I admit, I instigated the whole thing.

At last nights Sharks game, there were alot of people coming up the stairs and standing during play. So I opened my big mouth, "Please sit down! hey can you sit down!" So when one guy starts it, everyone else gets brave and starts yelling too. It happened to a few people. Near the end of the first period, the biggest dumbest a-hole comes up. He stands there during play and no one can see. so I start it, "Hey sit down! Can't see!" Then everyone starts yelling at him. He is quite annoyed, and sits on the step. I yell "Thank you" but obviously he was beyond that. He kept turning around and then finally yells out "F*** YOU!" (or something to the same affect). well now you did it, you pissed off ALL the season ticket holders. During the stoppage, he gets up and throws all sorts of glances back at everyone behind me. Then starts yelling stuff and sits down.
End of period. He's still going off stands up and gestures that we are all ... female genitilia... and cusses some more.
The gentleman next to him tries to calm him down, trying to explain why fans are upset. That didn't work. The guy gets extremely aggressive and cusses him out. The gentleman gives up and ignores him as his tirade continues.
During this time other season ticket holders went down to the usher and told him how this fan was cussing at everyone. so the usher comes up to try to calm him down. Sure enough more ushers arrive. These guys had earpeices, all CIA style. The first usher leaves and the second and third ushers takes over.
Victoria and I left to claim a prize but when we returned, the guy wasn't there. When we sat down the lady next to us said, "They escorted him out. but as he left the turned around and was looking for you. ha ha."
I doubt he was looking for me, but was looking at everyone behind us.

Yeah I know, I started it. I am a season ticket holder. and I will ask people to sit down during the middle of play because we can't see. this guy obviously only thinks of himself and is not considerate of the people around him. The True Shark Fans are the ones who got there on time.

After he left, one lady in front of us said, "I'm a season ticket holder, and we don't put up with stuff like that." True... Very True.

Sharks begin again.

So here we go again. The Hockey season is going to start. And the San Jose Sharks remain the "Sexy" pick to win the Stanley Cup. It doesn't matter what they do in the regular season, it matters what they do in the post season. All the experts believe that they are going to make the playoffs, but it is how far in the playoffs that they question. We won't know till that time comes around in April.

Though fans wouldn't say it, the Sharks made major changes to the team. Gone are: Marcel Goc, Alexei Semenov, Tomas Philhal, Lucas Kaspar, Brian Boucher, Mike Grier, Travis Moen. Then traded away Christian Erhoff, Brad Lukowich, Milan Michalek, and Jonothan Cheechoo. That's 11 players!!! From a roster of around 25 players, that's almost half your team!

Now they received: Dany Heatly (the big aquisition), Scot Nichol, Manny Malhotra, Jed Ortmeyer, Joe Callahan. And to round everything out, let the kids fight for the remaining spots: Jamie McGinn, Ben Ferrerio, Derek Joslin, Mike Moore, Thomas Griess.

For those Shark Fans (before Dany Heatley) who said the Sharks didn't do anything, are you nuts? they retooled alot! All the guys who were happy-go-lucky, in the comfort zone, they are gone. poof! Everyone is on notice.

If you look back at last season I mentioned something would happen this year. I predicted the Sharks wouldn't win the cup. Tood McLellen would sit back and watch this team that he inherited; it was a very good team, why tinker it? But 1 year later, he would know who are the players he wants and which ones he doesn't want; and he'll get rid of them. And there you go. Out with the guys who don't buy into McLellen's system, and in comes a bunch of fresh new faces.

It will be a good season. The Sharks will again get into the playoffs. But the same questions remain, how far will they go in the playoffs? and will they finally get the Stanley Cup?

08-09 Sharks Review: Forwards Pt 2

Forwards Part 2

Jeremy Roenick – Probably JR’s final year in the NHL.  I think he has done something really good with the team.  But it wasn’t enough to get them over the hump.  Last year was better than this year.  This year 2 shoulder injuries really hurt his play.  But nothing can take away from the energy and leadership that JR provided for this team.

Tomas Plihal – Played a good defensive role.  When given his chances he did not mess up.  He excelled defensively and provided some scoring here and there. 

Jody Shelley – The Enforcer of the team. Lead team in fights.  He’s got someone behind him who is ready to push his way onto the team, in Brad Staubitz.  But Shelley provides an XFactor that Staubitz can’t (yet). 

Claude Lemieux – Another veteran leader that the Sharks brought in.  But unlike JR, he wasn’t able to do the same.  There must have been something that prevented him from making an impact.  But this experiment failed.  He only played when there was an injury, otherwise he wasn’t as effective as they would have liked.

Travis Moen – Brought in to be the Mike Grier type player: gritty, defensively strong, chip in some timely goals.  Perhaps he sabotaged the Sharks, but he didn’t show up in the playoffs at all.  Disappeared like Guerin did a few years ago. 

Torrey Mitchell – Missed entire season due to a broken leg, but makes a surprise appearance in the playoffs.  Plays his heart out to try to win games.  His presence was missed during the year.  If he stays healthy, he will be a huge factor next year.  He was a pretty big factor this year in the 3 games he played.

The Call Ups

Brad Staubitz – We will always remember Staubitz busting Jordon TooToo’s nose in a fight.  One of the best fights.  Provided energy, hitting, fighting.  A Shelley to be.  He will continue to learn what it takes to make it into the NHL. But while Shelley is there, he’ll have to wait his turn.

Jamie McGinn – The most improved player on the team.  Called up from Worcester multiple times, and every time showed more and more that he learned and is willing to do what is needed to stay.  His last demotion also coincidently was the beginning of the end of the Sharks season.  So maybe he’s got something to bring next year.

Ryan Vesce – Led the Worchester Sharks in points.  Got the opportunity to play with the Sharks.  The 2nd call up he improved and showed he was learning what it takes to be in the Majors. 

Lukas Kaspar – Struggled this year.  Made the team but did not impress.  Where has this guy gone?  He has not been a scoring threat.  Most likely a bust.

Tom Cavanagh – Some stints, but nothing to write home about

Riley Armstrong – did not impress, but is still young and will be given another chance

Logan Couture & Mike Morris - recent draft picks; still developing, but has 1 -2 more years to prove that he belongs

Sharks 08-09 Review: Forwards Pt 1

UFA - Unrestricted Free Agent - Can sign with anyone

RFA - Restricted Free Agent - If signs contract with another team, Original team has right to match contract, or let player go for draft picks.

Forwards Pt 1 (the big guys)

Joe Thornton - Led the team in points, and assists... oh in the regular season.  Led the team in fights in the postseason (1).  The Superstar performed in the regular season, but can't in the post season.  There will be some major analysis whether he is on the team next year.  He's the leader, the superstar, and you can't have them disappear in the playoffs... again.  4 years in a row may mean he's gonna be looked at.

Patrick Marleau - Led the team in goals.  On the Penalty Kill, this year, led team in Shorthanded goals.  Rebound year from last year's disappointment.  However, this year he didn't appear in the playoffs, unlike last year.  Revealed to have an MCL injury which limited him in the playoffs.  But still, a leader and superstar, and you can't have them disappear in the playoffs (dejavu?).  Need to look at the leadership on this team.  He's the captain, and he couldn't lead the team this year.

Devin Setoguchi - Break out year for Seto.  Scored alot in the beginning of hte season, but tailed off with the rest of his linemates.  He may have suffered from the "I'm on Joe Thornton's line" syndrome (see Cheechoo, Jonathan).  Good young player should be here for awhile.  A cheaper Cheechoo.

Milan Michalek - locked up till 2014, shouldn't go anywheres.  Youth, Speed, power, getting fiesty around the net, pushing back.  Only going to get better.

Joe Pavelski - Smart player; reliable on Defense. reliable on offense.  Exceptional Penalty Kill.  I really can't see Pavelski moving.  He really played to a high level all year.  

Ryane Clowe (RFA) - Led team in Power Play goals.  strong in the corners.  didn't have to fight that much this year, but one of the best "light heavyweight" fighters on the team.  Good hands. Hard to beat up and push around.  I'd keep Clowe.  Move him into a bigger role next year. 

Jonathan Cheechoo - How the mighty have fallen.  From 56-goals to 10+ goals in 2 years. I think being on Joe Thornton's line helped balloon his value.  But now that he's crashed down we see what he really is, or that teams have adjusted and he hasn't.  Reduced to a role player on the 3rd line.  Has a big contract and really isn't living up to it.

Marcel Goc (RFA) - It's up and down with Goc.  a good defensive player.  This year he was good in Faceoffs, last year he wasn't, the year before that good.  So that means this upcoming year is a down year in faceoffs.  Suffered a back injury twice.  Might have value to trade.  

Mike Grier (UFA) - Its hard to say if Grier is going to be back next year.  It depends on what happens with Travis Moen.  Both are UFAs.  Both do the same thing.  Ferocious forecheck, and penalty kill.  Hard to think that both will be back.  My bet is that the Sharks will go after Moen more than Grier.  Grier 3 years ago was the unsung hero of the Sharks.  He deserved to be Team MVP, except there was a guy named Joe Thornton.  But injuries have started to occur.  And other players are now stepping into his position, such as Torrey Mitchell.

Be back for the rest of the forwards!

Sharks 08-09 Review: Defensemen

UFA - Unrestricted Free Agent - Can sign with anyone

RFA - Restricted Free Agent - If signs contract with another team, Original team has right to match contract, or let player go for draft picks.

