Ok that is an exaggeration. But I think you are starting to get the idea that I couldn’t go to Game 1 of the Phoenix Coyotes vs LA Kings Western Conference Final last night. So what’s a Coyotes fan to do? You could find a sports bar in the area that is playing the game but then you might have to deal with the state wondering why you brought a 10 year to a bar.

Instead of risking that sticky investigation follow the simple PuckGal method of “Whiteout at Home”:

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General Manager Doug Wilson was heard commenting the other day about the San Jose Sharks’ inability to kill penalties, and whether or not the failure was systemic or personnel.  Of course he gave no answer other than they’re evaluating everything.  When it came to the Sharks’ penalty kill, as well as every other aspect of their game with the exception of the power play, I feel like it’s safe to say that the Sharks system has become ‘predictable’.

For example when the Sharks are on the penalty kill you know the Sharks are not going to press you if you camp out behind their net.  If you cycle along the boards they’re not going to challenge you.  When playing 5-on-5 if a Shark camps out behind their own net waiting for a line change, you know if you fore check the puck handler there’s a good chance you can get a turnover.  If the Sharks are in their own zone and you take away the middle, the default exit strategy is a pass back behind the net along the boards.

Again I’m no expert in hockey but when I can see what’s coming I’m sure the other team can see it.  This used to happen during the Mike Singletary days of the 49ers.  If I could predict what the next play was (Gore up the middle) I’m sure the other team’s defensive co-ordinator could see it coming too.

What’s my point?  To answer for Doug Wilson I think the problem with the Sharks is the system, and that system has been decoded by the opposition.  That explains the poor passing, untimely turnovers, poor penalty kill and lack of puck possession (which is important if you’re supposed to be a puck-possession team).  And unfortunately the responsibility for the system is the coach - Todd McClellan.

I like Coach McClellan and I’m sure he’s more than qualified to coach in the NHL but I feel like if he’s going to stay on as the Sharks coach it’s time to adopt a new system.  I must admit - I’ve been watching the playoffs and other teams’ offensive systems - entering the zone, rushes, attacking the net - is quite different than the way the Sharks execute.  And sadly I must report it’s more exciting to watch.

The next question is if we have the right pieces to change tack.  I think we do but I also think we took a step backwards this season.  I feel like it’s going to take some time to get back to the level of talent we had before the start of the 2011-2012 season.

When the Sharks acquired Dany Heatley there was a lot of talk about what the trade meant to both the Sharks and the Ottawa Senators.  But through all the excitement one national pundit on XM Radio’s NHL Home Ice stated very clearly that Heatley had worn out his welome at every stop along his NHL career and the Sharks would be no exception.  I think everyone can agree that Heatley, and his contract, needed to be moved out of San Jose if we were going to move forward.

Sending Devin Setoguchi along with Heatley to Minnesota was a disappointment to many - I haven’t run into a Sharks fan who said they weren’t going to miss him - but I think the timing of the trade was very un-Wilson like.  When your company memos are saying one thing but your company’s actions are saying another you usually pick up on the difference.  Signing Setoguchi, and making all the public statements about his future with the team, then immediately trading him was one of those situations.  I think we all get what was going on but it still didn’t sit right.  It felt like the team was willing to forego loyalty and professionalism for the betterment of the books (and unloading Heatley’s huge cap hit). But that was just one move and I think we all were able to move on from there.

But then there was the Jaime McGinn trade.

Moves at the trade deadline are usually reserved for either picking up one or two final pieces for an already stocked and loaded roster poised for the playoffs, or clearing the books for a lost season and preparing your team for the next.  Even Wilson himself said he’s not a huge fan of trade deadline moves as a vehicle for changing the direction of a team.

So when Jamie McGinn was traded to Colorado it felt like a desperation move.  The Sharks were in no way the dominating team they had been the last two seasons and there was no way one or two acquisitions were going to solidify their playoff run.  Not only did the trade feel like a desperation move but it was another example of the company memo not matching the company’s actions.  For all I’ve been told hockey is about working hard at becoming better, and Jamie McGinn (along with Marc Edouard Vlasic), were the only two Sharks were I could see their game improving year over year.  When the knock on your team is that you’ve depleted your farm system and your draft pool, and then you trade one of the few young players that have actually worked to become a legitimate NHL top six forward, you’re sending some bad juju into your dressing room.

I don’t know if my opinions are based on hindsight filtered through a disappointing season, or maybe it’s just a few bad moves all in the same year instead of spread out over time, but whatever the case I’m not all Negative Nancy.  I’m happy to have Martin Havlat and Brent Burns on the roster and I liked what I saw in Thomas Greiss and Justin Braun.  We also have lots of cleared cap space to navigate the summer without a Collective Bargaining Agreement in place.  But I feel like were sitting at a true crossroads where we have to re-stock our farm system cupboards while taking advantage of the core we do have and make that push to The Cup.

If the team is evaluating everything then I look at this next season as a true test of Doug Wilson and Todd McClellan’s abilities.  It’s easy to produce a winner when you have lots to spend, but it feels like the Sharks are both literally and emotionally ‘out of cash’ and now have to tread into that territory where you have to be your best during trying times.

For now it’s all about the Pacific Division in the playoffs…

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You can see and feel the difference everywhere. From the more upbeat media attention surrounding the win to the legions of happy fans that met the plane for the returning Coyotes on Tuesday afternoon.

Even my trip to the Coyotes Den at Jobing.com arena yesterday was different. Normally my daughter and I would have the place to ourselves to browse the Coyotes gear. But it was a different scenario this time. On a Tuesday afternoon, not even 24 hours after our entry into Round 2, we weren’t alone by a long shot and the phone to the store was ringing off the hook. According to shop personnel it had been that way all day and they couldn’t keep the Mike Smith garb from flying off the hangers. Nice change of pace.

Everyone in there was holding some piece of merchandise, Mike Smith-wear or not, and I myself succumbed to 3 tshirts and hat. Playoff wear for the boys and every girl (or PuckGal) needs a sassy black v neck. Girl first..hockey fan second. Sorry.

The hockey gods love commerce and with the fever pitch growing with each and every post season game, just imagine if we actually made the finals…

Mike Smith jerseys all around!

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I’ve speculated all year that the two previous runs deep into the playoffs took a physical toll on the team and that for the most part the team was never healthy.  I know that playing through injury is a part of professional sports, but there’s a difference between playing hurt and playing injured.  Hopefully the next few days will reveal just how injured this team was.

The other problem has been the inability to kill penalties.  I believe it started with the loss of Mike Grier, continued with the loss of Rob Blake and the final straw - losing Scott Nichol.  We’ve gone an entire season and have not shown any improvement on the special team’s weakness that doomed us against the Vancouver Canucks in the 2011 Western Conference Finals.

And if you go back to those finals, the Sharks have won 2 out of their last 10 playoff games.

But misery DOES love company.  Also eliminated from the first round of this years playoffs are the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks and the aforementioned Canucks.  I think it’s safe to say that there is more than one new sheriff in town and that is how the west will be won.

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I am also right in predicting that once again we would hit overtime. It just seemed inevitable from the drop of the puck to the second Coyote goal that Chicago would somehow come back and sure enough they did. These two teams just can’t seem to get enough of each other. Even though they want to beat each other up in the process, Shaw and Smith, Torres and Hossa and Bissonnette and Bolliger have all gotten some major action including games suspensions, misconducts and  a disciplinary hearing that Torres will face on Friday. Surely Tyson Nash regrets his “clean hit” comment as much as I did when I concurred.

Phoenix comes home for Saturday’s take all game and I wouldn’t dare make any predictions on it except to say that I am geared up for a bumpy, and possibly long, ride. And so far I can’t be wrong.

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After tonight’s OT win in Chicago, making the series 3-1 in the Coyotes favor and Mikkel Boedker a Phoenix hero, it appears that the Phoenix Coyotes  and Chicago Blackhawks are working hard to give their fans their money’s worth and to make this series as exciting as possible. Either that or they just don’t want to get off the ice because all four games have gone into overtime. You heard me right, FOUR games. And as exciting as it is, it has also proven to be detrimental to my health. This is why OTwill never be FDA approved:

- It causes extreme heart palpitations

- Has the uncanny ability to bring on an extreme case of terrets (I called 2 Blackhawk fans “lucky sons-of-b*****s” during game 2)

- Insomnia due to all the adrenaline coursing through your veins and the extra period (s)

- Not to mention poor performance at work due to the lack of sleep. I have said it once and I will say it again..Stanley Cup Playoffs should be recognized as a national holiday.

- Anxiety during the last few seconds of the game where, as this series is proving, anything can happen (let’s talk about Chicago’s late in the game goal scoring) 5.5 seconds..5.5 seconds!!

- Causes bad decision making, mealtimes in front of the TV and bad language in front of my 10 year old.

If you experience any of these symptoms, don’t do anything..you’re a real fan!

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Bad penalty kill, ineffective power play - whatever the the immediate problem it looks like the underlying problem with the Sharks is a lack of jump in their play.  The Sharks seem to be playing a lazy, lethargic brand of hockey that looks and feels uninspired. Unfortunately this perception is where the frustration is generated.

During the post game show after the Sharks’ last regular season loss against the Phoenix Coyotes there was a heated exchange between Ray Ratto and Drew Remenda.  Ratto made the comment that the Sharks just don’t care and Remenda took exception to that comment.

The gist of Ratto’s argument is that all the analysis and all the rhetoric needs to be put aside and the Sharks just need to go out and win games.  From the look of things they just don’t seem to care.

The gist of Remenda’s argument is that it’s easy to make such comments when you’re in a television studio (or sitting at home in your living room) and not down with the team.  He contends that the team does care and the idea that they just need to ‘go out and win the game’ is exactly what the team is trying to do.

I hate to say it but I side with Ratto on this one.  I’m a paying fan.  I pay for my season tickets and I pay for cable.  Unlike Remenda I don’t have access to the dressing room or access to the team plane/team bus.  All I get to go on is the play on the ice.  What I see on the ice looks ‘lazy’.  I’m going to guess that everyone is playing hurt - REALLY hurt - but again, unlike Remenda I don’t have access to that information.  Not that it should matter.

I trust that the team cares and that they want to win, but judging by what I can SEE is they’re not playing championship hockey.  And that’s really too bad.

But still we’re just down two games to one at this point and I’m finally at that place where I’ve adjusted to the emotions of the ‘win or go home’ mentality of the NFL to the ‘wave riding’ required to navigate a best-of-seven series.  I get to go to the game on Thursday and I’m hoping for something a little more ‘inspired’.

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I can’t think of a more appropriate word to describe Game 2 in the Phoenix Coyotes vs Chicago Blackhawks series. It bore a striking resemblence to the first game of the series. Lots of white, lots of energy, great defense and Mike Smith making all the big saves. All of that is good dejavu, in fact give me some more of that going forward.

The bad juju?

Radim Vrbata getting taken out and not returning having only 42 seconds of ice time.  Having just a one goal lead going in to the end of the game. Then of course allowing the Blackhawks to tie the game with just 17 seconds left in regulation.

The Coyotes did rebound however and took the game during the one period of OT.

Fast forward to game 2 and that sinking feeling you have seen this game before. Still the same great energy, lots of white (although 2 red and black jerseys were sitting RIGHT behind me..annoying) Radim Vrbata is back but Mike Smith is victim to a nasty hit to the head by Shaw. The fans had to endure a few nervewracking moments waiting to see if he would recoup…with Jason Labarbera warming up in the wings. Smith got up, played brilliantly and the Coyotes scored a nice power play goal as a result of the 5 minute major. Once again all good.

Then the bad juju..

Empty net, 6 attackers, only a one goal cushion and a mad scramble to the net. It’s 6 seconds till the period ends.  I am gathering up my purse, collecting the whiteout pom poms and downing the last of my beer when…those 2 red and black jerseys behind me starting cheering. At 5.5 seconds left in the game.

5.5 seconds.

NOOOOOO! This cannot be happening again. This is so devastating, so frustrating, so infruriating that I cannot even help myself. In an uncharacteristic rage, I whip around and scream at the 2 red jerseys “you guys are the luckiest sons-of-b*****s”! Oh yeah, I did that. In front of my daughter, stepsons and husband. So classy.

