team, the China Sharks. The goal in China would be to emulate the NBA's success in growing a massive new market in the blink of an eye. Maybe we'll see a couple of teams opening the NHL season in Shanghai someday soon...

Well, regardless of where the games are played, it's just a great feeling to know the season has started.

Oh, and before it gets too late, I guess I'd better make a Stanley Cup prediction. So here it is: Red Wings over the Habs in the final. Of course I want the Sharks to win it all (duh), but Detroit has to be the favorite...they were the best team in the league last year and only got better in the offseason.

Happy Hockey Season!

This is Not a Slam

2008-09-29T21:25:00.002-05:00

This is not intended as a criticism of either Todd McLellan or Patrick Marleau, but David Pollak's article in the Merc over the weekend illustrates exactly what I'm talking about when I assert that Marleau is high maintenance (see last post).

McLellan:

"I think we need to give him some breathing room right now to see if the (coaching) change is going to affect him positively or negatively."

"I think he's excited about a fresh start and we have to let that evolve a little bit."

I mean, the whole piece strongly suggests a "Shhh! Don't scare the Marleau!" tenor to the relationship between coach and captain. Which is fine, really...everyone's different and if Marleau is high maintenance, he's high maintenance. If McLellan can find the secret to successfully maintaining him and he scores 40 goals, I'm cool with him being as high maintenance as he wants.

Marleau or Mar-Low?

2008-09-26T18:47:00.004-05:00

The preseason is underway, and the time is ripe to look ahead to the 2008-2009 edition of the San Jose Sharks.

Fans of Team Teal will be all too familiar with the storyline heading into this campaign...despite being one of the league's top teams for most of the 00's (and in the post-lockout years in particular), the Sharks have consistently wilted where it matters--in the playoffs. Early playoff exits have become an annual event of gloomy regularity for Sharks fans, rolling around to ruin those great regular seasons the way the first day of school inevitably shows up and ruins summer for small children.

The organization's management gave the team a good shake in the offseason in an effort to produce a different ending this year. San Jose's defensive corps will look very different this season, and of course there's a new man in charge behind the bench. But I can't help thinking that the key to a reversal of fortune lies with a guy who's been on the roster for years--the man wearing the "C", #12, Patrick Marleau.

Let's not mince words: Marleau had a horrible year last year. After a career-high 34 goals and 52 assists in 05-06, and an only slightly less productive 06-07, Marleau skidded down to 19 goals and 29 assists last year, for a mere 48 points, and was -19 on a team that was generally good defensively. And this was with a relatively strong finish: nine of those 19 goals came after the trading deadline.

Not every captain has to be a pugnacious, fiery scrapper like Bob Errey or Jeff Odgers. A guy can have a low-key on-ice personality and still be an effective captain. But to do so, he has to let his production do the talking. Marleau simply has to increase his production this year...particularly because he has retained the "C".

I'm betting this must've been a tough decision for new head coach Todd McLellan. If it were his decision to make--if Craig Rivet (traded to Buffalo) had been last year's captain, for instance, and there were no incumbent--it is difficult for this particular fan to believe that Marleau would get the "C". But it would clearly be very difficult to take the "C" away from any player who wears it, especially Marleau, who appears to be burdened by at least some amount of psychological fragility. (Did the fact that he was widely blamed for allowing Robert Lang to score the series-turning goal in the 2007 playoffs contribute to his poor start last year? Is it a coincidence that his best stretch of the 07-08 season came after the trading deadline, when all of the rumors that swirled around him could finally be put to rest?)

Marleau strikes me as a brilliant but difficult player who must be handled with great care and precision at all times--kind of like a Formula 1 car. Make a mistake and he can stall out or fly off the road. It was widely reported that Marleau had a relationship with former coach Ron Wilson that ranged from merely cordial to downright poor. Maybe coach McLellan can solve the Marleau Enigma, and ensure that this essential element of the team contributes to his full potential.

"My Client Has No Comment!"

2008-09-22T21:57:00.004-05:00

The Sharks hired John Ferguson Jr.--GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs until he was fired by that organization in January, leaving it in pretty rough shape--as a scout over the weekend.

Ferguson seems to be pretty universally reviled by Leafs fans...there were several players the Leafs would've liked to have moved for draft picks and young talent at the deadline last year (Mats Sundin chief among them), but they all had no-trade clauses inked by Ferguson and the organization was paralyzed.

So the guy's reputation is in need of a makeover. You would think in announcing his hiring on their official site, the Sharks could've found at least one picture that didn't make it look like he was making a perp walk...

Inspires confidence, doesn't it?

Maybe he'll do better as a scout...

We Got News

2008-09-21T21:47:00.005-05:00

Training camp tends to be one of those time periods for which "no news is good news" holds true. Well...we got news.

Media reports indicate that second-year center Torrey Mitchell--who provided a nice, unexpected spark as a rookie last year, although he faded somewhat down the stretch and flashed his rookie side a little too often for my comfort--has broken his leg and will be out for eight weeks.

Coach McClellan, meet your first major-league curve ball.

With Mitchell down, someone will have to step in. Who will that someone be? Very very early indications (via David Pollak's blog at the Merc) indicate that Once-And-Future(?) Shark Jeff Friesen could have the early inside track.

Certainly a situation to watch as camp continues.

Why the Sharks? (Part IV)

2008-09-21T19:32:00.004-05:00

It's my observation that generally people inherit their sporting allegiances from the people around them--very frequently their families, often their larger geographical communities. It is certainly possible for an individual to adopt a team representing a town that he or she has never visited and to which he or she has no other community connection, but this is relatively rare, as near as I can tell. As a kid, for example, I rooted for the Minnesota Twins, the North Stars, and Golden Gopher teams, because although I was born in Virginia and grew up in Northern Wisconsin, both of my parents are Twin Cities natives and attended the University of Minnesota. I suppose I'm nominally a Timberwolves fan as well, although I've never been a huge NBA fan and I'm not especially engaged by the team's fortunes. (My NFL allegiances have been nebulous, multitudinous, and mercurial, and lately chiefly revolve around A) my fantasy team and B) the desire to see the people I care about happy, which puts me in the odd position of throwing my karmic support behind the Vikings and Packers and Cowboys and Eagles, all at the same time. Many will likely say "No real NFL fan could root for both the Vikings and the Packers," to which I reply, "True".)

I think it took the peculiar set of circumstances that existed in 1993-94 to make me a Sharks fan. Certainly if the North Stars were still in Minnesota I would to this day be a North Stars fan through and through. When the Stars moved, though, it really threw the future of my hockey fandom up in the air, and in the summer of 1993 I had no idea where it would land.

I do not think I could have arbitrarily adopted a new team and made it stick. It's not enough--at least, it's not enough for me--to wake up one morning and say "Hey, I think I'll be a Vancouver Canucks/Hartford Whalers/Los Angeles Kings fan." It's not enough for me to say it...I have to really feel it, to really believe it.

If I had stayed in the Twin Cities after college, or if I had moved to a community that didn't have a hockey team (San Diego, say, which I looked at pretty seriously for grad school), who knows where I would be today? Maybe I would have lost interest in the pro game and threw my support entirely behind Gopher hockey. In a previous post I mentioned the possibility that I may have successfully adopted the Washington Capitals, on the basis of a thin association with that team in my early childhood, but who knows if this would've stuck?

Even if I had moved to a community with an established team--New Jersey, say (I also seriously looked at Princeton)--would I really have become a die-hard Devils fan? Maybe, but somehow I doubt it. The Devils were a successful team in 1993-94 (they went to the conference finals), with an established fan base...it was their team, not mine. I think it would've been difficult to feel that I was really part of that community. I may have taken some interest in the Devils' playoff run that spring, but I'm doubtful any allegiance would've endured. I wouldn't have felt it. I wouldn't have believed it.

It took moving to exactly the right place (and, for those who may have been wondering, no, the presence of a hockey team was not a factor in my choice of graduate school) at exactly the right time for me to become the hockey fan I am today. It was not just a hockey market that I moved to, it was an embryonic hockey market in the midst of growth and fermentation, and I happened to come along at one of the truly decisive moments in the history of the franchise. In fact, I would argue that until the team hoists the Stanley Cup, there is no on-ice moment in San Jose Sharks history more important than that Game Seven victory over the Red Wings on that day in 1994. It was a crisp and decisive watershed moment. If the Sharks had been as dreadful that year as they had been the previous season, I am doubtful I would have found myself as engaged in their fortunes as I was, and I doubt if my support for the team would have persisted beyond my brief stay in the Bay Area.

So, in this way as in many others, I am a very, very lucky man.

This is the last post in this series about how I became a Sharks fan. I encourage you to reflect upon why you love your favorite team(s) (both hockey-playing varieties and others). I'll bet you'll find there are great stories there!

*****

Training camp is underway, and the first preseason game is only a week or so away. I'll be posting a few thoughts about the upcoming season over the next few weeks.

Stay cool. Happy equinox.

Why the Sharks? (Part III)

2008-09-12T14:45:00.013-05:00

First, a few words about the NHL playoffs.

The NHL playoffs are frequently mocked because "everyone makes it in". This criticism simply isn't warranted in this day and age--just ask, say, Chicago Blackhawks fans. There are plenty of good teams that miss the playoffs, and numbers one through eight in each conference are always solid. Anyone can beat you. In the spring of 2009, the eighth-seeded team will be a legitimate threat to beat the top-seeded team, both in the East and out West. Upsets of this nature happen with enough frequency these days that they aren't even that surprising anymore.

But it wasn't long ago--in the era when the NHL comprised twenty-one teams, and played an entire regular season to eliminate five of them--that this criticism was warranted. The '93-'94 season was part of the transitional era between those days of the "Original 21" and the current thirty-team league. In the Western Conference, of which the Sharks and the Red Wings were and still are members, there were only twelve teams in '93-'94, and eight of them made the playoffs. The Sharks were the eighth seed that year. As you can see by looking here, all of the teams that finished behind them in the standings--the Jets, the expansion Mighty Ducks, the Oilers, and the Kings--lost 45 games or more, and only one (Anaheim) won more than thirty. You could make a case that the Sharks weren't the eighth best team in the conference as much as they were the fifth-worst.

The point of all the preceding is to emphasize how wide the gap was perceived to be between Detroit and San Jose as the playoffs got underway in 1994. Those who are relatively new to the league may have recent memories of, say, 2006, when the eighth-seeded Edmonton Oilers defeated the top-seeded Red Wings in six, or maybe this past May, when the eighth-seeded Boston Bruins took the top-seeded Habs to seven games before finally losing. The league didn't have the kind of parity in 1994 that it has now, the playoff field was nowhere near as deep, and very few people gave the Sharks a shot against the Wings. You would have found far more hockey fans predicting a Detroit sweep than a San Jose victory.

*****
On the Stanford campus at this time, there was a little shop that sold sandwiches (really good tuna salad) and frozen yogurt...it might still be there, for all I know. Game One was of course at Detroit, and therefore on television relatively early on the Pacific Coast. After it was over, I was in the mood for a sandwich.

When I walked into the shop the guy behind the counter said, "Hey, who won the game?" (I was wearing my jersey).

"The Sharks!" I chortled. I was pretty excited.

"Hey, great," the guy said.

"You'll never guess who scored!" I continued to chortle. "Shawn Cronin!" I didn't even give the poor guy a sporting chance to guess.

"Wow," he said. "Cool."

Of course, he had no clue who Shawn Cronin was.

*****

You knew it was going to be a weird series when Shawn Cronin--who had no goals whatsoever during the regular season and throughout his career was known almost exclusively for his fighting--found the twine for the Sharks in the course of a 5-4 win. If you were a Sharks fan, weird was good.

My recollection of the series, fourteen-plus years later, is like this: first, the Sharks steal a game, probably through the heroics of Irbe. Then, the Red Wings wake up and come back and beat the Sharks like a drum in the next game. Then this process repeats, through two more iterations, until each team has three wins and it's time for Game Seven.

Looking at the actual history, provided here, I can see it didn't quite go like that. Yes, the Wings did win decisively in Game Two by a 4-0 margin, but I see that they also came back and won Game Three (the first game in San Jose) 3-2. It was then the Sharks who won two straight, taking a 3-2 series lead back to Detroit for Game Six, which the Wings won in a 7-1 rout. That particular thumping I remember for sure...I recall finally having the sense that the Wings had righted the ship and were ready to take care of this pesky Californian team with their stylish logo and their oh-so-nineties teal sweaters once and for all.

I may have been confident that the Wings had righted the ship, but their own fan base was not. In 1994 the Wings were still in the midst of a decades-long championship drought--I don't think anyone at the time could have known they would be consistently at or near the top of the league for most of the next two decades. So at the time it probably seemed that having finally assembled a good team, the Wings were about to blow a precious chance at the Cup, with no guarantee of how many more there would be.

A Detroit journalist--I think it was Mitch Albom, but I'm not positive--wrote a piece around this time that reflected the anxiety of Wings fans. It was written from the point of view of a fan so preoccupied with the Wings' difficulties that everything he heard reminded him of the possibility of impending playoff disaster...

"A coworker poked his head into my office, smiling. 'All's good'?

'What?' I screamed. 'What about Osgood? That kid couldn't stop a beach ball!! This is the best we can do? Seriously?'"

...or words to that effect...I don't remember it precisely. ("Osgood" was a reference to Wings rookie goaltender Chris Osgood--yes, the same one who added his name to the Stanley Cup this spring for the third time).

*****

Osgood actually had a decent series, with three wins, two losses, and a 2.35 GAA, but ultimately the series-deciding goal was scored off of his mistake. It's a measure of the guy's mental toughness that he was able to shake it off and go on to have a career that has been and continues to be stellar.

With only a few minutes left in a tense 2-2 game, Osgood went into the corner to play a puck along the boards. Unfortunately for him, his backhanded flip went right onto the stick of Shark Jamie Baker, who immediately shot the puck into the unguarded net for a 3-2 lead. (Video here).

I was watching the game in the dorm room of my friend the Wings fan--he had an actual color TV. When Baker scored I leaped up in joy, running into the corridor, screaming, no doubt disturbing many students who were deep into their linear algebra homework. Considering that I was watching the game on a color television through the kind invitation of my friend the Wings fan, I probably should have conducted myself in a more subdued manner. But what can I say? I'm rarely subdued when it comes to hockey.

The Sharks made the lead stand up in the face of an all-out assault by waves of future hall of famers over the last minutes--Fedorov, Yzerman, Coffey--and won the game. Then they moved on to face the Toronto Maple Leafs, who at the time were in the Western Conference. That series is much less memorable--the one detail I recall is that the Sharks led that series three games to two as well, and Johan Garpenlov hit the post in overtime of game six with a shot that would've sent San Jose to the Western Conference finals. As it happened, Toronto eventually won that game, and game seven as well, ending the month-long thrill ride that was the Sharks' 1994 playoff appearance.

I'll have a few concluding thoughts in the fourth and final post of this series.

Why the Sharks? (Part II)

2008-09-11T17:42:00.007-05:00

First of all, this is a way better sepak takraw link than the one I used yesterday. (I'm pretty sure this is how I sound to non-hockey fans when I talk about hockey...)

The conclusion of my last post found me--a refugee from the Land of 10,000 Frozen Lakes and still mourning the Anakin-to-Vader-like transformation of my Minnesota North Stars into the Dallas Evil Empire--adrift on the left coast amongst a sea of hoops fans, the only land in sight a two-year-old NHL team that might not've given the Baltimore Skipjacks much of a scare.

I starting watching the Sharks, just because...well, they were on. And man, did they stink. They lost a bunch of games off the bat and didn't win at all until nearly the end of October. Still, I watched them anyway, on my tiny little black-and-white TV...or, if I was puttering around my dorm room doing homework or whatever, I would listen to Dan Rusanowsky, then as now the voice of the Sharks, then as now one of the best in the business. Maybe they had some sort of lovable loser appeal to them. Maybe it's just a measure of how much I like hockey that I found following the team worthwhile, despite their (apparent) futility.

Then, so subtly that one almost didn't notice it, the Sharks began to dig their way out of that initial hole. They didn't burn up the league or anything, but they began to win a few games, sometimes a few at a time, and they avoided any lengthy losing streaks. A scrappy Latvian named Arturs Irbe gave them good goaltending--the one ingredient absolutely essential to turning a marginal team into a contender--and former Soviet stars Sergei Makarov and Igor Larionov started to click on offense.

It was around this time that I convinced several of my friends to accompany me down to San Jose to actually take in a live NHL game. I remember that it was a 3-3 tie with Winnipeg. To this day, this remains the only Sharks home game I have ever attended. Was this the night I actually turned the corner and became a full-fledged Sharks fan? I dunno...maybe. I remember rooting for the home team, and I remember being impressed by the gleaming new building and the enthusiasm of the Northern California crowd. Possibly a combination of all these things won me over. Or possibly it was just one more element in a long, gradual process.

What I do know, for sure, is that I was firmly in Team Teal's camp by the time of the one regular-season game that season that I remember even more than the one I attended--a 7-1 shellacking of the wicked Dallas Stars, in the enemy's building. For whatever reason that was a game I listened to on the radio--I don't know if it wasn't on TV, or if I had homework to do, or what. If the latter, I didn't get much work done, because I can remember pacing furiously back and forth in my room, listening to Rusanowsky call the action, getting more exhilarated with every San Jose goal. When it became clear that my team (yes, by this time the Sharks were my team) was not going to just beat the Evil Empire on their home ice, but absolutely paste them, I remember being so elated that I felt that I was about to float up off the floor.

(It was around this time that I made this purchase.)

The game had significance beyond settling a personal score for me. It, and every other game on the schedule as winter turned to spring (an imperceptible change in temperate northern California, by the way) now had genuine playoff implications. Indeed, the Sharks had successfully put the '92-'93 season and the horrible start to the '93-'94 campaign behind them, and were now firmly in the running for the franchise's first ever playoff spot.

When the last game had been played, the Sharks had managed to finish eighth out of twelve teams in the Western Conference, good enough for a cameo playoff appearance as Speed Bump #1 between the hundred-point Detroit Red Wings and the Stanley Cup. The fact that San Jose was so badly outmatched in the first round didn't really matter, to Sharks fans...just getting to the playoffs was an accomplishment to be proud of.

Then this happened...

It was one of the biggest upsets in the history of hockey. I'll talk a little more about how it went down in my next post.

Why the Sharks? (Part I)

2008-09-10T21:18:00.005-05:00

I get this one a lot, and I'm looking to warm this blog back up again in preparation for the season, so I think I'll post a little of what The New Yorker calls a "Personal History". It's a somewhat lengthy tale, so I'll break it into multiple parts...

I was born just outside of D.C. in northern Virginia, grew up in northern Wisconsin, and have lived in the Twin Cities for nearly all of the past nineteen years. How is it, then, that I became such a die-hard fan of a hockey team hailing from San Jose, of all places?

It's the "nearly all" in the previous paragraph that is key, for the small sliver of time between 1989 and the present that I did not spend in frosty Minnesota found me hanging my hat in California.

The autumn of 1993 was a pivotal time for the National Hockey League, the Sharks franchise, and myself. From the point of view of this hockey fan, the changes in the league were mostly baleful--the classy old conference and divisional monikers (Norris, Smythe, Patrick, and Adams Divisions, Prince of Wales and Clarence Campbell Conferences) were abandoned and replaced with vague references to North American geography, and my beloved North Stars were stolen from Minnesota and sent to Texas. On the other hand, there was a new and particularly curious team down in SoCal that piqued my interest called the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (opinions vary, but I personally think their original logo rocked, and I lament its demise), and the Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques were still where they belonged, so it wasn't all bad.

The San Jose Sharks, at the forefront of the '90s wave of expansion (part of the "Original Twenty-Two", as we Sharks fans like to say) were entering their third year, and their first in their new building, San Jose Arena. At last the team was truly resident in the city of its appellation, having played in the Cow Palace (just outside of San Fransisco) for the first two years of its existence. In addition to their new building, the franchise possessed a new head coach (Kevin Constantine) and the fresh and painful memories of one of the worst seasons in NHL history (an 11-71-2 record in '92-'93, for a whopping 24 points--this was back when expansion teams actually had to suffer a little).

As for me, well, I finished college at the University of Minnesota that spring and had just been delivered, by a few kind friends of mine, to the campus of the Leland Stanford Junior University, thousands of miles from anyone I knew, to start grad school. Amongst my carload of possessions was a combination radio/black-and-white television with a five inch screen. I didn't anticipate using it much. As things turned out, I was wrong.

With the exception of a fellow mechanical engineering student down the hall from me in my dorm who was from Detroit ('nuff said--the Wings were as good then as they are now, and have pretty much maintained that level of play for every year in between), my new circle of Stanford friends were fans of scrimmage football, basketball, and baseball--in other words, they were fairly typical American sports fans. The fact that I was so devoted to hockey was curious and somewhat bemusing to them--they reacted largely as they would have if I had expressed deep interest in shinty or sepak takraw. One friend gave voice to this when I mentioned that I would value a national collegiate championship for the Minnesota Golden Gophers in ice hockey more than I would in basketball. The friend, a Duke alum and the type of college basketball fan who inspires this sort of thing, took a moment to convince himself that I was serious and exploded "Hockey? Who cares about hockey?"