Defensemen

Dan Boyle - What didn't Dan Boyle do for this team?  He was a great offensive player.  And he played Defense, and he wasn't a liability (See Brad Lukawich).  Offensive threat, goals, assists, power play, puck movement.  the best aquisition of the year without question.  Who was that guy last year? Campbell something?  Boyle's not going anywheres.  He's a fit in McLellen's system

Rob Blake (UFA)- Another great aquisition.  Power Play prowless, points, hardest shot.  Age was catching up because he took alot of penalties.  Otherwise a force.  He'll be a free agent.  And I'm sure there will be alot of suitors for Blake's services.

Christian Ehrhoff - Probably the guy who improved the most on the Defense.  Fixed his shot and most got on goal.  Speed helped him.  Watching Dan Boyle helped improve his game.  More confident handling the puck.  But still makes alot of Errors, hence the fans called him "Error-hoff".  Erhoff could be gone next year.  He hasn't really been the guy who they thought he would be.  

Marc-Edouard Vlasic - "Pickles" was all he could be.  Defensive position is superior.  Rarely beat, rarely out of place.  Steady M-Eddie.  Plays with poise.  Not physical, but makes it up with his great position.  Lots of offense this year, and chipped in frequently.  Vlasic isn't going anywheres.  I'd be surprised if he was moved; he is upper escholon of defensive defensement.

Brad Lukowich - The Dan Boyle Liablity clause.  When Boyle becomes the 4th forward, Lukowich became a steady defensemen.  He covers Boyle extremely well. Slowed by injuries during the season, but was steady and reliable.  Could get moved.

Douglas Murray - Fan Favorite, hard hitting, and intimidator on the blue line.  I don't see Murray moving anywheres.  He's had alot of ups and some downs on D.  The other team are intimidated of his huge checks.  Hard to knock down.  Again, he is well liked and I'd say he stays.

Alexei Semenov (UFA) - 7th man on the D was moved to forward a few games, but that experiment went away when there were injuries to other D-men. He had a really good stretch of being reliable.  Some times he's a liability.  Slow skater, but a good hitter.

Kent Huskins (UFA) - Recieved in a trade with Anaheim, but was on IR for the entire time.  How does this guy pass a physical?  Or was it McLellen not letting him play?  My bet is he's gone or an 8th D-man.  I didn't see him play so how would I know?

Derek Joslin - Called up to fill in the roster during injuries.  At first he was intimidated and was being pushed around.  The 2nd callup, he did alot better and improved.  Depending on the roster changes, he could be on the team next year.  Or he's part of the roster changes and he's traded.  He's not the top tier, nor bottom tier.  

Kyle McLaren (UFA) - Stuck with a huge contract and salary cap hell. In Minors all year.  Traded, and couldn't pass a physical so returned.  His contract is done, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Sharks tried to bring him back.  He's still a Fan Favorite.  Realistically he's now a 7th D or 8th D.  Less minutes would lessen his wear and tear.

The Rest in the minors:

Nick Petrecki, Jason Demers, Julien Demers, Mike Moore

Sharks 08-09 Review: Goaltending

UFA - Unrestricted Free Agent - Can sign with anyone

RFA - Restricted Free Agent - If signs contract with another team, Original team has right to match contract, or let player go for draft picks.

Goaltending
The Doug Wilson/Dean Lambardi philosphy was to build from the back forward. Doing that we start off at the Goaltending.

Evgeni Nabokov - The Starting Goalie had a great regular season. He still won alot of games, even missing out 2 stretches of games. Still 2nd in the league with wins. The question is what to do now? He has not been able to lead this team to the Stanley Cup Finals. He, like Joe Thornton, is getting a reputation of not being a playoff performer. He needed to steal a game, and he couldn't. Perhaps the most important is that Nabby is 33 yrs old. He probably only has 2-3 years of good quality goaltending. This year the Sharks will proably draft a goalie, and groom that person to take over in the 2-3 years later. Of course if the Sharks stink, Nabby could be gone sooner.

Brian Boucher (FREE AGENT) - There were two stretches where Nabokov was injured. First stretch, the Sharks were unbeatable, and so was Bouch. The second strectch, the Sharks were playing average. And so did Boucher. He's a good backup who is hot is hot, who is not, is not. He could be back next year. Hard to tell what kind of backups will be available next year.

Thomas Griess (Restricted Free Agent) - Another year in the Minors. Part-time backup when Nabokov was hurt. Is this guy going to get an opportunity? It has to be coming up soon, otherwise he'll go the way of his buddy Dimitri Pazold. Then Tyson Sexsmith and Taylor Dakers will have the next opportunity.

If you missed it, here's the other reviews:
Management
Goaltending
Defensemen
Forwards

Sharks 08-09 Review: Management

Management and Staff

Management can not be blamed for this.  You needed Money, so CEO Greg Jamison opened up the wallet and dished out some money.  The Sharks payroll jumped up into the upper tier of payroll.  You needed Playoff winners: So General Manager Doug Wilson brought in winners in Dan Boyle, Brad Lukawich, Claude Lemuix, Rob Blake, Travis Moen, Kent Huskins: All with Stanley Cup rings.

After bowing out of last year's playoffs, GM Wilson fired Coach Ron Wilson, and brought in youth with Todd McLellen.  In my opinion, McLellen had an average time.  I'd give him a "B".  he was a rookie coach and it showed at times.  I can not tell if his success was because he inheritied such a great team, or because he implimented a better system.  It worked at the beginning of the year.  And to the front you can't tell if there was any in-house issues.  I wonder if there was.

But here's the thing I didn't like about how Coach McLellen ran his team.  

1. At Calgary, McLellen changed up his lines.  His team was on fire.  but he decided to experiment by breaking up all of his lines.  This WAS a mistake as the Sharks got outplayed and destroyed.  "If it isn't broke, don't fix it."
2. Coming down the stretch, the Sharks top line of Marleau-Thornton-Setoguchi was struggling.  They couldn't score, they were hurt, and they were not leading the team.  NOW is the time you break up the line.  CHange it up, see if there is another combination that will click.  "If it is broke, FIX IT."
3. Lastly, the injuries.  There were players who felt they were ready to go, but McLellen refused to put them in.  Can McLellen be cautious, sure.  But coming down the stretch it was important to make sure everyone was up to speed and had their game going.  I don't think he allowed enough time for this to happen.  Or at most, he gave alot of mixed signals to the media and public about when players were going to be ready or not ready.

When things are going well, it is easy to say "Nothing is wrong" but when things aren't, you have to figure out what to do to fix it.  Fixing it too early, or not fixing it at all lead to alot of problems. 

Next year I believe that McLellen is going to have "his team".  In reality, he inherited this team from Ron Wilson.  He's going to have to look at the entire roster and decide which players followed his lead, and which ones he doesn't want (Kind of what this blog is doing).

Lastly, I think this was a learning experience for Coach McLellen.  He's still one of the brightest minds in the game.  And it was his first year on the bench.  So he has a small excuse for some of his errrors.  But year by year he needs to recognize and fix these mistakes.  If he doesn't, he'll find himself out (ala Mike Nolan).  That's a long time coming.  And there's alot of time and hockey to be played between now and then.

Sharks season ends too early

The Sharks were eliminiated from the Playoffs in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks.  It sucks. The Sharks were the favorite to win the Stanely cup, but everyone knows that they are under-achievers in the playoffs, and could not shake off that reputation this year.  3 years in a row of early exits.  This does not bode well for the franchise.  

I knew from the get-go that this would be a really hard matchup.  The Sharks were slumping into the playoffs.  They'll deny it, but playing poorly (or "just enough to win") during the post-all-star break led to this.  Going into the playoffs versus the 3 bottom feeding, last place teams, and getting outplayed led to this.  They did not play with the determination and desire as they did at the beginning of the season, and it showed.

Meanwhile, Anaheim Ducks went 8-2-2 at the end of the season.  They were the best team going into the playoffs.  So they took it to the Sharks and out played the Sharks in every aspect of the 7-game series.  They had heart and desire, while the Sharks had nothing.

So what now? the neculus of the team is really strong. But is it strong enough?  Is there enough winners to push this team into a playoff power house?  Over the next few blogs, I'll take some time to analyze the aspects of the team and figure out what I think went right, and what went wrong.

• Management / Coaches
• Goalies
• Defensemen
• Forwards
• Anything else

Hopefully we'll figure out why things went wrong and how is it going to be fixed.

My long crazy weekend

Victoria and I had our first, kind of, getaway. She had a run in Santa Cruz, and her co-runner, Kristy has a beach house. She invited us to stay there. It was alot of fun going to Santa Cruz. It was a long tiring experience. Friday night we went over to SC. The house was very nice. lots of room for people to stay.

Saturday starts the craziness. I, being a volenteer, had to get to the starting point at 7:30AM. so Hugh, husband of Gabby, one of the runners, decided to come with me. So we set off on the mission of: finding the starting point. We got lost. Fog had hampered our luck. We missed a sign that told us where to go. And when we used the GPS, the written directions had the wrong cross streets and we were lost. It listed Bay Ave and we needed Bay Street. So we pull up, and our runners are already there, wondering why they beat us. We got to our station 1 hour late. There were other people already there so they had their table ready. We set up our table, with trail mix and skittles. Big Hit I must say.
The girls showed up later and then ran off. We waited for a long time for them to come back. but they never did. hmm. turns out there is a trail that by-passes our waterstop, and lots of people missed it, including the girls. how disappointing, but very rough because Victoria ran out of water and needed the waterstop. luckily she was fine.

