The Re-Watch: Road to the NHL Stadium Series, Episode 3

Welcome the The Re-Watch, a series where I revisit video of the San Jose Sharks of the past.

The 2019-20 season has been a weird and bad one for Sharks fans. What better way to kick off this series than to take a journey back to another season of heartache and pain: 2015. Jump in to the wayback machine with me and let’s double down on feeling bad together by re-watching EPIX’s Road to the NHL Stadium Series. It’s also Rivalry Week here at SB Nation, so finishing this off now feels fitting.

First, here’s coverage of the series right here on Fear the Fin back from when it originally aired, if you want a true stroll down memory lane. Next, I’ll be watching the series on [popular video streaming platform here], but since the upload doesn’t seem to be all too official, I’ll let you work out watching along at home on your own (it’s not hard to find, I promise).

Episode 3 — original airdate: February 17, 2015

00:50: “Nothing about the story of any season is predetermined” — BUDDY, DON’T WE KNOW THAT NOW.

03:43: Watching Todd McLellan yell at the team over game tape of terrible special teams play feels like home, huh?

04:20: A game without Justin Braun and Marc-Edouard Vlasic used to be a bad and scary thing.

05:23: So funny thing about this game against the Calgary Flames that the Sharks are preparing for in this episode: This was around the time that I started really getting invested in the NHL and following the Sharks and I developed this bizarre hatred for the Flames that I could never explain. It’s not like the Flames were good then.

But as the voiceover says, the Sharks just kept losing to them for some reason and instead of hating my team for sucking, I hated the crap team that still beat them.

(I’ve since gotten over it.)

(Mostly.)

12:15: “Uhhhhh, hockey.” Martin Jones forgot what his own job was when asked why he was in town.

12:55: I always forget how lanky Jones is until he’s in a teeshirt and it is just hanging off of him because he needs the extra length.

14:34: The entire city of Columbus hates Jeff Carter so much, but I could never blame him for not wanting to live in Ohio.

20:12: Oh, they’re showing Evgeni Nabakov’s retirement. He started crying, oh no.

22:40: Todd using curse words is so unbelievably funny. Just some absolutely primo quotes here:

“When I ask you if we’re f*cking hard enough as a team, what does that mean to you? How do you interpret that?”

“We’re not f*cking hard enough.”

“We have to get f*cking a whole f*cking harder pretty f*cking fast. Why? They’re big, they’re f*cking strong, they’re confident and they’ve got the skill to go with it.”

This locker room scene is actually art.

24:46: Love players being mic’d up. Got a clear “F*ck you, bro!” from Matt Irwin.

24:59: “If you’re not cheatin’, you’re not trying to win hard enough, huh?” — Brent Burns

26:03: Eric Fehr just took a penalty for the Washington Capitals and was told to “sit the f*ck down, you f*ckin’ baby.”

27:58: Mirco Mueller just headbutted a linesman in the gut, allowing Old Man Jay Beagle to tie the game.

… and Joel Ward wins it in overtime for the Capitals.

30:03: God, Joe Thornton used to be buck wild in postgame interviews. He’s calmed down a lot the last couple of years.

“It looked like there was a missed call there on the overtime goal.”

Joe: “Yeah, did it look like that for you guys? Okay, super, guys, see you tomorrow.”

And then he just walked out.

31:25: I love this interview with the Kings’ assistant equipment manager. I love when players are superstitious and I love stories about all of the other people it takes to make a sports team run.

38:06: God, I love Vlasic and his dogs so much.

“I love every dog.”

43:29: The purple and gold Kings jerseys are so good, why don’t more teams use purple?

45:52: Aw, Jonathan Quick pooped in his diaper and he’s breaking his stick about it.

47:51: This cropped jersey from the Kings’ ice crew is actually a look.

49:05: Tyler Toffoli’s dog is perfect, I love him.

51:05: Ah, yes. The Joe Pavelski Potty Mouth Scene.

i actually don’t miss joe pavleski. he had a big potty mouth that deeply offends my Christian values pic.twitter.com/iVoGZH2tkd

— nater tots (@nathancsn) July 1, 2020

Pavs inspires a win. He’s always been pretty good at that.