At this point, though, despite loving the sport, I really had no team. The wounds left by the North Stars moving to Dallas were raw, and I did not know how, or even if, they would ever heal. I still cheered for the Gophers, of course, but I've always had a particular liking for the pro game.

Where, or where, was I to turn? For the answer to this and many other questions, see "Part II", coming soon.

The Other Hockey

2008-08-09T20:09:00.005-05:00

The Summer Olympics have started, in case you haven't noticed. In the past, the experience of viewing the Olympics has consisted largely of watching glossily produced human interest pieces, sandwiched between various taped bits of Americans winning gold medals in things, all to a soundtrack of Bob Costas waxing hyperbolic. This year, however, NBC is using the internet to make much more of the action available live and in its entirety (as they should--if they're going to acquire exclusive legal rights to broadcast the Olympics, in my view they're obliged to provide to the consumer with as much of the Olympics as technically possible).

I've always been very curious about the sporting universe outside of the handful of sports that draw the vast majority of the attention (and airtime) in the United States. I once attended the world bandy championships and I have a working knowledge of cricket. This bit of an oddball streak in my personality probably contributed to my embracing ice hockey as a young person--it has always been just fringe enough that I get to feel special, yet accessible enough that I could actually become engaged in the sport.

One of the sports I've always wanted to see is field hockey. I've never had the opportunity to watch a live field hockey match in its entirety before, but that all changed this evening, with the opening of the women's tournament from the Beijing games--New Zealand versus Japan. NBC streamed the match over their Olympics website--just the international video feed, with no commentary, which was just fine, given how irritating 99% of sports commentary is.

I didn't expect that the sport would actually have much in common with ice hockey, and it doesn't. It's actually much more like bandy in terms of the size of the pitch (looks like it's a little bigger than a scrimmage football field but a little smaller than a typical soccer field), the number of players, and the general pace of play. The sticks are heavy and short, obliging the players to bend down quite a bit to play the ball, which is about the size of a baseball. The goals are fairly large and on the end lines, and, curiously, there's a rule that obliges an attacking player to shoot from inside an arc around the goal called the "shooting circle"--in other words, if you shoot from too far away, it won't count. (This means that no field hockey goalie will ever have to worry about pulling a Vesa Toskala.) In practice, it appears to be common for attacking players to attempt to drive the ball towards the goal from outside the line, hoping to get a rebound or deflection from a friendly player in a legal position--rather like ice hockey defensemen shooting from the point in hopes that a teammate will get a stick on the puck. Except in field hockey, if the shot goes in clean, it's no goal.

One thing I discovered I really like about field hockey is that it's unencumbered by any offsides rule, and by extension the irritating stoppages in play and whining that accompany offsides calls in other sports (especially soccer). The fact that an attacking player can never be in an offsides position, and is free to cherrypick if he or she likes, means that defenses must account for this--it tends to stretch defenses along the field's long axis, opening up space for play to proceed.

On to the match itself. New Zealand, to my untrained eye, appeared to have the better of the early play on a rain-sodden field, but Japan took the lead about twelve minutes in when one of their players broke free behind the New Zealand defense and scored. Japan added another goal a few minutes later off of a "penalty corner"--a set piece restart involving what amounts to a free centering pass, a bit like a corner kick in soccer. New Zealand pulled one back with a penalty corner of their own before halftime, but although they fought desperately for the entire second half, they couldn't find an equalizer, and the game ended with a 2-1 scoreline.

I highly recommend checking it out. The sport has an excellent pace to it, and the match I described above wrapped up in a tidy hour and a half, so it's not like it takes that much of an investment of time. It really is a wide world of sports out there.

New Sweater

2008-08-05T21:45:00.002-05:00

Well, I've been meaning to do it all summer, and I finally pulled the trigger... I ordered myself a shiny new Sharks sweater. I ordered my own name on the back (of course) and I picked number 93 for myself, in honor of the year I became a Sharks fan.

My original customized sweater that I bought waaaaaaay back in 1994 is practically a vintage garment by this point, and I treat it with the anxious reverence with which one might handle a dinner jacket worn by Winston Churchill. I also have a blank sweater which some kind friends bought for me several years ago, and which I will continue to wear, particularly when San Jose visits the X. (Going into an enemy building wearing the opponent's sweater? Cool. Going into an enemy building wearing the opponent's sweater with your name on the back? Not too bright.) But I had an itch for a customized sweater that I could wear on a regular basis, so I found my way to NHL.com and snagged one.

I hope they spell my name right...

Renovating the Back Porch

2008-08-02T10:38:00.005-05:00

Following the departure of free agent defenseman Brian Campbell to the Chicago Blackhawks, Sharks GM Doug Wilson made a series of moves that completely overhauled the San Jose blue line...rather like one of those home-improvement projects that's initiated by a need to replace the screen door and winds up involving a comprehensive renovation of the back porch.

So is the team better off after these moves? I believe the short answer is Yes--but the improvements have come at a very high price.

The particulars: free agent Rob Blake signed with San Jose for one year at $5 million. Dan Boyle and fellow Tampa D-man Brad Lukowich come to San Jose in exchange for Matt Carle, prospect Ty Wishart, next year's first-round draft pick, and 2010's fourth-round draft pick. Then Craig Rivet was shipped to Buffalo for a couple of second-round picks, one next year and one in 2010, in an effort to replenish, at least somewhat, the Sharks' depleted pool of draft selections. (Particulars from here.)

At the end of all of this, the Sharks are left with a very strong defensive corps going into the fall. Dan Boyle is every bit the puck-moving, offensive defenseman that Campbell is--his numbers were way down last year, but he missed a good chunk of the season after a freak accident involving a falling skate that sliced up his arm, and after he did come back he played for a bad Lightning team. Even so, he managed 4 goals and 21 assists in 37 games. He has the potential to chip in 20 goals from the blue line.

Lukowich won't contribute much in the goal column, but he's a hard-hitting shut-down guy of the type a team needs to be successful. He also has a reputation as a good shot-blocker--a critical element of defensive play in today's NHL. He and Boyle comprised a defensive unit for Tampa's championship team...I suppose chances are good they'll play together again this season, but we'll have to wait and see how things shake out in training camp.

I was skeptical about the Rob Blake acquisition at first, but viewed in this larger context I like it. Blake will turn 39 this season, and he is certainly in the twilight of his career, but he has some things to contribute, notably a slap shot that is still worthy of fear, if not the downright terror it warranted in the past. Even more importantly, though, Blake is mean. He may be the sweetest guy in the world off the ice, I have no idea, but on the ice he's just not nice, and on a team that probably has a surplus of pleasant, jovial, friendly guys, a player with a mean streak is welcome.

Another crucial characteristic shared by Boyle, Lukowich, and Blake is big-game ability. All three of these guys have their names on the Stanley Cup (Lukowich twice). Given the way the Sharks have fallen flat in the postseason for the last umpteen years in a row, I really like an injection of proven big-game experience. This is one thing Brian Campbell, who largely disappeared in the playoffs last year after a great finish to the regular season, does not have.

Now, on to the cost. For me, and I suspect many Sharks fans, the loss of Craig Rivet hits hardest. He had a great year last year and provided steady defensive play and solid leadership for the San Jose blue line. He always worked hard and was justifiably popular. But something had to be done to offset Dan Boyle's price tag, not to mention the sudden logjam of San Jose defenseman...one of them had to go.

Last year Matt Carle failed to follow up the promise shown during his first full season in the NHL, in the course of which he scored 11 goals and had 31 assists. He had only two goals and 13 assists last season, and was generally beset by long periods of inconsistent play. I'm quite certain he was the guy the San Jose brass were expecting to step from inside the organization into the role of offensive, puck-moving defenseman, but it just didn't seem like it was happening, at least not in any kind of timely way. He could still be a great player...maybe he'll do better in Tampa.

Losing Ty Wishart hurts. He was the top scoring defenseman in the Western Hockey League last year, and has potential to be a Brian Campbell/Dan Boyle type in the big league one day, possibly pretty soon. Of all of the personnel given up to bring Boyle to the Sharks, this loss probably stings the organization most of all.

And then there are the draft picks. Like this year, the Sharks will not have a first-round draft pick next year. The second-round picks acquired for Rivet help offset the pain of this somewhat, but the organization is still looking at an extended period of time in which no top young players will be flowing in. Sooner or later, the ultimate bill for this will come due. I view this as an acknowledgment by Wilson that if the sun is not quite setting on the Thornton/Nabokov/Marleau era over which he has presided, it has at least moved well past noon.

With a little bit of luck, the personnel overhaul at the blue line will put the teeth back in a San Jose offense that went from formidable in 2006-2007 to somewhat meek last year. The power play should be improved, and hopefully Boyle will be able to initiate many offensive chances from the Sharks' defensive zone. Only time will tell.

What Was Doug Wilson Thinking? (Seriously...I'm Interested)

2008-07-28T21:13:00.004-05:00

In appearances before the public, Sharks GM Doug Wilson is the picture of pacific confidence. He tends to wear a small, patient, wry smile when being questioned, as if he had anticipated the query with comprehensive accuracy and is mildly amused by this, then typically issues a bland and pleasant response that is less informative than an AP wire story. It's as though he took very much to heart the scene in Bull Durham in which Crash Davis instructs Nuke LaLoosh on the benefits of clichés. ("You're gonna have to learn your clichés. You're gonna have to study them, you're gonna have to know them. They're your friends.")

I find it tough to get inside the guy's head...he's inscrutable. It would have been really fascinating to somehow have had a peek inside his skull as the events immediately following the opening of the NHL free agency period unfolded--the departure of Brian Campbell, then the acquisition of Rob Blake and the trade for Dan Boyle.

As I alluded to in my last post, it's the timeline of events that's so interesting. Brian Campbell was off like a shot to Chicago as soon as the free agency period began, signing on the dotted line on July 1st. This article, which appeared in the St. Petersburg Times print edition on July 3rd, suggests very strongly that Dan Boyle was not inclined to waive his no-trade clause, despite the rumors swirling around him. A few quotes from the above:

[Boyle's agent George] Bazos...explained he got a call Tuesday from "Lightning management" that he said indicated, "It's not their intention to move Dan. They're going to try to work out whatever they need to work out in other ways."

Bazos said [of Boyle], "He's staying put. You can't replace Dan. ... When rational people sit down and take a look at it and say, realistically, if they want to move Dan, how are they making the team better, they can't do it."

The timeline on the Blake situation is less clear-cut, but it appears that even he was still in discussions with the Kings at the time the Sharks lost Campbell.

In other words, it doesn't seem like Wilson could have known that Blake and Boyle would be available at the time he chose to let Campbell walk. He let Campbell walk anyway, probably judging that his cost was inflated by the relative scarcity of defensemen on the free agent market and that the Hawks overpaid. (I would agree with this...so does the Hawks' GM, for that matter).

So did Wilson know a bunch of stuff that the media and the general public did not? Did he have a sense that Blake and the Kings were at an impasse, and expect that Blake could be lured up the coast? Did he have the foresight to recognize that Tampa would have to move Boyle, like it or not, to make their salary structure work? And, furthermore, was he confident he could tempt the Lightning D-man to San Jose (rather than Ottawa)?

Or did he just let go of the ledge, hoping that he would land on his feet?

My posts in the July 1st - July 2nd time period betray my growing desperation as Wilson made no moves whatsoever and quality options for helping the team appeared to dwindle, as star after free agent star shot off to the other arms of the NHL galaxy. But, in the end, I would say the guy did land on his feet, not just filling the gap left by Campbell but actually improving the team. I'll discuss some reasons why I think this is true in my next post.

All Shook Up

2008-07-06T07:42:00.003-05:00

Okay. So. Let's review the last few days, because they've been quite eventful.

The NHL free-agency period kicked in on July 1st, and immediately the Sharks lost defenseman Brian Campbell--widely regarded as the top blueliner available in a slim market--to the Chicago Blackhawks. This means that the price Sharks GM Doug Wilson paid for Campbell at the trade deadline--a first-round draft pick and Steve Bernier--turned out to be the cost of a short-term rental. My reaction: not surprised, or even that disappointed, really. I was ga-ga over Campbell during the regular season, but he didn't contribute in the manner I had anticipated during the playoffs, and frankly I think the Hawks might have overpaid for him...with few top defensemen available as free agents this year, it's just the nature of the market that the price tags would be inflated.

However, I presumed that Wilson would move immediately to make his suddenly short-handed team better...but this didn't happen. For a couple of frustrating days, I watched while seemingly every other team in the league made moves to improve for next season, while the only story about the Sharks was a press release from the team describing prospect Nick Petrecki's visit to the White House. Yippee skip.

(All this time, I should add, rumors were floating around that the Sharks were one of a number of teams pursuing Tampa Bay defenseman Dan Boyle, who is a similar player to Campbell. But Boyle had just signed a new contract with the Lightning in February, just got married to a Florida native, just started to build a house in the Tampa area, and had publicly stated that he didn't want to waive the no-trade clause that was part of his contract. Lame hockey trade rumors are a dime a dozen, and those involving players with no-trade clauses tend to deserve particular skepticism, because a no-trade clause means what it says--the player can nix any trade that the front office agrees to. So the scuttlebutt surrounding Boyle reminded me of the hurricane of hot air blowing around (for instance) Toronto Maple Leafs Mats Sundin and Pavel Kubina as the trade deadline approached back in February--both were the subject of intense speculation, both possessed no-trade clauses, and nothing came of any of it.)

Finally, on July 3rd, Wilson stirred himself to action, signing veteran (read: old) L.A. Kings defenseman Rob Blake to a one-year, $5 million contract. My reaction: underwhelmed. Rob Blake has had a fabulous career that has included a Norris Trophy and a Stanley Cup, and I respect the hell out of him, but his most productive season was over a decade ago, and he's been in the league for longer than the Sharks have. Adding Blake while deleting Campbell would not have made the Sharks better, in my opinion, but with options dwindling (even less-desirable D-men such as the fading Wade Redden or the post-operative Michal Rozsival were off the market by this point) this seemed exactly the situation that fans of Team Teal were facing.

What I didn't anticipate--what I'm not sure anyone could have anticipated--is what happened next.

Actually, in fairness I have to say it's not entirely clear what happened next, at least not to me. There isn't a body of evidence out there in the public record that would make a court case. All that is certain is that only a very short time after signing a new contract, marrying a Florida woman, commencing work on a new house in the Tampa Area, and stating that he had no intention of waiving his no trade clause, Dan Boyle agreed to be traded to the San Jose Sharks.

The most extensive comments from Boyle that I have found are here. Boyle suggests that the Lightning's new ownership group criticized his work ethic and threatened to put him on waivers (this would've meant that he could be claimed by any team in the league and would have no control over where he would wind up). Some quotes by Boyle from the above, which is by Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune...

"When my work ethic is questioned, my offseason work ethic and the way I get ready for games and what I do is questioned, and it gets personal and I'm threatened, that is absolutely the way not to do business..."

"...I, for a long time now, have been under the impression that I was part of this team going forward, wanting input from me on other players, and never in a million years did I think that I was one of the guys that needed to go."

Given the circumstances, I believe Boyle. If true, this is a really classless, unprofessional, and disrespectful move by the Lightning organization, and totally against the spirit of Boyle's contract. I'm pretty sure I need to retract all of the generally favorable things I said about the new Tampa ownership group just a short time ago.

I'm certain this has disrupted Boyle's family life tremendously, and I feel kind of bad for him. At the same time, though, it's a gain for the Sharks. Maybe if Boyle can once more put his name on the Cup (he was part of Tampa's championship team), this time while wearing teal, it'll make the ordeal seem worthwhile.

Okay, this is getting to be a long post, so I'm going to stop for now. In my next post I'll have some thoughts about how I think this particular trade, and a further deal Wilson made as a direct consequence (Craig Rivet to Buffalo) will work out for the Sharks. Till then, stay cool...

Okay, Something Else Was Brewing...

2008-07-06T00:28:00.005-05:00

If you're a hard-core hockey fan, you know this already, but for those of you who aren't, the big and fairly surprising (at least to me) news of the weekend in Sharks land is that defenseman Dan Boyle of the Tampa Bay Lightning did in fact waive the no-trade clause in the contract he signed just this February and agree to be dealt to San Jose. The Sharks also got another Lightning D-man in the deal (Brad Lukowich), and sent Matt Carle, prospect Ty Wishart, and draft picks to Tampa.

I stand by my previous assertion that if the signing of free-agent blueliner Rob Blake had been Doug Wilson's only move to address the departure of Brian Campbell, it would've been inadequate. The Boyle deal (which I never really believed would happen) is quite the follow-up, however, and considered together the two moves seem...pretty cool.

Just a quick post for now. More tomorrow...

What Comes After Consolation Prize? Disconsolation Prize?

2008-07-03T17:27:00.003-05:00

O-o-o-o-kay. Rob Blake signs with the Sharks (one-year, at $5 million, according to TSN).

Well, I guess I exhibited desperation for any move.

Most humorous part of the above article? New coach Todd McClellan comparing Blake to Nicklas Lidstrom.

Blake is 38 years old and his production is in a decline that seems unlikely to abate. He can still have a role as a solid NHL defenseman, because so much of playing that position is good decision-making, and there's something to be said for a guy who's seen every conceivable situation go down about ten million times. And he can probably serve as a(nother) mentor for the younger guys on San Jose's D, who are still pretty green...it helps that Blake has more big-game experience than Craig Rivet (or anyone else on the Sharks, for that matter).

But still...this is not the answer to Brian Campbell's departure, and Wilson sure as heck better have something else brewing, or I'm going to be one disappointed fan.

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

2008-07-03T16:50:00.004-05:00

"Rangers sign..."
"Canadiens sign..."
"Avalanche sign..."
"Coyotes sign..."
"Lightning sign..."
"Bruins sign..."

I've been watching these headlines tick out like clockwork over the past three days, with still nothing to be seen from the Sharks. It's extraordinarily frustrating...it feels like the rest of the league is passing us by.

For the first time in Doug Wilson's tenure in the front office, I am starting to question the franchise's strategy for winning the Stanley Cup in a serious way.

The only buzz so far remotely regarding the Sharks identifies them as one of the teams interested in trading for Tampa blueliner Dan Boyle. One of several teams interested in trading for Tampa blueliner Dan Boyle. Who has a no-trade clause.

Excuse me if I don't get too excited.

Um...Hello? Doug?

2008-07-02T08:16:00.002-05:00

Can someone give Doug Wilson a nudge, please? Maybe he's taking a nap.

The NHL free-agency period is well underway. The laundry list of hockey press clippings is growing and growing, with the news that Player X has signed with Team Y, &c. Yet the only mention of the Sharks is in the context of those to whom they have waved goodbye (Brian Campbell and Patrick Rissmiller, as of this writing).

I know what Wilson would say to this...we're always looking at deals, we're waiting for the right deal to come along, we have a lot of confidence in the players we have, we don't want to make a deal just to make a splash...yadda yadda yadda.

I understand that sometimes the best deal to make is no deal at all, but still...as a fan, you want to have some reason to believe your team is going to be better next year, and coaching change aside, some new personnel would help. It's a bit like seeing all the other kids in the neighborhood rush home after school to play with a cool new toy that your parents didn't even buy for you. It's tough not to feel left out.

We'll see what today brings, I guess...

The Other Shoe Drops

2008-07-01T17:59:00.006-05:00

So, Brian Campbell's short career as a Shark is over. He is Chicago bound.

Although all parties involved insisted that San Jose was in the running right up until the end, I was pretty sure he was leaving, and I'm quite certain that most other Sharks fans have been of a similar mind.

My disappointment about this development is muted. Yes, Campbell is an excellent offensive defenseman, and it would've been nice to keep him around. But although I was initially head-over-heels in love with him in teal, I was very disappointed in his playoff performance. He was barely visible against Calgary, and the two attributes he will be expected to provide for the Blackhawks--the ability to generate offense by moving the puck accurately and aggressively out of the defensive zone, and the ability to quarterback the power play--were grimly squashed by the Dallas Stars. Indeed, Campbell sometimes looked borderline inept in the face of the Stars' withering forecheck. He certainly wasn't alone in this, and I'm not blaming Campbell for the Sharks early playoff exit--the point is just that my love affair with this guy (Me on March 4th, after the Montreal Game: "Memo to Brian Campbell: We like you! We really like you!") cooled considerably after the playoff exit.