But how could this be? Again? How could the Coyotes let this happen TWICE..in TWO games! Purse goes back on the floor, pom poms flutter madly and we settle in for OT.

And the bad juju continues..

Coyotes lose it in the OT tying the series at 1. Pom poms wilted, daughter exhausted and the rest of the family disillusioned we wearily head for the exit. Let’s hope the next 2 games in the Madhouse will reverse the juju in our favor.

As for Game 2? As the French say.. C’est la vie.

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Yes I know but you haven’t heard it told like this.

Ray Whitney’s nickname is “the wizard” (yes, I know you know that too, indulge me) but it occurred to me how much this “wizard” had in common with another famous “wizard”, Harry Potter. Just go with me on this.

- Just like the wizards and witches in JK Rowling’s tales, Whitney is now in an elite group as well. Only 79 players have achieved this particular glory before.

- While he doesn’t battle Voldemort, Whitney does go toe-to-toe with other vile creatures such as Sharks, Ducks and Canucks (don’t tell me that the Sedin twins don’t make a horrific two headed fantasy figure!)

- He may not have the lightning bolt scar but he does have the most adorable dimples.

- And just like his fictional counterpart Ray is also humble having been quoted as saying “I’m glad it’s over with, because in the end what we’re doing right now is something more important than 1000 points..we’re trying to get in the playoffs.

- He can fly. Defy me, I dare you.

- As in HP sequel after HP sequel, Ray Whitney’s work is never done. A mere 40 seconds after scoring his 1000th he goes for 1001.

So you can see this isn’t as farfetched as you might have thought. His next feat however will likely rival Potter’s final battle with Voldemort..getting past round 1 of the playoffs. Now THAT would be magical..

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The good news is the next three games are at home. The bad news is it starts off tonight against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins (I’ll be at the game by the way, probably rocking back and forth in my seat like I’m waiting for the psych unit to start the intake process).

The problem I have with this season’s less than stellar performance is what I’ve learned about hockey. I never pretended to know what it takes to win an NHL game, build an NHL team or evaluate an NHL player. I’ve also not relied on the press for insight because they’re in the business of ‘selling papers’ so they say what they need to say. But after meeting Coach Pat Curcio of the San Francisco Bulls and picking his brain on what it takes to win hockey games, the difference between talent and hard work, and what it takes to win a championship, I’ve been contaminated with the idea that the Sharks are just not willing to put in the effort to win hockey games. The exception of course is if they’re injured. Or if they are playing with all their heart then we lack the talent to compete at a championship level.

It’s hard to stay positive. I think I was better off before – ignorance is bliss.

Whatever the problem all I know is if the Sharks miss the playoffs I’ll save a ton of money on playoff tickets, money I’ll pump into season tickets for the San Francisco Bulls. For now it really does come down to one game at a time starting tonight against the Bruins. When I bought tickets to this game it looked like a great opportunity to see how well we’ll match up going into the playoffs, but now it’s shaping up as a game to see if we can even compete at a championship level.

Just win please…

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Fortunately I’ve built a few relationships with the folks in the Bulls’ front office and they’ve always been very generous and gracious with me despite my creepy over-zealous fandom. So when I got invited to this event the last thing I wanted to do was embarrass myself, this blog or the team. Searching for some insight on what to expect from an event like this I turned to The War Room on Sirius/XM’s NHL Home Ice.

Peter Berce offered up the following:
1) Don’t touch the other reporters (actually that was something I came up with).
2) Talk with the people who invited you and try to get some information to report.
3) Take pictures.
4) If they’re giving away free stuff take it.
5) If they’re giving away free food eat it (but not too much or they won’t ask you back).

I can handle that.

Item #1: I didn’t get too creepy when meeting all the reporters I’ve grown up watching on TV. ‘No inappropriate touching’ was a success.

Item #2: Luckily I knew some of the Bulls staff as well as the local radio personality who was the event’s Master of Ceremony. I was able to pass the time with some lively conversation while waiting for the event to start. It wasn’t totally awkward standing there amongst all the cameras.

Item #3: See below.

Item #4: Since I’m not a dignitary (the mayor of Daly City was in attendance as well as representatives from the San Francisco mayor’s office) or a regular media personality I didn’t get a bag of swag. Maybe next time.

Item #5: There was food but the line was too long.

The Cow Palace

Lamont and Tonelli from 107.7 The Bone - Your Hosts

Pat Curcio, President and Head Coach

The Media

The Mascot - Rawhide

The Ice

The Food

I think I need a better camera…

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Today the Bulls revealed what the boys will be wearing at the Cow Place come this October. The story goes when thinking of a name for the team they considered the history of hockey in San Francisco - The WHL San Francisco Seals, The Shamrocks, The Spiders, The Sharks (when they played at the Cow Palace). When observing the seals at Fisherman’s Wharf someone pointed out that a male seal is called a ‘bull’ - bull, seals - a connection was being made. But then upon returning to the office someone realized the team was going to play at the ‘Cow Palace’ - you know, cows - bulls, hence the term ‘bulls’ went from ‘bull seals’ to ‘bull cows’. The San Francisco Bulls was born. And the team colors are orange and gold - orange from the San Francisco Giants and gold from the San Francisco 49ers (’Bridging the Divide’ if you will).

And by the way, the home opener is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, October 13th.

And here you go:

ECHL rules apparently dictate that the dark sweater be worn at home for half the season and the white sweater the other half of the season.

And they won’t be on sale for another 3 months.

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I was at Saturday’s game where we lost to the St. Louis Blues. The Sharks ended the second period on the power play. That power play was so bad I don’t think they got a single shot on goal (compared to St. Louis who got at least one). They also spent the majority of the time in the defensive and neutral zones unable to even get into the Blues’ zone let alone control the puck. Down 3-1, mustering only 2 shots on goal for the entire period and playing the worst I’ve seen them since the Florida Panthers came to town, the boos came down in mighty fashion – you would have thought the other team had just taken the ice for the pre-game skate.

Hoping history would repeat itself I was hopeful to see what kind of energy the Sharks would come out with to start the 3rd period. While you could see that they were trying, the Sharks were still flat, slow and unable to dictate any part of the game. It was really hard to watch.

I think everyone is injured. I think the only healthy top-6 forward might be Patrick Marleau. And because we can’t kill penalties we can’t retaliate when opposing teams take liberty on our players (like Philadelphia pounding on Logan Couture).

If this is what it is then this is what it is. The only thing I would regret is trading Jamie McGinn and our prospects. If the team is in such bad shape that NO trades can salvage the season, then the trade deadline deal may have been a real waste.

The question is, if we’re barely going to limp into the playoffs should we just miss the playoffs entirely?

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Or so I thought.

If you think about the landscape of American culture there is an aspect of it where fashion meets sport. And that’s the sports logo. From the simple baseball cap to the team jersey, from your rural high school football team to your favorite European soccer club, the wearing of sports merchandise is probably just as ubiquitous in America as designer fashion. In some places it even trumps designer fashion.

How many pieces of sports gear sit in your closet? How many pieces of designer clothing do you own? And since being a fan is fanaticism, you probably own several pieces of your team’s merchandise. Nothing shows your allegiance better than wearing something with your team’s logo on it.

Well kids, next week history will be made. The San Francisco Bulls are going to unveil their new sweater at a media-only event and yours truly has been invited to be there. That’s right, The ‘Net is all growd up and we’re heading to the Cow Palace to get a look at what hopefully will become a fixture in the San Francisco cultural landscape. Tune in next week to see if I can take any pictures worth a damn. In the mean time since I know you’re all peeing all over yourselves in anticipation I’ve created this ‘artist rendering’ to hold you over. Enjoy.

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One of the primary reasons I wanted the seats was access to inexpensive playoff tickets. Last year I went to Round 2 Game 7 against the Detroit Red Wings, sitting right where my current seats are, for about $50 a ticket. I was easily spending over $100 a ticket for first round games through Ticketmaster, so I jumped on the chance to have that kind of access.

But I knew the chances of going to a third consecutive Western Conference Finals, let alone get past that round, was going to be highly unlikely. The physical toll had to be mounting, and emotionally I can imagine it would be tough to push through another the regular season.
The evidence on the ice suggests I may have been right.

The Sharks have just come off their worst ‘SAP Open’ Road Trip in several years. Although a long trip the players have always said road trips allow them to ‘bond’ as a team. If they’re bonding it doesn’t seem to help the way they play. Now the Sharks are staring at that 17 game March leading right up to the playoffs. How are they going to get to get their new teammates acclimated, fix their penalty kill, heal up, rest guys for ‘the grind’ AND squeeze at least 34 points out of their next 21 games?

Speaking of new teammates, the only way I feel about the team’s trades is ‘depleted’. Back when we acquired Dany Heatley the talk on NHL Home Ice was that the Sharks farm system was being depleted from all the high draft picks we’d been giving. They said at some point it would all catch up with us. Is that time now? This season and last the Sharks tried to rely on their prospects to fill the lower lines and both times they’ve failed. Help had to be brought in at the cost of more picks and personnel.

I was explaining to someone that in sports there are ‘buyers’ and ‘seller’ and it all depends upon what you’re trying to do with your team that season. The Sharks have been buyers for years, but anyone with a budget knows you can’t keep buying without eventually going broke.

As I understand it a team like the Sharks plays poorly partly due to mental fatigue. A hockey season can get really routine and really boring and you have to find ways to get yourself mentally ‘up’ for each night’s game. If you can’t find a way to get up for a game you’ll get run over by a better prepared opponent. Maybe with the playoff door visible on the horizon the Sharks will find something to latch on to and start playing the way we all know they’re capable of playing. I just hope it’s enough to overcome the physical fatigue.

Otherwise I’m REALLY going to save a lot on playoff tickets this year.

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For a reality check I defer to John Buccigross who posted his Top 10 Cup Contenders today. The San Jose Sharks are on the list (I won’t spoil it by telling you where we fell). His assessment is that the loss of Devin Setoguchi and Dany Heatley has put a dent in our offensive firepower. I suppose that’s a pretty accurate, simple assessment. Our defense is better this year, we just have trouble scoring. So what do we do?

Let’s take a look at the Chicago Blackhawks. Dropping like a rock, they’re in the middle of a 9 game losing streak. On of their problem, according to Barry Melrose (and others on XM’s NHL Home Ice), is goal tending. Chicago needs a goaltender, the Sharks need more offense.

Jeremy Roenick says the Blackhawks could and should consider trading Patrick Kane. What if, just if, the Sharks acquired Patrick Kane in exchange for Antero Niittymaki and one other defensive prospect? Would the Sharks Nation be interested in that kind of deal?

What about Kane’s reputation for drinking too much? Would a change of scenery help? How about if that scenery came with someone you trust? How about Pat Curcio? My sources tell me (I like the fact that I can finally say that!) that Coach Curcio (of the San Francisco Bulls) and Kane (whom he coached) are pretty close. Perhaps having someone trusted - who was there before all the fame - could help provide some well-needed personal perspective.

Hey Coach - can you text Patrick and see what he thinks, maybe we can work something out!

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However one commercial, perhaps the best one this past Super Bowl, wasn’t shown here in the United States. Instead it was only shown in Canada. Enjoy:

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The San Francisco 49ers just finished their season on what can be argued was either a high point or a low point. No one expected the NFC Championship Game to be played at Candlestick Park, so even though they lost you can pick your outcome – glass half empty or glass half full. The question is how did a team who couldn’t put together a winning record over the past 8 years make it that far in the playoffs, and how did they do it with basically the same players but a new head coach?

When I asked Coach Curcio who the most talented teams in the NHL were he mentioned a few teams in the East. If the Sharks aren’t the most talented team why are they consistent playoff contenders – the last two Western Conference finals not withstanding? He said talent alone doesn’t win.

‘Talent alone doesn’t win’ certainly applies to the 49ers. The 49ers are definitely a talented team but I don’t think anyone is going to accuse them of being the most talented team in the NFL. Therefore one conclusion is that the 49ers proved to be one of the top 4 teams in the NFL because of their hard work and team effort.