We were done at about 1PM. The girls decided to cool their legs by going into the ocean. Not your whole body; the temperature difference can stop your heart. just your legs. So the girls (5 of them) go out in to the ocean. the waves are strong and cool. So strong that suddenly, Victoria falls into the ocean. Kristy helps her back up and she is fine. Then I think, I should take a picture!

We headed back to the house, and the girls showered. Of course now its on to the next step. Sharks Hockey. We drove back over to San Jose. We met up with my Co-worker Joe and his wife Paz. And had dinner at Sonoma Chicken, which isn't my favorite restuarnt. Good thing Victoria knew what was good. Finally after 5 meals, I had a good meal there. We walked over to the game, where I explained my theory on the bunnies.
During the 2nd intermission, Victoria decides she needs to go to the bathroom. so she goes. 17 minutes of intermission go by. Game resumes, but no Victoria. I thought she was stopped during the game play. Nope, still nothing. Then next segment goes, still nothing. I look over and there is her purse. I open it, there is her phone. Oh so I can't call her either. At 13 minutes, I decide its time to go down. I can't find her. I went to the left womens room and then to the right; still nothing. I sit there and wonder what to do. Suddenly there is a girl with her head down walking towards me. Its Victoria. She thought we were in 219, not 213. And because she left her purse, she didn't have her phone or ticket. She was completely embarrassed. We watched the rest of the game and then headed home. Poor girl.

Finally home at midnight. time to relax? WRONG! 49ers Football on Sunday. The weekend was just longer and longer. But after an exciting game, it's time for work again on Monday.

"I'm a Sharks Season Ticket Holder."

Victoria and I went to Cheesecake factory. We sat down at a table next to this family of 4. after a half hour or more, the family prepares to leave. The husband gets up and picks up his youngest son. I look at him, and my jaw drops... He looks at me, my jaw drops staring at him, and I mutter... "Are you Todd McLellan???"

"Yes I am" he says.

YES FRIENDS I HAVE MET THE SAN JOSE SHARKS HEAD COACH!!!

I said something like, how are you, and then "Oh I don't mean to disturb you (and your family)."
He said something like "no you're not" and he shook my hand. he asked me "are you a big Hockey fan?"
and I said, "I'm a Sharks Season Ticket Holder." He laughed. I wished him the best.

Victoria said that he seemed surprised that someone recognized him hahaha.

I sat NEXT TO THE GUY for a half hour. I didn't look at him, not wanting to be nosy all in his food and stuff. And it turns out to be one of the most important people in San Jose!

Lets say that made my night!

Ron Wilson Fired; The Search Begins

To the surprise of no one, Ron Wilson was relieved of his coaching duties. For those of you who don't know, that's the nice way of saying "You're fired."
This was not unexpected. You have one of the best teams in the NHL. And you can only get the team to the same spot for 3 straight years. Round 2, Game 6. Same Spot, 3 years in a row.

I want to say that I (and many other bloggers, posters, etc.) believe that Ron Wilson did not do a bad job at this. He did a VERY good job with this team: Two Division Titles, Franchise record in points. Franchise record in wins. But the problem is that the team did not improve. Hell, it didn't even get worse. Same spot every year. When you're stuck in Neutral, you need to change and this was the first of probably many changes.

So now the quest begins for the new coach. And remember you need someone that is "better" than Ron Wilson. And that's a hard task to do. "Better" is relative. You put anyone behind the bench and say "Big Joe, Patty, Cheech, Nabby, Go get em" and you'll make the playoffs next year. Better means: bring the team together. Synergy. Become one. and do it. So I found this:
http://www.hockey-reference.com/coaches/

I would like a coach who has either WON the championship or WON a conference Title. Obviously the coach has to have coached in this decade. and of course has to be available to coach.

• Bob Hartley
  
• Pat Burns
• Larry Robinson
• Glen Sather

Slim pickings I think. There are others but those are some of the big names that are there. Interesting note about Pat Burns... between Daryl Sutter and Ron Wilson, I threw out Pat Burns 's name. That was my pick. Don't know why. Wouldn't it be interesting if he became the coach. ha.

We'll have to see who is going to be the man. I think it should be chosen by July.

Come on Scotty Bowman. Come back for one more. With this team you can get 2 more!

Sharks Season Ends (the real post)

Ok, time to push the commentator out of the way and really look at the Sharks postseason and offseason. Yes I am very disappointed the Sharks are out of it. This team is so much better than it's 2nd round exit. But the record skips record skips record skips like a broken record. And the Sharks are bounced again in the 6th game of the 2nd round.

Round 1: I knew the Sharks would have a tough time with Calgary. I would have preferred Minnesota or Colorado. For some reason I knew the Sharks would lose Game 1. But it would be a wakeup call for the rest of the series. I don't really think they woke up till Game 5 and Game 7. They played hard and ended up winning a very grueling battle.

Round 2: a change of pace since there was less hitting. I think that was a mistake. I thought the Sharks should have hit alot more and pressure the Defense. I mean this is the playoffs and it's time to step it up. The Sharks could have won this series. It was just unfortunate. Game 1 the Sharks hit 2 posts. Game 2, Lil' Joe slips leading to the Dallas tying goal. Game 3 had the quick whistle while the puck was still moving into the net. Granted, Game 5 had 2 goals called back on Dallas too.
Being down 3-0 is almost impossible. It takes so much out of you. You have to play at a desperate high intensity game for 4 straight games. Meanwhile Detroit, winner of the other series in 4-0 sweep, is sitting around in lawn chairs, drinking martinis, relaxed without being knocked around. So you see, even if the Sharks won, they probably wont win the next round. Dallas won't win the next round. They will be beat up and worn down by the Sharks.
What the Sharks did was show some heart (finally). They did not collapse like they did the last 2 years. This year, if they were going down, they went down swinging. It would have been easy for Sharks to give up being down 3-0. But they fought hard. Unfortuneately I think they figured out how to play the playoffs too little too late.

Offseason: This will be an off-season of change. Someone will be going. I love Ron Wilson. He is a great coach. But look at where the Sharks season has ended. Round 2 Game 6. For 3 straight years the SAME SPOT. 3 years, we have not improved to the next round. So if you asked the question, "Did we improve from last year?" the answer is NO, we haven't. I think it is time to bring in a new Head Coach.
You have to bring in the RIGHT head coach. Someone who has a similar system. And the coach has to be better than Ron Wilson. If the new coach isn't better, or a system drastically different, it would be starting over. I don't think this team needs to start over.
If the RIGHT head coach isn't available, then I would keep Ron Wilson. If Ron Wilson stays, someone has to go. It might be one or both of his coaches, Tim Hunter or Rob Zettler.
If not the coaches, which players are going to go? Rumors are back to Marleau since his no-trade clause kicks in after the playoffs complete.
Unrestricted Free Agents, by Priority/Importance

• Brian Campbell - The guy we covet. But where were you in the playoffs???
  
• Jeremy Roenick - Why not another year with the Sharks? We love you, you love us!
  
• Tomas Plihal - Stepped up in the playoffs to give an extra push. Like to see you next year!
  
• Patrick Rissmiller - In and out of the lineup. Good on the PK, but Marleau and Pavelski might be taking over next year.
  
• Curtis Brown - Youth movement coming in. Sorry C Brown. You're a good role player but I don't see you fitting into the team.
  
• Dmitri Patzold - 3A (or 3B) in goalies. Don't think you will make it because the Sharks have some good goalies in the system, Griess being one of them.
  
• Alexei Semenov - Slow and old; some toughness. But there are guys waiting in the Minors (Wishart)
  
• Sandis Ozolinsh - Old and Slow; really fell out of favor for lack of defense.

Restricted Free Agents. NOTE: Avoid the Dustin Penner situation, where Penner was given a HUGE contract that priced him out of Anaheim's salary cap.:

• Ryane Clowe / Joe Pavelski - Without you guys giving the Sharks 2ndary scoring, where would this team be???
• Christian Ehrhoff - Finally maturing into a good Defenseman. your Shot misses the net too much though.
• Marcel Goc - Where are you Marcel??? You were so strong last year. Then you disappeared this year. You're gonna come back, but you're going to need to step up to beat out the young guys next year.

The Minors. These guys should push into the lineup next year.

• Forwards: Tom Cavanagh, Lukas Kaspar, Logan Couture
  
• Defense: Darek Joslin, Ty Wishart
• Goalies: Thomas Griess, Taylor Dakers

The window of opportunity is down to 3 years. Thornton, Cheechoo, Marleau, Mihalek, Nabokov are all one more year older. It will be another difficult offseason for Doug Wilson. Oh and by the way D-Wilson, in 3 years, your time will be coming up too...

End for the Sharks; People scatter from the "Commentator"

In a previous post I stated I would not post another "Sharks are rolling" post since they lost immediately after the post. Turns out I may not have been the cause.

Near the end of the season the Sharks went on a 20 game point streak. The day the kid (now referred as "the commentator" by people around us) The Sharks lost. They ended up losing 3 games in a row.