(In retrospect, I wonder how much the admiration of Campbell-and the commensurate distress at seeing him go--amongst San Jose fans was amplified by a single moment: his brilliant goal against the Canadiens that night. The Sharks were on a winning streak, it was their first game back after a looooooong road trip, they were engaged in a crowd-pleasing goalfest with Montreal, and, with San Jose leading 5-4 and just under two minutes to play, Campbell scored an absolutely beautiful goal using his "Spin-O-Rama" move, salting the game away. After the game Campbell was interviewed on the ice and you could practically see the joy flowing through the Tank. It was an electrifying moment, and of course we all fell in love with Campbell if we weren't already, and the team certainly owed a lot of its success down the stretch to his presence...but one wonders if maybe we didn't get a bit carried away.)

Furthermore, there are the terms of the deal to consider: eight years, $57.1 million, according to the report I linked to above. The salary on a per-year basis doesn't bother me, but the duration of the contract does. How often do we see long, expensive "sure thing" free-agent deals become terrible burdens for mediocre teams? (You don't even have to look outside the Bay Area to find the poster child for this sort of thing).

Honestly, my happiness about the fact that the Sharks re-signed Jody Shelley exceeds my sadness that they lost Campbell.

In short: would've been nice to keep Campbell, but I didn't think it was going to happen and sure enough it didn't. If the Sharks had signed him for eight years at $50 million plus, I would've been uneasy. I wish Soupy well in Chicago...with the league's most outstanding young core, and the addition of Cristobal Huet in goal, the Hawks ought to be a legitimate contender very soon. And as I mentioned in this post, it's nice to see that NHL hockey is looking strong in the Windy City.

The news about Campbell could be the domino that sets a string of actions into motion for Sharks' GM Doug Wilson. San Jose does have a very real need for offensive production from the blue line, and with Campbell out of the picture presumably this will have to be addressed through free agency. (Just as long as they don't pay millions for Wade Redden, who is not remotely what he used to be and likely to be overpriced... Watch, the next time I check the internet I'm gonna read, "Redden signs with Sharks").

Update: Looks like I don't have to worry about that, after all...

Barry Melrose? Seriously?

2008-06-28T13:28:00.003-05:00

"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step." - Attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte

These are pivotal days for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 2004 Stanley Cup Champions are coming off a dismal year on the ice, but won the draft lottery and selected blue-chip Sarnia Sting center Steve Stamkos at number one. Only days before the draft, new and enthusiastic ownership took control of the team. The principal member of the ownership group: Oren Koules, one of the producers of the Saw movies (who, according to IMDB, also appeared in an uncredited role as "Dead Cellmate" in the first installment of the franchise). The Lightning also are reportedly going to announce that Vinnie Lecavalier--the best player ever to wear their uniform--has agreed to a nine-year contract extension for $77 million as soon as the terms of the current CBA allow them to do so. And to replace the fired John Tortorella, the rookie ownership group hired Barry Melrose.

Cue record scratch sound.

Say what?

Melrose had a brief stint as an NHL coach, working behind the bench of the L.A. Kings for a few seasons in the early nineties--a stretch that included that franchise's only appearance in the Stanley Cup finals. After this he probably would've faded into general hockey obscurity had he not commenced a tenure as a hockey analyst for ESPN, a job he has held right up until the present. Among hockey fans he is pretty much regarded as an analyst who was once briefly a coach, not a coach who later became an analyst (although probably he gets the most adulation for stubbornly clinging to the original hockey hair style--the mullet--in a day when such daring coiffures are largely passe).

This move had been rumored to be in the cards since even before Tortorella got fired--indeed, a lot of hockey observers were talking about it like it was a lock--but I have to admit I didn't buy it. Would any NHL franchise actually engage as their coach a guy who hasn't been involved with the league in any way for over a decade--a decade that has seen a roller coaster of change? So when the official announcement came along I was still able to shake my head with disbelief.

As you might guess, reviews have been mixed. (Thumbs up here, thumbs down here). Personally, I have an instinct to think the move is absurd--which is why I never really believed it would happen in the first place. If the Sharks had pulled a stunt like this, I would have blown a gasket. Most of the debate that I've read seems to swirl around the issue of whether Melrose will even be remotely competent behind an NHL bench in 2008. Some say yes, some say no. It begs the question: is there seriously nobody else out there--in the AHL, in junior hockey, or currently serving as an NHL assistant--who could be expected to be better than Melrose? How about Tim Hunter, the former Sharks assistant--yes, he's about to reunite with Ron Wilson in Toronto, but what if the Lightning had called? That's just one name I happen to know...people smarter than me could surely add many more and better names to the list.

I wouldn't characterize myself as a Tampa Bay Lightning fan, but as an advocate of Sun Belt hockey I feel I have a bit of a stake in the outcome of this scheme. The Lightning are a Sun Belt success story--despite a dismal year on the ice last season, the crowds that turned out during and after the Bolts' championship have largely stuck around. (The team ranked eighth in the league in attendance last year). With Lecavalier on the verge of a major commitment to the franchise, and potentially Crosby-esque help on the way in the high-scoring Stamkos, the Lightning might be just a rebound in the standings away from truly planting firm hockey roots in Florida. Is this really the time to take such an extraordinary and bizarre gamble with the head coach?

I dunno. Maybe. Despite the temptation to pillory Koules and his colleagues as clueless, starstruck hockey newbies, they seem to be taking a so-crazy-it-might-work attitude to their entire endeavor. I'm finding myself being won over by their enthusiasm: they seem giddy at the prospect of owning a hockey team, in the way that I expect I would be giddy if I ever owned a hockey team. In an act of gentle human decency that genuinely moved me and a lot of other hockey watchers, they selected David Carle--brother of Sharks' defenseman Matt, and diagnosed with a chronic heart condition that forced him to retire from hockey only days before the draft--in the last round. Koules: "The kid worked his whole life to be drafted in the NHL, and I didn't see a reason he shouldn't be." (Quote is from here, story many other place on the net). And if we're discussing relative competence of NHL ownership, let's remember we're comparing the new boys in Tampa to a group that has demonstrated beyond all doubt their comprehensive incompetence in recent years.

So I say let's give this new bunch a chance. Hiring Merose is no doubt crazy...but maybe it'll turn out to be crazy like a straw.

Honoring Igor

2008-06-17T22:52:00.005-05:00

Most hockey fans probably don't think of Igor Larionov as a San Jose Shark, but I do. Larionov, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Tuesday, had more NHL success elsewhere--he won three Stanley Cups as a Detroit Red Wing--and much of his prime was spent playing for Central Red Army and the Soviet national team, in the service of which he won big huge bunches of medals, most of them gold.

However, Larionov was a crucial player on the 1993-94 edition of the San Jose Sharks--the team that made me a fan. Between him and Sergei Makarov, the Sharks boasted two-thirds of the famous Soviet "KLM Line", a fact that seemed to be only a hockey curiosity until San Jose started winning games and commenced a charge that landed them in the playoffs. As you can see from a glance at the season stats, the two Russians were team leaders--Makarov was the Sharks' first ever 30-goal scorer, and Larionov averaged almost a point a game over the sixty in which he played (and finished +20). Larionov also had 5 goals and 13 assists in San Jose's fourteen playoff games that year, which included, of course, the stunning upset over the Wings.

I've always regarded Igor Larionov as the consummate center--a through-the-roof hockey I.Q., strong defensively, and an exceptional passer, almost to a fault (an insane 25% of his shots found the net in the 93-94 season, suggesting that he probably should've shot more). For any fans of baseball out there, I've always thought of him as being a bit like Greg Maddux--never physically imposing or overwhelming, but possessed of such command of his craft that he was one of the most dominant players of his generation. (Plus, like Maddux, Larionov begs to be compared to a mild-mannered literature professor when out of uniform).

But Larionov's greatest accomplishments were off the ice. Along with Slava Fetisov, Larionov was a leader in the rebellion against the draconian Soviet coach, Viktor Tikhonov, which eventually resulted in Russian players being able to play in the NHL. This was back in the late '80s, when NATO and Warsaw Pact tanks were still staring at each other across the Fulda Gap and the guards on the Berlin Wall had shoot-to-kill orders. You can read a bit about it here. Kinda makes the temper-tantrums thrown by today's pro athletes seem a thousand times more ridiculous than they already are, doesn't it?

I was delighted to see Larionov elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. A very hearty congratulations to you, Igor...a well-deserved honor for a brilliant career.

Meet the New Boss

2008-06-12T20:39:00.006-05:00

The Sharks have a new coach, and it is Todd McLellan.

McLellan was an assistant coach with this year's championship edition of the Detroit Red Wings, and therefore still has a bit of a whiff of Stanley Cup about him. He has been a head coach at several levels of hockey (including a stint with the Houston Aeros, a team he led to the Calder Cup) but never held the head job in the NHL.

To which I say, "Huzzah!" Praise be to the hockey gods that Doug Wilson did not pick his new head coach from amongst the many who make up the ranks of the recently fired (like this guy, or this guy). I never really believed that Wilson would show such a lack of imagination that he would actually go with a retread, but let's face it, it's impossible to hear the rumors that Joel Quenneville is a candidate to coach your team and not shudder.

As a Sharks fan, I'm feeling pretty happy about this move. Once the Mike Ricci Kool-Aid passed through my system, and I realized that seeing Reech behind the bench would be cool for, like, a day, after which it would be exposed as kind of a bad idea, I pretty much just hoped that Wilson would go outside the ranks of former NHL coaches and pluck someone from the minors, junior hockey, or the ranks of NHL assistants...someone with a ton of energy and some new ideas.

McLellan is exactly the kind of guy I had in mind. And you gotta feel happy thieving someone from the Red Wings--the league's model organization. Yes, he's an untested rookie, but I for one am certainly looking forward to the next season with just a little more optimism than I had before.

He's Used to Robbing Guys, Not Being Robbed!

Well, Bully! to the NHL general managers for awarding Marty Brodeur the 2008 Vezina Trophy on the basis of his reputation. Whatever. Yes, Brodeur's a great goalie, yes, he's a shoe-in Hall of Famer, but Evgeni Nabokov had a better year. You can argue all you want about which stat is more important than another (Nabokov had more wins and a better goals-against average, while Brodeur had a better save percentage), but when you get right down to it what really ought to matter is that Nabby led his team to victories through an entire half-season during which the team in front of him, talented but very green at defense, could (unexpectedly) barely score.

It's that word in parenthesis that's really the difference, because, of course, the Devils aren't exactly known for lighting the lamp, either. But that's the way the Devils are built--they are designed to strangle you with defense and beat you 2-1. The Sharks, coming into this season, were expected by many to blow other teams out of the water with their supposedly potent offense (Cheechoo! Marleau! Thornton!) but it didn't work out that way. The offensive woes of Cheechoo and Marleau were much-discussed, with an ever-increasing amount of panic, by Shark watchers for the first months of the season. The team was frustrated and frustrating, clueless as to its own identity, and seemingly only one solid losing streak from falling apart. Yet they kept winning, largely through the efforts of Joe Thornton and Evgeni Nabokov.

In other words, while the Devils were like a little Honda Civic, puttering their way across the country with a slow-but-steady-wins-the-race philosophy that they executed perfectly, the Sharks were like a Porsche that blew a tire right out of the gate and needed emergency repairs and clever, desperate driving to make it to the finish line.

By holding the team together until it found a groove, Nabokov put San Jose in position to make a charge at the Wings for the best record in the league. You'd think the league's GMs could have recognized this and thrown a little love his way for this extraordinary effort. But I guess not.

Honorary Hockey Player of the Night (Redux)

I was watching "So You Think You Can Dance?" last night, and it transpired that one of the dancers (20-year-old Comfort Fedoke) had dislocated her shoulder during rehearsal. Did this stop her from perfectly executing a tough Jive number? Nah. Didn't miss a shift, as we say in hockey.

Give her some skates!

Congrats to the Red Wings

2008-06-09T23:16:00.004-05:00

As you probably know by now, the Detroit Red Wings are the 2008 Stanley Cup Champions, having defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins four games to two.

It's a well-deserved victory for the team that was clearly the best in the league all season long. Sure, there were slips and slides along the way, but the organization stayed calm through it all and one never got the sense that the ship was even in danger of being blown off course, let alone sinking. (In this post from way back in February I took a look at the Wings while they were in the midst of a losing streak, and asserted that there was little for their fans to worry about.)

The Wings have been consistently excellent for the past fifteen years, and the fact that they have won "only" four championships in that time is a testament to just how difficult it is to bring the Stanley Cup home. For fans of teams that have consistently enjoyed outstanding regular seasons only to have difficulty advancing in the playoffs (ahem), it is interesting and perhaps comforting to note that during these stellar seasons the Red Wings, very widely regarded as the top organization in the league, followed division championships with first-round flameouts four times, losing to the Sharks in 1994, the Kings in 2001, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 2003 (in a sweep, no less), and the Edmonton Oilers in 2006.

Despite their seemingly permanent roost at the top of the standings, I've never really disliked the Wings. Even after they beat the Sharks last year, I didn't summon a grudge against them of the type that I alluded to here. Maybe it's because when you're a fan of something, the way I am of ice hockey, there's always something enjoyable about seeing your sport played with such excellence.

Congratulations also to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who granted all hockey fans a game to remember forever with their extraordinary Game Five rally, sending a series that looked to be a sure sweep to a respectable six games. (And let's not forgot how close they came to tying the score in the waning seconds of Game Six.) Despite the fact that the organization faces some offseason questions, I'm confident this team will be back to the finals sooner rather than later.

Who Do Ya Like?

2008-05-24T08:46:00.002-05:00

Very quick post before I head out for the weekend...

Schadenfreude being what it is, I typically turn fervently against any team that beats the Sharks in the playoffs. In the past, even teams that I normally like and support (such as Calgary and Edmonton) have earned my enmity in this manner. So you can imagine just how hard I was rooting for the Detroit Red Wings to beat the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference semifinals, and just how worried I got when the Stars came back, Sharks-style, from an 0-3 deficit to force a Game Six. (Seeing the Stars succeed where the Sharks had failed would've been too much to bear...)

But in the end the Wings took care of business, setting up what for the NHL has to be the dream final, pitting not only two hockey-mad cities but also two intriguingly disparate teams. The Red Wings, a threat to win it all each season for the past fifteen years, represent the old elite of the league. The Penguins, only two seasons removed from their fourth-consecutive last-place division finish, are making good on the promise of what everyone recognized a couple of years ago as a ridiculous amount of young talent, including Hart finalist Evgeni Malkin (21), Jordan Staal (19), and of course league poster boy Sidney Crosby (20).

It should be a great matchup, and I just have enough time for a quick prediction...

Wings in six.

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!

Honorary Hockey Player of the Night

2008-05-23T21:52:00.004-05:00

I had the Astros-Phillies game on tonight in the background as I packed my bag for the weekend, and I was watching when Houston closer Jose Valverde took an RBI single by Pedro Feliz off the face. Valverde fell to the ground and immediately the Astros' training staff swarmed on to the field.

Not only did Valverde shake it off and stay in the game, but he even picked up the save.

Guy shoulda been a hockey player...

"Reech"-ing for the Top?

2008-05-16T13:51:00.003-05:00

Give Carl Steward credit for his persuasive writing skills. After reading the piece he wrote yesterday for the Monterey County Herald, I totally want Mike Ricci to be the next head coach of the Sharks.

Steward gives good treatment to the various cons of this admittedly somewhat wacky notion--Ricci has never coached before, and his playing career is barely over--but I find many of the pros compelling. Do we really want to pluck a tired old retread--Paul Maurice, say, or Bob Hartley--off the NHL coaching carousel? If the Los Angeles Kings had waited until this moment to stupidly fire Andy Murray, he would've been worth snagging, but, alas, he's behind the bench in St. Louis. No one else in the ranks of the recently-dismissed gets me excited. The thought of Joel Quenneville coaching the Sharks next year is positively disheartening.

If Doug Wilson does get a Random Veteran NHL Coach to pilot his team, this would mean that firing Ron Wilson was merely a move to shake things up...nothing new is introduced to the system. Hell, you might as well hire Wilson back. To really change the game, the Sharks have to go a different direction. The team has plenty of talent, and I don't think further X-and-O-type line-juggling alchemy is what's needed, either. The team doesn't need someone to explain hockey to them...they need someone who will instill in them the remorseless killer instinct and I'll-skate-through-molten-lava-to-get-the-job-done attitude that it takes to be successful in the playoffs, and that they lacked so lamentably often this season.

Ricci could be the man for the job. He was a cornerstone of the team as it moved from mediocre to respectable to its current status of perennial contender. He has a face filled with hockey character, that has stopped a thousand pucks and fists and elbows. When Ricci's line was playing well it wore down opponents with a relentless forecheck. He's a tough guy in the very best sense of the term.

I hope Doug Wilson read Carl Steward's article...

Where Do We Go From Here?

2008-05-12T21:15:00.005-05:00

It had been anticipated by many, and has now come to pass. Ron Wilson has been fired.

It's hard to argue with the notion that something had to change after yet another disappointing playoff exit. Part of the reason this malady is so distressing is that a diagnosis is so elusive...the Sharks seem like they ought to be a hockey team capable of bulldozing their way into the Stanley Cup Finals the way Pittsburgh and Detroit apparently are. All the pieces seem like they're there, but somehow things just never quite work when the playoffs come.

The Sharks' regular-season record was fantastic--second only to the Wings--but as I look back at my posts in this space over the course of the year I can see that I was continually beset by anxiety about the direction the team was heading. In this post, for instance, I worried about the team being fragile--a concern that appeared to be all-too-grounded when the Sharks collapsed in Game Two of the Dallas series after a bad break. My mid-season comments reflect concern about where the scoring was going to come from, despite the good record the team had posted to that point. Here I fretted about the Sharks' apparent lack of those intangibles that are so important come playoff time. And on and on. Indeed the team looked headed for a middle-of-the-pack finish before that twenty-game points streak swept them to the top of the Pacific and the two seed in the West.

But a twenty-game point streak is a twenty-game point streak...surely Coach Wilson deserves some credit for that, right? Well, maybe, maybe not. This is an immensely talented bunch of hockey players, and the thing that's so hard to gauge is whether their performance is at the level one ought to expect--or better, or worse. Looking at the above, and reflecting on my own analysis of the team as the season progressed, I have to say that I feel that this team ought to be better. Not just in the playoffs--that goes without saying, by now--but during the regular season as well. Somehow the team's talent just hasn't quite translated to results on the ice, and if the head coach of a professional sports team has a fundamental duty, it is to get the most out of the available talent.

In my mind, now that the Ron Wilson situation has been resolved (for better or worse), there are two major questions facing the organization in the offseason. First, of course, is who replaces Wilson? Second, will the firing of the head coach be the beginning or the end? Can we expect a major overhaul in player personnel, or is GM Doug Wilson hoping that this one surgical strike will win the war?

In any event, don't weep for Coach Wilson. With several coaching vacancies opening up around the league, he'll certainly find a home, and in fact will probably have multiple offers to choose from. We'll see him and his awesome suits behind an NHL bench next season.

Yes, Virginia, They Do Like Hockey In Dallas

2008-05-06T07:57:00.003-05:00

According to the best available data, almost 100,000 TV viewers in the Dallas/Fort Worth market stayed up past 1 AM to watch the end of the Stars' 2-1 quadruple-overtime victory over the Sharks on Sunday.

It ain't the Super Bowl, but it ain't bad, either.

The game was one of the all-time classics, displaying the NHL product at its best, so this is really cool.

I Promised Some Analysis

2008-05-05T19:29:00.003-05:00

Okay, I guess a few thoughts about the end of the Sharks' playoff hopes before they slip from mind...

1. Guts? Sure. Now let's worry about that space between the ears. Many questioned whether the Sharks had the guts and heart to make a deep playoff run. I think we can all agree after last night's courageous performance, and the valiant but ultimately futile attempt to dig out of the 0-3 hole, that guts and heart were present in abundance. The sheer desire to win that was absent in Game Six of the Calgary series (for instance) finally appeared consistently against Dallas.

But this team showed itself, once again, to be vulnerable to the type of psychological collapse that has plagued the Sharks in the past. In this series, it occurred in Game Two, when San Jose, leading by a goal in the opening seconds of the third period, caught a bad break (Joe Pavelski lost an edge and Brad Richards, in the right place at the right time, netted an easy one) and promptly panicked and fell apart. Dallas went on to win that game 5-2 and took a 2-0 series lead back to Texas. That was the turning point of the series, which established the Stars as the team firmly in control and the Sharks as the team desperately fighting their way back with no margin for error.

I am hereby convinced that this team--which ought to return largely intact next year--can play an entire playoff series with guts and heart and courage and effort. I have yet to be convinced they can play an entire playoff series without hitting the panic button.

2. No Shark emerged as a dominant playoff force. Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Ryan Clowe, Evgeni Nabokov...at times all of them played extremely well. But no player in teal ever really threatened to dominate a series and make a decisive difference the way R. J. Umberger has for Philadelphia, Johan Franzen has for Detroit, and Brenden Morrow has for Dallas. If future editions of this team are to be successful, someone is going to have to get that look in their eye that says "I will not be stopped and I will get the job done, even if I have to eat glass to do it." Who will that someone be?