Here we sit at the NHL All-Star break and the Sharks sit at 13th overall against all teams. They sit first in the weakest division in hockey. Dropping out of first place in the division drops you to 7th in the West. The team is 17th on the power play, 28th on the penalty kill, and 13th in scoring. In the one category where ‘last is best’, the Sharks have played the fewest games in the NHL (47) and have, on average, 3 games ‘in hand’ against the top 8 of the teams in the Western Conference.

In other words, the team is average.

If you watch the team on any regular basis can you honestly say everyone on the team is working hard and the team as a whole is putting forth that great team effort? Is this a team that could achieve more with more work and more effort? If not then we’re in trouble, because I don’t think what we have can go deep in the playoffs – the team feels ‘shallow’ to me. I don’t know if we could outwork another top 8 team over a 7-game series.

The Sharks have key injuries. One could argue that not all of their summertime acquisitions are working out as hoped. But what happened to General Manager Doug Wilson’s statement that he wouldn’t wait until this late in the season to make moves if the team wasn’t performing up to par? Is the fact that we’re division leader despite our average performance good enough to keep moving forward with what we have? Have we ‘maxed out all our credit cards’ and just can’t afford to trade away anymore high draft picks and/or prospects to shore up the team? Have we already traded away too much?

If the playoffs are ‘the grind’ then the Sharks are about to embark on ‘the grind before the grind’. During the last 6 weeks of the season (starting mid-February) the Sharks will only have a two-day break only twice. The rest of the time it’s either every-other night or back-to-back games.

And if you’re interested in asking Coach Curcio your own questions the San Francisco Bulls are running another ‘night out with the coach’ contest. Just one favor, if you win tell him I sent you!

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For context I grew up watching the San Francisco 49ers starting back when they were 2-12 the first year after they hired Bill Walsh. For the next 17 years I watched them win 5 championships. But after recent years of futility and searching for a winner I found I sought out the San Jose Sharks.

The hardest thing about embracing hockey after years of a football-only lifestyle is adapting to the seven-game playoff format. ‘Pittpen’, a former contributor to The ‘Net, was also a football convert and echoed the same sentiment. I used to shun the best-of-seven series as a technique the ‘other’ sports used to generated revenue, that a true playoff is one where you either bring it or you go home. Pro football, college football and March Madness all use the one game format and because of such, I would argue, they generate the most fan excitement. The exception of course is the ‘Game 7’ scenario which, I again argue, is the same as just having on one game playoff.

I’m getting distracted.

The problem with converting from one game playoff to a best of seven is the emotional roller coaster. When you watch football the gratification is instant. If you win you celebrate, if you lose you begin to grieve and find closure. The thrill of victory is really high and the disappointment of losing is incredibly low. The emotional ‘swing’ spans a very wide chasm.

The first year I started watching hockey I took that emotional swing into the playoffs. It was an incredibly exhausting and frustrating experience because I would grieve as if my season was over if the Sharks lost a game, and I would be equally excited when they won. Back and forth, day in and day out. It was tough.

But after several years of San Jose Sharks playoff hockey I’ve managed to temper my emotions within the context of a seven game series. I’ve learned to enjoy the playoff atmosphere as part of the experience.

And now the 49ers are back. We’ve won just one playoff game and we’re just one win away from the Super Bowl…two wins away from a 6th Super Bowl championship. I’m not saying they’re as good as won it all, I’m just saying that I can’t wrap my head around just how close we are after just one playoff game. I now find myself UNDERESTIMATING the significance of each 49er playoff game. I even forgot that you don’t make plans on the weekends when the playoffs start. I had to listen to the 4th quarter of the 49ers game because I was driving to an event, and I’ll be in the car driving once again next Sunday because of previous plans.

Super Bowl Sunday is February 5th, I need to keep that date open if we beat the New York Football Giants…

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Enter the Bulls, San Francisco’s new ECHL hockey team. When I first heard that we were getting a new hockey team two thoughts ran through my head. The first was how excited I was to be able to go watch a small-venue professional hockey team right here in my own back yard. The second thought was that I needed to make sure I got in to see them their first season because I doubted they’d last more than one year.

Despite a thriving sports climate (NFL x2, NBA, MLB x2) the immediate San Francisco area historically seems like the kind of place where people want to start new sports franchises but fail to remain viable. It is this history of failure that I judged the viability of a new hockey team. This has nothing to do with the Bulls management or investors but everything to do with the area’s apparent inability to support new sports franchises.

But it was my good fortune to win an evening of San Jose Sharks’ hockey with the head coach and some staff of the San Francisco Bulls and I have to tell you we had a great time. Talking with Coach Curcio hasn’t turned me into a hockey expert but I’ve learned a thing or two about the business of hockey. It’s also reaffirmed the notion that hockey is still a pretty closed club and it’s that club that owns and operates almost everthing related to the professional sport.

Unlike the past endeavors to expand the sports landscape here in San Francisco, the Bulls might actually stand a chance. Based on some of the things we talked about as far as sustainability of the team, comparing the draw the Spiders had back in the 90’s, the Bulls have attendance targets that are very attainable. Add in my perception that interest in hockey has increased since the days of the Spiders and we could be looking at pretty full barn.

On the hockey side of things the ECHL has a natural churn built into the system so year over year teams, for the most part, have mostly new rosters. This will allow the Bulls to start off on as close a level playing field with other teams as is possible. At the end of the day the success of the team is going to come down to winning, and starting on par with the talent of other teams should prove invaluable towards that. The standard is too high around here. If you don’t win people won’t come out.

Desipite my dreams of sticky floors, drunk mascots and fights in the stands the San Francisco Bulls instead appear poised to become a viable, sustainable fixture on the San Francisco sports landscape. The only question left in my mind is, will it be ‘Let’s Go Bulls!’ or ‘Go Bulls Go!’

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Believe it or not I - The Ref - won a contest to go to tomorrow’s San Jose Sharks game with the coach of the Bulls Pat Curcio! Interestingly enough he’s also the team’s President and General Manager. We’ll be out there sporting our San Francisco Bulls swag promoting the new team and I’ll be asking a ton of questions of Coach/President/GM Curcio about managing and coaching a hockey team.

One problem - Coach Curcio is friends with the coach of the Washington Capitals so for him it’s ‘Go Caps Go!’. Best way to quiet a Capitals fan is a Sharks win!

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The good news is the Sharks have played the fewest games in the NHL with 35 and have anywhere from 3 to 6 games in hand on the top 8 teams in the Western Conference.

The bad news is they make up those games in a hellacious March where the Sharks only have one 2-day break, play back-to-back nights three times and play every other day the rest of the month. Throw in the last half of February and that changes to just two 2-day breaks, play back-to-back nights four times and play every other day the rest of the time.

One story floating around last season was the Sharks were tired entering the playoffs because they had to push hard to at the end of the season to get a high seed in the playoffs. This year, seeding notwithstanding, the Sharks are probably going to be tired just by the nature of the schedule.

Right now would be a great time to pull off one of those monumental runs where the Sharks win or get points in 18 or 19 of the next 20 games as they need to be able to rest some guys entering the last third of the season. The Sharks have shown over the last 4 years that such things are not out of reach but the inconsistent play this year suggests such a feat less likely than possible.

Does anyone else think the last 6 weeks of the season combined with the extended seasons the last two years is going to take a physical toll on this team, a toll they might not be able to overcome?

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Feb. 28, Flyers at Sharks:

While the first half of the season will have plenty of major home matchups featuring prominent Western Conference teams, the Sharks will have lots of opportunities to play with the best teams in the East in the second half. One such game will be against Philly to wrap up the month of February, a game that will show a lot about how good the Sharks actually are as we head down the home stretch.

Mar. 1, Sabres at Sharks:

The Buffalo Sabres once again have one of the stronger teams in the league this year, and the Sharks will be really tested after a physical matchup with the Flyers just a couple days earlier.

Mar. 22, Bruins at Sharks:

A late-season matchup featuring the defending champion Bruins and the Sharks will be enough get Sharks fans off their couch. Can the Sharks consistently beat some of the better teams in the league?

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One of the things he addresssed was the Sharks slow start to the 2010-2011 season. After watching the Sharks struggle for two months through December it wasn’t until January that Wilson started making moves to improve the areas of the team he felt were lacking. After those moves, sometime in January and definitely after the All-Star break, the Sharks got back to their winning ways and made a strong push to the playoffs. However Wilson felt it may have been that strong push that wore down the Sharks and contributed to their running out of gas in the Conference Finals. If faced with the same situation again, where the team was struggling early, Wilson indicated he wouldn’t wait that long again to make the tough moves to improve the team.

So my questions are what is Wilson’s definition of a struggling team and how much sooner is ’sooner’? The San Jose Sharks haven’t exactly been lighting it up lately and they sit 11 points out of first place in the Western Conference. And it’s mid December. For reference the Sharks have a record of 15-10-2 with 32 points through 27 games. This time last year the Sharks were 14-9-4 with 32 points through 27 games.

Maybe Mr. Wilson is working the phones as we speak?

And has anyone given any thought to the idea that, as ‘genius’ as it is that Wilson is able to sign players like Patrick Marleau, Joe Thronton, Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski to short term deals with home town discounts, it also makes those players easier to trade? Not saying it’s going to happen, but then again look at what happened to Devin Setoguchi.

The next few weeks will be interesting. Hopefully the Sharks will go on another one of their locally infamous 15-20 game runs and propel themselves back into the top of the Western Conference. Nothing silences speculation like winning…

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The first time I heard the word ‘parity’ I hated it. For me parity was the league’s way of trying to spin the idea that mediocrity was a good thing. What?!? A little history…

I was a San Francisco 49er fanatic during the 80’s and 90’s which meant I watched my team dominate for 15 years - a true dynasty in the sports sense of the word. The team’s owner Eddie DeBartolo spent whatever it took to acquire talent and win championships. In reaction to Eddie’s spending ways the NFL instituted a salary cap – also known as ‘The Eddie DeBartolo Rule’. This meant that talent could not be hoarded and talent was distributed amongst all the teams. The NFL pitched the salary cap as a way of promoting parity. My recollection of the time was that the quality of play initially suffered. I hated ‘parity’ because it was obvious play was suffering and the salary cap meant owners were guaranteed certain revenue. I felt like I was being sold on bad play and more profits.
I now feel that what I was watching was the league adapting. Because players moved around and couldn’t be kept for years on end, many teams’ systems no longer worked. You couldn’t have an offensive and defensive system that took weeks to learn because you didn’t have that kind of time to develop a player. Eventually teams created systems where players could easily be replaced – an adaptation to the new reality. And that new reality was that offensively and defensively most teams played basically the same 2 or 3 schemes with individual twists put in here and there. The quality of play then got better and parity, which used to be a marketing spin for mediocrity, now evolved into the true reality.

Once the league matured under the new system you have more competition, tighter playoff races and faster franchise turnarounds. Take the aforementioned 49ers. In one year, this year, the team went from afterthoughts to playoff contenders. With true parity it no longer takes years to rebuild, it can happen in a season or two. Unfortunately there are some detractors from the idea of parity, and that usually comes from fans whose teams dominated under the old system (like say, myself). But in the end you build history of different champions from year to year, spreading the sports love around the league and bringing more hope to fans in every corner of the league.

When it came to the discussion on the radio this morning the question ‘do you like the style of play in today’s game’ stems from the idea that most teams run the same system. If you look at hockey it has gone through the same kind of evolution. The lock out, the salary cap, the adjustment and now parity. How else do you explain Minnesota, St. Louis, Toronto and Florida sitting in the top of their conferences after failing to make the playoffs last year? If you think about it even further the same pattern occurred in the NBA and in college football (after they limited the number of scholarships a university can offer).

When I decided to write this post my topic was going to be how San Jose Sharks went from 3rd in the Western Conference to 9th in a period of one week. The answer is parity, and it took me 500+ words to get here.

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Devin Setoguchi Returns To HP Pavillion

First let me make it perfectly clear that I’m not an overly emotional person to start and I completely understand the business of sports. I wear a sweater with my name and number on it because I know players come and players go and I’m not one to collect $100+ jerseys every year to keep up with roster.

But watching Setoguchi come out for the warm up skate definitely felt funny – nay emotional – to say the least. Over the years I’ve gone done to ice level to watch the boys warm up before the game. Mostly I do it for the kids, trying to build that connection between the players and my nephew - no other sport provides an up-close and personal experience like hockey does. I never pay too much attention to it.

