We all know Jamie Baker in two ways: As the color commentator for Sharks broadcasts as CSN Bay Area and as the scorer of one of the greatest goals in San Jose history. Three months ago he had the title locked up, but pretty soon we’ll have to open up voting again, I think.
What I didn’t know about Baker’s marvelous San Jose tenure is his status as a Sharks season record holder. No, it isn’t a record for most incredible goals scored in a season (although I guess that’s up for discussion) or for giving the most interviews since I took over Fear the Fin (wait…shit, okay maybe he holds that, too) — it’s for the most short-handed goals in a season.
Yes, it’s the offseason which means I spend a whole hell of a lot of time trolling around Hockey-Reference to satiate the gnawing emptiness created by the lack of power-play goals and tealy celebrations that represent the best time of the year. Stop complaining, this is fun! We’re having fun. I promise.
Oh right, I’m talking about the record. Baker scored six short-handed goals in the 1995-96 season, a record he shares with Jeff Friesen (his mark came in the 1997-98 campaign). Patrick Marleau came closest to reaching that mark, scoring five shorties in the 2008-09 season.
How about some context? The single-season record is held by Mario Lemieux (13 in 1988-89) — Baker and Friesen’s six goals put them in a tie with a whole load of other players at 49th. So this kind of season is rare, which anyone who watched the Sharks’ penalty kill last year can certainly relate to.
So how about the goals? Well, you will be wholly unsurprised to know that trying to round up individual highlights from the 1990s is a whole lot like trying to find an Anaheim Ducks fan. No, that’s it. That’s the whole joke.
Anyway, the point is that I couldn’t find a single highlight of Bakers’ goals (or Friesen’s, for that matter). So I tried to head to the NHL.com archives to make my own highlights from the archived version of the game. No dice there, as NHL.tv still does not have archive support for any season other than the one we just completed. Super.
That leaves us kind of stuck. I say kind of because I bet someone has video of one (or more) of these goals somewhere. So if you’ve got video of any of Baker or Friesen’s shorthanded goals from these seasons … cough ‘em up. This is one of the weirder records in Sharks history and it deserves to be celebrated.
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