3. My man-crush on Brian Campbell is over. Campbell's arrival keyed the Sharks to an astonishing stretch run, but his performance in the playoffs was mediocre at best. The power play he was supposed to run sputtered, and his puck-moving skills seemed to be of little help against Dallas' relentless forecheck. Before the playoffs, I was one of many screaming at Doug Wilson to sign Campbell at any cost. Now I'm not so sure... If we can keep him, let's keep him, but don't handicap the rest of the organization to do it.

The End

2008-05-05T01:28:00.003-05:00

The Sharks lost tonight to Dallas in the fourth overtime, ending their season.

As much as I loathe the Stars, I have to extend congratulations to them. They played extremely well in this series. They will have to play even better to have a chance against a rested Red Wings team that is running like a well-oiled machine right now.

It's a bitterly disappointing end to a once-promising season. As much as I admire the way the Sharks battled back when down 3-0 in the series, it's extremely frustrating that they fell into such a hole in the first place.

The analysis can come later. With the end of the Sharks' season, I will likely be taking a step back from hockey for a bit. I'll probably watch some of the finals, but I won't schedule my life around it. I hope to continue to post at a reasonable clip--Sweet Hockey Card of the Week will return, and there are a few other topics I think I'd like to write about...some concerning the sport or the league in general, some about my own personal experiences as a fan.

But all that can come later, too. Right now I'm just tired and sad. I'll be better tomorrow...er, later on today.

If you've been a regular reader of this blog since it began in the beginning of January, I want to thank you for your time. I hope you've enjoyed it, I hope you can make it back occasionally during the offseason, and I hope you'll come back next year.

Okay. Time for bed. Team Teal forever!

Best wishes,
Chris

The Heavy Artillery Is In Reserve

2008-05-04T12:25:00.004-05:00

This is my named-and-numbered San Jose Sharks sweater that I bought at the Sharks Store in Cupertino, California in 1994:

(Yes, it is a #6 sweater, but no, it does not say Ozolinsh on the back.)

I was wearing this when the Sharks beat the Wings in '94, and I wore it regularly for many years. Several years ago some kind friends of mine gave me a Sharks sweater in the updated style as a Christmas present. They were apologetic that is was blank, rather than having my name on it, but I told them this was actually a good thing...several visits to the X to see the Sharks play the Wild taught me that going into an enemy crowd wearing a sweater with your name on the back is leading with your chin.

As the years have gone on, and especially now that I have another teal sweater to wear, I have worn this old one less and less. It has become quite beloved to me--I own no other garment to which I feel anywhere near the level of sentimental attachment that I feel towards it. It's sturdy, but I do not wish to wear it out. I typically break it out for the first game of the season, then leave it in the closet for the rest of the year....barring Special Occasions.

If the Sharks can win tonight and somehow send this series back to the Tank, I'll be wearing it to work on Tuesday...

Getting In Their Heads

2008-05-03T19:33:00.005-05:00

Now, the pressure is on the Dallas Stars.

Now it's a series.

Psychology has an enormously important role in ice hockey. This is attested to by old hockey aphorisms like "Never get scored on in the first or last minute of a period" (they all count the same, so why should it matter?), or, most notably, "A two-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey". (This is hokum, of course; a two-goal lead is obviously better than a one-goal lead. But the fact that this old chestnut, and the notion behind it--that a team leading by two goals is excessively relaxed, and therefore vulnerable to giving up a goal and conceding the momentum and beginning to worry, thus leading quickly to the game-tying goal--is so widely repeated amongst hockey people is evidence of a deeper truth).

Right now the Sharks are in the Dallas Stars' heads. Going into this series, Dallas was a lower-seeded team, coming off an impressive upset of the defending champions, playing against one of the favorites to win it all. Were they to lose...nyeh, no big whup. Beat the Ducks, good work, nice run. But now they are a team that has held a 3-0 series lead, and had been less than a period away from finishing off their opponent. Now they must either beat the Sharks tomorrow and sew up the series, or go back to San Jose for Game Seven as potentially the first team in thirty-three years to be on the verge of sweeping and wind up blowing it.

Ya think this is making them grip their sticks a little tighter?

We always talk about teams that make serious Cup runs having to face down adversity, and this is a moment of adversity for the Dallas Stars. They must show mental toughness and disregard the circumstances and muzzle any whispers of doubt they hear in their heads. After all, they have a chance to win the series on home ice, which is a great situation to be in as a lower-seeded team.

The Stars may very well pass this test. But the Sharks have turned a seemingly intractable problem into a solvable one. They're far from out of the chasm into which they fell, but at least they've defeated the Balrog.

(And by the way...from the way Stars fans are reacting to the disallowed goals in Game Five you'd think that an official decision about a controversial goal had never, ever gone their way before...)

Is There Any Reason For Optimism?

2008-05-01T21:37:00.003-05:00

In another twenty-six hours or so I might be looking back on this post and laughing through my tears, but there seems to be just a bit of optimism amongst Shark watchers today. Is it justified? Is there any reason to believe that the Sharks could actually become the third team in Stanley Cup playoff history to win a series after falling into a three-games-to-none hole?

Call me crazy, but I think there might be. Yes, the odds against it are enormous--the Sharks must play shift after shift of just about literally perfect hockey, and probably get some help from Dallas to boot--but if there were ever a team that you might single out as being capable of pulling off such a Houdiniesque escape, it might be this year's San Jose Sharks. Here are some reasons why...

1. Dallas is not that much better than San Jose. In fact, the Sharks are probably the more talented team...the difficulties they have experienced this playoff season have had more to do with psychology than a lack of talent. As I alluded to in my last post, a good part of the reason the vast majority of teams that have gone up 3-0 have gone on to win is that they have generally been that much better than their hapless opponents...that's why they're up 3-0 in the first place.

In 1995, the Sharks upset the Calgary Flames in the first round of the playoffs and then got swept decisively by a vastly better Detroit Red Wings team. The final scores of the games were 6-0, 6-2, 6-2, and 6-2. Detroit probably would've swept that series if it had been best-of-seven or best-of-seventeen. This isn't that kind of series...the teams are both very good, and two of Dallas' three wins came in OT.

2. The Sharks are inconsistent...and that cuts both ways. Remember that franchise-record eleven-game winning streak earlier this season? Well, you may also remember that that run followed right on the heels of a season-high five-game losing streak that had certain fans of the team on the edge of despair. It's not inconceivable that last night's game--in which the Sharks played very well, flub by Setoguchi aside--could be the equivalent of the game against Philly that launched that winning streak.

3. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs were the first team to come back from a 3-0 series deficit and win. The 1975 New York Islanders were the second. You may notice that the second event occurred thirty-three years after the first. Well, guess what? 1975 was thirty-three years ago... (Oooooo...spooky!)

Okay, well I need to go now, because representatives of the Leland Stanford Junior University are (quite correctly) coming to take my engineering degree away after that last point. A Sharks rally is a very very long shot, but if any team could do it, it would be this erratic, occasionally brilliant, always maddening bunch.

One More Game

2008-04-30T22:39:00.002-05:00

Okay. At least we won't get swept.

The Sharks earned themselves one more game tonight with an energetic, desperate, and generally well-played 2-1 win in Dallas. The victory was really only marred by an egregiously bad turnover by Devin Setoguchi, who made the prettiest pass by a Shark of the night--right onto the tape of Dallas Star Jere Lehtinen, who was alone in the slot. Without the resulting goal, Evgeni Nabokov would've had himself a shutout. Patrick Marleau had a shorthanded goal to open the San Jose scoring (again), and Joe Thornton looked like himself (finally), controlling the puck well and earning the primary assist on the game-winner by Milan Michalek, who appears to have his game back.

Is it all too late? Probably. Although I dispute Mark Purdy's assertion that there is only a 1.3% chance of San Jose coming back and winning this series (the statistics are skewed because most of the teams in the history of the NHL that have fallen behind 3-0 have been overwhelmed by vastly superior talent, but that's not the case here--this isn't the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals), the fact remains that the Sharks are in an extraordinarily deep hole.

Still, what's a battle against the forces of evil without overwhelming odds? All the Sharks can do is worry about winning the next game. Trying to win three games at once tends to lead to boneheaded plays like passing the puck to opponents occupying your own slot.

Back to San Jose on Friday, where, unfortunately, the Dallas Stars are nigh unbeatable.

Chasm

2008-04-29T22:48:00.001-05:00

Remember in the Lord of the Rings movies, when Gandalf gets knocked into that big huge crevice fighting that Balrog thing? Then he falls, like, all the way into the Middle of the Earth (Ha! Get it?) and has to fight the Balrog?

The hole the Sharks are in after losing tonight to Dallas is a jillion times deeper than that.

Just Dreadful

2008-04-27T22:33:00.003-05:00

At a time in this second-round playoff series with Dallas that the Sharks needed one of their best periods of hockey, they instead delivered one of their worst, and wasted no time doing so. Trailing 2-1 after two, the Stars had the game tied within thirty seconds and went on to win 5-2. San Jose is now in an extremely deep 2-0 hole in the best-of-seven series, which now heads to Texas.

What an awful, dreadful performance.

I wouldn't be as concerned about the 2-0 series deficit as I am--the Sharks have played well in Dallas this year, after all--except for the fact that right now the team does not look capable of playing good enough hockey to dig their way out. Dallas is making the game look easy, and San Jose is making the game look hard.

I want to believe the Sharks are a Stanley-Cup caliber team, but based on performances to date I cannot. Yes, I know they played a whale of a game to close out the series with Calgary, but let's not forget that game was necessary because of a blown three-goal lead in one game and what looked like a collective decision to just sort of casually pass on a chance to eliminate the Flames in Game Six, like a guest at a potluck passing over the three-bean salad.

Man do I hate losing to Dallas.

The Empire Strikes First

2008-04-25T23:52:00.002-05:00

Okay, so the Evil Empire just blew up Alderaan.

With Marty Turco playing this well, the Dallas Stars are going to be very tough to beat, and already the Sharks are in a 1-0 hole after losing tonight 3-2 in overtime. San Jose played reasonably well tonight, and that effort I've been looking for was there, but some aspects of their game are going to have to improve if they're going to come back and win this series.

First of all, the penalty killing remains a major problem. Dallas' first goal came on the power play, and would've been scored even if minor penalties were only fifteen seconds in length (Devin Setoguchi went into the box at 5:53 of the second period, and the Stars promptly won the faceoff and scored thirteen seconds later). This type of thing happened multiple times against Calgary, too. The penalty kill at the end of regulation, with Brian Campbell in the box, also looked very shaky, but the Sharks were aided by a questionable hand-pass call against Dallas and managed to take the game to overtime. Note to the Sharks' coaching staff: Please fix the penalty kill. Thanks. Yours truly, Team Teal in the Twin Towns.

Also, I think Evgeni Nabokov has to play better. He's playing okay--although he looked awfully frantic on the sequence that led to the game-winning goal, and was consequently out of position for Brenden Morrow's shot--but if Turco continues to play great, the Sharks can't win this series with Nabby only playing well. He has to find some brilliance and make some stops that he has no business making. It's a disproportionate burden to put on a single player, but that's the nature of playoff goaltending.

Positives from tonight? Milan Michalek got a lucky break, getting credited with a goal when a shot he launched after (once again) nearly stickhandling himself into oblivion managed to trickle into the Dallas net. Maybe that'll break the ice and get him going. Also, the Sharks deserve credit for fighting their way back to the 2-2 tie that sent the game to overtime; traditionally, the Stars are unsurpassed in their ability to put a stranglehold on an offense and protect a lead, so it ought to be good for San Jose's morale that they were able to come back and get a late goal.

Game Two Sunday.

Three Nouns

2008-04-24T23:01:00.002-05:00

A noun, as we all know, is a person, place or thing. Let's look at three nouns--one of each type--that will be crucial to the Sharks in their upcoming playoffs series with the Evil Empire.

Every person you can know...

PERSON: Milan Michalek

Ask anyone who watched San Jose's first-round clash with Calgary to recall something that Milan Michalek did in that series, and you will certainly hear about how he failed to get a shot away while leading a three-on-one break in Game Six. Ask them to recall something else Michalek did, and they will likely shrug and give up.

Michalek was San Jose's second leading scorer this year (24 goals and 31 assists for 55 points) and a rare source of reliable offense not named Joe Thornton. But his production waned down the stretch and vanished--literally--in the series against the Flames. That's right, Michalek had nary a point in any of the seven games. By Game Six and that trainwreck of a three-on-one that represented the nadir of an awful night, it was clear that Milan had completely lost his confidence.

He needs to get it back...to look at the upcoming series against Dallas as a chance to reboot the 2008 playoffs and start over. The Stars are always a tough defensive team, and Marty Turco is playing great hockey right now. The Sharks can't afford to have a player of Michalek's goal-scoring ability serve up another goose egg.

...and every place that you can go...

PLACE: The Penalty Box

The San Jose penalty kill, a source of strength for most of the year, began to wobble as the season drew to a close, looking at times very vulnerable down the stretch, even while the Sharks were putting together long strings of wins. But it was downright dreadful against Calgary, often at the worst possible times...indeed, it was the collapse of the penalty kill that really doomed San Jose in that Game Three (of the blown 3-0 lead).

On the other hand, the Dallas power play was flying high against Anaheim, racking up ten power-play goals in only six games. Add to this the possibility that lethal point man Sergei Zubov could be returning to the Stars' lineup soon, and you have the classic case of unstoppable force versus extremely movable, smashable, crushable object.

The Stars will try to goad the Sharks into taking penalties, but the Sharks gotta stay out of the box. Either that or they gotta figure out how to make clearing the puck while shorthanded something other than a task of epic difficulty. Or both...both would be nice.

...and any thing that you can show...

THING: Effort

I've said it before, and recently, but it can't be said too many times: the Sharks have to put forth playoff-level effort every night. They didn't do that against Calgary. It's got to be there every game against Dallas, or the offseason starts early.

How I See the Dallas Stars

2008-04-23T21:43:00.003-05:00

I grew up in Northern Wisconsin, on the shores of Lake Superior, but my family has Twin Cities roots, especially on my mom's side. As a consequence I largely grew up a fan of Minnesota sports teams...the Twins, the various Golden Gopher teams, occasionally the Vikings (although some time around Super Bowl XIV I discarded this allegiance in favor of the Los Angeles Rams--my concern with scrimmage football has always been somewhat fleeting and unsteady), and, of course the Minnesota North Stars.

The North Stars were my team. I used to get down to the old Met in Bloomington occasionally and watch them play, often with my mom's brothers. I have vivid memories of the extraordinary upset of the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 1991 playoffs--I was house/dog-sitting for my uncle at the time, and listened to the action on the radio. That victory initiated a playoff run that took the North Stars all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they at last lost to a Pittsburgh Penguins team that included Mario Lemieux (even though Lemieux scored this goal against my guys in that final, I distinctly remember admiring it at the time) and a certain guy who is currently on the New York Rangers' roster.

Those familiar with the history of the NHL no doubt know where this is going. In 1993, the North Stars moved to Dallas, dropped the "North", and became the team the Sharks are about to play in the Western Conference Semis. It was like having a body part violently amputated. I was angry. I felt betrayed, particularly after that Cup run and all the emotion I had invested in it. Fans in Winnipeg, Quebec City, and Hartford know what I'm talking about.

Occasionally, as I grow older, a little voice pops up in my head and says "Dude...chill. You have the Sharks, Minnesota has a team again, and, face it, hockey has been a hit in Dallas. The entire experience made you the fan you are today. Where's the foul?" The voice makes some good points, but whenever I hear it I shoo it away like an irritating insect. Instead of heeding it I nurse the deep, bitter grudge I feel towards the Stars. I gloat with every victory over Dallas and feel stricken with every defeat at their hands. I thank the hockey gods that they are in the same division as the Sharks, because I relish every opportunity to play them during the regular season. Getting them in the playoffs is even better.

(Although I gotta admit that Bad Sharks Penalty Killing + Sergei Zubov Returning From Injury = SCAR-EEEEYY! Gulp...)

Escape

2008-04-23T01:07:00.004-05:00

Where to begin?

The San Jose Sharks bounced back from their dismal Game Six performance in Alberta and defeated the Calgary Flames 5-3 tonight, winning their first-round playoff series four games to three.

That's the one-line summary, but it doesn't begin to scratch the real story.

Let's start with Jeremy Roenick. JR, who is older than his uniform number (ahem) and was a healthy scratch in Game Six, was involved in four of San Jose's five goals, scoring two himself and chipping in two assists. You hear a lot of talk in the playoffs about the importance of "veteran presence", et cetera, and it's the kind of thing that one is tempted to sneer at and dismiss. Sharks GM Doug Wilson lured JR out of retirement in the offseason precisely to bring to the team that kind of guy...the kind of guy who can lead a team to victory through sheer force of will. So clearly he believes in it. I believe in it, too, and I offer Roenick's performance tonight as evidence.

I find something hockey-affirming in this. The notion that willpower, emotion, and courage can be at least as important as talent in ice hockey is not just an old saw for writers of dramatic sports journalism...it's as real as the blood on Patrick Marleau's face in Game Three.

I think the effort of Joe Thornton has to be acknowledged tonight, as well. Big Joe has taken a lot of heat for allegedly disappearing in the playoffs, not just this season but in years past (and not just in San Jose...in Boston, too). To an extent, I think some of this criticism is justified. But it's not about the goals. Some of Thornton's critics have been grumbling that his playoff goal totals are meager, but Thornton is not primarily a goal scorer and never has been. He is a dominant possessor of the puck and an extraordinary passer, and as such his role is to make the other players on the ice better. He excels in this role, which is why he's always among the league leaders in assists. But in this series, Thornton has only rarely seemed to be the player he was during the regular season--the dominant final shift in Game Four that ended in his game-winning goal was an exception, not the rule. But Thornton played inspired hockey tonight, possessing the puck well and winning at least two crucial battles for loose pucks in the late-going with six Flames on the ice.

The Sharks put forth the kind of dominating effort tonight that many fans of the team knew was possible, but which, to our frustration, we glimpsed only rarely during the regular season. It goes without saying that I'm glad the Sharks put together this strong of a game tonight, but in my mind it's still an open question whether the Sharks really have what it takes to play playoff-caliber hockey with enough consistency to challenge for the Stanley Cup.

The Sharks can be proud of their effort tonight, but they also need to count themselves as extremely fortunate to have advanced to the second round after a series that included a blown 3-0 Game Three lead and a dreadful effort in Game Six. They were the best of teams, they were the worst of teams. If they "come out flat" in even one game against Dallas, that will be one game too many, and summer vacation will be on us before we know it.

What will it take to convince me? A playoff series in which the Sharks work hard, fight for every loose puck, hit, get to the tough areas of the ice, and show the remorseless killer instict of, well, sharks, in every game. Not just "When it counts", or "When it matters most". Every. Single. Game.

Next are the Dallas Stars, the Evil Empire, against whom I nurse a deep and very personal grudge. I can't think of a team I'd rather beat in the playoffs.

Outworked

2008-04-20T21:33:00.004-05:00

Give me a choice between a team that doesn't work hard and a team that plays like the Keystone Kops and I'll take the Kops any day...at least you can look back on your team's losses and feel confident they gave it their best. However, you would at least hope that you could have a choice between one or the other. In tonight's 2-0 loss to the Calgary Flames, the San Jose Sharks were both Kops-ish and outworked.

The Sharks performed badly in every fundamental of the game tonight, with the exception of goaltending (Nabokov had a good, but not spectacular, game) and possibly penalty killing (at least it was an improvement over the previous games in this series). From making passes to clearing the defensive zone to holding the offensive zone to winning faceoffs, and yes, even to skating, Los Tiburones looked somewhere between mediocre and inept.

(The Sharks had a clean three-on-one break tonight that ended without a shot on goal. That pretty much captures the way the night went as far as hockey proficiency goes.)

Worse, however, is that the effort put forth by the Sharks was not remotely equal to that put forth by the Flames. The frustrations of mid-season are repeating themselves, just with a compressed time scale and vastly greater consequences. On February 17th, after a lackluster 3-1 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, I wrote...

"You guys are simply too good to let a promising season slide into mediocrity because everyone else in the league wanted it more. I know you don't want that, and I know I don't want to watch that."

I feel like I could say the exact same thing right now, possibly replacing "everyone else in the league" with "Calgary Flames". I lack the vocabulary to adequately describe how baffling and frustrating it is that the Sharks came out with such a tepid effort tonight.

We'll see what happens in Game Seven back at San Jose Arena, but even if the Sharks do manage to come up with a win and get to the next round, they are not going to advance much further unless they learn that all twenty guys need to show up and work hard wire-to-wire every single night.