But watching Setoguchi warm up last night I realized a visible difference in his routine. I could actually see something of a difference in his body language that wasn’t quite as confident and felt a little shy. Not so much with Heatley but he’s gone through this before.

So what was the crowd reaction? During the announcement of the Wild’s starting line-up Setoguchi got a big cheer and Heatley got a combination of cheers and jeers. And the final confirmation of the mood at the Shark Tank was when they continually booed Heatley whenever he had a puck during a 3rd period power play.

All I can say is this, just like I know players come and players go and that’s the business of sports – we may not have seen the last of Setoguchi in a Sharks sweater.

Dany Heatley as a Minnesota Wild

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The Red Wings took the bull by the horns, and posted a 5-0-0 record, the best start since 1972-73, where Detroit posted 6-0-0, but failed to make the playoffs come the post season, with Montreal defeating Chicago in the 1973 final, by 4 games to 2. Maybe I heard the stats more since I was actually in the USA at the time the Red Wings beat the Blue Jackets 5-2, and upon leaving the Joe Louis Arena, the radio was full of excited commentators and phone-in fans waxing lyrical about the amazing season that was in store for Detroit, and how with 5 wins from 5 we were looking unstoppable.

In all fairness, they were right. We DID look unstoppable. The non-existent powerplay had been 0 for 18, until that night, where Johan Franzen scored twice, and Lidstrom tallied in the 3rd to go 3 for 5 with the man-advantage. Suddenly, the powerplay issues were over, and Detroit would head to Washington full of confidence motivation, and a defence that was as stingy as they come, with just 7 goals conceded in 5 games, and 2 shutouts among their results.

Wrong. A 7-1 pummelling at the Capitals opened the floodgates and everyone was trying Detroit on for size. Losses were piling up and being beaten by the Caps was just the start. The Wings found themselves losing to Columbus, San Jose, Minnesota (twice) and Calgary, scoring just 6 goals in 6 games. The free-scoring, tight defence Red Wings were suddenly the no scoring, slack defence Red Wings, and after posting 5-5-1, the fans and media were getting restless.

Someone needed a good thrashing. We needed to play tight defence, slick offence and give some poor unsuspecting team a thorough stuffing. Enter the Anaheim Ducks.

Mike Babcock has only so much tolerance. Apparently, his coaching techniques become more aggressive as his frustration grows, and the Red Wings looked not only determined, but a little bit terrified when they took to the ice to face the Ducks. However, the team did was they needed to do. A solid defence performance resulted in Howard’s second shutout of the season, and the forwards did their job, potting 5 times to leave the Ducks in disarray.

The stats which had lauded the Red Wings for so long were coming back to haunt them. They went from best start since 1972, through to losing 6 straight for the first time since February 08, and acording to the Elias Sports Bureau, they were also the first team in League history to start a season 5-0-0 then follow it with a winless skid of six games or more.

I honesty, it didn’t matter who we played, the thirst for revenge meant that the Wings would play fast, hard hockey. Poor Jonas Hiller was on the receiving end, being peppered with 45 shots before being pulled in place of Dan Ellis, with Detroit forcing a total of 50 shots on goal by the final horn.

So what have we learnt from this? In Detroit’s case, we’ve learnt that winning is habitual, but so is losing, and it’s much easier to break the winning habit than it is the losing habit. I think one thing that’s key here though, is that when you break the losing skid, it’s best to do it with a big win over a top goalie, rather than scraping an OT or SO win over a backup netminder. There’s much more confidence around the Detroit camp now, and despite the failures we’ve already covered, there is still an air of expectancy. 6-5-1 isn’t great, but at the same time, considering the way we’d been playing during that 6 game losing streak, and the lack of goals we were scoring, I think any win is going to be a boost, let alone a big win and a shutout.

The other thing learnt is that when you’re winning, you want to hear all the stats you can about how great the team is, but when you’re losing, you really want those commentators to shut the hell up…

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You have to feel bad for the likes of Rick Nash, Jeff Carter, RJ Umberger, Derek Dorsett and Jackets goalie Steve Mason among others. There is definetly a change waiting to happen with the Jackets. I understand the GM said the coaches are staying and have no worry of losing their jobs. I for one don’t believe that.. The owner will only put up with that for so long. One bright thing about losing a game to such a lopsided score is simply it magnifies the issues at hand. Rich Nash is an awesome player, but they were so out of sync on the ice that Nash at one point went end to end with zero help from teammates. Give Derek Dorsett credit for engaging Wayne Simmonds in a fight to get his team’s blood flowing. This is a fight he decidedly lost too. Cody Bass of the Jackets fought Zac Rinaldo and was seen animatedly calling his team out to get them going, even enough that he hit one of his teammates on the bench on his way up the tunnel. It was just too little too late. The score only amplified the issues the Jackets are having. Being a good NHL fan, I can only hope that change will come sooner, rather than later. I’d never wish anyone out of a job, but change is definetly needed here. The Jackets have only made the post season one time in their 10yr(or so) existence. Time for some changes so pride can be built back into this team.

Some Flyers highlights and lowlights from the game. Highlights have got to be Jake Vorachek having a great showing against his former team and former coach, who came out with some negative comments about Vorachek after they didn’t make the playoffs last season. Vorachek had a goal and two assists. He kept his comments to himself when asked if it felt great to beat his old team and his former coach. He said he’s done commenting on his former coaches comments and he was glad his team won. Probably the biggest lowlight the last few games is the cement hockey stick Matt Carle has been playing with lately. Yes, he scored on a nice backhander to the penthouse, but his passes up the middle and turnovers are so uncharacteristic of the former Hobey Baker award winner. I think when his partner Pronger comes back he will settle down. The other lowlight is how many times we have had goals scored on us by way of oddball deflections off our own players.

Kick Saves…
Flyers captain Chris Pronger was medically cleared for practice, on the condition he wear a visor. He has been wearing a visor and recently joined his teammates in full practice. He’s expected to play Wednesday against Tampa Bay Lightning.

Flyers scored a power play goal last night. They also seemed to do better on defensive faceoffs. Bryz looks much more at ease in the crease than he had previously. I like that he gets angry when scored on, he cares…

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There were only a few bright spots for the Flyers tonight. Zac Rinaldo scored his first NHL goal and followed it up with a breakaway that was stopped by Devils goalie Johan Hedberg. Of course the Giroux, Jagr, Hartnell line looked good. The pass across the Devils goal mouth from Jagr to Giroux, with Hartnell screening both the defense and goalie, was a sight to see. The play ended with Giroux roofing the puck for a goal. Sergei Bobrovsky cannot be blamed for this loss, Bob made some really nice saves tonight, but with lackluster play in front of him he really had no chance to win this one. Maxine Talbot’s penalty shot goal was brilliant. Talbot started out slow swinging wide right crossing the blue line, then skating right to left across the front of the goal, pulling Hedberg with him across the crease when he put the puck between his pads for a goal. The Flyers squeaked out a point in this one, so its not a total loss.

Kick Saves….

Patrick Kaleta suspended 4 games by NHL for hit on Flyers Jakub Voracek.
Remember my whine about Patrick Kaleta of Buffalo running around hitting late and being his typical dirty self? Well Brendan Shanahan must have seen what I saw. Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek was along the boards in a fight with Kaleta for the puck. Kaleta backed away took a couple steps ducked his head and came up with a serious head butt to Voracek. Now you’ll be shocked to know neither of the refs saw what happened and there was no penalty on the play. Here’s to the NHL getting this one right, regardless of the refs.

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Courturier, Van Riemsdyk and Hartnell opened the scoring in the first period and chased Ryan Miller from the net by 6:23 of the first. Replacing Miller was Jonas Enroth.

As for our goalie, Bryz, I see definite improvements in his game right now. He still seems uncertain at times and still launches rebounds but he looked more confident handling the puck behind the net. He looked completely like himself stopping Thomas Vanek, in the last minute of the game, in close on two shots. These were not easy shots to stop either.

Supporting my theory the refs should not be noticed, they only called one first period penalty to the Flyers. This trend continued with the Flyers being called for three minors and Buffalo being called for none (Not including the fights at the end of the second period). The Sabres were not called for a minor penalty during the game until 3:26 of the third period. Nice job refs, you must not have seen Patrick Kaleta running around hitting people after the play and trying to catch Giroux well after he released the puck. Or Nathan Gerbe slashing everyone in sight.

Please NHL, remove one of the on ice refs and rescind the instigator penalty. You will see a better flow to the game and less serious injuries resulting from guys trying to run guys over with no fear of retaliation. I liked the officiating so much better when I was a kid. One more thing I tend to harp on, the refs were in the way all game long last night.

Kick Saves……
Scott Hartnell continues to impress with his new linemates, Giroux and Jagr. Hartnell has 10pts in his last five games. There is some real chemistry between Giroux and Jagr but Hartnell is fitting into that chemistry very well right now.

Typically defenseman log the most minutes per game, however Giroux lead the Flyers in TOI with 25:01 last night.

Courterier took 6 faceoffs and only lost one. He also opened the scoring in the game. I for one, am glad the Flyers kept him with the big club. I can’t believe he’s 18yrs old.

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And speaking of home I’m now experiencing some of the dynamics of being full season ticket holder. First is the ‘what could have been’ factor. When the schedule came out tonight’s hockey game conflicted with another event so I sold the tickets. And since Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were both out at the beginning of the season I felt giving up this game was not too big of a deal. Well that event I had scheduled got cancelled and the Pittsburgh Penguins are 8-3-2 so there’s certainly a bit of ‘what could have been’ creeping into my mind.

I am however going to three of the 6 games during this home stand and it would really disappoint if they lost on the nights I went but won on the nights I don’t. I’m not trying to be a Negative Nancy here but I think it only natural that my conversion to full season ticket holder come with such thoughts. I am curious to see how it feels to go to three games in 10 days – since I live an hour away from HP Pavilion every game is like a road game for me…

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As for Bryz, he played a much better game than the previous couple. He made some good saves when we needed them and his confidence looked fine to me. In fact, the only goal he did allow was not really his fault at all. During Canes pressure in the Flyers defensive zone the Canes managed an in close shot which Bryz stopped with no problem. However, on the same play it looked like Hartnell was trying to help out sliding by the crease and he slid right into Bryz taking him out of the play completely with no chance for Bryz to get back to the crease. Jussi Jokinen scored into an empty net. That was more of us stepping on our own feet and probably trying to do too much around Bryz (knowing his confidence was a bit low). Instead it put the Canes on the board to tie it up at 1-1 3mins into the second period. Bryz looked solid after that goal though. There are two things they need to work on, his rebounds at times are long and communications with the defense must get better. Flyers fans can rest easy though, there is no goalie controversy in Philadelphia like there has been for the last 10yrs, Bryz is a top flite goalie. I’ve watched him in Phoenix for the last couple years and he is THE reason they even made the playoffs.

Has everyone noticed there is no one wearing the “C” while Pronger is recovering? The Flyers have been rotating an additional “A” among the players. Max Talbot was wearing the extra “A” last night. Talbot has been a great addition to the Flyers. He was a guy we hated when he played for the Penguins but the guy you’d love to have on your team. I am glad he’s a Flyer, he’s a defensive expert too. Wayne Simmonds is another great pick up that’s been playing well. He’s another player I’ve watched over the last couple years and told everyone they would like having him here as a Flyer.

KICK SAVES……(additional comments)

The Flyers did a nice job of avoiding the stupid penalties last night. They ended up with three minor penalties for the game. Personally, I think this has a lot to do with the officiating of any given game. The refs should not be “noticed” during a game and sometimes they make numerous weak calls and are noticed. This disrupst the flow of a game and doesn’t allow a team to gel and get into a groove for the game. The officiating in the NHL, in general, needs to be better. Two improvements would help the NHL, remove the instigator penalty and reduce the refs to one per game with two linesman. Too often, like last night, you see the refs getting in the way of the play and disrupting a potential pasing play along the boards.

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The Sedin brothers are one of the best pairs out there, yet when it comes down to it where are they? Playoffs last year they slacked off and were nowhere to be seen, a major cause of their team’s failure. This year they have been playing a lot better again, now that the pressure is off, but are they really leading the team? Do they need to take a course on leadership and example setting?