I wish I had thought of it earlier. I wish I could have recorded everything that came out of the commentator's mouth. They would have been great sound bytes:

• That was the worst ___... EV-ver; Pass, shot, goal, block, etc. you name it, he said it.
• ____ (team) stinks, the goalie stole it for them. the goalie stole it for them. the goalie stole it for them. the goalie stole it for them. the goalie stole it for them.
• Seriously... I'm not kidding.
  
• These referees are from Canada; or Go back to Canada, referee!
  
• How much did _____ (team) pay you off?
• I'm not Joking.
• Aw Joe (Thornton), Where are you passing that Joe? Way to go Joe.
  
• Joe you suck.
• Way to go Error (Erhoff)
• ____ is so un-classy; These guys are all un-classy.
  

All year, all the commentator did was whine and complain about the Sharks. Ironically when the the Sharks were the best, he wasn't around.

By the time the playoffs came, everyone was looking back at him. He was annoying everyone. And because the playoffs are more intense, his whining became more intense. More than enough people have tried to get him to calm down, but he wouldn't. And so everyone is going to move away from him.

People come to enjoy the game, but this commentator had the special ability to suck the fun out of watching a sports game.

We will be one of the people to move away from this class-less kid. If there is any positive out of the early Sharks exit, it will be this.

Waive bye to Derek Smith

Derek Smith has been one of my favorite 49ers. for a while he was putting up 100 tackles / year. But his tenure with the 49ers ended a few days ago.

It was inevitable. with Patrick Willis becoming the future, Smith's play and production shrank. It is how it goes.

Sorry to see him go. he had a great career here.

No more "Sharks are Rolling" posts

Every time I say "Sharks are rolling" they lose the next few. So I'm not going to talk about how the Sharks are rolling. I'll just say they are winning or they are not winning. they just lost 2 games in a row, after being hot.

But the Sharks are still doing good. just a minor set back. And Kyle McLaren is out too. So they have to make an adjustment on Defence.

Tonight the Sharks play the Dallas Stars in Division Rivals game. So it should be good to watch. I hope the Sharks dictate their play.

I'm still looking for a place to move to for the game / Post season. The kid behind us is really annoying and I'm fed up with his crap and comments and being a smart ass every game. so I want to move.

Sharks Finally Rolling at Home!

I think the Sharks have finally figured it out at home. Sharks have won 3 in a row. Versus Vancouver, they dominated the Canucks all game. Canucks got a bad-angle fluky goal.

Against Toronto, and former starter Vesa Toskala, the Sharks didn't dominate as well. Being down 2-0 after 2 periods, the Sharks responded in the 3rd Period with 2 Powerplay goals and a game-winning goal by Joe Pavelski. The Sharks WIN!
I thought Pavelski had a great game, and was surprised that he didn't get recognition of being one of the top 3 stars. First, he scored the game winning goal. He was up and down the ice checking people. and he was strong in the face-off.

The Loser of the game was the kid behind us. He was complaining about the Sharks before the game started. And for the first 2 periods all I heard was

• [Player] get your head in the game.
• Sharks are better than this team.
• Thats the worst play/ref/pass/shot/etc ever.
• These refs are from Canada.
• Don't sit back, keep the pressure on
  

This kid is such an ass. For a guy who claims to be a hockey player, who claims to passionate about Sharks Hockey, he sure doesn't show his Shark Colors.
And another thing, he sure isn't that smart either. He only sees what happens at that time. But he doesn't see what happened before hand and what caused it to happen. Example:

• A pass to Michalek skips over his stick, instead of being a shot, he screams, "Come on Michalek, you have to get that." But what he didn't see was that the pass was tipped by the defense stick and thats why Michalek missed the puck.
• After being on the ice for a while, the Sharks Ice the puck. Rules state that the team icing the puck can not change their players. So the tired players stay on the ice and the opponents come out with fresh players. The opponents score their goal, and he goes, "That's what you get for being lazy!" Um hello. did you not see the icing? did you not see that the Sharks have been out there for the last minute and are tired because they couldn't change?

So I don't think this kid is smart, I think he's a smart ass and he doesn't understand the game as well as he claims to be. He's just a nuisance.
I think what we should do is change seats for the playoffs. Then we can get away from the annoying kid. And what is worse is that the couple next to us is starting to agree with him. Oh great, so now I got more people being annoying. Even if other people are annoying, I think a change of pace will be good for us.

Sharks Still Rolling.

The Sharks are rolling along to the 2nd place in the Conference. But remember they can lose 3 game and be out of it! so it's important to keep doing what you are doing and play smart. The Sharks are doing that. They have dominated the opposition in the last 2 games. Sure they were blown out 7-1 but it was the 1st game back from a road trip and the backend of a back-to-back. It is just one of those games. They bounced back and dominated the next two games against Minnesota and Vancouver.

Me, personally, the punk behind me is still yelling stupid stuff and being as annoying as ever. Apparently during the Buffalo game (I didn't go), he got a little too riled up and was just constantly screaming and annoying everyone.
Come Tuesday, he surprised me. He apologized to the couple to our right. He said "I get to passionate and I let it get the best of me. I will try to be better about it." Wow he realizes he is annoying. Well that only lasted 2 periods. Come 3rd period he was back yelling at the ice.
The thing is the Sharks were up 4-1 with less than 5 minutes. The "Keep the pressure on" and "Don't fall back" isn't necessary. The Sharks are going to win. But no, he wants it all the way. Sigh. He has to be the most unhappy Sharks fan during a win.

He still ruining the game for everyone.

Sharks: Finally rolling!

The Sharks are FINALLY rolling along. They have been stuck in mediocrity for a while. Underachieving. But I think they finally righted the ship. Of course playing Phoenix, one of the worst teams, 3 times helps in the roll. Here's what I see:

• Joe (Thornton) is having a bad year. OK wait, he's having an OFF year. He's not making the passes he normally does. He isn't connecting the way he was. Teams are playing him alot tighter than years before. Tighter meaning less time and space to lookup and make the accurate pass. But it's important to have the other guys step up and get those passes, even if they are on the mark.
• Under-Achieving: Marleau & Cheechoo are severely under achieving. They are so much better than their point totals. They are probably "holding the stick to tight" and trying to do too much.
  
• Power Play: There's not enough movement. Many times, Joe has the puck, and the other 4 players are standing around. They need to move. Switch D to D or D to Wing. Maybe switch sides or play behind the net. or a rotation, or Wing to Slot. If you just stand still, no passing or shooting lanes open up, and you're stuck doing nothing but sitting around.
• Dump and Chase. There's a time for everything. Dump and Chase works if you do 1 of 2 things. 1) "First man On" meaning if you dump it. you have to know that the first man getting to the puck will be your teammate. or 2) Forecheck with Hits. If you're not the first guy on, you need to Hit the guy who got it. too many times they just skate away or tap the guy. You need to make it miserable if he gets the puck first. More than likely he'll make a mistake and turn it over.

And with that I'd like to talk about the guy who sits behind us. Section 213, row 14. He has been a pain in the ass. He's a smart ass punk who thinks he's smarter and better than everyone else. And he complains about everything the Sharks do. Lots of "Oh come on" "Come on Joe" "Come on Cheechoo" "That's the worst play ever" What's this Dump and Chase" "Oh My God they carried the puck in" "Fire Wilson" He's been there every game. And I think the section is getting tired of it.
One guy said, "Hey do you always have to be so negative?" and the kid (I believe his name is Josh) goes, "Well sorry I don't wear my teal colored glasses." and then said, "what's that say about you who has to pick on someone half your age."
During the intermission the girl next to me goes, "Here comes the announcer." I go, Yeah I hear him every game."
As the game ended the guy next to her goes, "See you later fucker."
After the game, I told the 1st guy who yelled at the kid, "Hey wanna switch seats? I have to sit in front of him." he laughed and said "no thanks."

The next game, "Josh" goes, "where's the Defense? where are you guys?" and another guy in the section goes, "They're on the Ice! don't you see them?" And Josh goes, "You're just a ignorant fan."

Matt came with me one game, and 5 minutes after the kid shows up, he turns to me and goes, "This guy is annoying."

The section has called him "Mr. Negative" because he's so negative and everyone is tired of listening to this guy. He ruins the game experience. While we want to Cheer our team, he brings us all down. I refuse to talk to this guy. I refuse to look at him and acknowledge he is there. He's just a punk kid who ruins the game for the fans. Nobody likes that. Cheer, Boo, but don't ruin the game for the rest of us.

Current Sports / Entertainment

I haven't talked about this in a while. so here I am.

Sharks: It's hockey Season! They're coming home after a 2-1-1 trip, and that's not too bad.
On a side note, I wanted to say something to Scott Neidermyer and Teemu Selanne. I think it is a bad choice not to decide if you are going to retire or not. You strung out your team and your fans. It's one thing to hold out during the off-season, but once preseason starts, and regular season starts, it's time to make a decision and give your team the full commitment. Stop dangling your status over them.

49ers: They are really feeling the effects of losing Offensive Coordinator, Norv Turner, The Offense is Offensive. Last year they started to show signs of improvement. Then Turner turned his back on us and left to be Head Coach of San Diego. Jim Hostler comes in, but he has done a horrible job getting this team going. It is a step backwards. The Offense is once again the worst in the league BY FAR. Turner hasn't done much either. Head Coach of one of the best teams, he is already under .500 winning percentage.

Giants: Say goodbye to Barry Bonds. The team needs a new image and new look. I think the first guy they will go after is Alex Rodrigez, who would be stupid if he doesn't get out of New York. New York has not treated Rodrigez with the best support for MLB's best player. He'd fit nicely being the face of the Giants for 5-10 years.