Mid-April is, of course, far too late in the season to be absorbing this particular lesson. If the Sharks are going to advance and make good on the potential of this promising season, it's going to have to be in spite of the fact that they're only cracking Chapter One of the textbook after the professor has distributed the final exam.

Roller Coaster

2008-04-16T19:20:00.003-05:00

There is no roller coaster ride quite like the NHL playoffs.

Minnesota and Colorado went to overtime in the first three games of their series, with Minnesota taking two before suffering a 5-1 pasting last night that knotted up the series. The Nashville Predators, four minutes away from a 3-0 series deficit on Monday against the Wings, roared back with three late goals to win the game and serve notice that they ain't dead yet. And of course the San Jose Sharks, following an epic, sickening collapse on Sunday, came from behind to stun the Calgary Flames last night, with Joe Thornton getting the game-winner with 9.4 seconds left on the clock.

A day and a half ago the gloom hanging over Sharks watchers was so thick and black that not only had many written off this series, and therefore the season, but some even questioned the very future of the franchise. When the Flames went nasty on the Sharks on Sunday after falling behind 3-0 in what seemed like the blink of an eye, the Sharks melted away into a pool of tepid, teal-tinted water. Calgary rallied to win 4-3, an outcome that honestly never seemed in doubt after the Flames got their first goal. That's what was so sickening about it--the sense that you could smell the disaster coming.

The reason the loss was so disheartening is that the failure to respond to the tough, dirty, physical challenges of the playoffs had been identified by the front office as the key weakness of the team in the offseason (and the offseason before, too, as long as we're lingering around the subject). This year, we were assured, would be different. And yet there it was, playing out right in front of us, just like the Edmonton series two years ago. I felt like Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back when the hyperdrive on the Millenium Falcon fails yet again--"They told me they fixed it!" I screamed. "I trusted them to fix it!" (This was followed by a wail reminiscent of the voice of the galaxy's most mournful Wookie).

The screams of joy that probably woke up my peacefully sleeping neighbors last night 'round 11:30 PM Central Time were therefore inspired not just by victory in a key playoff game ("key playoff game" is a tautology, I suppose) but also by sheer relief that finally my guys had shown some guts and heart at a crucial time. As I've said before, possession of these qualities is no guarantee of success, but without them ye will surely lose.

So: back to the Tank tomorrow. The Sharks certainly have the momentum right now, but last night's game could justifiably go down in history as a textbook example of just how quickly Big Mo can switch sweaters in the sport of ice hockey. When--it's not a question of if--the Flames sock the Sharks in the gut tomorrow night in an effort to get them to fold once again, how will Team Teal respond? Will this be the turning point in the history of the franchise, when the team finally starts living up to the potential of its talent? Is it truly darkest before the dawn? We'll find out in the coming days, as this particular storyline unfolds amongst a host of others in the NHL playoffs, an event that is unmatched for drama in the world of sports.

And this is only the first round.

Never. Give. Up.

2008-04-15T23:35:00.002-05:00

The Sharks trailed the Flames 2-1 with less than five minutes left and were staring at a 3-1 series deficit in the wake of Sunday's crushing loss.

Then Jonathan Cheechoo scored to tie it at 15:06 of the third period. Then Thornton scored the game winner with 9.4 seconds left on a deflection of a Douglas Murray point shot.

Now the series is tied 2-2 and it's the guys in red who will be nursing the wounds of a blown lead heading into the next game.

This team still has tons to prove, but at long last they finally showed some guts and played with desperation when nothing else would do.

Shattering

2008-04-13T23:39:00.002-05:00

All season long we've wondered if this San Jose Sharks team would be able to overcome adversity come playoff time.

Adversity has arrived in the form of a crushing 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Calgary Flames, in a game the Sharks led 3-0 only a few minutes in.

If this team is going to respond, they need to respond Right Now. Otherwise they are going to be ushered out of the playoffs in the first round by a Flames team that feels like Supermen right now.

The only upside is that I've been working on taking this stuff less seriously, and this is about as savage a test as I can imagine being put through.

I'm going to bed.

Heeeeere we Go!

2008-04-08T21:19:00.003-05:00

So the Sharks and the Flames get each other in the first round.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it really doesn't matter who you play...any team that gets into the Stanley Cup playoffs these days is going to be tough.

Should be a great series...gotta love the atmosphere against a Canadian team.

Quick post tonight...I'm going to be out of town (in California, as it happens) for the next few days, so even though the Sharks will play tomorrow night and then again on Thursday, I probably won't be able to post. Hopefully, I'll be able to watch the games, though.

Till next time, then...

The Old Man and the "C"s

2008-04-05T21:05:00.002-05:00

The Washington Capitals defeated a stubborn but worn-out Florida Panthers team tonight 3-1 to secure the Southeast Division championship and the accompanying playoff spot, but not before the sellout crowd at Verizon Center was obliged to endure some anxious moments. After a first-period goal by Tomas Fleischmann gave the home team a 1-0 lead, the Capitals failed to score on a pair of minute-long 5-on-3 advantages, and when Kamil Kreps tied the game for Florida you could almost see the mist of anxiety fall across the previously raucous Washington fans.

Then, with about five minutes left in the second, Alexander Semin found thirty-eight-year-old Sergei Fedorov--who was on the ice for the Detroit Red Wings at the end of the Sharks' famous 1994 playoff upset--in open ice with a Thorntonesque pass. Fedorov wound up and blasted an absolute bullet past Panthers goalie Craig Anderson and the Caps were ahead to stay.

Fedorov, acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a trade-deadline deal this February, will likely never approach even twenty goals in a season again, let alone the 56 he scored in 1993-94. But he still has an enormous amount to contribute. He has always been an excellent defensive player, his hockey IQ is probably unsurpassed amongst active players, and as he showed tonight he still has that intangible something that inspires the greatest athletes to play their best at the most critical times. And now he Semin and Alexander Ovechkin and Cristobal Huet and Mike Green and head coach Bruce Boudreau and all the rest of this motley bunch are headed for the playoffs. It's a feel-good, Cinderella story of a type the NHL has not seen for a long time.

A little love for the Panthers, please...

I think some kudos need to go out the Florida Panthers for a couple of gutsy performances over the last couple of nights. Without any postseason of their own to look forward to, the Panthers, in a position to play a major role in the final Eastern Conference playoff picture, provided difficult opposition for both the Canes and the Caps. Especially after an exhausting, skin-of-their-teeth win over Carolina last night, the Panthers had every excuse to collapse in the face of all of the energy and emotion that had built behind the Capitals. But they played hard...even after Alexander Semin scored early in the third to put Washington up 3-1, Florida never gave up. Laurels in particular to goalie Craig Anderson, who played courageously and well, facing 66 shots over five periods of work. It was an honorable performance the Panthers can be proud of.

Yes, I know this isn't supposed to be a Capitals blog!

But it's an exciting story! And an important one for the league! But, yes, Team Teal in the Twin Towns will now return to being a blog dedicated to the most awesomest team ever, the San Jose Sharks.

Go, Los Tiburones!

Saturday Scraps (April 5th, 2008)

2008-04-05T11:33:00.003-05:00

Humility, thy name is Losing to the Kings

The Sharks' 20-game point streak ended on Thursday with a 4-2 defeat in Los Angeles.

There's no good time to lose, but of course this streak had to come to an end at some point. Detroit defeated Columbus earlier that evening, sewing up the President's Trophy and ensuring that the Sharks-Kings matchup would be genuinely meaningless in terms of position in the standings, and one wonders if this didn't have an effect on the Sharks. Evgeni Nabokov got the start in goal in a last-minute reversal by head coach Ron Wilson (we had been told for days that Brian Boucher would play against LA), but Christian Ehrhoff, Craig Rivet, Jonathan Cheechoo, Devin Setoguchi, and Marcel Goc all sat...chances are all of these players are dealing with minor injuries and could use a bit of extra rest before the playoffs start.

So by losing to the last-place Kings, San Jose didn't really suffer any damage of consequence, except possibly a blow to their ego. With the right attitude, the team can turn this into a positive. "Tonight kind of showed that if you let your guard down, even for a little bit, the game's not going to go your way," Mike Grier was quoted as saying in the AP recap. A timeless and valuable lesson that a team cannot be reminded of too many times.

Tomorrow the Sharks wrap up the regular season in Dallas. The loss to LA ought to give San Jose motivation to beat the Stars and go into the postseason on a good note. I hope they come out charging, because I loooooove beating Dallas.

A Long, Strange Trip

So after weeks of hanging on to the tail-end of the playoff caboose by the very tips of their fingernails, the Washington Capitals at last control their own destiny. The Carolina Hurricanes lost to the Florida Panthers last night by the final score of 4-3 in their last game of the season, ensuring at a stroke that Ottawa, Philadelphia, and Boston made the playoffs and putting the improbable Caps in a position to win the Southeast Division championship if they can get at least a point out of their game against Florida tonight. Only one team from the Southeast will make the playoffs, so for both Washington and Carolina it's either win the division and get the East's third seed or start scheduling tee times.

The Hurricanes feel, quite correctly, that the entire hockey world is against them. I freely admit that I am cheering with all my might for the Caps, and there is no doubt that the Powers That Be at NHL headquarters in New York are desperately hoping that Alexander Ovechkin and his 60+ goals will head to the playoffs. The only obstacle in their path is a Florida Panthers team that survived a grueling game against Carolina yesterday and has nothing to play for other than pride and the chance to be a spoiler.

However, having watched the Canes-Panthers game yesterday I can testify to the fact that pride and the chance to be a spoiler are serving as tremendous motivators for Florida. They are clearly in no mood to be a pushover--they were outshot 46-17, played most of the game with backup goalie Craig Anderson in net after Tomas Vokoun left with back spasms, were clearly exhausted by the middle of the third period, and faced power play after power play, but still hung on for the win, displaying admirable guts and heart in the process. Do they have one more such game in them? We'll find out tonight...I'll be tuning in, even though it means abandoning my Final Four-watching friends to do so. (Hey, priorities are priorities!)

Go Caps!

Can it be a Tie?

2008-04-02T21:27:00.006-05:00

For a while, this post was going to be entitled, "Why Joe Thornton Should Win the Hart".

For a more or less equal amount of time, this post was going to be entitled, "I Feel Like a Traitor For Writing This, But..."

The race for the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded each year to the NHL's MVP, is wide-open this season. Candidates have to include Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, Calgary's Jarome Iginla, and even Evgeni Nabokov. But once the votes are counted, it should come down to a two-man race between Washington's Alexander Ovechkin and San Jose's own Joe Thornton.

The case for Big Joe is extremely strong, and of course I have a deeply ingrained teal bias. For the first half of the season (at least) watching the Sharks was an exercise in frustration. (This post from January pretty much captures my feeling at the time). They were an immensely talented but inconsistent bunch unable to get any production from the two guys who were supposed to be their leading goal scorers (Jonathan Cheechoo and Patrick Marleau). Yet somehow the team won games. A big part of this was a generally high level of defensive play, led by Nabokov in goal, and this is why Nabby deserves Hart consideration himself. But most of all, Thornton seemed to bring his best every night, and his best is very very good. There were times when he almost literally carried the San Jose offense on his own and led the Sharks to victory.

The Sharks weathered the rough times at the start of the season, somehow managing to stay within shouting distance of the top of the Western Conference despite the struggles of Cheechoo and Marleau and a seeming inability to win at home. Then, starting that night in Philadelphia, things started to go right. A few days later Brian Campbell joined the team and the puzzle seemed to be complete. No team has been able to beat the Sharks in regulation since, and as of this writing (the Blackhawks lead the Wings 5-2, early in the third) the President's Trophy is still a possibility.

The outstanding performances of Nabokov and Thornton provided the shelter that allowed this year's edition of the San Jose Sharks to struggle, err, learn, and grow, finding their game and their heart and their intensity in time to turn what looked like a potentially deeply disappointing team into the best Sharks squad ever. Nabby should get the Vezina (if he doesn't it's a dreadful injustice) so it seems only right to recognize Thornton's contribution to this extraordinary season with the Hart.

Except there's this guy in Washington...

As much as I love Joe, I cannot deny that the Capitals' Alexander Ovechkin also has a very strong claim to the Hart. First, just look at the numbers...63 goals, 110 points as of this writing. Ovechkin is the first player to top 60 goals since Mario Lemieux in the 1995-96 season. For a league that has struggled--and sometimes failed--in recent years to find even a single fifty-goal scorer, this is of immense importance. Never mind his value to the Capitals, which is of course enormous--he has led a back-from-the-dead charge which may or may not take the Caps to the playoffs, but which nevertheless has enchanted the hockey world and even captured the attention of casual fans. Ovechkin, taking obvious delight in everything that has to do with hockey, is of tremendous value to the league.

I reject the notion that Ovechkin should not be considered for the Hart unless the Caps make the playoffs. If we're going to set some sort of standard of team performance for Hart consideration, it ought to be hoisting the Cup, because nothing else matters. A team that makes the playoffs but loses in the first round is not more successful than a team that barely misses the playoffs in any meaningful way...if you're looking for yardsticks to measure the development of a franchise, enormous improvement of the type the Capitals have shown over the course of this season ought to count. If Washington had continued to be an easily beatable team despite Ovechkin's best efforts, that would be one thing. But win or lose the team has been the central actor in a captivating playoff race, and they are scary hot. (Should the Capitals squeak in to the last playoff position, the top seed in the East suddenly doesn't look like such a good deal).

I suppose only one guy can win it, and I have to admit I'm rooting for Joe--there's probably some bias at work here, but hey, that's sports. I'm a fan, dangit. Hopefully, though, Ovechkin will get the consideration he deserves, regardless of the success or failure of the Capitals' current mad sprint for the finish line.

Meet the 2007-2008 Pacific Division Champs

2008-03-30T21:43:00.002-05:00

I'm thrilled about the Sharks' now-assured Pacific Division championship (clinched by the 3-1 win at Anaheim on Friday), but not because I think the title itself will be extraordinarily valuable. Yes, San Jose can now finish no worse than second in the Western Conference. (There's still a miniscule chance they can catch Detroit--the Wings would have to fail to earn another point and the Sharks would have to win out). This ensures that they will start the playoffs at home, and would also have home ice in any potential second-round matchup. Should they make it to the Western Conference finals, the Sharks would start on the road against the Red Wings but would host any other team.

This is all good, but it's easy to overstate the importance of home ice...home, road, North, South, East, West, wherever, to advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs you have to play excellent hockey, period. In my judgment, home-ice advantage is of relatively little importance. (The Sharks have certainly seen their share of playoff flameouts in series in which they had home ice).

Of even less consequence is what team you play. Again barring a wacky finish to the season that lands the Presidents' Cup in San Jose, the Sharks will begin the playoffs against the seventh seed in the West. Peril to any team that looks at a first-round matchup against a seventh seed (or an eighth seed, for that matter) as an easy pass to the second round. The teams in the bottom quarter of the playoff qualifiers have shown themselves to be perfectly capable of winning a playoff series (or two or three) over the past several years. Look at the top ten teams in the West and you'll see ten tough hockey teams, any one of which is perfectly capable of beating you in a seven-game series. Additionally, those teams that barely squeak into the playoffs have frequently been playing for their playoff lives for weeks or even months, and often enter the postseason playing their best hockey of the year.

So, now that I've trashed the importance of the Pacific Division title, you might be wondering why I would describe myself as thrilled. I'm thrilled because although a division championship is a modest goal, it's a goal that the Sharks put in the bank with considerable authority. San Jose didn't back into this title...they had an opportunity to clinch with wins on back-to-back nights against Dallas and Anaheim, and sure enough they won both games to salt the hardware away. As a Sharks fan, it's extremely satisfying to see the team set its eye on a goal and promptly go out and accomplish it. The fact that the clinching victory came against the defending champions made it just that much sweeter.

Sharks 3, Coyotes 1

Good win tonight against a game Phoenix team that I'm quite certain will be a force in Pacific Division races of the future, possibly as soon as next season. With the second seed wrapped up, I was very pleased to see San Jose come out with some fire tonight--Joe Thornton scored only fourteen seconds in and the Sharks generally controlled the play throughout the game. Regardless of whether or not any further progress in the regular-season standings is possible, it's important for the Sharks to keep up their high quality of play...you can't ease back your effort and then just magically ramp it up again when it's time for the playoffs.

Brown and Clowe...sounds like a law firm...

Two valuable Sharks are back in the lineup after extended absences due to injury. Both contributed tonight. Curtis Brown returned to the ice during the March 19th game against Minnesota, scoring a goal that night, one on Friday in the course of the clinching win against the Ducks, and tacking on another tonight. Brown's goal scoring won't continue at this pace, of course, but his leadership, penalty-killing skills, and hockey savvy will be valuable in the playoffs.

Returning against Phoenix tonight was tough winger Ryan Clowe. Clowe injured his knee way back in October and had to have surgery shortly thereafter. He brings that great combination of nasty physical presence and goal-scoring touch that is so valuable at any time but especially during the postseason. Clowe assisted on Thornton's first-shift goal tonight, and was all over the ice for the remainder of the game. It's great to have both of these guys back.

I Love Beating Dallas

2008-03-27T23:39:00.005-05:00

I looooooooooove beating Dallas.

I looooooooooove beating Dallas in overtime even more.

I looooooooooove beating Dallas in overtime because Marty Turco committed a stupid, reckless penalty most of all.

The Stars probably would have won tonight if they would have demonstrated their usual commitment to their tough, hard-working, team-defense philosophy. Instead they tried to go dirty on the Sharks, and the Sharks responded in just the way you have to...they shoved Dallas' penalties right down their throats until the red light behind Turco started to flash.

First, some guy named B.J. Crombeen chose to attack Kyle McLaren because McLaren had the nerve to body check a Dallas Star. There's a time to go after an opponent because he's been chippy...this was not one of those times. McLaren's check was a perfectly legal hockey play, and Crombeen behaved like a fifth-grade bully throwing a temper tantrum. He was correctly given the extra two for instigating, and Joe Pavelski scored on the ensuing power play. (Ah...the system works.)

Then there's Marty Turco. Marty Turco is apparently upset about the fact that hockey players at all levels are taught to drive to the net, and that as a consequence there is frequently traffic around the crease of the goal he is defending...a circumstance that faces, at last count, every goalie everywhere. Marty Turco, though, is special, so he gets the privilege of constantly whining to the officials and maybe, say, taking a whack at Joe Pavelski's face with his stick every now and then. I don't know if I've ever seen a power-play goal as sweet as the one that won the game for the Sharks tonight.

In a way it's too bad, because Turco displayed some brilliant goaltending tonight. Actually, no, I take that back. It's not remotely too bad. Turco lost the game for his team tonight, and I'll be laughing myself to sleep.

Oh, and Turco should be suspended for intent to injure.

Ducks tomorrow.

Gut Check

2008-03-23T18:18:00.003-05:00

I missed Friday's game against Anaheim, but when I logged on and saw the result the next day I couldn't have been happier. Not only did San Jose win the game 2-1, but they outshot the Ducks 43-13 and held Anaheim without a shot throughout entire third period.

As well as the Sharks have been playing during their very impressive streak of consecutive games with at least a point, I think all fans of the team were casting an anxious eye towards this particular date with the Ducks. Not only is Anaheim a divisional foe, and a threat to San Jose's Pacific Division lead, but they are an opponent that the Sharks have been unable to solve over the past couple of seasons. The games in the series over the past two seasons have generally ended in victories for Anaheim, frequently by comfortable margins, whereas the few wins the Sharks have earned have come in extremely close games that could have gone either way. Even though San Jose has spent much of the past month looking down on the Ducks in the standings, I know there was a latent worry in my mind that once the teams hooked up, Anaheim might prove they were still better on the ice.

The Pacific is San Jose's to lose at this point. For a brief, glimmering moment there it looked like they might even have an outside shot at Detroit, when the Red Wings seemed to falter a bit and the Sharks were charging hard. The chances that that will occur are fading, but that's okay. I always try to evaluate the strength of the team with a healthy dose of honest skepticism, but I think right now I have to say that I see few if any weaknesses in San Jose's game, and there certainly isn't any team in the league that is playing better hockey.

So what's the number one challenge going forward? Refusing to accept any retrograde step in the team's quality of play, while still recognizing that the current streak will not continue forever and there will be ruts and bumps and potholes in the road as deep as those that pit the streets of Minneapolis after a long, cold winter. (Holy smokes, it's bad out there...good thing this isn't a street-quality blog, or I would go on and on...)

As much of a gut check as this Anaheim game was, there will be more and more difficult challenges to the morale and psychology of the team going forward into the playoffs. And as any fan of the team knows all too well, the Sharks have crashed out of the playoffs at the hands of self-doubt and a general collapse of spirit in the last couple of years as much as they've been beaten by any opponent. There is no way to gauge a priori whether Team Teal is up to this challenge...we won't know until we get there.

But for the moment, it's hard to ask much more of the Sharks than what they're showing.

