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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...)
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.
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.
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.