A's: Injuries Injuries, Injuries. Still more Injuries as Chavez has back surgury. If Chavez and Crosby do not come back strong, it won't matter. This team will still struggle to get back to the Playoffs. Same with Harden. It might be time for Beane to shop these players around and replace them with pieces that will produce. I hate saying it. I like these players. But there comes a time when they don't produce, they need to get out and change the scenary.

UFC: BIG BIG BIG NEWS as Randy Couture quits UFC. I was surprised. I thought all was well with him. Randy wanted Fedor. Anyone else would be below his talent. And since Fedor didn't come to UFC, Randy Quit. In addition, Randy claims UFC told him he was #2 paid fighter, which was a lie since others are being paid more. My Advice: Leave it at "No one else to fight" otherwise you sound greedy. Randy has done well and become the best and no one will think of him less. No one thought of him less when he retired. He is still great.

Finally TNA Wrestling: PacMan Jones (the suspended football player) becomes TNA Tag Team Champion. I can only think of one thing: David Arquette, the WCW Heavyweight Champion. I hope this isn't the beginning of the end of TNA (like it was for WCW). There's a line drawn when putting non-experienced celeberties into the ring and give them a belt. Don't ever cross that line. Or you'll end up looking foolish. TNA YOU LOOK FOOLISH.

It comes down to just 1 Shift.

The Sharks Season is over. I and many others are severely disappointed that the Sharks did not make it over the Hump. Again, they started the Series good, but folded midway.
The Sharks played good the first 3 games. but in Game 4 it came down to one shift. The final 30 seconds of the third period the Sharks gave up a tying goal. Coach Wilson was not too happy and said "Some guys weren't in the game." It was discovered at the end of the series, he was talking about Captain Patrick Marleau, and Newly-acquired Bill Guerin. Apparently (I never saw the replay) the two of them were cheating in, and not doing their defensive duties. And it led to the score. From there it was all down hill, the Sharks decided to fold up and pack it in, losing the next 2 games. What was worse it was convincily done by the Red Wings.

So What now? GM Wilson has some hard things to look at. He thought he had the right pieces. And now question marks are all over the place.
1) To Fire or not To Fire - Some "Inside Sources" said to Fire Ron Wilson. But I don't believe it was his fault. I don't think you need to fire the head coach yet. He has done nothing but bring this team to the top. If you fire him they better have a better coach. A coach with Stanley Cup Rings. Is Scotty Bowman available?
2) To Strip or not To Strip - With Coach Wilson calling out Patrick Marleau, the relationship has to be strained. If they are both back (I believe they will be), there will be this rift between Coach and Captain. But I don't think stripping Marleau is the answer. That would be a knee-jerk reaction. So that leads to:
3) To Trade or not to Trade - Are you going to Trade Marleau away? I think everyone agrees this is a bad move too (Unless you're getting Joe Thornton... oh wait...). Marleau is the face of the Franchise and he is their leader. In Addition, what do you do about the Goalies. it worked this year, but rotating Nabokov and Toskala will not work Next year. I think GM Wilson has done a great job. He knows that either goalie will demand a 1st Round Draft Pick, so he wasn't worried about trading his 2 first round picks away. I personally think one will end up in Tampa Bay, where the goalies have been in Flux for 2 years.
4) To Sign or not To Sign: Hannan, Smith, Rivet, Guerin. The Sharks Free Agents. I think it is safe to say that Guerin is gone after a 0 goals 0 points, and the "I forgot to play defense" in the playoffs. Mark Smith has been fun to watch and grow up. He has always been one of the most dependable Sharks. Unfortunately he was hurt and didn't play for 2 months. And while he didn't play, the Sharks Rolled. So there's no room for him. Plus there's Lucus Kaspar and a whole wealth of youth ready to come up. Sorry Smitty, Good bye. I will miss you! If the Sharks can't sign Scott Hannan or Craig Rivet, the Sharks will lose a major part of the D. I think Rivet will be the better asset to keep being a Right Handed Shot. but Hannan is the Home Grown Talent. It'll be weird seeing him in another uniform. but I think these 2 are the 2 to sign.

So for the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals I think I have to root for the East. Can't root for Anaheim, being the division Rival, and Chris Pronger. Can't root for Detroit since they knocked the Sharks out. So It has to be the East. Buffalo or Ottawa...

STICKS IN LANES!!!!

I just like to say that I am tempted to buy a ticket to Detroit watch the game and then come back. I am surprised at the lack of support from the fans in Detroit. The game wasn't even sold out! It's 20,000 capacity arena, and only 18,000+ were there? It's a playoff game! It makes the Oakland A's seem like they have a good crowd.
There's two minutes left and people are leaving in the middle of play!

There is an expectation that Detroit is going to take it all. Well supposedly. But they have a hard road going through San Jose. And it doesn't look good for them so far. Both teams played well, but below expectations. The Sharks however played a phenomenal game defensively, with Nabokov shutting the door on Detroit multiple times. But the Sharks blocked shots like there was no tomorrow. That's "Sticks in Lanes", the motto of the penalty kill. Get in there and block shots, block passes. Knock it away and out of the zone. The Sharks put on a clinic there.

Game Two is Saturday, 12:00 Noon Start. in Detroit. Its the weekend and perhaps it'll be sold out. But if you want to"join me" in Detroit, tickets are still available through ticketmaster.com.

(I'm not going, there's not enough time to make a 12:00 PST / 3:00EST start)

First Round is done

The Sharks put the beating where it counted. On The Scoreboard.
Nashville played a dirty game all series long. but the Sharks were able to do something they couldn't... WIN. Its pretty disgusting what Nashville did. Perhaps my disgust is really in the fact that they didn't have to play dirty. I was worried about Nashville. They were quick and fast and the Sharks were beaten by them pretty well. There was no need to do cheapshots. That was not what the playoffs were about. its about being intense and playing physical and laying it all out. it is not about Knee to Knee hits (on Cheechoo), or Checking from behind (on Bernier), or hitting after the whistle (on Thornton), or spearing the opposition (on Erhoff), or slashing players between the legs (on Bernier). All these things that Nashville did to irritate the Sharks.

But the Sharks held strong to their values and Character. They retaliated by winning the Series. Actually yes, they did start a brawl in Game 2 after the Bernier was knocked out of the game. The NHL made a mistake by not suspending Hartnel on the Cheechoo knee-on-knee hit. and then the Bernier Hit. So the Sharks had to make a statement that it won't happen again. And they did. The moment the NHL put down the suspension, both teams played like they were supposed to play, with their skill. And in the End the Sharks had more size, more speed, and more skill, and a "revenge" factor to win the series.

I believe Nashville could have won the series if they played their game. but they didn't, and inspired the Sharks from their dirty play to win the series and Send Nashville back home. And perhaps what people don't know is that Nashville is in danger of losing the Predators. And this series loss may be the start of the team leaving Nashville.

Other Series
Anahiem destroys the Wild. Wow. I knew Anaheim would win, but not this convincingly. They are the team to beat right now.
Detroit over Calgary. Calgary was the weaker team No doubts on Detroit's win.
Vancouver over Dallas. good series. You had it all, shutouts, overtimes, great goaltending. I'm glad Vancouver won cause that leads to:

ROUND 2:
Sharks vs Detroit. I love this matchup. Detroit has always been the "standard" of the NHL. but the Sharks played them good, taking the season 3-1. of course that doesn't matter now. it's the playoffs. But the Sharks can use their speed, and their skill to run over Detroit. I'd say sharks in 5, but give Detroit some credit.
I predict Sharks in 6 games. Besides, win it in the Shark Tank...

In the other series: I think Anaheim will win becasue Vancouver went 7 emotionally draining games. But I think Luango will keep Vancouver in it. And if he's still on, he can win this series.

Whoops. I forgot the Eastern Conference... I guess that's West Coast Biased... (They don't cover the west coast... maybe they don't know the West Exists?)
I think Buffalo Sabres over NY Rangers, and Ottawa Senators over New Jersey Devils. That'll be great, because the last time the Sabres and Senators met. It was a brawl.

Till then I'm waiting to drop the puck! Sharks vs Detroit Thursday!!!

81 Down, 1 to go

The Sharks are cruzin. They just finished a back to back with Anaheim and Calgary. And they played great. Down 2-0 to Anaheim, they scored 2 goals in the second and won in shootout. But I think the most impressive was how they got there. They took the body versus the ducks. And then Ron Wilson took a gamble in Overtime. With the Sharks Shorthanded he said "Measure Teemu's stick". He was right. the stick was too long, and Anaheim takes a 2 minute penalty. Sharks went on to the dreaded Shootout. But Teemu couldn't put his shot on net. and Andy McDonald completely whiffed and lost control of the puck on the way in. Sharks win the shootout, thanks to the gamble of Ron Wilson.

Next day Vs Calgary. Calgary hasn't clinched the spot in the playoffs yet. So they are coming full force. They tried to get rough with the Sharks. And Ryan Clowe stepped up to take the heat. Unfortuenately Dion Phenuf decided to give a hit, but not to take responsibilty for it. But Clowe did give him a good head shot to make him remember. From that moment the Sharks took over scoring 2 goals. They staggered in the 3rd period, probably from playing back to back. But when they needed it, Nabokov stood on his head and won the game.