I hope everyone is having a happy Easter. If travel is in your plans, travel safely.

Do Not Touch

2008-03-21T00:10:00.004-05:00

My biggest weakness as an ice hockey analyst is the fact that I have never played the game at any level. For this reason, I am exceedingly reluctant to make any judgments about things that occur in the split-second context of the run of play. I am therefore not going to express any opinion about the extent of Torrey Mitchell's culpability in the incident that resulted in Minnesota Wild defenseman Kurtis Foster breaking his femur last night in San Jose. (Was there intent to injure? To what extent can what occurred be described as a "collision"?) There have been many views of the situation put forth in the hockey media, with major differences of opinion amongst them--it is not useful for me to add my uninformed opinion to the debate.

What is certain, however, is that the two players were barreling down on the puck in a potential icing situation, one hoping to touch and prevent icing, one hoping the opposite. The requirement for a defending player to touch the puck before icing is called is unnecessary and dangerous--it is rather like rolling a stout wooden wall across a speed skating rink three feet behind the finish line. I am hopeful that perhaps some good will come from this terrible incident, in that the call to abolish the touch-up icing rule in favor of no-touch icing (which is used across the world in amateur hockey) will grow strong enough to make the NHL take notice.

Presumably the touch-up icing rule exists to reward hustle and fearlessness--if you can get down there and touch that puck before a defender, you can keep the play going deep in your opponent's zone--but NHL hockey already rewards hustle and fearlessness. The athletes in our league subject themselves to sufficient danger in the course of the cleanest hockey game; insisting on touch-up icing creates further, useless peril for no real gain.

Proponents of touch-up icing will no doubt suggest that introducing no-touch icing will take the hitting and intensity out of the game. As Colonel Sherman T. Potter would say, "Horse-hockey". If you don't take my word for it, I call as a witness the indomitable Don Cherry of Hockey Night in Canada, who is as old-school as it gets. He's been calling for no-touch icing for years.

Foster's injury isn't the first that this stupid rule has caused. Let's make sure it's the last.

Leaving the Door Open

2008-03-19T00:09:00.002-05:00

The Sharks defeated the Los Angeles Kings tonight by a final score of 2-1. This extends San Jose's road winning streak to nine, and their string of games with at least a point to thirteen.

I almost envy other sports bloggers who have grounds to rail against their team's front office, but I honestly think it would be difficult for any Sharks fan to be critical of Doug Wilson...as a GM, he has way more wins than losses to his credit. (The Guerin trade last year didn't work out so well, but that was a rare misstep.) The Thornton deal alone would be the pinnacle of any GM's career, but his major moves this season are proving to be very savvy as well. Jody Shelley has been an excellent addition, of course the Campbell deal has all Sharks fans giddy (although the real measure of the success of that move will be whether or not Soupy can be persuaded to stay in teal), and Brian Boucher played his second excellent game tonight in spot relief of Evgeni Nabokov, finally conceding his first (and so far only) goal as a Shark after more than 115 minutes of shutout play.

The goal wasn't Boucher's fault--the sequence which led to it appeared to begin with a miscommunication amongst the San Jose defense, and things just got worse from there--but it still bothered me, because for what seems like the umpteenth time this year the Sharks showed an almost magical ability to turn a 2-0 lead into a 2-1 lead. Too often, those 2-1 leads have then morphed further into tie games. If they were a baseball team, you'd say they were in dire need of a closer.

But hockey isn't baseball, and what the Sharks really need is a greater ability to turn 2-0 leads into 3-0 leads...it's less about keeping the other guy off the board than it is about chasing that extra goal. I've already worried much in this space about the number of 6-on-5 goals the team has given up; despite the Sharks' gaudy record over the past month, a lot of those wins have come by razor-thin margins. On the one hand this is good...most games in the playoffs are tight, so it's good to know you can win those close ones. But on the other hand, letting opponents hang around is asking for trouble. Now that the team is firing on all cylinders, I'd really like to see them give themselves some lessons on slamming the door and putting the opposition away.

All Good Things...

2008-03-17T21:49:00.002-05:00

Sorry about the lack of updates over the past few days...I was in the great city of Milwaukee over the weekend, where I visited friends, participated in my fantasy baseball league's auction draft (verdict: it's a rebuilding year) and attended Friday night's AHL game between the Milwaukee Admirals and the Peoria Rivermen (more on that later). I also missed both Friday's 4-1 San Jose victory over St. Louis, which stretched a franchise-record winning streak to eleven games, and the 2-1 shootout loss to Edmonton last night that ended it.

You knew the streak was going to come to an end at some point, and I suppose it could've ended in worse ways. Sounds like the Sharks just ran into a hot goalie last night...Dwayne Roloson stopped 48 of 49 San Jose shots. And as everyone in the NHL has learned this season, you do not want to go past the third period against the Oilers (counting last night, they are an extraordinary 19-5 in overtime/shootout games).

Bearing in mind that it's easy to become bewitched by shot totals, you still have to like firing almost fifty shots while giving up just twenty-three. Patrick Marleau scored (again) and although it was in vain he buried one during the shootout, too. I actually witnessed the last 5-on-5 goal conceded by the Sharks, and that was a week ago yesterday against Minnesota at the X....an outstanding streak in its own right. Furthermore, remember that last night's game against Edmonton was essentially a tie; Edmonton gets the extra point for winning the little bit of crowd-pleasing stunt hockey that follows a tie these days.

So to the best that I can discern without having watched the last two games, things still seem like they're going pretty well. The Sharks are at LA tomorrow...the Kings may have the league's lowest point total, but they can still bite you if you take them lightly. Indeed, San Jose suffered a bunch of losses to LA towards the beginning of the season, and the Kings are better now than they were then. They need to come out firing and sustain the momentum that's carried them this far.

Go Admirals!

Milwaukee is home to an American Hockey League franchise, the Admirals (not to be confused with Norfolk's American Hockey League franchise, also called the Admirals). A friend of mine from Milwaukee (you can read his blog here, by the way) and I went to Friday night's tilt against the Peoria Rivermen.

The whole evening was a blast. First my buddy and I grabbed a burger at a cool bar right across the street from the Bradley Center (where the team plays). Then we strolled over and took in the game. Our seats were great (about twenty rows up just inside one of the blue lines) and way cheaper than NHL seats (seventeen bucks apiece before TicketMonster fees), and the hockey was excellent. The lower bowl of the arena was about three-quarters full...I had read before my trip that the Admirals average about 5,000 a game, and was on par with what it looked like I was seeing. The team clearly has a devoted fan base...many people showed up in Admirals sweaters, and one young girl a few rows in front of us was in possession of a well-made poster praising Milwaukee goalie Pekka Rinne. There were even a couple sitting near us who were Rivermen fans and had made the trip from Peoria, to provide a little bit of in-stands rivalry.

The Admirals won the game 3-2. The one player that really stood out to my eye was Milwaukee center Cal O'Reilly. It was clear from watching him play that he's a gifted skater, stickhandler, and passer, and his numbers bear that out. He had two assists on the night and was +2. I could see him playing in the big league one day (he's only twenty-one). Although his numbers are similar to Joe Thornton's, he's too small to really be a Thornton-type player, but I think he could reasonably aspire to be a Marc Savard-type player.

All told, it was an extremely fun night. If you are fortunate enough to live in a city that is home to an AHL franchise, I urge you to take the opportunity to check out some awesome hockey for a reasonable price.

Two-Four-Six-Eight! Who Do We Appreciate?

2008-03-13T20:04:00.004-05:00

NHL Ice Girls, that's who.

I haven't undertaken actual historical research of the topic (although I may at some point) but I'm reasonably sure that one of the things we can credit the NHL's expansion to the Sun Belt with is the emergence of various dance teams/cheer squads that have begun to make appearances during games, mostly (although not entirely) in the South. (In addition to the franchises represented above, I am aware that Carolina and Phoenix boast dance teams.)

However, based upon the slender evidence of the photos in the gallery, only this shot of some young ladies supporting the Dallas Stars would appear to depict what I would truly call skating cheerleaders. I would really like to see more skating cheerleaders in the NHL, although probably only in certain places...this seems "right" in Dallas and would probably fit very well in Los Angeles (or San Jose), but might seem out of place in, say, Boston or Edmonton. Another place it would fit in would be Minnesota, because we have a long tradition of skating cheerleaders here. The Golden Gophers of the University of Minnesota (my alma mater) have had skating cheerleaders for many years.

Checking out the AHL

I won't be able to catch tomorrow night's game against the Blues, as I'm going to Milwaukee over the weekend for the draft for my fantasy baseball league (in which I am totally overmatched, by the way...I'm in a league with the type of guys who spend their free time perusing A-Ball box scores so they know who'll be good in six years). However, I am going to attend tomorrow night's game between the Milwaukee Admirals and the Peoria Rivermen with a friend of mine. I've never been to an AHL game before, so I'm pretty excited. Watch this space for a report.

I Think We Can Just Go Ahead and Award the Vezina Now...

2008-03-11T22:39:00.007-05:00

During the final moments of tonights game between San Jose and Nashville, the Predators, trailing 2-1, were on the power play and had pulled their goalie as well for a 6-on-4 advantage. With two and a fraction seconds remaining, Nashville defenseman Marek Zidlicky took a pass right in front of the net and fired.

The puck was going in, but Evgeni Nabokov barely got his pad on it, as you can see in this frame...

The final frame shows the puck deflecting upward and out of harm's way...

Um...nice save.

That's ten in a row. With this win, the Sharks hop over idle Dallas for the Pacific lead, at least for the moment. As I write this, Anaheim leads Phoenix 2-0. Nothing will come easy. Every win is crucial.

Monday Musings (March 10th, 2008)

2008-03-10T20:06:00.006-05:00

Blogging is Fun

It was just after the last visit of the San Jose Sharks to Minnesota that I began this blog, so now seems as good a time as any for a quick look back at the past ten weeks or so.

I pretty much started this on a whim, with no particular expectation that I would be able to sustain interest in it for any length of time, but it's honestly been much more enjoyable and rewarding than I would have expected. My confidence is growing that Team Teal in the Twin Towns will be around for the foreseeable future.

I've also gotten more visitors than I thought I would...a testament to the power of search engines, I guess. First of all, to anyone who has ever visited...thanks! I hope you enjoyed the page. I would love it if you would leave a quick Hello! via the comment section. Don't feel obliged...if you just want to kick back and read, that's totally cool. But if there's anything you'd like to say, or any points I've made you wish to disagree with, or errors of fact I've made you'd like to correct, please feel free. I appreciate any feedback.

My Fellow Americans...

A colleague of mine had a Daily Show desk calendar a couple of years ago. He saved this particular page for me...

Cool, eh?

Contact the Pulitzer Committee!

David Brewster, a photographer for the local rag here in the Mini-Apple, caught a great shot yesterday of Patrick Marleau swatting what would have been the winning (or, from a Shark perspective, losing) goal out of mid-air as overtime was ticking down. You can check it out here. (The Star-Tribune has a bit of an obnoxious policy regarding viewing their content...as near as I can determine, you can look at a pic/link/article once, but if you go back again or reload the page you have to register. It's almost more annoying than just being asked to register up front. Anyway, if you go look at the pic, it's best to download it locally if you think you're going to want to look at it again).

Alone in the Wild

2008-03-09T20:01:00.004-05:00

Sunday afternoon. I am milling about outside the main gate of the Xcel Energy Center with two tickets to the upcoming Sharks-Wild game in hand.

I was only able to get tickets to the game when a few extras were "released" (whatever that means) a couple of days ago, so there wasn't time for them to be mailed to me. Consequently, my only option was to pick them up at Will-Call. I distrust Will-Call and always have, so I arrived ridiculously early, quite prepared to discover that there were in fact no tickets waiting for me, and ready to call Ticketmaster, my attorney, my congressman, and/or Governor Schwarzenegger, as required. Besides, arriving ridiculously early for things is the habit of my clan.

So here I am, well before game time, dressed in Sharks colors, lingering in the lobby and waiting for my friend, surrounded by Wild fans. I feel a bit like Homer in that episode where he's the only one at work wearing a pink shirt.

Then a man arrives with three teenaged boys in tow. Two of the kids are wearing Wild gear, but the third is wearing a Sharks sweater. And here I mean sweater in the conventional American-English sense of a garment knit from yarn, not in the hockey-specific sense of the thing that is generally called a jersey, at least in the United States--someone has literally fabricated for this kid a teal sweater, complete with a Sharks logo, a number, and a name on the back, from yarn. Did a nice job of it, too. I feel a little less like Homer.

*****

While I'm waiting I see a man dressed in an excellent slate-colored suit. He is entering the arena via the press entrance and I vaguely recognize him. After a moment I realize it's Sharks defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh. Ozolinsh has been a healthy scratch for several games now, and apparently he is tonight, as well.

A short time later I see Jeremy Roenick. Roenick is pounced upon by two young women in Wild jerseys who are tickled to see him. JR is all smiles throughout. I feel a bit proud for some obscure reason.

I am a bit surprised to see JR out of uniform, because he played the other night in Chicago. Maybe he's not quite over that flu, after all...

*****

My friend arrives and we enter the arena and find our seats. He's not a big hockey fan, my friend, but he had a blast the last time we went to a game so I'm happy he was able to make it today on short notice. We are there early enough to catch some of the pre-game warm-up drills, which I always find cool. My friend says that it must be tough to come out and warm up, then have to go back into the locker room and wait while the ice is resurfaced for the game. I admit I'd never thought of that, and I agree.

*****

The puck drops. Forty-six seconds in Milan Michalek scores for San Jose on a shot that Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom should've stopped. I jump to my feet and clap. A murmur of discontent runs through the crowd...Minnesota has not been playing well lately and their fans know it. As the period continues, the Wild continue to look out-of-synch. The murmurs grows in amplitude.

*****

In the latter half of the first period Sharks rookie Tomas Plihal finds himself with the puck behind the Minnesota defense. He is hooked from behind and awarded a penalty shot. The crowd disagrees with the referee.

My friend asks if hockey penalty shots are essentially automatic goals, as in soccer. I tell him no, far from it. In fact I am not optimistic...converting a penalty shot is tough, especially for a young player. But Plihal impresses me, coolly finishing for a 2-0 San Jose lead.

*****

The horn sounds to end the first. The Wild, skidding and badly in need of points in the standings, have not played well. The crowd boos.

*****

In between periods they pull one of the goals to its blue line and a bunch of little kids play hockey. I believe every Wild game I have ever attended has featured little kids playing hockey during one intermission or the other. It's green vs. red. I watch the action but don't pay attention to the score, so I'm ignorant of who won.

*****

Second period. Minnesota still looks fairly ragged, but about four minutes in they get a goal on a shot from the blue line. The crowd cheers, et cetera, et cetera. A gentleman sitting to my left produces a pair of small, rotating red lights (reminiscent of goal lamps) from the pockets of his jacket and turns them on. They flash merrily.

*****

When play continues San Jose continues to control the action. They have a number of chances but are unable to put anything away. I begin to worry aloud about the fact that they are not making Minnesota pay for their many mistakes.

*****

Second intermission. Two couples participate in a race involving pushing one another around the rink in one of those circular sleds.

I tell my friend that I remember, back in the day, when they only used one Zamboni and they didn't have time for any of this other monkey business. I also tell him that I remember back when there was a Prince of Wales Conference and a Campbell Conference and a Norris Division and a Smythe Division et cetera et cetera. He remembers that, too, despite never having been a hockey fan. We both lament the discarding of those great names in favor of generic geographic references.

*****

The third period is tight and there aren't a lot of shots by either team. There are long periods of unbroken, generally neutral play. The Minnesota crowd, somewhat mollified by the second-period goal, grows restless once again. At about the fifteen-minute mark of the period, I tell my friend that as the game winds down I am becoming worried about San Jose's poor play 6-on-5 (and that in fact I mentioned this very topic in a recent post).

With a minute to play, the Wild pull Backstrom. With about forty seconds left, the Sharks gain control of the puck. Torrey Mitchell has it. Even from where I'm sitting in the stands I can see that he has a look on his face as though he's going to shoot at the empty net from his own side of the red line. I have one of those moments where I feel like I'm yelling "Noooooooooooo!" in slow-motion. Mitchell shoots the puck. He misses. Icing Sharks.

The Wild win the face-off and score five seconds later.

I put my head in my hands. The place goes crazy, et cetera et cetera. The guy sitting next to me (different from the first guy who was sitting next to me--seating is pretty casual at the X, apparently) punches me in the shoulder with a giant grin on his face. He wants me to high-five him. Only then does he realize I'm wearing a Sharks jersey. He settles for high-fiving my friend.

*****

Overtime.

The extra open ice provided by the four-on-four format produces some wide-open play, and the Sharks have a couple of good chances. Brian Campbell displays the spin-move, eliciting a gasp from the crowd, but is unable to produce a good chance. As so often happens in OT the time seems to fly by, and before you know it there are only a handful of ticks on the clock.

With time winding down Minnesota is buzzing. A cry goes up from the crowd, which quickly glissandos into a groan--I don't see what's happened, as the fans have leapt to their feet, but I am grateful not to hear the cheer that would have meant a Minnesota goal. I'm glad when the horn goes off.

While the ice is being resurfaced for the shootout, the replay is shown on TyrranoVision, and only then do I see Marleau's remarkable save, batting the puck out of thin air off the goal line.

*****

Shootout.

Minnesota shoots first. Again, the crowd rises to its feet as the shooter bears down on Nabby so I can't see really well, but the disappointed groan tells me that the shot was saved.

Pavelski scores. Minnesota misses. Cheechoo gets Backstrom to bite on a fake, but slides the puck wide of the goal mouth.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard shoots next for Minnesota and beats Nabokov on a dramatic spinning backhand that captures the precise reason why people like shootouts. More delirium &c. The guy next to me tries to high-five me again. I try to explain to him that I'm not that interested in a high-five, because if Bouchard would have missed the Sharks would have won. He insists that I have to admire the move, and states that he is willing to settle for a low-key fist bump. "For hockey," he says, brilliantly finding the chink in my armor. I agree, and we bump fists.

Then Marleau rockets in on Backstrom and ends it. The crowd groans. I cheer.

Nine in a row.

*****

As the crowd winds out I hear a young woman in a Wild jersey say to her friend, mournfully, "We're not going to the playoffs."

*****

I took the bus to the game today, and I'm taking it home. I get to the bus stop, and a short time later a young man in a Wild hat arrives. Many people in St. Paul have Wild hats, so this doesn't necessarily mean he was at the game, although he could've been.

A short time later we are joined by an older gentleman. He is wearing a quilted jacket the color of a dusty robin's egg and carrying an unlabeled white plastic bag. He smokes a cigarette. He is of Asian ancestry, and when he addresses himself to the guy in the Wild hat he speaks with a bit of an accent.

"Did they win today?"

The young man shakes his head. "Nope. Lost. 3-2, shootout."

The man with the cigarette shakes his head. "They can't win on the road, they can't win at home..." He shrugs hopelessly.

*****

On the bus, I encounter, remarkably, another Sharks fan. We high-five. It's a good high-five, too...not one of those lame ones where you barely connect. A crisp, authoritative smack fills the bus.

I'm feeling pretty happy.

*****

Back in Minneapolis, I have to transfer downtown to get on the line back to my apartment. I'm hungry and I don't have much food at home, so I stop at one of few places open on Sunday evenings and grab a bite to eat.

"Good game today," says my waitress. "For you."

I don't have anything with me to read, so I'm content to watch Tennessee and LSU play basketball against one another on the television. I think forward to the evening's blog post, and conclude that although writing in the present tense is a little pretentious, and perhaps even dishonest, in the sense that it gives the impression that I've been "live-blogging" when in fact I haven't, the tone of present tense seems right for what I want to say. So I decide to roll with it.

You Snooze, You Lose

2008-03-08T22:57:00.003-06:00

When the Minnesota Wild franchise was still in its embryonic stages, and a nickname was being debated, I thought that the team ought to be called the Minnesota Fighting Walleye. Well, the franchise blew its chance to have that awesome nickname (no one ever listens to me about this stuff!!), and now even the (admittedly small) chance that the team could be renamed is gone, because Toledo's new ECHL franchise beat them to it.

I'm thinking that Toledo Walleye tee-shirt would look pretty good on me. Where's my credit card...?

Sweet Hockey Card of the Week (March 8th, 2008)

2008-03-08T13:24:00.004-06:00

Most exuberant greetings, hockey fans! The deepest apologies are due from the management for its failure to provide a new edition of the Team Teal in the Twin Towns Sweet Hockey Card of the Week yesterday. However, the appearance on the calendar of a Sharks game obliged it to place its attention thereupon. But now, 'tis a new day, so let us get right to it--this week's sweeeeeet hockey card is...

Pete Stemkowski, New York Rangers, 1975

Stemmer!