Also, Luongo. Schneider has been playing way better than you have. He did during the playoffs and he is again. You are being paid a lot of money and are a top notch goalie, why aren’t you playing at your skill level? And don’t give me that crap about having a bad October, that is just superstitious crap that you have convinced yourself of. If you believe you are going to have a bad October, of course you are going to play bad. You have no good excuse, play better! You are better than you are showing us; make the saves!

As I sit here and watch the Vancouver game against Washington, I can celebrate because they have finally gotten a first goal and have scored another on their first power play. But they have ended up in the penalty box early on once again, and shortly after it ends they let in a goal. If you spend a majority of the game in the penalty box with lazy penalties that should never have been taken, it is really hard to win games. Your players are tired, goalies overworked, and the other team just has too much room to work with. Stay out of the box! Don’t take stupid penalties!

Defensively they have been kind of weak as well. Not enough leg movement happening. You can’t stand in front of the net waiting for things to happen, make things happen! Put on the pressure and don’t give the opposing team any room to work with.

Offensively, where is the finish? They are getting the shots, but don’t seem to be finishing the plays. Follow up and get those rebounds! Be like Kesler; get your butt in that goalie’s face. Don’t be afraid to get hit by that puck. Redirect shots and don’t give the goalie a clear line of site nor any room to work with. Get in there!

Hopefully as the season progresses things will improve, but this has been a terrible start to the season! Rant over…

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It’s not easy to watch your hockey players run into each other and pass the puck to the other team. The good news is, unfortunately, I’ve seen these guys play like this before so I know this ‘ship can be righted’. It’s just a matter of sooner rather than later.

On the upside I really like the effort of Torrey Mitchell and Tommy Wingels, however their lack of size seems to cancel out their speed and push. I also like consistent effort of Michal Handzus and I wouldn’t be surprised if he moved up a line or two.

And if Handzus did move up a line or two it might be because of the somewhat disappointing play of Ryane Clowe and Logan Couture. Clowe looks like he’s off to another slow start similar to two seasons ago, and really I didn’t expect Couture to come out and repeat his feats from last year. Clowe doesn’t seem to have is physical game and Couture seems to be one second behind.

Can someone answer me this: Is Brent Burns trying too hard or is that just his game? I like that he’s always handling the puck and taking shots – almost like he wants the puck and wants the shot – but is that ‘leadership’ or just ‘trying to impress’? I wish I could watch video of him in Minnesota.

But not to fear as the Sharks are now off on a two week 6-game trip to the east coast. I don’t know what it is but hockey players always talk about how road trips help the team come together. I don’t know if I like the idea that, despite all the skill, stats and physics, the success of a team sometimes comes down to a fraternity-like road trip. But if the team doesn’t win more games than it loses on this trip I’m curious to see just what action General Manager Doug Wilson takes. It was he that said the team would take swifter action than it did last season should the team start to fall behind.

But then again we are behind, is 4 games too soon?

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As you will probably know, my team is the Detroit Red Wings. I’m sure, however, that these experiences are not limited to my team only, and are shared by all NHL fans around the globe. One of the few things that we all have in common are those “Huh?!” moments when you can’t quite take in what just happened. It’s not uncommon for a complete fantasy moment (your star forward netting a shootout win over a playoff rival, meaning you are secured a playoff berth), can be ruined the next day by a total facepalm moment (aforementioned star forward injuring his hand by getting it wedged in a Pringles tube…these are examples and unlikely to happen unless you’re the rotund Kyle Wellwood, or glassjaw Peter Forsberg).

Logic goes straight out of the window. Teams you expect to win without breaking sweat, drop points, and teams you expect to roll over and die, win by several clear goals. Players whose careers should be over, reach big numbers, and those who are expected to be star players, stumble and underachieve.

So what’s the best way to deal with it? What gets you through the season? How are you meant to keep your sanity when you lose to the St Louis Blues, allowing 10 goals, but then in the following game, destroy a team that’s a playoffs shoe-in? I mean really?

Surprises vary in their degree of severity. Small surprises are fine. Fabian Brunnström being one of these. One of only 4 players to score a hat-trick their debut NHL game, Brunnström never really got going in Dallas, and as such, found himself in the AHL, and then a free agent. However, since joining the Red Wings for pre-season, we’ve seen a huge leap forward from the 26-year old Swede. Goals aplenty, and points coming out of his ears (not literally, as although this would be handy, I can’t imagine it would be comfortable) in a manner which must frustrate Dallas fans. It’s OK that it annoys you. We think similar things about Kyle Quincy and Ville Leino. Did very little in Detroit, but go on the bigger and better things elsewhere. Admittedly, Brunnström is yet to show that he can carry his pre-season abilities into the NHL, but you have to be upbeat about a player that’s worked with Franzen and Bertuzzi all pre-season and come out one of the top point-scorers on the team. Also in the category of small surprises is the retention of Jiri Hudler. Last season Hudler performed below his expected points projection. He seemed to be on another planet a lot of the time and found himself a healthy scratch on more than one occasion.

Medium surprises are manageable, but not appreciated. It’s was expected that Osgood and Draper would hang up the skates, no big shock there, since Draper was the same age as the NHL, and Osgood had about as many flaws. However, it is a bit disappointing since Draper was the owner of one of the truly great playoff beards. What ranks as a medium surprise is the retirement of Brian Rafalski due to his continued knee problems, and then the replacing of him with Ian White, a decent and reliable D-man, who was a big reason that Detroit failed to progress in last season’s Playoffs. I’m happy with the replacement, don’t get me wrong, but the medium surprise is definitely the simple fact that it was needed.

Big surprises are hitting one extreme or the other. They can be “SURPRISE! Your team just signed Alex Ovechkin, Steve Stamkos and Sidney Crosby for a combined $9.50 because they decided they liked you as a fan so much, they wanted to play for your team!”, which is the kind of big surprise that only happens in the dreams of Ottawa Senators fans, or in publications by Eklund. They can also be “SURPRISE! Your franchise player has been released to free agency and he’s going to join your most hated rivals for one season, where he’ll most likely win the Cup, and everyone outside of your team will forget he ever played for you!”, which let’s face it, was a very real possibility for Dallas Stars fans last season for some considerable time. Usually, these take the form of trades to dump salary cap (Calgary, step right up!) where you ditch some of your best players due to contract issues, or trades for players you never expect to leave/arrive. The trade of Brett Lebda and young prospect Robert Slaney for Lombardi and Franson must have had Toronto fans hitting the F5 key repeatedly, waiting for the typo’s to be corrected. Lebda is as much use as a one-legged cat trying to bury poop on a frozen pond, whilst Lombardi and Franson are quality additions with both a young defenceman, and an experienced forward. I don’t quite know what Nashville fans did to deserve this.

However, all jokes aside, the loss of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team in Russia early in September, with the deaths of all the players and staff on board, was the biggest, and most upsetting surprise of the post-season. The deaths of Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak also put a sombre mood over the summer. All three NHL players were enforcers for their respective teams, and investigations are underway to see if there was anything the NHL management could change to avoid such sad and serious losses to the hockey community in the future.

It usually takes teams about 6-7 games to settle a roster and lines. Then you can start to see definite links emerging between specific players. You’ll find that when the opposition’s top forwards or out, your coach will ice Players A and B all the time, but it takes a few games to figure out that Players A and B are appropriate for that role. With this in mind, nobody ever really believes their divisions take shape until the 10-15 games mark, but let’s face it, nobody will be complaining if your team is top of the Conference come 15 games in!

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1. Full season tickets: CHECK
2. Sweaters washed: CHECK
3. 10-Pack: CHECK
4. Extra games for sale: CHECK
5. Found places to park for free near the arena: CHECK
6. Found an independent way to get to the arena on public transportation: CHECK
7. Identified all the new food vendors including ice cream locations: CHECK
8. Emotional fortitude to withstand another playoff run: WORK IN PROGRESS

From what I could see way up in the roof of the building Thomas Greiss looks really good.  He definitely has quick legs - the quickest I’ve seen of any goalie in a quite some time (he’s young and well rested but, whatever).  The defense also looks much more ’solid’ which it should given the trades made this year. Hopefully this means we’re going to ‘get’ exactly what we traded for - shut down defense when needed.  And offense looks good but is really going to require some younger guys to step up if we want the kind of depth we had last year (but that’s stating the obvious).  I feel like Jamie McGinn has to make his mark this year as he’s spent the better part of the last two years doing the Worcester shuffle, and Tommy Wingles is showing some serious speed which could be helpful.

And speaking of speed - Martin Havlat was missing again last night (he was also missing from the ‘Teal & White’ event).  I’ve been anxious to see if this guy is as fast as advertised by haven’t seen hide nor hair of him.  Injured?

It also got really chippy last night.  There were 3 fights and a pair of un-sportsman-like conduct penalties all within the last 3 minutes of the second period.  It looked like some kind of mma workout program out there last night!

I sat there during the pre-game and looked at all those ‘Pacific Division Champion’ banners and asked myself when we’re going to stop collecting just PDCs and start collecting shiny silver things.  Maybe this year!

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Explaining the sport you love, to friends and family who are unfamiliar to it, can sometimes be a difficult task. Many the hour I have tried to break down the rules of ‘the code’, despite there never actually being any written confirmation of them.

“So Bertuzzi was wrong for punching Steve Moore in the back of the head, but most of the damage to Moore was done when Bertuzzi fell on top of him, followed by Moore’s teammate Andrei Nikolishin and Bertuzzi’s teammate Sean Pronger” I explain. My companion nods slowly. At this point I do wonder if maybe I should have explained the whole ‘bounty on Moore’s head’ situation.

“But surely it was retaliation for Moore’s dirty hit on Marcus Naslund? And that’s allowed in ‘The Code’ right?” I’m slightly impressed. There was I, thinking she had glazed over, and had lost interest, when really, she’d taken it all in and was just paying attention with a gormless look on her face. My ‘concentration’ face isn’t much better, and it has been known to involve me sticking my tongue out before now.

“Retaliation is indeed allowed, however, this had already taken place. Moore had fought Matt Cooke earlier in the game. He’d stood up and accepted a fight that was expected of him. That was him taking his punishment. The fact Moore fared quite well and gave a good account of himself didn’t matter. He’d accepted a fight, and that should have been that. The issue was that people wanted to see Moore get destroyed, and that didn’t happen, so Bertuzzi took it upon himself.” At this point, we are interrupted by ‘life’ and have to continue the conversation at another time, but the recent changes in discipline have brought up this kind of subject once again.

Cheap play and dirty hits were never part of the game 30 years or so ago. The issue has come along since players have got bigger, faster, and more protected by armour. I certainly know then when I dress in my hockey armour and take to the ice, padded up to the max, I feel like Robocop, and use my 6’3”, 220lb build to its max. I know I can hit the boards at pace if I need to, or skate hard to crash the net, since even if I collide with someone, or something, chances are I’ll be fine to the protection. I wouldn’t like to skate hard to the net with sticks and elbows flying around if I WASN’T wearing such protection. The players protection means that huge hits are going to be commonplace, because the pain of throwing a big hit has been removed.

The problem is that despite the physical exterior of your head being protected, having someone elbow it causes such a trauma to the interior part of your head (the soft, squishy, and rather important bits) that whiplash and concussions are more common than ever.

The biggest factor, however, is the removal of the instigator penalty. Back before this penalty was introduced, if a player was agitating, and playing cheap (are you listening Trevor Gillies?), then the other team would send out the enforcer, who would sort it out. Either the cheap player cut it out, or he’d have to stand up and fight. It was an accepted way of policing the game, and the players respected that. It cut out the dangerous plays, because nobody really fancied having to fight enforcers like Tony Twist, Bob Probert, Rob Ray, or Kelly Chase, unless they really, really had to.

Now though, an enforcer has to get the cheap player to agree to drop the gloves, which of course, they rarely do. When the NHL introduced the instigator rule, then they took on the burden of policing the games themselves. The officials were expected to see all the dirty plays, and the authorities were expected to dish out suitable punishments to those involved. Unfortunately, the officials can’t be expected to see every single move that every player makes on the ice, and as such, the officials miss things. When the enforcer enters the ice to make the cheap player pay for his actions, the enforcer gets an extra 2 minute penalty, rewarding the cheap player’s team with a powerplay. The punishments ended up being a metaphorical lucky dip. The lack of consistency meant that similar offences were being dealt with completely differently, and there was often a wild guess as to the punishment.