What does that mean? Sharks are 1 pt behind Anaheim for the Division Crown. They are 2 points behind Nashville for #4 spot. If Nashville looses the last game and Sharks win last game, the sharks get #4 because they have more wins. They are 3 points ahead of Dallas. Dallas still has to play Anaheim.

Other Shark Facts about this year:

• First Western Conf team to 51 Wins. That's amazing. 2nd to Buffalo's 52 wins (overall).
  
• If you take away the point for OTL, the Sharks are in 1st in the Western Conference.
• Both Nabokov and Toskala have 25 wins a piece. That's pretty good for a goalie rotation.
• Joe Thornton joins Gretzky and Lemieux with back to back 90-assist seasons. Good company.
• 26 Road Victories is tops in the NHL
• 25 home victories is pretty good too.

The rest of the teams are all like this as well. Detroit only recently clinched the Central. Anaheim is not safe, and Vancouver hasn't clinched their division either. So it's a toss up. Down to the final game for the Sharks (Saturday) and the final NHL day (Sunday). A wild ride it is.

Sharks: the time is NOW

I'm alittle behind on this but here we go.

The Sharks are in big Trouble. They were missing something in their play. And I think it is grit. I think they are lacking the passion to do what is necessary. I think they tinker around instead of sticking to basics.

So the Sharks went out and made 2 Moves: First, Defenceman Craig Rivet. Everyone could use a steady Veteran Defenceman. and the Sharks got one. This guy solidifies the Defence with a dependable veteran.

Move #2: FW Bill Guerin. This one is a bigger offensive move. This should help out an offense that is definitely under achieving. With Thornton, Cheechoo and Marleau, this team should be scoring goals by the dozens. but they haven't. This guy is guy who will help them score.

So the Sharks made the moves that they need to make. If both work out the Sharks will make a serious run at being the Stanley Cup Champions.

However going onto a 4 game losing streak is not the way to go. Until to day they were seriously in trouble. They have been playing hard, yet they haven't been able to win.

Finally the team has come through with the win. A dominating game over Dallas. It is about time. It's about time that they came through. If they can keep playing strong they can win. The schedule does not get any easier. They have to play some tough teams. Still division teams who are always tough on the Sharks. Most of the teams are fighting for the playoffs. So they will be determined to win too. It does not get any easier.

They need to play a complete game. 100% for 60 Minutes.

Brad Watson becomes #1 hated ref in San Jose; Sharks Lose

In a game Jan 6, 2007 Brad Watson made the biggest mistake of his referee career. With 2 Blue Jackets in the penalty box, Watson let out the wrong guy (he had matching penalties with a Shark Player). This gave the Sharks a 2nd power play on 1 penalty. OOPS! the Sharks scored on that "Power Play".

Take it a few days later, Jan 10, 2007: Sharks vs Edmonton. Brad Watson knows he screwed up. so what does he do, he calls EVERYTHING against the Sharks. Granted, some of them were real penalties, but Edmonton was committing penalties and getting away with it. One non-called penalty led to a goal. Edmonton got 7 straight Power Plays.

Was this a way for Watson to redeem himself? Well I'm sure he hasn't. I'm sure he's screwed still. This will carry with him at least the rest of the year. The NHL will look at this and most likely remove him from officiating a playoff games this year. Whatever the case, this referee can not be taken seriously and definitely not be taken seriously here in the Shark Tank.

www.nhlofficials.com - Brad Watson

Week of Jan 1 - Jan 7

Uh Recovery day. Happy New Years. Partied till the sun came out. Whew. I spent the rest of the week trying to set my body back into the correct timezone...

Sharks played Wednesday and WON. then I went on Saturday vs Columbus. Columbus is a rough physical team. They dont have alot of "talent" but they work hard. Their top player Nash was out with injury. A few notes from this game:
1) Official sucked. I never heard of these guys and I hope I never hear from them again. They missed calls all night and called imaginary calls. Nothing bigger will be from the gaff they made which allowed the sharks to score 2 power play goals on 1 penalty. One Shark (Clowe) and One Blue Jacket got penalties at the same time. so they skated 4-on-4. then a Blue Jacket got another penalty. so that SHarks were on PowerPlay 4-3. They scored! so they let out a Blue Jacket... the WRONG blue jacket. the players with matching penalties stay in the box. But NO the refs let the first guy out. Coincidentally they let Clowe out and the Sharks are on the Power play again! They score. Second period starts the Refs apoligize to the Bluejacks for screwing up. Luckily the game was decided more than 1 goal, otherwise there could have been a protest to this game.
2) Hat Tricks: Ryan Clowe has stepped up. 2 goals the game before and a hat trick this game. Also note: Erhoff got a Gordie Howe Hat Trick: A Goal, an Assist, and a FIGHT.
3) WE CAN'T SEE!!! during the 2nd intermission was a junior Sharks game, but these people would not sit down so we couldn't see the game. So I started chanting "We can't see! We can't see!" then was "Sit down! [Clap clap] sit down [clap clap] "Which turned into "you are deaf! You are Deaf!" but no one was cheering with me so we missed the entire "game". I got some compliments from other people for trying.

I've been on a Modding roll. For (what seems like) years, I kept telling Matt, Bring your Xbox over and I'll fix it. So he finally did. I opened it up and couldn't fix his chip, so I onboard fixed it. But I needed his original HD so I was screwed. But Nick had an Xbox that needed modding too. He had one that was modded but a blown power supply. And he had one that was not modded and needed to be. so I pulled the non-modded and modded that one. But something was still wrong with it. The mod worked but I didn't know what else was wrong. So I (on a hunch) put the modded'box's harddrive into my newly modded box. BAM it works. Nick was happy...
The next day I took Matt's Xbox back to him and put in his old HD. BAM it's modded. I updated his apps and now he's happy.

Matt told me of his plans. He wants to upgrade his entire Entertainment System. He's going all out. an HD TV, Multimedia Computer, 2TB (terrabytes) of hard drive space and a PS3. He wants to use the 2TB to store all his movies and mp3s. Essentially he wants an Xbox with Xbox-Media-Center with a huge Hard Drive. it sounds good but I can't even put a price tag on it.

And that's that for this week.

Player to Watch: Milan Michalek

The Sharks are starting to heat it up. But I think there is one guy that really stands out this first month plus: Milan Michalek. This is a guy taht people should be watching for. He plays on the Marleau line with Steve Bernier (burn-yay). Why do I like the guy? here's why:

1) SPEED. He is fast Fast FAST. So many times have I seen the guy go up the wing. and when he sees the defender is slightly off balanced, WHOOSH. Michalek has sped right by him, cuts to the goal and shoots it into the net. Whenever I see Michalek get the puck I think one thing: "Speed Kills." He's the fastest on an-already-fast line.

2) PlayMaking. With all that speed, people forget that he is a great passer. Already this year we have had a spinning 360 pass to Bernier for a goal. Then in the first game vs LA, Michalek was behind the net, ricochets a pass off the side of the net right onto Marleau's stick for a goal. Give this guy the puck, he's a highlight reel.

3) Defence. Definately not what people look for, but he is reliable on the D. Last year he played some Penalty Kill. But this year other players were brought in to take that spot. But as they say, when the coach puts you out, he knows he can count on you to do the job.

Milan Michalek, #9. Keep your eye on him, or he'll be by you in a second.


--
In other news, the Sharks are going strong. Everyone is getting into the act. Marleau had a hat trick, Cheechoo 2 goals, Rissmiller 3 Assists. The Goalie situation is really competitive. Both Toskala and Nabokov take pride in what they do. Some friendly competition has excelled them both.

Powerplay is #1 in the league. Penalty Kill is #5 in the league. Even strength seems to be the problem. 5-on-5 is surprisingly struggling. But recently came back to score more goals. If the 5 on 5 plays well this team is extremely scarey.

If you look at the divisions only 1 division has more than one team with 10 wins. The Pacific Division. The Ducks, the Stars, and the Sharks all have 12 wins. This will be the most competitive division this year. At the end of the year, the 3rd place team is going to miss having home ice in the playoffs. The division winner is in the 1-3 spot, the 2nd place team is #4, and the 3rd place team is on away ice. Wow. It makes for some good Hockey.

The Sharks are going to be good for a long time. They are young, they are fast, and they are big. Other teams better watch out. the Sharks are coming through.

Opening Night for the Sharks

The Sharks started the season with a BANG. We had alittle bit of everything in this game.

First off, the NHL changed the time allotted for TV timeouts and video. Well... they are longer.
Blues started out with a goal 36 seconds into the game, the Sharks came back, only for the Blues to come back.
The Sharks got 2 back-to-back 2-man advantage powerplays where they scored both times.
Then we had a goal review on the Blues' 3rd goal, which was allowed...
The Sharks had a goal reviewed, which was disallowed...
The glass got dislodged, so the crew had to come out and take it off then put it back in.
The poor Referee; a shot deflected and hit the Referee in the eye, and bled all over the ice. That's a tough shot for him.
Then on a powerplay, Cheechoo gets knocked down and kicks a hole into the side boards. That caused a 20 minutes delay.
Then finally, with 5 seconds left, the Blues tie the game, sending the game to overtime. Where teh Sharks eventually won.

This was definately a long game to be at. Anything and everything possible could have happened to delay the end of this game.

By the way, The Sharks start the season off with a WIN in overtime, 5-4.

