Sunday, November 21, 2010

Game 19: A Good Game for Shopping

Well, it looks like the Sharks have "reset the bar" again, only a lot lower. And that's not a limbo metaphor, I should clarify. I think it's a high-jump metaphor. Or pole-vault, maybe.
This was a terrible 3-0 loss to Columbus. I don't even want to talk about it. The Sharks are now 8-10-1.

I expect bad things for the Sharks on Wednesday vs. the Blackhawks. They've repeatedly shown that 1. they suck after a break and 2. they suck against the Blackhawks. But hey, things change; the Sharks were an elite-level team last year.

In a totally disheartening loss against the Blue Jackets, I pick three stars:

3rd Star: Mike Commodore.
This guy committed a dozen penalties and only got called for one. Good job, Asshole!

2nd Star: Todd McClellan.
How he retains his composure right now is beyond me. If it were my job, I'd be shitting a brick after they lost two consecutive two-goal leads and then got shut out at home by the Blue Jackets! It's the BJs' first regulation win in San Jose ever! But Todd's still got that calm, assured manner that makes me think we're going to make the play-offs after all. The man should be a dentist.

1st Star: No question, it's Jason Demers' mustache.
It's not the most manly mustache on the team, which has to go to Niclas Wallin or Ryane Clowe, but it works for him. I think he looks a lot cooler with it and I can't say that about most of the players. Plus it fights prostate cancer! So good going, Jason. Way to make "Movember" work for you!

One positive note before I sign off: shopping at the Sharks Store doesn't get any better than after a shut-out loss! Hooray for no waiting in line!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Still Not Over It

Seriously, a side-by-side comparison:

Totally legal:


Illegal, for reason's unbeknownst to all:

In the spirit of fairness, I even picked the Blues' broadcast in HD. ohlordstanley has already offered cash money to the first person to explain the material distinction between the two hits.

My Idea to Take the All-Star Game from Mediocrity to Brilliance!

Here it is *drumroll*:

The ANTI-BALLOT!

That's right, the Anti-Ballot. Vote the most despised villains in the NHL off the All-Star Roster. Think of the glory! A chance to vote Pronger, Perry, and Getzlaf off the [to be announced] All-Star teams! How awesome would that be? I think we can all agree, almost too awesome. And definitely too awesome for the NHL. Unless we can get some seriously grass-roots shit going down, like some kind of petition I don't even have the first clue of how to begin. And even then it's a long-shot, because I'm certain that Gary Bettman doesn't give a rat's ass what the fans want if it's not what he wants.

Send Logan and Pavs to the All-Star Game!

Join me in the write-in effort to send Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture to the All-Star Game in Raleigh! And also vote for Patrick Marleau! Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley are gonna go whether you want them to or not.

The Sharks are now 8-8-1 by my count, back at .500. I guess that's okay. I may have finally given in to the play-offs-only attitude in that I don't care particularly what their final points-total is, but I do look at the regular season performances as an indication of play-off potential. And right now, it still feels like we're looking at the first or second round. There just aren't enough super-defensemen to go around and I'm not sure that we have the cap-space to get one or what we'd have to give up for one or if one would have enough time to settle into the team if we got one and --ARGGGGHHH! Too many doubts! We've seen the teams that make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. They have Duncan Keith and Chris Pronger and Nik Lidstrom on them. The Sharks have Dan Boyle, it's true, but the uber-defense pretty much stops there. Besides which, Dan Boyle doesn't score from the point. Dan Boyle scores when he activates himself as the fourth forward. He's not a shut-down guy with a shot that always gets to the net, through or around traffic. We still haven't replaced Rob Blake. We need another Rob Blake! ...Only seven to ten years younger!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Game 14: "Kill the Zebra!"

It was Thornton's first game back and he lost no time getting back to his usual form, turning over the puck at the defensive blue line in the first minute. Although Pavelski continued to struggle, Boyle had a great game, Couture continued to look good, and Demers made several outstanding plays and looked strong overall. Unfortunately, what stood out most to me was the terrible officials! The first goal by the Islanders: the linesman in the corner skates backward out of Parenteau's way and picks Dan Boyle right off of him! It would have been an interference call on any player. And the revocation of Pavelski's goal was crap. Couture was standing between Roloson and the net, but so was an Islanders player and neither of them were in the crease. Everyone was just standing around. They thought the play had stopped because Roloson was acting like he had the puck covered and that is why Roloson got back to the net too late.
Now that it's over and we've won, it was nice to see a low-scoring game; we haven't seen many with fewer than four goals in a while. It was also a confidence-inspiring shoot-out, if you're into that sort of thing.

Sharks now 6-7-1

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Game 12: "Free Jumbo!"

Congratulations to San Francisco on its first World Series Championship! Yeah, Man. Sweet. Maybe I'll buy a ball cap. Okay the real news, though, is that Joe Thornton has been suspended for two whole games! For hitting some dude in the head! The replay looks bad, too, like, really bad. Thornton, stepping out of the box after serving a penalty he didn't like,* drops his shoulder into Perron's head while Perron is moving 20mph, looking behind himself. In that respect it looked vicious. On the other hand, what was Joe supposed to do, let Perron skate by with the puck because he wasn't looking where he was going? In this respect, I think that the NHL is sending mixed messages. The only thing this suspension shows is that players are unclear on what the penalty is. They can suspend Joe as many games as they like to "send a message," but he still isn't going to know what he did wrong.

But regardless of the penalties, I was excited to see what the Sharks looked like without Joe Thornton on the first line/power play. Now, having seen the Tampa Bay game, I can say that they looked awesome! Power play was great, too. Couture fit right in on the first line (love that guy) and got a goal to put him right in the middle of the race for the Sharks' goal-scoring lead. I would also like to take this time to note that Jamal Mayers has been making a big impression on me. I think he's really added to the scoring potential of that fourth line, but, not only that, there have been several moments when a puck squirts loose, where all I can think is "Somebody ------- get that!", and Jamal Mayers turns on the jets and gets there first. He's far speedier than I expected. Of course, the only thing anybody could tell me about this guy when he signed was "Was he the guy who shaved his eyebrows into tiger stripes in the playoffs?" So my expectations weren't high.

Go, Sharks!
6-6-0


*and his first of the season