When there’s a chance that a cheap player can get away with playing dirty, then they’ll take it. And even if they do get caught, depending on what day it is, depends on how severe the suspension is. Last season we saw some sicken examples of dirty play, that some players took part in without any concern as to their subsequent punishments. The Islanders and Penguins spent nearly two games knocking the living daylights out of eachother, including goalies fighting players, concussions, and other dangerous plays. Obviously the precedent for suspensions was so  hit-and-miss, the player felt they could take their chances. Star NHL player Sidney Crosby missed a huge part of last season due to a hard hit to the head, and was out with concussion, only resuming skating intensively during pre-season. Multiple top players have been out with severe concussions for some considerable time, with Marc Savard being the best example. Many believe Savard’s career is over, due to the severe head trauma he suffered.

Would these events have happened if instead of a randomly-generated suspension, a really good beat-down was administered to the offending player? Who knows? However, one thing is for sure. If a player is lining up another player for a head-hit, a check to the head, or a slash up high, then if punishment is instant, and brutal, then it’s a better deterrent than a few games on the sidelines. If your play takes out the opposition’s star player for a couple of months, then your 4-game suspension was probably worth it. If, however, you know that dirty play near a team’s star player will result in a weighty punch to the face, then it’s harder to justify it to yourself. Everyone knows that punishment. Being repeatedly smashed in the face by someone bigger than you is the kind of deterrent we all understand.

This pre-season saw some of the usual plays being made. Dangerous hits, cheap play, and agitators making the most of the flexibility in the system. This time though, something else happened. New NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan slapped big suspensions on players for what, last year, would have been deemed as ‘part of the game’. Wisniewski, Staubitz, and Boyes have all been handed big, fat suspensions, that carry into the regular season, and recently Jean-Francois Jacques was suspended by the NHL, for whichever games he makes the roster for, so basically, there’s no point in NHL team taking him on, since he wouldn’t be able to dress for 5 games. It’s also being considered by the AHL to make his suspension take affect there too. That’s some serious ramifications for what was a nasty and unnecessary play, and so it should be.

Maybe now, the punishments being dished out by the NHL will be both consistent, and appropriate? Certainly, Shanahan’s suspensions have been suitable, and the follow-up videos explaining why the action was deemed illegal are most welcome. There’s a real “That was illegal, this is the punishment and here’s why we think it’s a suitable one”. Surely this is how it was meant to me?

If the NHL is steadfastly refusing to remove the instigator penalty, then this, I hope, is the next best thing. Maybe then we’ll have less serious concussions and injuries. Sadly however, Marc Savard won’t feel any benefit.

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The autograph session is very interesting.  The arena opens at 5:00pm but people start lining up outside at 4:00pm.  Insider the arena the players are set up in groups of about 5 or 6.  When the arena opens you get a list of what players are sitting where and you can go, get in line and get an autograph.  For example I went straight for the Joe Thornton table where he, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Benn Ferriero and a few others were seated.  After getting my mini-helmet signed by Thornton and Vlasic I rushed over to the line where Dan Boyle, Jason Demers and Doug Murray were signing. Because the autographs only go until 6:10pm I got cut of just before the front of the line!  My girlfriend managed to get through the Ryane Clowe/Antti Niemi table AND the Joe Thornton table…she’s much faster than me.

Many of the players appeared shy and/or uncomfortable at the event.  I’m sure meeting fans, especially en-masse, has got to be a strange experience if you’re not used to it.  Think about it.  As a fan I watch, read and talk about the players all the time.  Over the years you get a sense that you know these guys.  When you finally meet them in person there’s this assumption on my end that we kind of know each other when really Joe Thornton has no clue who I am.  As a player you’re meeting all these people who talk to you like they know you and really, what would you say to someone like that?  It’s actually kind of creepy…in like stalker creepy.

You want to know which player seemed to be having the best time of them all?  Ryane Clowe!  He was smiling with everyone, making eye contact, engaging the fans - while right next to him Niemi just kind of nodded hello to everyone.

Then there was the scrimmage.  You get to file into the arena and sit anywhere.  First let me tell you - whoever owns Section 215, Row 16, Seats 1-3, your seats are AWESOME!  My seats are in Section 209, Row 16 - you can touch the roof of the building from up there!  Anyway we watched the game where the team was split into two squads - Teal (home) and White (away).  It’s a much more fun game to watch then I thought it would be.  I thought it would be like the All-Star game where everyone pretty much never puts their head down and contact is non-existent - wrong.  They do go at it pretty hard, especially the ‘rookies’ who are trying to make the team.

Team Teal beat Team White 5-4.  What’s interesting about that is 4 of the 5 Team Teal goals game from Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski.  There’s your offense Sharks fans.

After the scrimmage you can take your skates and ice skate in the arena if you so desire, however I can’t skate so we skipped that part of the event.

I really enjoyed the event and must say the Sharks organization really does a good job of making their fans feel connected to the team.  I have yet to have a bad experience as a partial or full season ticket holder.  And Mr./Mrs. Section 215 Row 16 Seats 1-3, when my dot.com goes public I’m gunning for your seats!

Team Teal

Team White

Face-off! I love a can't lose situation

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Last year, as a result of my partial season ticket ownership, I got to purchase tickets for the first home game in Round 1, the second home game in Round 2, the third home game in Round 3 and the first home game in The Finals.  That’s a great deal because you pay face value for the tickets and you don’t have to pay Ticketmaster fees and all that other stuff they charge you.  However I ended up going to just about every playoff game I could and the tickets I got through Ticketmaster cost over twice as much as the one’s I got as a season ticket holder. It was getting really expensive!

Then when the Sharks were going to play the Detroit Red Wings in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals we were able to get a pair of tickets from friends who are full season ticket holders.  The tickets were all the way up in the second to last row of the upper deck on the end where the Sharks attack twice.  Granted they were way up there but the pair of tickets cost less than (I think) $70.  Think about that, $70 for two tickets to a Game 7 against the Red Wings!

So it turned out that a pair of full season tickets opened up in that very same section right next to our friends who sold us those Game 7 tickets - so my girlfriend and jumped on them!  Now we’re the proud owner of full season tickets and nervous as hell about how we’re going to get to so many games during the season.  We’ve already managed to sell some of them on StubHub but we still have a lot of games to either go to, sell or give away.

But whatever money we might lose on unused tickets will definitely be made up in the money we save on playoff tickets.

Which takes me to another issue.  Now I understand why it’s so important to go deep in the playoffs.  MANY season ticket holders do so for access to playoff tickets - not all, but many.  I’m counting on the Sharks to make another deep run in the playoffs to justify my purchase of these tickets.  The reality is that it’s not exactly going to be easy to make it to at least the Western Conference Finals 3 years in a row.  But hey, you gotta have faith that this is the year!

The Sharks organization do a really great job with their season ticket holders, both partial and full.  Everyone in the organization that I’ve spoken to - my 10-pack rep, my full season rep and the group sales rep - are all really great and take good care of you.  In fact we got to attend a great season ticket holder event called ‘Teal & White’, which was supposed to be the topic of this post but I’ll save it that for tomorrow!

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The Stanley Cup Finals are over (although for many fans, the finals were over in April! Sorry Toronto…again!), the awards have been given out, and Free Agency was admittedly very interesting for a few days, but is now just picking up 4th line and backups.

So what to talk about?

Detroit have been making a couple of changes, but nothing amazing. Rafalski retired, and Salei is yet to sign a deal, but we’ve picked up Mike Commodore, and Ian White.

Commodore is a player I’ve always admired. Not just for his defensive play, ability to hit, and determination on the ice, but also for his ability to grow a frankly epic playoff beard. He arrives with 104 points from 454 games in the NHL. I like the deal at $1m for 1-year and also that the defenceman suggested he wears number 64, so that his jersey will read ‘Commodore 64’.

Ian White is a little different however. The former San Jose D-man was a pain in the behind for Detroit in the playoffs last year, as his ability to close down the neutral zone, play hard along the boards, and willingness to hit a shot from the blue line made him an excellent Rafalski replacement. White has tallied 143 points from 401 NHL games with the Sharks, Hurricanes, Flames and Leafs. He signs a 2-years deal at $5.75m.

Elsewhere in the NHL, the free agency when pretty nuts. Vokoun was expected to be the top goalie moving, and yet he was pretty much left sitting on the outside looking in as Auld, Budaj, Boucher, Varlamov, Hedberg, Smith, Garon, Theodore, Elliott, and Giguere, all signed new deals before the ex-Panthers goalie suggested a deal to the Washington Capitals.

Brad Richards delayed making his decision until the 2nd day, but eventually moved from Dallas to the New York Rangers.

However, some of the biggest headlines were due to trades, rather than Free Agents. Philadelphia tied up Bryzgalov, but had to trade Carter to the Blue Jackets for very little in return (Voracek, a 1st and a 3rd), along with Mike Richards to the Kings for the slightly more respectable Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn. Now I know many Flyers fans were dumbstruck about this deal, but this to me looks OK in the end. Philly have had goalie problems for a while now. They didn’t have the cap space to bring in a solid and reliable netminder, and so had to give up some forwards to get Bryzgalov. In return they’ve got some lower line forwards, but I also think they’re players that are ready to come good. I’ve always been a fan of Wayne Simmonds and think his work ethic is second to none. I wouldn’t mind seeing him sporting a winged wheel.

The Calgary Flames traded Regehr, Kotalik and a 2nd to Buffalo for Butler and Byron. That’s the most lop-sided trade I’ve ever seen. Regehr is arguably the best defenseman to move this off-season and I’m amazed at Calgary’s salary dump.

Heatley and Havlat swapped San Jose and Minnesota. I understand Heatley was getting a bit of stick from San Jose in terms of both fans, and possibly in the dressing room too. The general concensus is that Havlat is the better deal, and the Sharks came out of this with the superior player.

Finally, the big talking point was Jaromir Jagr. He spoke at length to the Penguins, Habs, and Red Wings. Slowly, all three withdrew from negotiating with Jagr, and all I can imagine is that he was demanding something the GM’s were unwilling to bend to. Finally, he signed with the Flyers, maybe placating the fans who were very upset with the Carter/Richards trades.

So all in all, a lot of trades, and a lot of changes in FA. I think it’ll take a little while to get use to this!

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Since we last spoke the San Jose Sharks were eliminated from the playoffs by the Vancouver Canucks. I won’t go into detail about everything that has transpired since then, however I will re-state that I sit in the camp where I want the team that beats MY team to lose – I want their fans to feel more pain than myself. So on that front I’m very happy about the Boston Bruins Game 7 victory, however to all my Boston/New England friends – enough with the titles already…

More recently the Sharks have made significant personnel changes, the most ‘drastic’ we’ve seen in a few years. Trading Devin Setoguchi is a tough one but I’ve always thought that the team wasn’t completely sold on him. Since the team only signed him to a one year deal before the start of last season, whilst inking multi-year deals for Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau, I felt like the team was sending him a message. Setoguchi’s body language during interviews gave me the impression that he was more about himself than the team and/or the fans. It’s all a moot point now since he’s now a Minnesota Wild. All I can say is that we’re fortunate that we have enough talent on the team to be able to trade an skilled player like Setoguchi and (hopefully) not take too much of a hit on offense.

And once again referring to my uneducated hockey instinct I always felt that, when being interviewed during our last playoff run, whenever Joe Thornton said that there were ‘guys who can step up and do more’ I thought one of the guys he was talking about was Dany Heatley. I’m actually not sad to see him go. Often injured and sucking down huge cap money I never thought we’d get him off our books. Well, somehow Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson managed to pull it off and relieve our books of that burden.

Speaking of burden, I think Martin Havlat must have become a burden to Minnesota because I don’t see how an even trade of Heatley for Havlat makes any sense for Minnesota unless Havlat wanted out.