World of Bay Area Sports

From Positive to Negative

San Jose Sharks
- Addressed issues with the penalty kill. Signed Forwards Curtus Brown and Mike Grier. Traded Tom Preissing and Josh Hennessy for Mark Bell. Lost Scott Thornton and Alyn McCauley.
I believe that the Sharks have improved. Thornton and McCauley are class acts, but they did not provide the spark the Sharks Needed. Thornton is aging and McCauley has a history of injury. I am surprised the Preissing was traded, however the Sharks have great depth at D.

Oakland A's
- Injuries to Harden, Watasick, Kennedy, and Bradley. Gaudin has been rock steady. Street has Sophmore Jinx.
- A depressing 4 game series loss to Anaheim into the Allstar break. The bats did a horrible job. No offence. We need a consistant hitter!

Fantasy Team
- My Fantasy team is slowly fading away. Injuries have been healed, but replaced with more injured players. How fustrating.

San Francisco 49ers
- York still owns the team... Nuff said.

Stanley Cup Champions: Carolina Hurricanes!

Congratulations Carolina Hurricanes. I must admit, I only rooted for you because I didn't want Edmonton to win. There are those who say "Root for the team that beat you because then you say ' you got beat by the Champions'" But screw that. If we can't win it, no one can! So I boo'd Edmonton. Does this mean when Edmonton comes to San jose you're going to cheer them?
Carolina deserves to win. They have been one of the best teams all year. Its only bad that Martin Gerber was not healthy/consistant enough in the playoffs. He led the team to the playoffs, and then got some virus, and then gave way to Rookie Cam Ward. And now Gerber is probably out as starter. Cory Stillman, back to back Championships. Eric Cole, breaks neck 3 months ago and returns. Ray Whitney, another Cup for the former Shark.

Speaking of Sharks, Now that the Stanley Cup is over, what is the state of the Sharks. Well the Award Ceremony is on Thursday. So Thornton better get the MVP otherwise it's highway robbery. Then the draft is on Saturday.
What does next season hold?

• Unrestricted Free Agents: The Sharks already declared them losing money this year, so tickets will go up. That does not make it look good for Scott Thornton and Alyn McCauley. They are high paid players that under-achieved last year. SThornton is older and not as productive. McCauley had a disappointing year scoring and played injured the whole year. I doubt they will be paid the same amount the next year. SThornton will probably take a cut to play with Big Joe. McCauley will be looked at by many teams for his great defensive work.
• Goalies: Who do you trade? The Franchise Goalie Evgeni Nabokov? or the Goalie who took you to the playoffs Vesa Toskala? Both are under big contracts and will be #1 stars in the league. Both are proven valuable goalies. The Real Winner? Nolan Schaefer for the Cleveland Barons. He'll be called up and be a backup. He was impressive as #3 emergency starter.
• Free Agents: Will the Sharks go out and sign a big star? I don't think so. I think they will fix from the inside then go out. There are a few guys that looked good. Lucus Kaspar (played in Juniors) looked extremely good in preseason. Doug Murray will come back from his injury. Jim Fahey better look elsewhere. He got passed over 3 times last year (Murray, Davison, Carle). If Owen Nolan can demonstrate he's a player in the new NHL, he will be a great asset to some team. There's also talk of bringing Alexander Korolyuk back. He'd play great in this NHL.

All in all the Sharks are in Good Shape. Schaefer will come in and backup the Starter, The D Core looks young and great with Hannan, Gorges, Carle, McClaren, Erhoff, and Priessing with Murray and Davison. And you have the top 2 lines in the world Micalek-Marleau-Brenier and ???-Thornton-Cheechoo.

With the draft coming up on Saturday, I'd expect to see a trade with other teams SALIVATING over our young team.

Disgraced by Booing 'O Canada'

I wish I could apologize to Canada for the Shark Fans who boo'd the Canadian National Athem. Fortuneately I wasn't one of them. It is one thing to hate the Oilers because they are our adversaries right now, but why boo Canada? We should be thankful for Canada. Something like 50% of the NHL players are Canadian. We should thank them for Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau and Jonothan Cheechoo. We should Thank them for being passionate for Hockey and allowing it to be played in the NHL in the US. Booing them is completely disrespectful; to the country, to the sport, and to the players.

Canada hasn't done anything wrong. They have been great nieghbors. Sure there's a rivalry, but that's what happens with siblings.

Hopefully we'll have the chance to redeem ourselves with a Game 7, and that these people WILL redeem themselves. I just hope that Canada and Edmonton don't consider some of these loudmouths to be a majority, when in fact they are a sliver of the minority.

Sharks on a Roll; need new "Hat Trick" Hat

First Round Matchup: San Jose Sharks vs Nashville Predators
After a loss in Game One, the Sharks have rebounded for 3 in a row. One more win and the Sharks advance to the 2nd round. After giving up 4 Power Play Goals in Game 1, the Sharks settled down to go 2 straight games without giving up a power play goal or an even strength goal. Nashville responded game 4 with a weak powerplay goal (it bounced off a skate and into the net) and some soft evenstrength goals (due to screens on Goalie Vesa Toskala).
But the highlights were the 2 big guys for the Sharks. Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. Thornton's line, with Cheechoo and Ekman, have recieved all the attention of the top defencemen from Nashville. that opens things up for Marleau and his line mates Michalek and Brenier. Though Nashville has contain Thornton off the scoresheet, Thornton has DOMINATED the speed, size and strength. He brings the puck in speeding by the defenders. Then he holds the puck behind the net or in the corner for 5-10 seconds as the defenders try to push him away. Eventaully it leads to a penalty because Nashville can't get Thornton off the puck.

Bring Out Line # 2
Marleau is the captain. And in big games you need your superstars to show up and lead the way. Captain Patrick Marleau is leading the way. Game 3 Marleau comes out and scores a goal the beats Mason short side. Mason should have stopped it, but with the Sharks down 0-1 in the game, the crowd was out of it, nothing to cheer for, Marleau took control. The one goal lead to 3 more goals: Brenier, Cheechoo, and Marleau again.
Game 4 he comes out and being down 0-1 and then 1-2, Marleau took over again. Marleau scored the game tying goal (2-2) then the go ahead goal (3-2) then the Hat Trick Goal (5-2) which was the eventual game winner (5-4 Final) Which leads me to...

WANTED: New Hat Trick Hat.
A Hat trick is when a player scores 3 goals in one game. the fans then throw their hats onto the Ice. I've never thrown a hat in. but that's because of 2 things: 1) hats are expensive ($20) and 2) I like my hat. so then becomes the "Hat Trick Hat" the spare hat you throw. So I started bringing Hat Trick Hats. this was the first game that I used a hat trick hat. Now I need to dig into my closet and find another hat that I don't wear anymores. And POOF let it fly.

Whats on Tap: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and a Nashville Predator whooping
Sharks go back to Nashville for game 5. Nashville is on the brink of elimination so I believe they will throw everything including the kitchen sink. But the Sharks keep doing what they are doing and Nashville won't be able to continue on this playoff. Being down 0-3 and 1-3 are hard to come back from.
Lets assume the Sharks win this series. What is ahead? (1) Detroit vs (8) Edmonton tied 2-2, (2) Dallas vs (7) Colorado, Colorado up 3-0; (3) Calgary vs (6) Anaheim, tied 2-2. The Sharks need 2 of the top 3 teams to drop in order to get Home Ice advantage, which is BIG in the playoffs. Dallas is pretty much done; Disappointed in their performance but happy they are gone. I want Detroit and Calgary to lose too. I think Edmonton and Anaheim are "easier" than them. Colorado is a good matchup from 2 years ago. I don't want to face Calgary because they are the harder team; Kipersoff is the Top Goalie and will get that award this year. And Detroit is the NY Yankees of the NHL. Lots and lots of great talent, a lineup where anyone can beat you.

Go Sharks! but then "Go Colorado, Anaheim and Edmonton." If those teams win, the Sharks become the #1 team in the West!

Fantasy Hockey

With the end of Regular Season is the end of Fantasy Hockey. I must say This has been the worst Fantasy Hockey I've done in years. I don't remember being this bad. I think I ended up with alot of underacheiving. Lets take a look:

Team 1: Sliver
(Head to Head format)
Standings: Finished 4th in Standings, 5th in Playoffs
This team I thought was going to make it. BUt it didn't . It slumped in the end, and the end was the playoffs. I was done with 2 weeks left. yuk. So what happened?
Positives: Kiprusoff was unbelievable, Phaneuf is a upcoming player. Solid years from: Shanahan, Marleau and Kaberle
Negatives: Iginla had a bad year. Not the Superstar I thought he was going to be this year. Goalies were sub-par, Huet, Aebischer, and Budaj were really good or really bad.
Best Move: Getting Phaneof. But if that was it, I didn't do a good job... apparently thats it.
Worst Moves: I had Curtis Joseph. But he got hurt and dropped, then he came back and won 32 games. NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo ---- _blink_. Oh yeah I had Selanne too. that was even worse move to drop him. he went nuts this year. Bad bad bad...

