Wrote Shawshank. Great comparison Mr. Plank. One of my favorite movies of all time! I think DW did everything he could to improve our team this past off-season: Got rid of Huskins, Wallin and brought in White, Vandy, and Burns. I think the D is fine (although the PK needs work) and our GAA isn’t bad at all.

As I mentioned about a month ago, I thought scoring was going to be the issue, although I could not have predicted that we’d lead the league is SOG, but produce average results in goals scored. Losing Heater and Seto is a big deal and it will continue to take some time for Havlat to gel with his new linemates. He’s bound to score eventually. Luckily we’re still in the hunt even though we’re not getting much scoring on a consistent basis from our top guys.

Lastly, I’m not too worried about this team on the road, as they seem to play well there. Also, I won’t be against a move before the deadline if it can improve our team speed and PK.

Go Sharks!!! A win tonight and then home for six straight. Havlat will score 5 goals during the next 7 games according to my Ouija Board. Pat Falloon, is that you?

The schedule doesn’t get much better after February either, as the Sharks play 17 games in March, including another 3 back-to-backs.

I hope they start to right the ship tonight, especially since I’m going on Saturday. Go Sharks!

Score gpalz, win game. Thanks.

I agree this 7 game stretch is huge! 6 of the 7 games are against teams outside of the playoff picture (right now) that are struggling. It’s a really good time for the Sharks to get their game back on track and gain some much needed confidence and points.

It’s been said about this team for quite a few years, but they will live and die with their best players…they looked fantastic through most of the game against Chicago, they now need to turn that great play into wins.

I smell a Photoshop waiting to happen. Someone humo(u)r me, please.

Sharks win 3-2 in the shoot out… goals by Pavelski and Burns. The shootout go-ahead goal by Martin Havlat and even though he wins the game, the tally doesn’t apply to the stat sheet.

Send him back.

Kidding aside… GO SHARKS!

I hope to watch an enjoyable sharks win tonight!

Is it time to start panicking?

Because it’s been a while since the Sharks went on a tear in the winter to give themselves a cushion going into the SAP Open road trip.

And somehow, every year, the team seems to find a way to make the road trip define their season. I’m thinking of the year Thornton arrived, and the Sharks went from 12th to 5th, or the year Brian Campbell came, and we didn’t lose a game in regulation to end the season, or heck, last year.

It’s been fun to watch, and it’s made the Sharks one of the more consistent regular season finishers in recent memory, but the marathon that is the regular season is just a teaser for the real story, and that’s the meat grinder that is the playoffs.

So much goes into going four rounds deep in the spring. Skill, preparation, determination and a healthy dose of luck. It’s part of why I worry in the winter. This is a time to be laying a foundation, to be collecting points on homestands and practicing the things you need to be consistent, and to put in the practice time to make sure all your schemes and set plays are solid, so that you can call on these things when you need them later.

I’m damn proud of the type of finish to the season we had last year, but you think about the state of the team when they faced Vancouver: Thornton, Heatley, Clowe, Demers, all banged up. Boyle, gassed from having played heroic minutes. You wonder if picking up a win here and there earlier in the season might have allowed the team to ease up that frenetic pace just a bit and have something left to give in May.

I don’t know. It’s such a long and arduous process. These guys, who frustrate the hell out of us sometimes, put in day after day of work, and they build something each season that lasts for 100 games. It’s 95% of what they need. And in the end, so far, each year, it’s all been for naught, because anything less than the 100% just will not do.

So tonight, here’s to two points, and another brick laid in the foundation of something special waiting to be built.

Since our last game against Colorado on November 20th, 9 games ago:

Joe Thornton: 0G 3A -2 8PIM
Patrick Marleau: 1G 0A -2
Joe Pavelski: 1G 1A -3
Logan Couture: 3G 2A +2
Ryane Clowe: 2G 3A +3 8PIM
Martin Havlat: 0G 3A +3
Dan Boyle: 0G 2A -4 12PIM

Marty Havlat might not be getting goals, but his line is at least playing the way a second line should.

But Thornton, Marleau, Pavelski and Boyle…

There’s a reason we haven’t won very many games since we last played Colorado (which, in my opinion, was our last real good game of any merit, except maybe our beating on Andrew Raycroft).

Those four guys can not put up numbers like that for any extended period of time if the team hopes to have any success. As to whether Heatley or Setoguchi would be better fits on the roster, I think at the start of the season, any of us would be hard pressed to slot either of them ahead of any of our big 3. And yet, here we sit.

As it is most seasons with the Sharks, we go where our stars take us, and they’re not taking us anywhere worth a damn right now.

It’s kinda long but I do love these!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHHhVK8_yU8&feature=player_embedded#!

Puck drop tonight is 6PM, not 5. Hope the Sharks can kick some ass tonight, and sixty minutes will not be too much to wish for.

Show some effort, pride, balls