Pete Stemkowski played fourteen seasons in the NHL (fifteen if you count the one game he played in the 1963-64 season) for Toronto, Detroit, the Rangers, and the Los Angeles Kings. (Career stats here.) On the back of this card, the text says that Stemkowski was born in Winnipeg in 1943 and that he was "Known for clutch plays, especially in the playoffs."

Historians of the NHL are in general agreement with this statement. In the index of their book '67, about the last Toronto Maple Leafs team to win the Stanley Cup (of which Stemmer was a member), Damien Cox and Gord Stellick provide a listing for Stemkowski, Peter (Stemmer) "as playoff warrior, page 31". His greatest playoff moment, though, was his triple-overtime winner against Chicago in 1971 as a member of the New York Rangers.

Of course, I personally will always think of Stemmer as an analyst for the Sharks. At various times he has served both in the television booth and on the radio for San Jose...I associate his voice with my early fandom for the team.

Apparently, the Sharks Have a Player Named "David Setoguchi"

2008-03-07T22:28:00.005-06:00

Hockey play-by-play guys have a tough job, I need to state right away. I try to temper my criticism, as should all fans. However, one of the funny things about watching the same team play so many games, as I have this season and last, is that it really becomes clear just how tenuous a grasp broadcasters can have of the opposition's roster.

During tonight's game against Chicago (which the Sharks won 3-2), Blackhawks broadcaster Dan Kelly called Sharks forward Devin Setoguchi "David" several times. Someone must have slipped him a correction at some point, because later on he called him by his correct name (although mostly he seemed content to just refer to him by his surname).

On a number of instances I have heard Craig Rivet's last name pronounced as though it describes a fastener used to join pieces of steel. And I suppose opposing broadcast teams can't be blamed for shortening Douglas Murray's first name to Doug, but Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda always call him Douglas, and it's my understanding that this is what the guy in the #3 sweater goes by.

Good Game

'Twas a good one tonight in front of a boisterous crowd at United Center. Both teams showed some jump early--although the Hawks maybe had a little more, possibly fueled by an emotional pre-game ceremony honoring legends Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita--and the score was tied at two after one. The game simmered down a bit in the second, and remained tied until a series of crisp passes found Patrick Marleau, who made a pretty move to get some room and beat Patrick Lalime for what stood up as the eventual game winner.

Marleau...well, there's not much to be said that I didn't say in my post about the Ottawa game. I don't know where this has been all season and it doesn't matter. Now that it's back, I'd like to see it stick around.

Unsung Hero

The official "Three Stars" of the game were Joe Thornton, Brent Seabrook, and Jonathan Cheechoo, but tonight my vote for first star would have gone to Kyle McLaren. And not just because he scored a goal...he was a nasty physical presence all night long, and may have saved what would have been the tying goal by deftly sliding the puck out of the crease with Nabokov down and out, denying the salivating Rene Bourque a crack at an open net with a little under three minutes left.

What's that thing that just whizzed past our ear?

The Hawks thought they tied the game with Lalime pulled and less than a minute left on a goal by Bourque, but replays clearly showed that he had advanced the puck into the net with his glove, and the goal was correctly disallowed. For a sickening moment, though, I thought that San Jose had let yet another lead slip away with only seconds remaining.

They dodged a bullet tonight, but the Sharks have to figure out some way to play better 6-on-5...they are likely to face this situation many more times this season and into the playoffs. And in the playoffs you can't console yourself with the knowledge that at least you got a point...

Hey! Which side is that guy on, anyway?

It's not too often you see an NHL general manager on the ice before a game wearing the other team's sweater, but that's just what we saw tonight. Doug Wilson took part in the pre-game ceremony, wearing 'Hawks colors. Wilson, of course, was a lethal offensive defenseman for Chicago for many years (39 goals in 1981-82!), before closing out his playing career with the Sharks.

Since I started off this post with a criticism of the 'Hawks broadcast team, I'll close it by extending kudos to them for recognizing the class of the Sharks organization in taking part in the pre-game festivities.

Next Game on Sunday at the X

I'll be there...

More About the Ottawa Game...

2008-03-06T19:35:00.002-06:00

Despite their recent struggles and turmoil (head coach John Paddock was fired at the end of February) the Ottawa Senators are still a very dangerous hockey team. The Sharks got them last night in a fairly vulnerable state, however...the Sens were a long way from home, coming off a 3-1 defeat against the punishing Anaheim Ducks, and without goal-machine Daniel Alfredsson. So I was disappointed that the Sharks did not come out of the gate looking for blood last night. Most of the first period was played in their zone, the Senators were winning all of the battles for loose pucks, and overall San Jose was lucky to get out of the first period scoreless. The lack of energy was particularly apparent on the heels of the electrifying win against Montreal on Monday. The Sharks did not really start to look dangerous last night until late in the second period, by which time the Senators had finally taken a deserved 1-0 lead.

I give the Sharks credit for storming back to win...I'm certainly delighted to see Marleau net a couple of goals, and Cheechoo continues to be on a tear, which is fantastic. Brian Campbell played well again last night--San Jose has yet to lose a game with him in the lineup. But they were playing against a tired, slightly struggling team with some drama going on off the ice. Against an energetic, confident, distraction-free opponent, the lack of intensity the Sharks exhibited for the first half-plus of the hockey game last night could have sunk them into too deep a hole, beyond the reach of any late-game heroics.

Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!

The Sharks will face such an opponent tomorrow night when they travel to Chicago. I watched the Hawks gleefully stomp a more talented Vancouver Canucks team on Sunday, and since then they have chalked up wins at Minnesota and against Anaheim--those are two very tough teams. The Blackhawks are making a virtue of their youth and inexperience...the former they tap for energy and enthusiasm, and the latter is almost certainly a factor in their failure to be awed by the red-hot defending champions, whom they shut out last night 3-0.

If the Sharks come onto the ice tomorrow night as flat as they did against Ottawa, they will trail after the first period, probably by multiple goals. Hopefully San Jose will come out flying, and this assertion will go untested.

Hey! Who's That Guy in the #12 Sweater?

2008-03-06T00:09:00.002-06:00

He's pretty good...

I don't know what's gotten into Patrick Marleau. And I don't care. If he keeps scoring and makes me forget the first three-quarters of the season, I'll be pleased as punch.

The Sharks played slightly under half a good hockey game tonight, and were frankly quite fortunate to come away with a 3-2 overtime win over the Ottawa Senators.

There was good, there was bad. Longer post tomorrow. 'Night for now...

Beating Them at Their Own Game

2008-03-04T00:24:00.008-06:00

Three goals had been scored in tonight's game at the Tank between the Sharks and the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Canadiens before I even took the first sip of my beer. The early flurry set the tone for the game, which was an absolute fire drill by San Jose standards, and therefore played precisely into the hands of the high-scoring Habs. Add in the fact that the generally ragged play induced a number of lapses in discipline by the Sharks, resulting in penalties that put the fearsome Canadiens power play on the ice far too often, and it seems a small miracle that the Sharks came out with a 6-4 win.

It was certainly great to see fantastic goals by Cheechoo and Marleau tonight, Big Joe was his usual self, and even Jody Shelley got a goal (just reward for all the hard work he's put in wearing a Sharks sweater), but certainly the most electrifying moment of the night was Brian Campbell's clincher with just under two minutes left in the game, providing the final margin. Campbell displayed his skating and stickhandling skills, beating former Shark Josh Gorges (EDIT: My mistake. Looking at the replay, Campbell actually beat Mike Komisarek on that goal. I don't know how I got it in my head that it was Gorges. Sorry, Josh. Okay, I think I know why...it's because Cheechoo beat Gorges on his goal.) with the characteristic spin move we have seen from him several times since his arrival with the team, then sliding the puck under Habs goalie Carey Price's pad. The crowd at the Tank went nuts--hopefully the fan response will help Campbell become favorably disposed to the idea of sticking around San Jose for a while. (Memo to Brian Campbell: We like you! We really like you! Memo to Doug Wilson: Sign Brian Campbell long-term. Do it now.)

Unlike almost all their other games this season, tonight the Sharks were explosive in the offensive end but ragged in their own zone. That's probably not the recipe for consistent success in the Pacific Division over the rest of the season, but it provided one hell of an entertaining hockey game.

Price

The Canadiens are a very legitimate contender for the Stanley Cup, and therefore many hockey observers were surprised to see Bob Gainey trade goaltender Cristobal Huet to Washington at the trade deadline, thus placing the Habs' hopes squarely and unambiguously on the shoulders of twenty-year-old Carey Price.

American sports fans are probably going to have trouble conceiving that the following could be true, but I really think it is: there is no more pressure-filled role in all of North American sports than the goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens. It seem to me an extraordinary decision to place such a young player in that position. (Yes, Patrick Roy was able to handle it in 1986, but...well, he's Patrick Roy.) But seriously, who am I to question Bob Gainey (one of my favorite hockey people, by the way)? The kid obviously has rare talent.

But he looked like he got a bit flustered tonight. He was victimized by some bad luck and probably let in a couple that he should have had, and at moments he was clearly rattled. I guess my point is that inevitably he's going to have legions of critics in Montreal without being tough on himself. As the playoffs heat up, he could definitely take some tips from the guy who was in the other crease tonight...Nabokov is one of he calmest goalies I've ever watched. He usually looks as if he barely has a pulse.

For those counting, that's six wins in a row for the Sharks. Ottawa Wednesday.

Sunday Scraps (March 2nd, 2008)

2008-03-02T20:37:00.003-06:00

Fun Conquers All

In the third period of this afternoon's game at United Center in Chicago, Blackhawk defenseman Duncan Keith found himself breaking alone into the Vancouver Canucks' zone, defended by veterans Matthias Ohlund and Kevin Bieksa. Keith tried a nifty between-the-legs spinny move in an effort to beat the defense. It was a cheerfully optimistic effort which utterly failed, and for good measure Bieksa clobbered Keith as punishment for his cheek, but the move was characteristic of the youthful exuberance, even naivety, with which the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the grim, anxious Vancouver Canucks this afternoon by the score of 4-1.

The Blackhawks have fallen to the very margins of the playoff race, but it's still been a very promising year for this very young team. With veterans Martin Havlat, Robert Lang, and Yanic Perrault out with injuries, the squad that took the ice today looked even younger than the Hawks typically have this season. One of the Rogers Sportsnet analysts calling the game for Vancouver joked that it was like the Canucks were playing the Rockford Icehogs (Chicago's AHL affiliate). Today the Hawks were able to channel all that youth into hockey energy, and they controlled almost all of the play. They threw the body, won the battles along the boards, fought with gusto, and swatted pucks out of the air and into Vancouver's net as if they don't understand that that's hard.

The Canucks, on the other hand, are still very much in the playoff picture, but have had some grim outings lately. Vancouver has lost its last two games in overtime after giving up third-period leads. At this time of year you absolutely have to beat the teams behind you in the standings, and I'm certain that the Canucks approached today's game as a must-win.

But they played like a team expecting things to go wrong, and it was a self-fulfilling prophecy...they were tight and never got into a groove, allowing themselves to be pushed around by Chicago from wire to wire. I had a mental image of them standing on a precipice, having just lost their balance, and windmilling their arms in terror in an effort not to fall.

The broadcast team alluded to the sheer quantity of one-goal games that Vancouver's reliance upon Roberto Luongo and a tiny dram of scoring obliges them to play, and one wonders if they aren't beginning to crack under the constant pressure.

The Canucks today were more talented and vastly more experienced than the Hawks, but the Hawks looked like they were having infinitely more fun and in the end that made all the difference.

Wings-Sabres Observations

The Red Wings visited Buffalo today, having gone 1-8-2 in their prior eleven games. East vs. West matchup involving a Western team other than San Jose, so of course I was pulling for the Sabres to do the Sharks and everyone else out west a favor. Alas, the Wings gave the Sabres a pretty good drubbing today, and came out with a 4-2 win.

Much like the other night against the Sharks, the Wings were victimized by a bizarre goal involving the officials allowing play to continue when (almost) everyone was anticipating a whistle. With about four minutes gone in the third period and Detroit leading 3-1, there was a hard hit along the boards, followed by some face-washing, followed by some more face-washing, followed by a few punches. It certainly looked like a melee was imminent, and a linesman had already stepped in to start prying players apart. However, at no time was the whistle blown, and after several seconds the puck, which had been generally disregarded in all the ruckus, squirted free. Jason Pominville scooped it up and bore down on a cruelly marooned Dominic Hasek, beating him glove side to pull the Sabres to within one. Tonight, however, the Wings weathered the bad break...that was Buffalo's last marker, and the Wings added an insurance goal later to provide the final margin.

Rick Jeanneret

One of the great things about watching Sabres games is that you get to hear the action called by Rick Jeanneret, one of the legends of the business. It's pretty much the equivalent of listening to Vin Scully call a Dodger game. He has that energetic tenor that is perfectly pitched for hockey play-by-play. There's a cool video here with some highlights from his great career.

Box-Score Blogger (March 1st, 2008)

2008-03-01T23:43:00.006-06:00

As I mentioned at the tail end of my last post, I didn't watch the game tonight (a 2-0 win over St. Louis) because I had my folks over for dinner at my "new" apartment. (Actually, I've been here for six weeks...sheesh, what kinda son am I, eh?) Of all the games I've missed this year, this is the one that I probably would've most liked to have seen, because it would've given me a chance to size up new goalie Brian Boucher, who got the start tonight in place of Evgeni "The Iron Goalie" Nabokov.

Heck, I'm head over heels over the result...the guy already has a 1-0 record and has yet to give up a goal as a Shark. Can't ask for anything more than that. I guess the only thing that gives me pause is the fact that the Blues' offense has had no teeth lately...three goals in their last five games, including tonight. Yowch. So it's not like Boucher was facing a high-powered team firing on all cylinders. Still, this result has to be a huge confidence-builder for the team, as it provides evidence that giving Nabby an occasional rest need not be the daredevil move it has seemed previously this season, when Thomas Greiss or Dimitri Patzold were Team Teal's only options for relief.

Also, how happy am I to see this scoring line?

San Jose 16:41, Joe Pavelski 15 (power play) (Brian Campbell, Joe Thornton)

Well, what are the SI units of happiness? Whatever they are, I am exhibiting lots of them. Power-play goal, assists to Campbell and Thornton. Music to my ears. Since the Campbell trade, I have been dreaming of a mighty power play, engineered by two of the best puck-moving players in the league, tearing giant gaping holes in opposing defenses. I hope to see many lines in many scoring summaries quite similar to the one above over the remainder of the season and deep into the playoffs.

Not So Bad, After All

So ends the eight-game, seventeen-day odyssey, which looked at first as if it were going to be either a disaster or an unmitigated disaster, but which on balance has to be counted as pretty successful. It wasn't just that the Sharks lost the first three games of the trip...remember the events immediately preceding their hitting the road. First, they blew a lead in the last minute to Calgary, and went on to lose in overtime. Then they closed out their homestand with a weak effort against a banged-up Edmonton Oilers team. So before the voyage began, the team was already threatening to go into a tailspin, and after losing the first three games of the trip you seriously had to wonder if a major control surface hadn't completely detached itself from the aircraft.

It isn't always true in situations like this, but in this particular case I believe the turning point can be identified with precision. It was the second intermission of the Philadelphia game. Recall that although the Sharks had been outplaying the reeling Flyers for most of the first forty minutes of that one, a series of bad breaks and breakdowns sprung Philly on a 3-on-1 that was converted by Mike Knuble with literally a handful of seconds left in the second period. This really could have shattered the morale of a San Jose team for whom nothing seemed to be going right, but instead they came out firing in the third, getting a goal early from Milan Michalek and another one a short time later by Douglas Murray, and cruising to a 3-1 win. They've been playing good hockey ever since, and that good hockey has been producing points in the standings.

It's a Dang Good Thing, Too...

...because the Stars and the Ducks have been joining forces with the Sharks to demonstrate why the Pacific Division is the toughest in hockey. San Jose, of course, ends its road trip on a five-game winning streak. Anaheim is also on a five-game winning streak and have won nine of their last ten. Their only loss in that span was to Dallas, who are, remarkably, nipping at the heels of the once apparently uncatchable Detroit Red Wings for the top spot in the West. The Stars had a four-game winning streak going as of this morning, but lost their game today against Nashville 3-1. Still, those of us who were hoping that the Brad Richards trade would fizzle on the Stars (nothing personal, Brad, but ya know...) were rudely yanked back from that fantasyland by his five-assist performance against the Blackhawks the other night. Right now, Dallas has a legitimate claim to being the NHL's best team.

The league's schedule makers saw fit to give the Sharks one whole whopping day off after that brutal road trip. On Monday night they're back in the Tank for a match-up with one of the East's best teams--the Montreal Canadiens.

Controversy

2008-02-29T21:06:00.003-06:00

"Referees don't normally cheer for teams, but I'll guarantee you, they're cheering for Detroit to tie this game up." (Detroit Red Wings Analyst Mickey Redmond, February 29th, 2008, 13:21 of the third period.)

Absolutely @&%!#$ing right, Mickey.

The Sharks defeated the Detroit Red Wings tonight 3-2 at Joe Louis Arena. Leading the game 2-1 midway through the third period, the Sharks were attacking the Detroit net when a shot deflected up and hit the netting behind the goal. The puck flopped back down onto the ice just outside the goal mouth, and Devin Setoguchi poked it in. The whistle was never blown, the referee pointed at the puck in the net, and the Sharks were ahead 3-1.

The Red Wings, naturally, protested, and they certainly had a case. But unfortunately for them, rulings on whether or not the puck leaves play are not subject to video review (much as, say, pass interference is not subject to review in the NFL). The officials really had no choice but to award the goal to the Sharks, who were guilty of no crime other than continuing to play when there was no whistle.

Missed calls like this are simply part of hockey, or indeed of any sport--they are a consequence of having human, fallible officials. In this sense having the puck go into your net after the puck leaves play but isn't blown dead isn't really a whole lot different than, say, having an official accidentally obstruct a clearance attempt and thereby inadvertently hold the zone for the opposing team. Such a thing happened to the Sharks earlier this season in a game against Boston, and the Bruins went on to score the game-winning goal off that sequence.

So what happened tonight wasn't so much unfair officiating as it was human officiating. Things like this will happen now and then, and if I were a Wings fan I'd be hopping mad. The officials no doubt felt bad about it, but they should not have let this influence how they called the game from then on.

Instead, they pulled one of these.

By sending Christian Ehrhoff to the box on a galactically weak interference call with Detroit already on the power play, thus handing the Wings a 5-on-3 that of course they immediately converted, the referees demonstrated that they were in fact thinking precisely what Mickey Redmond thought they were thinking. They crossed the line from human officiating to bad officiating. Inadvertently penalizing one of the teams due to a mistake is just something that happens every now and then and is unavoidable. Deliberately penalizing one of the teams to "even things up" should never happen and is totally avoidable.

I should point out, since I've mentioned Redmond in this post, that I have no quarrel whatsoever with the Red Wings' broadcast team's passionate disputation of the Setoguchi goal. Even if the play had been more marginal (and it looked pretty clear to me that it went off the net) I would have no quarrel with them. I strongly believe that hometown broadcast teams should cheerfully and unapologetically call games in a way that is biased towards their own squad. Seriously. (Broadcast teams on nationally-televised games are a different story).

Disputed goal or no, the Sharks played well tonight and deserved to win. Teams that are playing well tend to get the breaks, and that's what happened in this one.

Blues tomorrow, although I won't be able to watch because I'm having the 'rents over to the new place for dinner (finally).

Sweet Hockey Card of the Week (February 29th)

2008-02-28T23:32:00.005-06:00

A resounding Welcome! to all hockey fans, and card fans, and hockey-card fans who have tuned in for this week's edition of the Team Teal in the Twin Towns Sweet Hockey Card of the Week.

The 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens

Gaze, o hockey fan, upon possibly the greatest team ever to lace 'em up. The 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens compiled an amazing record of 60-8-12, and won the Stanley Cup in a four-game sweep of the Boston Bruins. They lost only once at home all year. In the sport of ice hockey, in which games are so often decided by the thinnest of margins, that level of success is truly extraordinary.

This team is only the shiniest of a series of gleaming Habs squads that reclaimed dominance of the National Hockey League from the upstart Philadelphia Flyers in the mid-to-late seventies, winning the Stanley Cup in 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. I recall my uncle, who saw these teams play the North Stars, telling me once that Montreal's control of play would be so comprehensive that Habs' goalie Ken Dryden would occasionally leave his crease and skate around his own zone just to stay loose.

The back of this card is a list of other Montreal Canadiens who were featured on Topps cards this year. Steve Shutt. Serge Savard. Jacques Lemaire. Bob Gainey, the current GM of the Habs for whom the Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) was essentially invented. Dryden. Guy LaFleur. Yvan Cournoyer. The peerless Larry Robinson. It almost makes you dizzy. (Check out the team's stats here.)