Team 2: Team SJ
(Points Format)
Standings: 5th
This team came back from the depths and got as high as 3rd. But I ran out of games and so I fell back to 5th. So I need to manage my players alot better.
Postitives: Kovalchuk came back from Russia and scored 50 goals. Straka got LW eligable, so I was able to put 4 top players at Center and LW. Good D with Lidstrom, Zubov and Visnovsky. Goalie Lundqvist was awesome until he got hurt the last 2 weeks. Svatos and Cole were awesome... til they got hurt. Yuk.
Negatives: Goalies. I love goalies so it hurts when these guys SUCK. Nabokov was a MAJOR disappointment. getting bumped by inconsistant play and dumb penalties and getting an ego. Belfour had a sub-par year as well. He might be at the end of his career. I tried to cover up the rest of the goalies with injury replacements. Offensively better, but not great.
Best Move: Not to many bad moves. Many had to cover up injuries.
Worst Move: Steve Yzerman. But he was injured at the start but became the man at the end of the year.

So that was my Fantasy Hockey Year. Very Disappointed. But I'll learn. Its the NEW NHL so the shift is back on the players scoring more than goalies saving. I'll have to adjust and go for it again next year.

Sharks Enter Playoffs; Fan Photo Award

The Sharks ended their regular season with a loss to the LA Kings. Bittersweet for the Sharks who hosted Luc Robitille's last game. Robitille is the all-time scorer for left wings. He has had a hall of fame career and will definately be a shoo-in for the Hall Of Fame. They did a very classy thing after the game, skating out to Center Ice and shaking hands with this great player. The crowd was great too standing ovations twice, during the game and after.

Now to the part I didn't like. So this entire year, a Promotion allowed Fans to take photos and submit them to SJSharks.com. They would give out cameras and stuff. But every month has a winner. And at the last game of the year they give away a Flatpanel TV to the grand prize winner. Let me say that all the months winners, their pictures were not good. They were of kids and stuff, but not anything award winning. If they weren't wearing Shark outfits, it would be non-hockey related. Give me a break. Not a single picture was near the hockey rink. None were action shots of the game. 5 of the 6 pictures were the SAME THING: Kids sitting in Shark outfits with the look of "Why is that thing pointing at me?" I should just dress up Taylor and give her a hockey stick and let her run around the backyard.

Ridiculous. The winner didn't even think she was going to win and the the crowd reacted with a half-hearted applaud.

-- I'll post the pictures soon --

Next Year, Tisha and I are going to do this. And we are going to blow them out the water. Of course everyone's probably thinking the same thing: "Those aren't that great; we could do that." I'm even going to let Taylor take some pictures. Taylor's taken better pictures of Mr. Monkey.
I'm done Venting. But now I'm determined to win a TV...

SHARKS CLINCH PLAYOFF BERTH!

Uh sorry I'm hella hung over. The Sharks clinched the playoff spot so the party began. to think in November, a 10 game losing streak, and now we can't finish lower than 7th, and we are a team no one is looking forward to playing.

Joe Thornton = Dominant. He carried the team last night with 4 points. After falling down 2-0, Thornton hit the home run pass to Grant Stevenson for a breakaway goal. Then on the PP, he drew 2 guys to him and set up Nils Ekman for the goal to tie it. Then down 3-2 Thornton again skates down to the goal line, passes it back and WHAM, Scott Hannan with a Game Tying goal with less than 3 minutes left. Overtime, Thornton is not done. He wins the face off. The D-man hands off to him and he goes coast-to-coast, drawing men to him. He finds Christian Erhoff in the slot and GOAL!!!! VICTORY!!! SHARKS CLINCH PLAYOFF BERTH! Thornton leads the comeback... TWICE! for the WIN!

M V P! M V P! M V P! M V P!

NHL Trading Deadline; Sharks make a move

The Sharks made amove at the Trading Deadline. I think it's small but they got a role player. Ville Nieminen from the NY Rangers for a draft pick. This guy is a good role player with grit. He helped Sweden in the olympics.
I'm not sure about this guy. but if Doug Wilson says its good, it must be good.

The Sharks also traded away Niko Dimotrakos. He's got his ups and downs. He'll be remembered for the game winning overtime goal in last season's playoffs. But this year he has issues. not consistant, can't stay in the lineup, defensive deficiencies. He goes to Phily Flyers for a draft pick.

In other Ex-Shark Trades, Jeff Friesen returns to Anaheim Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Sandis Ozolinch, ironicly, goes from the Ducks to the Rangers.

The biggest trade was the David Abeisher from Colorado to Montreal for Jose Theodore. Abeisher was under scrutany following the footsteps of Patrick Roy, but will be under more scrutany in Montreal. Theodore's got issues too, first he's injured with a broken heel. And he also failed some drug test for Propecia, which could mask steroid in test.

I don't know if the Sharks got better. They got rid of a questionable player and got a gritty player, probably someone that Scott Parker could have been if he hadn't been injured all year. But the Sharks are running out of time to get into the playoffs. They lost 3 games in a row to teams they are trying to catch. The turnaround needs to happen now!

Fantasy Sports: Hockey

We're way past the halfway point. But we're at Olympic Break for 2 weeks. So I wanted to give some observance on how my teams were doing this year.

Team One: Sliver
This league is Head to Head (your stats vs another teams stats) Currently I'm in 4th Place. I started out slow with a Loss and a Tie. But then went on a 8 game winning streak yet not in dominate fashion. Then somehow I got dominate. I think it was starting with my Goalies, who didn't start out that good but now have excelled. Kippersoff (CGY) started slow but quickly picked up the pace. Abeisher (COL) struggled the 1st half but is doing great now. Upfront is Marleau (SJ), Iginla(CGY) and Shanahan (DET), who are major forces. But each one has gone through some down time. Defence just gets the job done, but no major impact players. But still 4th Place is really good for a team I didn't think would do this good. I think the Head-to-Head definately benifits here.

Team Two: Team SJ
This league is Traditional (your season stats are ranked and the higher ranking, the more points). This team I really worried about. I almost gave up on it halfway through the season too. The goaltending was/is below par. My top goalie is rookie Huldqvist (NY-R). But I had drafted Nabokov (SJ) and Belfour (Tor). Belfour is getting wins, but not the numbers. Nabokov just absolutly stinks this year. He's making mental mistakes all over and suffering for them. He might lose his job to Toskala. up front I got young players:

• Sidney Crosby (Pit) - Good player but the team around him sucks.
• Patrick Marleau (SJ)
• Ilya Kovochuk (ATL) - Interesting pick. I drafted him with the question mark: Is he going to play in the NHL or stay in Russia? He chose the NHL and has been a FORCE!
• Defence: Lidstrom (DET) has been disappointing. He hasn't been himself. Don't know why either... Visnosky (LA) is becoming an upper tier defencesman
  

This team struggled at first. at one time I was in last place. but I slowly but surely started climbing the ladder. now i'm in 4th place! Awesome! this team is on the up and up!

Interestingly there was some guy who only drafted the Mighty Ducks players. Boy does his team stink. It's not good for Fantasy that's for sure. I take the cream of the crop for my team. He ends up with 1-2 players that are good but there are so many more players better than his 3rd or 4th player. And that's why drafting one team doesn't work

See you at the end of the season.

SHARKS Trade for JOE THORNTON

Today, San Jose Sharks recieved C Joe Thornton for LW Marco Sturm, D Brad Stuart, C Wayne Primeau (to Boston Bruins).
WOW! Blockbuster trade. With the Sharks losing so much the rumors were flying to make a trade. The same issue in Boston. Lets start with the guy coming to the Sharks: JOE THORNTON.

Let me start off by saying that Joe Thornton is one of my favorite players. The best I can describe him is OWEN NOLAN (former Shark Captain) except BETTER. There's lots of simularities. Joe can score goals. He can hit (punish and check). He can drop the gloves (fight!). And he's a Captain. He won't be the captain on the Sharks (Patrick Marleau), but he's a leader. On his best day he will be a top 10 player in the league. He is AWESOME.

But to receive, you must let go. Gone are 3 players, 2 are fan favorites, watching them start and mature into the players they are. Brad Stuart is a top Defenceman. Watched him grow up, score his first goal. Marco Sturm is one of the best 2 way players, speed and offence with defensive awareness. He too grew up in front of San Jose. Last year he was dominate before his freak injury. Wayne Primeau was a good veteran centerman. For me they got him for another favorite player Matt Bradley. But he proved to be good enough.

But in the end, I think the Sharks got the better end of the deal. Thornton is become a better player than the 3 guys sent to Boston. The only one that will contend to be that good is Sturm, and he's just struggling right now.

WELCOME TO THE SHARKS, THORNTON!

Cleveland Barons Hockey

Tonight my dad and I attended the Cleveland Barons AHL Hockey game. the Barons are the Sharks minor leage team. when we arrived no one was there so we sat up at the glass during pregame warmups. when they were done we didn t move. and no one came to tell us to move. Funny though everyone else around us did get moved. So we ended up watching the entire game at the GLASS! It was so much fun. I yelled at all the players. THere were some HUGE hits at the glass. But the best part was sitting there and watching the puck hit the net then OVER INTO OUR FEET! The ladies sitting next to us weren t paying attention. I shouted INCOMING! but it missed them (whew) and I tried to catch it and missed and it hit my dad in the foot, so I quickly reached down and grabbed it before these kids behind us did. It was crazy!!! we were stoked. this is different because this puck was in play! I turned around and held it up! Eric (aka EZ, E-Dog) was sitting behind us and I held it up for him. BOOYA. We also had a near-fight in front of us. But that didn t happen. Jim Fahey said, "Lets do this right now" but the refs broke it up. CRAZY!!! Fun night. Awesome. gotta sit at the glass somemore!