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Nick Petrecki was chosen by the San Jose Sharks with their second first round selection (28th overall) in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Before starting his professional career this season with the Worcester Sharks, he played with the Boston College Eagles, who he helped to win the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship title in his Freshman year.

In Worcester, Petrecki played 65 games, posting 2 goals and 14 assists. More Worcester Sharks information can be found at their official site.

Plank and TCY would like to thank Nick Petrecki and Worcester Sharks Director of Public Relations Eric Lindquist for making this interview happen. Enjoy.

How did you first learn the game of hockey? Who got you into the game at a young age?

I'd definitely say my father. He played Division III hockey at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. I picked it up at a young, young age, and he started building me rinks to skate in the backyard. He'd give me sticks and make nets, he really taught me everything I know about the game. 

Any favorite players or teams growing up?

I was always a fan, being from New York, of the New York Rangers. Mark Messier was definitely my favorite player.

Tell us about your championship with Boston College in 2008, and why you decided to go pro with two years of eligibility left.

Well, 2008 was my Freshman year. It was a great year; we had alot of talent on the team and overall just had a great group of guys who got along together both on and off the ice. We had great leadership in our captain Mike Brennan; he's still one of the best guys I've played with leadership wise. We were so close and so talented it was almost, like, our destiny to win that year. The previous years, BC lost to Wisconsin and Michigan State in the finals, so we felt like we were due.

Pertaining to the decision to go pro, I just felt that the reason you play hockey is to play at the highest level possible. I felt that after two years, what I had accomplished not only team wise but personally as well, I was pretty satisfied. I wanted to take my game to the next level and not only move on, but also face the challenges of professional hockey. 

For you, what was the hardest part about transitioning from the college to professional game? 

I think the hardest part... it's just a totally different lifestyle. In college, your days are so full; you have classes, tutoring sessions, study hall, practice, work outs with the team... the lifestyle in the pros is so different. You get up, you get some breakfast in you, you go skate in the morning, you get a workout in if you want and then you're pretty much home at one o'clock with a ton of free time. It's about finding stuff to do.

You know, last year I didn't continue taking any classes at BC...but this year, going through once and knowing how much free time I'll have, I'm going to start taking some online classes and working towards my degree.

The easiest thing?

The easiest part was probably the ability to be at the rink every day. You know, in college, you can only practice a certain amount per week according to NCAA rules, and workout a certain amount per week, but now it's hockey, hockey, hockey all the time. It's pretty nice.

Like I said, there's alot of free time, but if you want to stay at the rink all day and work on stuff you can. So I think that was really nice to have as an option. If I want to stay on the ice for four hours and work on my stuff, I'm allowed to do that. 

You played all season in Worcester, but because of injuries and call ups, had varying defensive partners. Is this something that Roy Sommer likes to do, and is it something you're familiar with?

I can't speak for Roy, so I can't say if that's something he likes to do. I think that's just the circumstances we were in last year. We had Joe Callahan miss almost half the season because of a neck surgery. We had Derek Joslin up a ton. We had Jason Demers up a ton. We also had a ton of injuries. We had Mike Wilson get his finger broken late in the season. I think it was just the cards we were dealt.

When you play that many games, alot more negative things and positive things can happen than in college. We faced a bit of an injury bug there for a while. But that's just the hand we were dealt and I thought we handled it pretty well with not only guys that got called up but also the guys who got sent down. We just had to roll with the punches.

Your minutes decreased pretty significantly at the tail end of the regular season, and you were scratched during the playoffs. Why would you say that happened, and how did you deal with that adversity?

I dealt with it as a learning experience. I was pretty happy with my year; I'm glad I left school and I'm glad I got one year of professional hockey underneath my belt. It was definitely a learning year.

But at the same time, I want to be in the lineup every night. I obviously wasn't doing something right, you know, for the coaches to keep me out of the game. 

I think it came down to consistency. You know, not always having an A game, but I shouldn't be having a D game either. I think you find that equilibrium and everything, I have to be solid at both ends of the rink and be a reliable guy in pressure situations. I think that this year my main goal is consistency. But again, at the same time, it was a great learning experience. It wasn't an easy thing to deal with, but I thought I handled it really well. At the same time, it's definitely a learning factor and something I want to work towards. 

I want to make it harder for the coach to take me out of the lineup.