With the signing of Brent Burns and Jim Vandermeer we have acquired a second defensive pairing to that of Dan Boyle and Douglas Murray. Throw in our third line of Jason Demers and Marc-Edouard Vlasic and we can actually roll defensive lines just as easily as our offensive lines. And with Antti Niemi and Antero Niittymaki in goal I like what I’m seeing on defense.

After reaching the Western Conference Finals two seasons in a row the objective opinion would be that it’s going to be tough for the Sharks to get there for a third season in a row. Having acquired full season tickets for the upcoming season, with the explicit intent being access to inexpensive playoff tickets, it’s imperative that the Sharks go deep into April, May and (hopefully) June for this investment to pay off for me. I wasn’t so sure about the prospects, but after seeing the moves Wilson has made I have renewed hope that the team will once again make a deep push into the playoffs, after all we still haven’t really won but half the games it takes to win the Stanley Cup despite being in the conference finals two seasons in a row.

Two and a half months until the pre-season starts!

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Nick Lidstrom is unstoppable. He’ll be 42 next season, and yet has signed up for another year of physical exertion, puck-flying danger, and a summer of working out in the gym, forcing the body to work harder than it probably should, and being the captain and leader of the Detroit Red Wings.

I know we have a history of taking on veterans (some even refer to the rink as the Joe Louis Retirement Home!), which doesn’t seem a bad thing when you look at Hasek, Drake, Hull, Robitaille and the likes, so older players must feel like they still have a chance at a cup with the Wings. We seem to have a nice little mix of both youth and experience right now, since Abdelkader, Tatar, Mursak, Emmerton and Helm are all pushing for permanent roster spots alongside Holmstrom, Franzen, Cleary, Datsyuk, Kronwall, Stuart, Bertuzzi and Zetterberg, who are all over 30.

However, trying to get that mix is tough. Who do you keep on as your nominated veterans, and who do you let go to give the younger players their chances?

Obviously, Lidstrom is in for as long as he wants to keep playing. The man is a machine. There was a comment last year about him being the perfect hockey player, and it’s difficult to dispute that. The rest however, are a bit touch and go.

Kris Draper (40)

Drapes had a decent season last year. His career has been exceptional. His first 22 NHL games were with the Winnipeg Jets, and the other 1,357 have been all in a Wings uniform. With 4 Stanley Cups and a Selke Trophy to his name, Draper has been Mr Reliable for many seasons. He is a Free Agent this year, and Ken Holland has already said he doesn’t think there’s a contract on its way to Draper. Much as though I’d be sad to lose him, I think it’s time to go. What I will say though, is that I hope he retires, rather than drifts down into the AHL and ECHL etc. The man has bled the Winged Wheel for 18 years, and needs to go out with dignity.

VERDICT – FREE AGENCY (HOPEFULLY RETIREMENT)

Mike Modano (41)

Modano arrived during last summer, with much pomp and circumstance. His return to Michigan was much heralded, but Mike played only half a season. 40 games, 15 points, and Wings fans were feeling a little deflated. Make no mistake, Modano is a class act. Every shift he takes, he just oozes experience. He collects the puck a lot, since he seems to know where it will be at any time, and although the slashed wrist shortened his season considerably, I still think we could get some results if he was kept on. However, with other forwards pushing into the bottom 6 forwards, Modano is likely to be shown the door.

VERDICT – FREE AGENCY (BUT I WOULDN’T COMPLAIN IF HE WAS KEPT ON)

Chris Osgood (38)

Ozzie’s season was good, bad, and ugly. From reaching his personal milestone of 400 wins, to his poor form surrounding that time, to the injuries that kept him to just 10 games started, Osgood’s season was one to forget. The injuries take longer to heal as you get older, and Osgood is struggling to get himself fit again. In the last couple of seasons, Osgood form has struggled, and he’s become the butt of many jokes. Although he’s stated his intention to return, I know Holland has made it clear that Howard is the no.1, and either MacDonald or a Free Agent will take the backup slot. Osgood will forever be remembered by the Red Wings faithfully, particularly for his playoff performances, but I honestly think it’s time to go. Take your 3 Cups, 2 Jennings, and record of one of few goalies to have scored a legitimate goal, and ride off into the sunset.

VERDICT – FREE AGENCY (HOPEFULLY RETIREMENT)

Ruslan Salei (36)

Rusty is one player I had my doubts about, but really came good. The physical defenceman is a big guy at 6’2” and 215lbs. His play this year was much better than I’d anticipated. Salei dressed for 75 games last season, and with 10 points, as the 6^th D-man, that’s not bad going, considering the amount of ice-time he would get in between Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart and Ericsson. He has a lot of heart and was visibly upset when he and Jakub Kindl started alternating games near the end of the season.

VERDICT – RETAIN (1 YEAR DEAL)

Now that I’ve carefully and logically decided the fates of these players I’m starting to warm to the theme. If only I had a team to be GM of…anyway, got to go, there’s a guy from Winnipeg on the phone…

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Brian Rafalski has retired with 3 Stanley Cups to his name, and has been one of the first names on the team sheet for the USA National Team since 2002. Not bad for a player that was undrafted. His knee problems are well documented though, and Brian obviously feels like it’s time to go whilst he can still walk. Smart move in my opinion.

Derek Meech has also decided to move on. This was written on the wall for some time. Meech requested a trade, nobody was interested in trading. Meech requested to be waived, Holland agreed, and nobody picked him up, not even on minimum contract. Therefore when Meech’s contract ran out this summer, it’s not surprising he made moves to leave Detroit. Put simply, he wasn’t able to crack the top 6-7 defencemen, and as such, would like to challenge himself elsewhere, and who can blame him? I think his next stop is Europe, and if he fancies coming over to the UK and playing for my team, we’re in need of a 3rd line defenseman. I’d even sort him out with a bottle of energy drink for free. Tempting offer isn’t it Derek?

So, that leads us to fill one major slot in the Red Wings defence. Who will partner Lidstrom on the top D-line (this is of course, assuming Nick doesn’t retire this year either, although sources and fans close to the team say he’s arranged with his wife to give it one last year)? There’s a veritable treasure trove of RFA and UFA defencemen out there this summer, and many look like excellent partners for Lidstrom.

Weber (RFA) – Nashville Predators

Doughty (RFA) – LA Kings

Bogosian (RFA) – Atlanta Thrashers (or whichever city this franchise is associated with this week)

Yandle (RFA) – Phoenix Coyotes

Jovanovski (UFA) – Phoenix Coyotes

Kaberle (UFA) – Boston Bruins

Markov (UFA) – Montreal Canadiens

Pitkanen (UFA) – Carolina Hurricanes

Bieksa (UFA) – Vancouver Canucks

Wisniewski (UFA) – Montreal Canadiens

Ehrhoff (UFA) – Vancouver Canucks

White (UFA) – San Jose Sharks

Now obviously, everyone would love to see Doughty or Weber team up with Lidstrom, simply for the youth and speed of the younger players, aided by the owl-like wisdom of the Red Wings captain. How frightening would that defensive pairing be? It’s also no harm in picking up a big-hitting physical player, and see if someone like Wisniewski or Jovanovski can challenge Kronwall to a “How many opposition forwards can you give concussions to?” competition.

Looking at a recent poll held on a popular Red Wings website, it appears that the front runners, at least in the fans eyes, are Wisniewski, Ehrhoff, and Pitkanen. Much as though everyone would love Doughty or Weber, their RFA status means Detroit would have to offer up something pretty staggering to sign the services of those players.

The UFA market looks much more likely, and since Ken Holland is a very experienced and shrewd GM, Red Wings fans have a lot of faith that the organisation will make a good move. After all, with Rafalski’s cap space freed up, then we could be looking at a top level D-man to replace him, or maybe even a couple of mid-level defensive players, and a move up for Kronwall or Stuart onto the top line. Either way, neither is a bad scenario.

The Wings have some of their own free agency issues, with 9 players falling into the UFA category this summer, defencemen Ericsson, Salei, and Lidstrom among them. Forwards are Modano, Draper, Eaves and Miller, with both Modano and Draper considering hanging up their skates, whilst goalie Chris Osgood ponders the same decision, both he and fellow backup Joey MacDonald are also UFA.

It’s not unreasonable therefore to assume that simply through retirement, the Red Wings could lose Rafalski, Lidstrom, Modano, Draper and Osgood (with a whopping 14 Stanley Cup wins between them!). This would free up approximately $11-12 million in cap space. With some decent prospect coming through too, such as Mursak, Emmerton, and the highly rated Brendan Smith, it might be prudent to splash out on a big points forward, a top line D-man, and promote a couple of prospects to the full roster.

I’m sure this idea is not new to Ken Holland though, and it is in him that we trust…

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As a child, you grow accustomed to the things in your environment, and they become second nature. Take swimming for example. If you live on a small island, surrounded by the ocean, then swimming is something you will learn as a child and become very adept at, whilst if you live in the heart of China or Russia, where there’s very little in the way of natural lakes and oceans, then there’s no instinct to learn, and thus the people are less likely to start this ability. My father grew up on the Isle of Wight, and clearly remembers having to go for mandatory swimming lessons, simply because the English Channel formed such an integral part of the life of an islander.

The same can be said for skating. Many children in Canada learn to skate very early on in their lives. Not simply for the fun of it, but because when the majority of the country is frozen for the larger part of the year, it’s a very effective and useful skill to have. Therefore it’s taught in the same way that football is in the UK. Ice Hockey is the national sport (or so I’m told my multiple patriotic Canadians), and so surely it’s going to be more natural to a country that is very cold and very icy for the majority of the time.

The problem is, that Ice Hockey as a sport is appreciated all over the world, and thus you end up with many people catching the hockey ‘bug’ who are not only unlucky enough to not be Canadian, but not able to skate.

Enter me, aged 12. I buy NHL94 for my Sega Megadrive (Genesis) and am instantly hooked. I try skating, fall over a lot, and it hurts, but I love it. I decide it’s going to take some serious practice to learn to skate well, and since I’m playing football a lot, for two teams, and very regularly, it’s best that I stay as uninjured as possible. Thus I live in a split world of sports, where I love hockey, and all its charms of speed, excitement and fighting, and yet play football, which has the added bonus of being a sport I can play without spending £5 a time to fall on my knees for 2 hours. So this carries on until adulthood, and the ability to purchase the ESPN network for myself, and the hockey bug gets worse than ever. I now want to play, and I want to join a team.

My wife at the time told me that I would struggle with injury (the 9 years of Sunday League football take their toll on your knees and ankles), and that I’d end up crippling myself. She probably had a point, and thus I listened. Now however, I’m no longer having to listen, so not only am I learning to skate, but I’m learning to play hockey.

Now, for the latter, it’s not too much of a trial. I know the rules, I know the game, and I know where I’m supposed to be and when. Watching the game for the best part of two decades gives this instinct. The issue is the skating bit. Learning to skate as an adult is very difficult. I’d like to think, aged 28, that I’ve mastered the balance issues of life. I can walk without falling over, I can stand still, and I can hop on one leg when required without falling on my face.

Let me tell you, when I did take to the ice, for the first time in 15 years, I was absolutely terrified. However, fear is an obstacle that is to be overcome in life, and in my case, it was the obstacle stopping me from joining a hockey team and playing my beloved sport. I took a friend who was able to at least skate forwards and keep his balance. His tutorial consisted of, “Always keep your knees bent, and grip with your toes to give you more control of the skates”. These were wise words, and I found myself able to skate forwards, under control, and at a comfortable pace pretty quickly.

Getting a little cocky, I weaved between some other skaters and started to direct myself around the bottom of the rink. In a split-second my skates were out in front, and I was falling backward. My only image at that moment was of Donald Brashear’s head pounding onto the ice after McSorely whacked him with his stick. Not that anyone hit me with a stick, but the image of the back of Brashear’s head hitting the ice was enough to instinctively pull my head forward. Luckily, as I landed flat on my back, I’d saved my head, and my neck from being damaged, and so got up and skated on. Whatever happened now, I’d already fallen over, and so nothing could really phase me anymore.

I lobbied myself harder to get a team, and managed to get an invite to train with a team through a contact of a friend of mine (thanks Ollie!). Suddenly realising that buying all the kit was fine, but I needed to make sure I was at least able to skate from one end of the ice to the other without falling over, I arranged on my day off to head down to the rink and brush up.