I hope you enjoyed this week's sweeeet hockey card. By now you are certainly wondering about next week's selection. I'll give you some hints. He played for the Rangers. The back of his hockey card says (correctly) that he is "Known for clutch plays, especially in the playoffs". And he has a connection to my very own San Jose Sharks. Intrigued? Watch this space next Friday, when all will be revealed!

I'm Glad I'm Not a Wild Fan

2008-02-28T19:46:00.002-06:00

Very quick post today, but I just wanted to mention the trade deadline news here in my home metropolis of Minneapolis-St. Paul, which was the acquisition of Chris Simon by the Minnesota Wild from the New York Islanders.

There's a huge difference between a stick-swinging thug like Simon and an honest, tough enforcer like Jody Shelley. The list of Simon's crimes against hockey is lengthy and depressing, and if I were a Wild fan, I would be wincing. I'd be embarrassed to cheer for the guy.

Three Down, Three Up

2008-02-27T20:38:00.006-06:00

After a 4-2 victory at Columbus tonight, the Sharks have now won three in a row after dropping the first three games of their eight-game road trip. I missed the first period of tonight's game, but tuned in just in time to see the Sharks falter (giving up a goal to David Vyborny and falling behind 2-1) then slowly take control of the game. By the middle of the third, San Jose was dominating the play, completely stifling the Columbus attack while generating fourteen shots of their own.

I certainly liked what I saw from new Shark Brian Campbell tonight. He chalked up an assist, was on the ice for one of the two San Jose power-play goals, moved the puck crisply out of the defensive zone in transition, and--best of all--came up with a huge open-ice hit in the third period. Campbell has played his entire NHL career prior to today in Buffalo, a terrific hockey town, and from press reports it is clear that although he suspected it was coming, the trade hit him hard. One always wonders how a reluctantly traded player will respond (Peter Forsberg, for instance, clearly never felt at home in a Nashville Predators uniform last year). The big hit suggests to me that Campbell, even though he was understandably sad to leave Buffalo, has brought all of his intensity to San Jose. That's good news.

Bernier the Sabre

In related news, Steve Bernier scored two goals tonight in the first period of his first game as a Buffalo Sabre. I mention this not only because I wish Bernier the best and hope the change of scenery will continue to do him good, but also because he helped do his old team a favor--Buffalo's 8-4 victory tonight came at the expense of Nashville, a team that is in competition with San Jose for Western Conference playoff position.

Wings on Leap Day.

Welcome, Brian Campbell. Happy Trails, Steve Bernier

2008-02-26T19:34:00.004-06:00

Today was the NHL trading deadline, and I feel that the Sharks came out as one of the day's winners with their acquisition of All-Star defenseman Brian Campbell and a seventh-round draft pick from the Buffalo Sabres, in exchange for Steve Bernier and a first-round pick. Talented defensemen, particularly those who can contribute offensively, are the most in-demand players come trade time, and Campbell was certainly one of the top two blueliners whom one might have reasonably expected to be available. (Toronto's Tomas Kaberle was up there at the top, too, but he has a no-trade clause and it sounds like he invoked it).

I'm quite certain that San Jose's generally mediocre power play motivated Doug Wilson to be a very aggressive bidder in the Campbell Sweepstakes. Campbell's ability to create offense from the blue line will be very very welcome on a team that has struggled to get scoring from D-men all year. (The Sharks' leading scorer on the blue line, Craig Rivet, is twenty-sixth in points amongst all NHL defensemen at the time of writing, with 29 points. Campbell has 43 points so far this year). I had hoped that Matt Carle would develop into that offensive D-man/power-play quarterback, but he is one of a number of young Sharks who has simply not progressed this year--indeed, Carle has regressed, with only eleven points in fifty-five games, far off his pace from last year. With any luck, Campbell can step into that role and give the San Jose offense a shot in the arm.

Speaking of young guys who haven't developed, meet Steve Bernier, the world's newest Buffalo Sabre. Bernier has shown flashes of strong hockey so far in his NHL career, and his production hasn't taken the nosedive that Carle's has, but he still has seemed to be standing still, frustrating Sharks fans and no doubt the organization as a whole. Bernier is the type of guy who is classic trade bait--young, skilled, but falling short of expectations. The hope is always that a new coach/new teammates/change of scenery/whatever will provide a spark. Hopefully things will work out for Bernier with his new team.

I hope Doug Wilson intends to sign Campbell to a long-term deal. Guys like him are rare, and now that he's in teal, I'd like to see him stay in it for a while.

Davison to Long Island

Speaking of well wishes, hopefully new Islander Rob Davison will see more playing time than he did with the Sharks. Davison was sort of swept aside when young guys like Carle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic emerged...he's barely played at all in the last couple of seasons. Let's hope the Islanders have a good role for him to play.

Okay, so it's not quite a trade...

Also on the transaction front today, the Sharks signed Philadelphia Phantoms goalie Brian Boucher to a one-year deal, thus apparently confirming the suspicion that the organization doesn't really have confidence in either Thomas Greiss or Dimitri Patzold to serve as an adequate backup to Evgeni Nabokov this year. Is Boucher really any better? Well, at least he's a been-there-done-that veteran...not a bad trait in a backup netminder.

I'll Take It

2008-02-25T07:05:00.004-06:00

I was in an airplane during the Sharks 2-1 shootout win over the Penguins yesterday, so I missed it. I just have a few quick observations about the game that I note from a review of the box score...

1. Cheechoo scored again. Not only is the guy no longer cold, he's now red-hot. This is good news heading down the stretch.

2. The power play provided no offense once again. This is bad news heading down the stretch, and especially into the playoffs.

3. Once again, the Sharks were unable to hold a lead. Since they were playing an Eastern Conference team, the fact that the Penguins came out of the game with an extra point doesn't really matter from San Jose's perspective, but it still makes me nervous that the Sharks seem to have an inordinate amount of trouble playing with a lead.

4. I want to see Joe Pavelski in every shootout.

That's all for now. On Wednesday the Sharks visit Columbus to meet a team fresh off of road wins against Ottawa and Montreal, two of the better teams in the East. The Jackets could still sneak into the playoffs if they play well down the stretch, so you know they will be a desperate, determined team. Team Teal had better be ready.

Sweet Hockey Card of the Week (February 22nd, 2008)

2008-02-21T22:35:00.005-06:00

Hey there, hockey fans! Well, it's Friday again, and that means it's time for another Team Teal in the Twin Towns Sweeeeeet Hockey Card of the Week!

This week's sweet hockey card (drum roll please...)

Glen Sather, Minnesota North Stars, 1975

I actually didn't know that Glen Sather was once a member of my Minnesota North Stars until I turned up this hockey card a few years ago. Sather, of course, is far better known as the coach of the spectacular Edmonton Oilers teams of the eighties that won four Stanley Cups.

Sather (career stats here) only played one season for the North Stars. It was his final year in the NHL before jumping to the WHA, where he actually played for the Oilers for a time before becoming player-coach towards the end of the 1977 season.

In his excellent book The Rebel League, about the WHA, Ed Willes tells how then-Oilers coach Bep Guidolin, saying of the team "They're not responding to me," thrust Sather, his captain at the time, into the player-coach role. The Oilers seemed sparked by the change, and went on to edge out the Calgary Cowboys for the last spot in the WHA playoffs. A few years later, four WHA teams merged into the NHL (in addition to the Oilers, the Quebec Nordiques, Hartford Whalers, and Winnipeg Jets made the jump). There was this kid called Gretzky on the Oilers' roster. And the rest, as they say, is history...

New Sweet Hockey Card next week!

How to Win a Hockey Game

2008-02-21T21:07:00.006-06:00

The Sharks got a badly needed win tonight in Philadelphia, 3-1 over the reeling Flyers. This ends a five-game San Jose losing streak.

This is as happy as I've been with a Sharks effort for a very long time. They did (almost) everything a hockey team needs to do to win tonight. Let's break it down...

How to Win a Hockey Game

#1: Get great goaltending. Check. Evgeni Nabokov played an outstanding game tonight. He made not one or two but several tough, crucial saves. Without him, the Sharks play most of this game from behind, rather than with the lead.

#2: Get goals from your go-to guys. Check. Sure, you want to have a balanced attack, but every hockey team has a handful of guys you look to for the core of your scoring. When these guys are finding the net, things generally tend to go pretty well. When these guys aren't finding the net, there's much anxiety (see: earlier this season, subjects Marleau and Cheechoo). Tonight, Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek, two of the Sharks biggest guns, both scored goals.

#3: Get a big play or two from an unexpected source. Check. In the 1994 playoffs, the Sharks got critical goals from Shawn Cronin and Vlastimil Kroupa in the course of winning their first playoff game ever. That victory came at the expense of the mighty (then as now) Detroit Red Wings. The Sharks, of course, went on to take that series in an upset the likes of which may never again be seen in the NHL. As you can see here and here, neither of these guys lit the lamp much--Cronin had not scored that season, had only three goals in his NHL career up to that point, and never scored again--but it was the sort of thing that made you believe that anything was possible.

Tonight, Douglas Murray scored the Sharks' third and final goal of the game--his first goal in 115 NHL games. (Congrats, Douglas!) Coming as it did so quickly after Michalek's goal, it was a real kick in the teeth for the Flyers, who never really looked like much of a threat for the rest of the game.

#4: Show mental toughness. Check. Craig Rivet took a gamble on a San Jose power play very late in the second period, and things went badly awry when a misplay at the blue line, combined with Rivet pinching, sprung the Flyers on a three-on-one. A properly executed three-on-one should end with someone shooting at an empty net, and the Flyers properly executed their three-on-one--goal, Mike Knuble, with only 5.8 seconds left in the second period. The immediately preceding San Jose power play had looked promising, but instead of going into the second intermission up 2-0, the Sharks went into the locker room tied at a goal apiece.

It's always bad to give up a goal late in a period, and the later in the period you give it up the worse it is, but for a team on the skids, playing their fourth road game in five nights, that could've been a genuine back-breaker. It wasn't. The Sharks came out at the beginning of the third and picked up right where they left off, continuing to control the play, and before long they were ahead 3-1 and it was the Flyers who were collapsing.

#5: Stay out of the box. Check. The Flyers had nary a power play tonight. The only San Jose penalty minutes were assessed to Jody Shelley for a tough, gutsy fight against Flyer PIM leader Riley Cote.

And, finally, the complement to #5...

#6: Make the other guy pay when he's in the box. Ch--er, wait. No check. The Sharks' power play looked dangerous at times tonight, but they still couldn't put one away. Against a team that takes a lot of penalties, like the Flyers (or the Ducks) you really have to take advantage of your power plays.

So, it wasn't a perfect night, but still a very good one. I've been rough on the Sharks when they haven't played well, but tonight they played well. I'd be happy to not be rough on them for the rest of the season...of course, this would require them to play well for the rest of the season.

We'll see which Sharks team shows up on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Is There an Echo in Here?

2008-02-20T20:34:00.002-06:00

Devils 3, Sharks 2

Another game, another blown lead, another loss.

I think we can lay to rest any idea that the Sharks are some kind of awesome "Road Warriors" by now, can't we?

I'm feeling more blue than teal right now.

Flyers tomorrow.

Holy Toledo!

2008-02-19T23:28:00.003-06:00

Check out this boxscore...

You wouldn't think a team as venerable as the Montreal Canadiens would have any history left to make, but you'd be wrong...

Is anyone else getting the feeling that maybe the Habs are the one team this season that seems to have a little penumbra of destiny about them?

Glad I Missed That One

2008-02-18T20:17:00.003-06:00

The Sharks blew a two-goal third-period lead today on Long Island and lost to the Isles 3-2. The game was an afternoon matinee, and I was at work, so at least I didn't witness the debacle.

Evgeni Nabokov took a hard slap shot off the mask in the second period, sustaining what sounds like it was a pretty bad cut. He went to the locker room and got stitches, then came back at the start of the third period and gave up all three New York goals.

Since I didn't see the game, I am not in a position to judge whether or not Nabokov's injury may have contributed to any of the goals he gave up. So I don't know for sure if this was just an ordinary, garden-variety third-period collapse, or if Nabby went back in when maybe he should've been taking the rest of the day off. The latter would suggest that Ron Wilson really doesn't trust his backup goalie (Thomas Greiss, today). Either way, it's bad news.

After the last-minute loss against Calgary last week, I worried aloud in this space about the Sharks going into a funk similar to the one they experienced after a nearly identical loss to Anaheim earlier in the season.

Well, in the three games since losing to the Flames, the Sharks have yet to earn a point.

"Intensity! A Sense of Urgency! Desperation!"

2008-02-17T21:26:00.004-06:00

"Things lacking from the San Jose Sharks' game?"

Yes! Congratulations, Bob, you've made it top of the pyramid!

Okay, you know if I start referencing cheesy game shows that must mean I'm looking for new ways to say something I've said a thousand times. The opponents of the San Jose Sharks just seem to want it more.

I developed a theory about this today as I watched the Sharks lose 3-1 to the New York Rangers, thus starting their critical eight-game road trip on very much the wrong foot. If I look at the standings, at the time of writing, I see that in both conferences there are eight teams that either A) are currently in playoff position but are within four points of falling out, or B) are currently out of the playoffs but are within four points of being in. In other words, for sixteen teams--more than half the league--the playoffs are already underway.

The Rangers are one of those teams and they seem to understand the situation, based upon the intensity, sense of urgency, and desperation they brought to the Madison Square Garden today. The Sharks--don't look now--are also one of those teams...yes, it's true, the Sharks are mere points away from being out of playoff position entirely. But they're not playing like they understand this. I get the sense, frankly, that they feel like they're entitled to a playoff spot based upon their talent level and great road record alone.

Put two hockey teams on a common ice sheet, when one is playing for their season and the other is coasting until spring, and you'll get...well, you'll pretty much get what we saw this afternoon.

One member of the team--I've decided I'm not going to say who, to avoid singling anybody out, although it's hardly a secret, you can look it up if you want--was quoted as saying, of the Rangers, "Defensively I think we played well. They were forechecking, and it was surprising a little bit how hard they played." (My emphasis.)

Jiminy Christmas, guys. I'm as big a San Jose Sharks fan as you'll find, I love the team and always will, but you guys owe it to yourselves to take a look in the mirror and dig down deep and find the psychological and emotional resources to perform an attitude adjustment. In hockey as in life, guts and heart offer no guarantee of a happy ending, but no team will succeed without them. You guys are simply too good to let a promising season slide into mediocrity because everyone else in the league wanted it more. I know you don't want that, and I know I don't want to watch that.

Islanders tomorrow.

Sunday Scraps - February 17th

2008-02-17T00:23:00.009-06:00

Awesomeness or Cartoonish Super-Awesomeness?

The Detroit Red Wings have a 41-14-5 record (good for 87 points) which places them very comfortably atop the NHL. Yet their current five-game losing streak cannot be ignored. It has included losses to last-place (but improving) Los Angeles and second-to-last-place (and floundering) Toronto, not to mention a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets Friday night (at home). All-Star goalie Chris Osgood has been chased in two consecutive games. Is there cause for concern in Detroit?

Probably not. Any discussion about the Red Wings pretty much boils down to a debate about whether they have achieved awesomeness or cartoonish super-awesomeness (to paraphrase Waylon Smithers). It's a long season and no team will maintain any particular level of play, good or poor, from wire to wire. Roll together a couple of injuries (Niklas Kronwall has been out for a while and Brian Rafalski didn't play against Columbus), a bit of a slump by an otherwise good goalie, maybe a game against an inferior opponent who happened to get hot at precisely the wrong time (Toronto had won at Le Centre Bell two nights before beating the Wings in a shootout--perhaps the Leafs dug deep and found some pride after getting smoked by the Panthers 8-0 on February 5th), and BAM!, there's your five-game losing streak.

A brief survey of the internet appears to reveal some rumblings among the Red Wings' considerable fan base about the need for the team to acquire some help at defense. What's this? A contending NHL team is looking for another solid defenseman as the trade deadline looms? Stop the presses! Seriously, at this time of year, every GM in the league who thinks they have a shot at a Cup run is shopping for help at the blue line.

If this current slide has any consequence, it's that the pressure to make a move could oblige GM Ken Holland to overpay for a quality defenseman. Regardless, there's little doubt in my mind that the Wings will win the President's Cup and be the odds-on favorite to win it all.

Kings-Coyotes Observations

Los Angeles visited Phoenix tonight and I decided to check it out. The Kings and the Coyotes are both intriguing teams lately, especially for a fan of another Pacific Division squad. Phoenix, unexpectedly, is in the playoff hunt out west--if they do squeak in, I think that Wayne Gretzky has to be considered a legitimate candidate for the Jack Adams Award. Los Angeles, as of this writing, is dead last in the league in points, but one gets a strong sense that they are headed in the right direction. They just finished an eight-game road trip with a very solid 4-3-1 record; they are very young and seem to be getting better by leaps and bounds.

Good game tonight in the desert. Phoenix took a 3-1 lead into the third period, then the Kings rallied to tie before Radim Vrbata scored to win the game for the Coyotes 4-3. The highlights are worth checking out if for no other reason than to see Phoenix's second goal, scored by Joel Perrault. Perrault was very deep in the attacking zone, nearly to the goal line and outside the dot to Dan Cloutier's right, when he took a pass from Shane Doan and snapped a beautiful one-time laser short side. Extraordinary shot from a very bad angle. (There was also a weird sequence late in the second period in which Kings defenseman Brad Stuart's stick became entangled in Cloutier's equipment during the course of play. With the Coyotes attacking, neither player could really do anything about this, so Cloutier continued to play with Stuart's stick sprouting from his equipment...he looked like a mammoth that had been speared by an ice-age hunter. I'm not sure if that will show up on the highlight reel, though.)

(UPDATE: But it is on Youtube...)

Part of the reason I was interested in watching this game was to have a look at Kings rookie center Brian Boyle. A Massachusetts native, the kid is enormous--listed at 6'6", 222 pounds--and a veteran of four years of high-level play at Boston College. He scored four goals in his first seven NHL games, and though he wasn't listed on the scoresheet tonight, I have a feeling he's going to be giving Sharks, Ducks, Stars, and Coyotes fits for a while.

The Kings aren't quite there, yet. They definitely have some guys who can score--Anze Kopitar, Alexander Frolov, Mike Cammalleri, Dustin Brown--but goaltending is still a bit of a question mark. Nineteen-year-old Jonathan Bernier, who actually did get a little NHL playing time this season early on, is presumably the goalie of the future for the Kings organization. If he matures into that role, and the young guys who seem to be meshing now continue to do so, this could be a dangerous team before you know it.

(Incidentally, Los Angeles' old war horse, Rob Blake, has been mentioned in various trade rumors as the deadline approaches. He has been dealing with some injury issues, which would presumably drive his trade value down at least a little bit. With the Kings' kids seeming to bloom recently, one wonders if maybe Blake doesn't have more value as a veteran presence in the Los Angeles locker room than he does as trade bait. Just a thought.)

From the perspective of a Sharks fan, all of the above means that the Pacific Division is not only likely to remain the toughest division in hockey, but is likely to get even tougher in the near future.

R'uh R'oh!

Speaking of tough opposition, I caught a little of the Rangers game today. They were firing on all cylinders and blew the doors off Buffalo, 5-1. The Sharks, of course, visit Madison Square Garden tomorrow. Zoinks!

Sweet Hockey Card of the Week

2008-02-15T21:55:00.004-06:00

In the course of my recent move, I uncovered a great many possessions that had not seen the light of day for years. Amongst these were a few old hockey cards, some of which are pretty cool. So, just for kicks, I thought I would start a little feature in which I share one a week.

And the very first Team Teal in the Twin Towns sweet hockey card is...

Rick Kehoe, Pittsburgh Penguins, 1975

Rick Kehoe played fourteen seasons in the NHL. Most of these were spent with the Penguins, although he broke in with Toronto. According to the Pittsburgh Penguins Official Site, he ranks fourth all-time in games played in a Penguin sweater (722), and is the third-highest scoring Penguin of all time (312 goals and 324 assists for 636 points), trailing only Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. That's some good company, eh?

The really remarkable statistic when it comes to Rick Kehoe, however, is his mere 120 penalty minutes over an NHL career spanning a total of 906 regular-season games. That's about one minor penalty every fifteen games. In the 1980-81 season, Kehoe played 80 games and recorded only six minutes in penalties. In the 1979-80 season, he played 79 games and took only four minutes in penalties. All of this while playing through the worst of the "Broadstreet Bully" era of the league--in 1973-74, when the Flyers won the Stanley Cup following a season in which they piled up 1,750 penalty minutes, Kehoe recorded eight minutes of penalties in sixty-nine games as a Maple Leaf.

By the way, all of the statistics I've quoted are from my copy of The Complete Encyclopedia of Hockey, Fourth Edition, 1993. (Probably time for me to get a new one, huh?) If you don't feel like hunting down dusty books to get your hockey statistics, check out this awesome site.

Okay, that's all for now. New sweet hockey card next week!