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Bret Hedican is a 17 year NHL veteran and is currently an analyst for CSN-California. The two time Olympian and former Stanley Cup winner (with Carolina in 2006) has held that position for the 2009-2010 NHL season. Mr. Hedican also contributed to Vanity Fair during the 2010 Olympics.

Mr. Hedican was kind enough to talk with Plank and TCY about the Sharks' first round playoff series with Colorado and their pending matchup against the Detroit Red Wings. You can read more of his thoughts on the Sharks at CSNBayArea.com, his website BretHedican.com, and by following him during the playoffs on CSN-CA.

Fear The Fin would like to thank Bret Hedican and Comcast for making this interview happen.

San Jose had to handle some adversity in the first round, falling victim to a pair of bad bounces that resulted in Avalanche wins. How does a locker room take that experience and apply it to the next series?

Well I think if you have the wrong guys in the locker room, those things will affect you in ways that are negative. But I think if anything, the Dan Boyle shot that went off O'Reilly's stick and went in the net, I think it actually galvanized the team. It brought them closer together and I think that says a lot about the group that is the San Jose Sharks.

Who in the locker room do you see as one of the leaders who takes the reigns after a loss like that?

Well I think it's changing. You take a look at this series and there are some players who are coming to the forefront, obviously Joe Pavelski and Ryane Clowe. For me, they are the two guys who come to mind automatically because they have done more than just score goals and make things happen. What they've done is they've carried the team in the playoffs. Obviously you can't say enough about Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley and what they did in the regular season, but the Pavelski line won that series. They were the one pivotal group that made a difference on the nightly basis, and they took the series for the Sharks.

You mention the second line and the impact they had in the Colorado series. What other players impressed you during the series against the Avalanche?

There are some players who got better as the series went on. The defensive corps got better. Even Huskins and Demers, to some degree, got better. Demers-- I always thought was a really good player. But he still had a lot to learn in the regular season, and I didn't know how he would fare in the playoffs. However, he and Huskins solidified as a pair as the series progressed. Vlasic got healthier and in turn was effective. He also makes Blake better because they feed off each other, they know what the other is going to do and that's important, especially in the playoffs.

On the forward side, Torrey Mitchell is finally starting to skate. He's starting to turn his brain off and just play the game, use his legs. He's been a noticeable factor. Scott Nichol was noticeable because he was doing what he does best, being physical and using the body. Nobody was doing that the first two games, and consequently they weren't doing too well in those games. Scott Nichol has been physical the whole series, but as we saw, it took more than one guy.

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Randy Hahn is the current play by play announcer for the San Jose Sharks on CSN-California. He has held that position for seventeen seasons, and along with partner Drew Remenda, has won four Northern California Emmy Awards in the "On Camera Sports" category.

Mr. Hahn was kind enough to talk with Plank about the upcoming playoff series with Colorado and what he feels are the keys to the series for San Jose. You can read more his thoughts on the playoffs at The Seagate Broadcaster's Blog, as well as joining him and Drew during the entire first round on CSN-CA.

Fear The Fin would like to thank Randy Hahn and Comcast for making this interview happen.

San Jose has had some tough first round matchups the last two postseasons with Calgary and Anaheim. How does a series with Colorado compare?

The big trap that we, the collective Shark nation, can fall into here is to exhale and say, "Oh thank god we don't have to play Detroit." Colorado has proven all year long that they are a legitimate team, a legitimate contender, and are tough to beat. I think that it's going to be a very difficult series. What they lack in experience they will make up for in youthful exuberance, and I think they will be a real tough opponent.

You look at the Sharks, and essentially they have all the pressure on their shoulders. Like you talked about, Colorado is coming in with that youthful exuberance, they weren't predicted to be here. Do you think that plays a role in the first round or will San Jose come out chomping at the bit following the loss to Anaheim last season?

Well they better. I think that everybody who was in that dressing room last year that is still around ought to have that on their minds the next couple of days, and use that as motivation to get ready for game one. Losing those first two home games to the Ducks last year basically spelled the end of the series. The Sharks worked all year long to get home ice advantage and in two nights it was gone. Really in one it was gone, but in two, you know, the series was done and they never recovered from that.

Get ready for game one and get ready to win it, flex your first-place home-ice advantage muscle against a less experienced team, but also don't fall into the trap of not respecting them. I think if the Sharks do that then they'll be okay. If they fall into the trap of thinking that they got off lightly they're going to be in trouble.