You know those people that give themselves a really hard time if they don’t pick something up dead quickly? Yeah, I’m totally one of them.

I took my skates to get sharpened, but had to leave them overnight since the sharpening guy was off sick, and so for my final skate before training, I was forced to hire some skates, and join a public skating session, with no pads or helmet. Things turned from bad to worse as I took to the ice, and promptly forgot everything I’d learnt. Standing up straight, I kept my weight on my heels and I found myself going in whichever direction momentum took me, rather than in the direction I wanted to go in! After a couple of hefty falls, I got annoyed with myself. I’d grasped the whole knees, and toes thing again, but was angry for not being able to skate like Gretzky and Messier’s lovechild, and believed that after a few hours of skating, over a course of a couple of months, that I should be a God of the ice. Did I mention I give myself a hard time?

My frustration was funneled into aggression, and I skated harder and faster. My head started to calm a little bit when I realised I had built up a decent head of steam and could skate fast and with purpose. Stopping was out of the question though, and I bodyslammed the boards on a couple of occasions. One in particular where I felt myself crumple into a heap as powered along the wing, having lost control, and my prostrate body hurtled into the boards. Luckily, I broke my impact with my face, so managed to avoid hurting my limbs further. Had it not been for the fact my face was on the ice, getting very wet and very cold, I would still be lying there, groaning, with international curling going on around me.

Skating fast was great, but if I couldn’t stop, then it was pretty pointless. My knees were screaming, and my right one in particular was swelling up quite large. My hip was definitely bleeding after a nasty boards impact, and I was aching all over. I later found that both my elbows, and my right shoulder had joined in the swelling party, and I spent the evening not moving from the sofa unless it was absolutely necessary. I even seriously considered for about an hour, the possibility of peeing into a pint glass to avoid getting up.

I’d stayed overnight at a friend’s house, and in the morning, was barely able to get out of bed. I physically rolled to my left as I couldn’t lift my left leg, and the only way to get out of the depression of the mattress, was to hurl my entire body to one side. This I finally managed at the 3rd attempt, and landed with a wet crunch on the floor. Now I had another problem, and that was getting up off the floor. Trying to pull myself to my feet I audibly gasped at the state of my limbs. My elbows were large and puffy, and coloured in a deep green and yellow. Both knees were huge, and I struggled to put my jeans on over their bulbous swelling. The kicker however, was my left hip, which had indeed been bleeding, and although it had kept its shape and colour, hurt like nothing else I’ve ever experienced.

My first training with a new team was in 3 day’s time, and I could hardly walk.

I’ve a couple of friends who play hockey regularly, and even they were a bit shocked at the state of my limbs. They kept telling me “When you’ve got the pads on, you barely feel a thing”, and I just prayed they were right.

The day game, and I arrived with all my gear, got kitted up in the changing rooms and headed out onto the ice with my new team. My head was spinning ‘stay confident, skate smooth, forget you’re a beginner, it’s ok to lean on your stick, knees bent, toes gr…’ I was already staring at the neon strip lights of the rink. I’d made it about 3 yards from the door onto the ice and was sat on my ass holding my stick in the air like some unusual and elaborate trophy. Thankfully, my friends had been correct, and the fall didn’t hurt one bit. I mentally thanked the guy on eBay who sold me the majority of my pads, and skated off.

Luckily, the guys on the team were already aware I was a beginner, and their assistance and tips really helped. By the end of the session, I was able to skate in the direction I wanted to go, turn pretty sharply, at a decent speed, and get myself into shooting and passing lanes.

I was told by the coach that it was clear I knew where I had to be, but that getting to those areas when it was still relevant was the issue. I completely agreed. Second session, my skating got stronger. I was able to improve my acceleration, and I started handling the puck. This was a completely new concept. I’d always played sports with my feet, and now I was having to use my hands, and a stick where the controlling bit was nearly 5 feet away from me. Luckily, I didn’t give myself a hard time, as I was able to control the passes, pass relatively accurately to teammates, and even fire a couple of shots.

The most important thing, was that I adored it. I skated about, playing the puck to teammates, and moving into positions where I would hopefully be effective, all with a huge grin on my face (not a great idea when wearing a half-visor, as your teeth make a decent target for errant pucks!).

Had I ignored the desire to brush up my skating, and simply gone and trained, therefore sparing myself the anguish and pain of slamming myself into the boards and ice so frequently and without padding, then I’d likely have been a lot more confident when I did start training.

And to think, it’d all be so much easier if I’d carried on skating when I was 12, or of course, been born in Manitoba…

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I know I’ve been a little quieter than usual, but a damaged wrist ruined my ability to type for longer than a couple of paragraphs. Now it makes a lovely cracking sound when I stretch it, like reaching for a sieve, or changing gear in my car, and all to the disgust of my girlfriend, who cringes at the wet crunchiness of it all.

Anyway…

The Sharks celebrations at ditching Detroit were short lived. They fell at the next hurdle, losing 4 games to 1 to a Vancouver team who look to be gaining in confidence. The Canucks are one of those teams that are obviously players of the highest calibre (after all, they’re always there or thereabouts in the Western Conference), but seem to lose out in the playoffs. All I can imagine is the issue they face is one of mentality, and the belief that even if they win a couple of games, they’ll still drop out at the 1st or 2nd round. This year’s team looks different, in that there seems a genuine belief that the Canucks can win.

Bieksa’s OT goal was indeed and oddity, with Edler’s round-the-boards play hitting a stanchion, and angling back across ice. The only person who seems to have anticipated this is Bieksa, who hit a slapshot towards goal. Everyone else on the ice is looking for the puck either behind the net, or has assumed it has gone out of play, and nobody is looking at the puck. Bieksa’s knuckling shot bobbles past Niemi’s left leg, into the goal, and Bieksa is celebrating at center ice before anyone else realises what’s happened.

The Sharks have a right to feel utterly dejected, whilst the Canucks are looking like a very strong and powerful opponent right now.

As for the Eastern finals, well it’s anybody’s guess. The Bruins and Lightning are currently at 3 games each, and some of the trials and tribulations in the previous 6 games have been surprising the say the least.

The Bruins looked a little lost after their 5-2 beat down in game one, whilst the Lightning seemed to have the measure of Vezina candidate Tim Thomas. Yet in game two, the previously solid Dwayne Roloson was pulled after two periods, due to allowing 6 goals on 27 shots as the Bruins destroyed the Tampa Bay defence, winning 6-5 after a nervy 3rd period where the Lightning potted twice to set up a tense finish. With honours even, game 3 in Tampa was an almost stalemate. The Bruins ran out 2-0 winners, with both goalies showing how they’ve managed to get their teams this far. Boston’s 1 game lead was levelled again when Tampa overcame a 3-0 deficit after the 1st period of game 4, and rallied to a 5-3 win. Again Roloson was pulled early, with Mike Smith shutting out 21 shots to keep the Lightning in with a chance, which they duly took with both hands.

Game 5 took another turn, as Smith started in goal, but still found himself losing 3-1, even though Gagne have given the Lightning the lead in the first. Finally, last night’s game 6 saw the Bolts turn up the heat once again. 3 Powerplay goals helped them overcome the Bruins in a back-and-forth affair as Boston led 2-1 after the 1st, Tampa led 3-2 after the 2nd, and won 5-4 overall, with Tim Thomas being pulled for the extra attacker for nearly 2 minutes.

Game 7 looks to be the kind of game hockey fans like me drool over. For the winner, a place in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Bruins have been absent from the finals since 1990, and haven’t won the cup since 1972, whilst the Lightning have only ever made one appearance in the finals, winning the cup in 2004. Whoever wins, they’ll be meeting the Vancouver Canucks, who have only ever made the finals twice (1994, and 1982), but have never won.

None of the teams still in with a shot have had an easy ride, with all three teams having shaky first round games, with Boston and Vancouver only progressing due to an OT game 7 goal. Let’s see if their luck can hold.

As an aside, the off-season is a time when players recuperate, have a bit of a holiday, repair injuries, and start training for the pre-season. It’s also when many players consider their future, be that with a new contract, a new team, or decide to retire. This week saw the retirement of Red Wings and USA defenceman Brian Rafalski, as well as Islanders and fellow USA international Doug Weight.

Weight was drafted in 1990 and took to the ice for the Rangers, Oilers, Blues, Hurricanes, Blues (again), Ducks and Islanders, winning the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006. He played 1238 NHL games, tallying 1033 points, and represented his country at 2 World Cups, and 3 Olympics.

Rafalski on the other hand, was never drafted, and played in Sweden and Finland before being picked up by the New Jersey Devils in 1999. He moved to Detroit in 2007, much to the reluctance of Devils’ fans, who didn’t want to lose him. Rafalski won the Stanley Cup 3 times, twice with the Devils, and once with the Red Wings, racking up 833 NHL games, and 515 points. The defenceman also played for the USA in the 2004 World Cup, and 3 Olympic games.

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On a bleaker note the Sharks Nation is down to its last loss of the season. Sports lore is filled with stories of overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles, heroic comebacks of epic proportions and the ever-popular tale of David slaying Goliath. For the San Jose Sharks, however, such tales have yet to be written. Will this be the year? At least now the future of the season is crystal clear. Lose and go home.

On another note I’m curious what you folks think. Is it possible that, despite whatever happens this year, the Sharks are capable of getting to the Western Conference Finals again next year? To do so would make it three years in a row and I’m not sure how often that happens in hockey in general let alone have it happen to the Sharks.

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It took me many years before I not only understood but accepted that I’m a glass half-empty kind of guy. But the good news is that I’ve been trying for a while now to turn that around. I wouldn’t say I’m a glass half-full kind of guy but I think I’m more of a ‘it-is-neither-empty-nor-full’ kind of guy. Progress right?

When the Sharks failed to close out the Detroit Red Wings in 6 games a sense of calm came over me. It was kind of creepy actually. At that time I figured that calm feeling was because I was in familiar territory. I can deal with a Game 7. I know how to cope with ‘win or go home’ games – I grew up an NFL fan and that’s how they roll in the playoffs. But in the back of my head I had another thought.

They say at this level (the NHL), and especially at this time of year, there’s very little that separates one team from another. I buy that. So when the Sharks had to play that one extra game to get past the Red Wings I thought it was the end for more than just the semi-finals. It was like that last piece of candy in Monty Python. Now after going down 2 games to the Canucks it’s easy to come out and say such a thing, but really back when I felt it I tried to put on my ‘neither-half-empty-nor-half-full’ hat and attribute my gut feeling to my “Negative Nancy” tendencies. Unfortunately another one of my character traits is an absolute love for being right, and if the Sharks collapse against the Canucks at least I’ll have been right – which is just so wrong.

The Sharks have to win 4 out of the next 5 games if they want to move on to the Stanley Cup Finals. Such is a task that isn’t completely out of the realm of possibilities but it is most likely outside the realm of probability. Why oh why does this keep happening to us? It’s not so much that it keeps happening but it’s all the other hockey fans who keep pointing their collective fingers at us, laughing as they scream “See! You guys just can’t get it done in the playoffs!” I’ve never wanted to ‘silence the critics’ so much in my life. I’ve also never wanted to be so wrong…

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I was listening to NHL Home Ice this morning and the words ‘emotionally fragile’ and ‘choke’ were words still being thrown around about the Sharks. If you believe what you hear the Sharks avoided choking by winning Game 7 against the Detroit Red Wings and they showed how they’re emotionally fragile losing 3-in-a-row against said Red Wings.

But at the same time they keep praising the Detroit Red Wings for their repeated ability to win in situations where others would fold because, as they like to say - they ARE the Detroit Red Wings.

Those two things can’t exist at the same time - it’s like matter and anti-matter. If the Sharks almost choked away their series because they’re emotionally fragile, then you can’t talk about the Red Wings being a juggernaut. It makes no sense to me to praise the Red Wings for pushing to Game 7 while simultaneously blaming the Sharks for giving them a Game 7. I think most Sharks fans know this team is not the same team even compared to last year. Hopefully the talk of ‘fragility’ and ‘chokeability’ will be motivating!

Rally towel from Game 7 San Jose Sharks vs Detroit Red Wings

San Jose Sharks - Detroit Red Wings Game 7 Handshake

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