Colorado has a lot of quick forwards, a lot of team speed. In what ways do you think the Sharks can nullify those assets, because it seemed San Jose struggled containing that during the season.

I think the Sharks have to use their skill and have to play fast too. Everybody in the NHL plays fast now. It remains to be seen whether or not Matt Duchene is going to be ready for game one, whether or not Peter Mueller is going to be ready for game one, but beyond that they still bring a lot of speed to their lineup.

The Sharks have speed too with Marleau on the top line, and other players who bring that asset as well-- Devin Setoguchi, Torrey Mitchell are good skaters, Dan Boyle is one of the best on the team. Maybe if you go pound for pound Colorado has a little more team speed, but I think the Sharks skill can overcome that.

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Sam Cimino is a key member of the San Jose State Spartans hockey team which recently finished 10th overall at the American College Hockey Association Division II National Championships in Connecticut. Although they were the lowest Western seed in the tournament, they took top ranked Ohio State to overtime in the first round, losing 4-5. They also played well in a 3-5 loss to the two seed Michigan State, and defeated last year's National runner up Central Connecticut State by a score of 4-2 in their final game. Cimino had a team high four goals in the tournament.

Plank and TCY had an opportunity yesterday to talk to the sophomore winger over the phone. Cimino led the Spartans with 33 goals in the regular season and was second in points with 68, averaging 1.74 points a game. Cimino is a former member of the San Jose Junior Sharks, and has spent his entire career playing in San Jose.

The San Jose State Spartans play their home games at Logitech Ice in San Jose. They are a club team, and donations of any size are always welcome. You can visit their website at SJSUHockey.net and make donations here. The team will host the ACHA Division II National Championships in 2011.

Sam, we wanted to start with some questions about San Jose's recent play at the National Tournament. SJSU partially relied on outside donations to obtain the funds to travel to the playoffs-- were you surprised by the community's willingness to contribute to your team?

I was somewhat surprised, That Comcast spot really helped us out. I think we made something like $1,200 in 12 minutes. I think it's a surprise that people who didn't even know about the program came out and donated. It was really nice and we really appreciated it, I think we underestimated how much money we could bring in.

Does this give you hope that the Bay Area hockey scene may be gaining even more traction as time goes on?

Definitely. It's great that people here want to support hockey and youth hockey in California. I think alot of the people who donated were hockey parents who wanted to us to go as far as we could. That leads to more local support in the future.

What do you think about San Jose State's chances next year? 

I think we have a really good chance. Going to Nationals this year was a big help and it showed that we can play with these teams. We played a really good Ohio State team, they were ranked number one, and we tied them in regulation and lost in OT. Really it was two second period showings where we were really bad. We gave up 8 goals in the three second periods we played in the tournament. If we improve our play and play consistently throughout the whole game, we could have easily beaten Ohio State and Michigan State... we could have gone 3-0 in our pool and advanced. The semifinal team in our pool wasn't the best, and I think we could have been 1 or 2 in the nation. Davenport, the team that won, is now moving to Division I club, so I think we have a really good chance next year especially since it's on home ice. We have the same team, no one is leaving. We also have some really good additions coming in; I think that Gage Emerson, a player on the Junior Sharks AAA team, will be joining us next year as well.

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Jamie McGinn was chosen by the San Jose Sharks with their second selection (36th overall) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Before starting his professional career this season with the Worcester Sharks, he played with the Ottawa 67's in the OHL, leading his team in points during the 06-07 season with 46 goals and 43 assists.

Since then he has bounced between San Jose and Worcester the last two seasons, taking part in the Worcester Shuttle that saw multiple entry-level players sent back and forth on a daily basis during the 2009-2010 season. McGinn currently has 20 points in 24 games played for Worcester (7 G 13 A), and 8 points in 40 games played (7 G 1 A) for San Jose. More Worcester Sharks information can be found at their official site.

Plank and TCY would like to thank Jamie McGinn and Worcester Sharks Director of Public Relations Eric Lindquist for making this interview happen. Enjoy.

How did you first learn the game? Were you an avid pond hockey fanatic or did you play competitively in indoor rinks from a young age?

My parents got me on skates when I was two years old, I had a backyard rink growing up. Every winter it would be my mom and dad up late flooding the ice. It was definitely my parents who got me into it at a young age.

Who was your favorite team and player growing up?

Favorite team would be the Toronto Maple Leafs, I grew up about an hour outside of Toronto. My dad was a big Leafs fan, so I was kind of born into it. My favorite player was Gary Roberts when he played for the Leafs as well.

Did you try and model your game after Gary Roberts?

Absolutely. He was one of the hardest workers on the team I have seen play, an honest player who played with a lot of heart. He had a lot of character and elevated his game to a higher level, especially in the playoffs. That's what I want to be like when I get established as a NHL player.

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William Wrenn was chosen by the San Jose Sharks with their first selection (43rd overall) in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Since then, he has been playing for the 6-3-1 University of Denver Pioneers, posting 3 assists in nine games to go along with a +6 rating. Mr. Wrenn was kind enough to spend twenty minutes on the phone with Plank and TCY, and answered some of our questions about his experience playing hockey in Alaska, his time spent playing in Denver, and his current development.

Fear the Fin would like to thank William Wrenn and University of Denver Director of Media Relations Eric Bacher for making this interview happen.

You said in an interview that Dion Phaneuf was your favorite player. Has that changed since being drafted by the Sharks?

Not really. I just like the way he plays, and I think it's more of the style he plays that I really like. I like how aggressive and physical he is, and then he can also shoot the puck and score goals.

Growing up in Alaska, did you play a lot of outdoor hockey, or was more of an emphasis placed on the indoor rinks?

When I was a kid we would have practice outside every once in a while. When I left for LA my freshman year my Dad built a rink in our backyard, so I'd come home from school every day and do my homework and then skate until dinner, and sometimes we'd even go back out there again at night. I skated outside a lot, actually.

You mentioned your dad. Some players say their biggest influence was their parents-- others say a specific coach, or the competition amongst their peers. Who was your biggest influence and why?

I'd probably say my dad, because he always supported me no matter what I wanted to do. He doesn't know very much about hockey as I'm the only person in my family so far with any kind of a hockey background. Seeing the time that he would put into the outdoor rink, he'd be out there hours trying to build it and get the ice ready, I really looked up to that and I took advantage of the fact that he worked so hard on it. I try to make him proud.

Like you said earlier, you moved to Los Angeles at the age of 14 to play for the Los Angeles Selects. What were the reasons behind this?

High school hockey in Alaska was slowly starting to go downhill, and kids were leaving at an earlier age. I came up with the opportunity, and every kid always wonders what LA is like, especially being from Alaska. I figured I'd give it a shot, and of course it was a great program and we were going to have a really good team. It wasn't that hard of a decision, the only hard part was having to leaving my family and friends. I knew that they'd still be there for me whenever though.

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Randy Hahn is the play by play commentator for the San Jose Sharks, and has held that position for sixteen seasons. Along with his current broadcast partner Drew Remenda he has won three Northern California Emmy Awards. Mr. Hahn was kind enough to answer some questions about the upcoming playoff series with Anaheim, his affinity for pretzels, as well as other assorted items of interest. You can read more of his musings at The Seagate Broadcaster's Blog, as well as joining him and Drew during the game on CSN Bay Area. Enjoy.

Thanks for taking the time to do this Mr. Hahn. Frankly we were a little surprised Versus decided to televise the whole series considering the Sharks nor the Ducks have gotten many nationally televised regular season games over the past few years- is this a message that the hockey community as a whole is taking an interest in the relatively untapped market of California? 

That might be partially the case but I think it's an opportunity for Versus to tap into two large television markets- The Bay Area is the number six market in the country and the Greater Los Angeles area is the number two TV market. The Ducks won the Stanley Cup two years ago and generated a lot of interest in Socal and the Sharks have enjoyed a large ratings boost in their games this year.

We're good friends with some writers over at an all-California hockey site The Battle of California. They finally feel their name is validated. You've mentioned before that true rivalries are born in the playoffs- as a broadcaster, is there something a little more special about calling this series as compared to a match up with St. Louis?

Absolutely. The teams know each other so well. Until the schedule change this season they faced one another 8 times in the regular season. The fans know the key players on both teams. Sharks fans have it in for Pronger, Perry and Selanne. Ducks fans hate Shelley and Nabokov. It will make for a tremendous atmosphere in the arena's and therefore it should be compelling television.

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