Fresh off dreams of giant inflatable animals, lumberjack skits, Shatner, and oddly enough a Toyota Previa, I skipped out of bed this morning, eager to get to my computer and see what late night/early morning post Olympic, pre trade deadlines deals had taken place.

Jordan Leopold. That's it?

Trade: Florida to the Penguins for a 2nd round pick. Analysis: Sure why not! Poor guy needs more a permanent home bad though. Hopefully the Pens can make room for him, but, like a lot of moves at this time of year, he's probably just in for the stretch run.

[Update] 12:30pm

Signing: Matt Stajan will be with the Flames for 4 more years. Analysis: Makes sense. This also means he'll continue to annoy Sharks fans for four more years.

Signing: Steve Ott is staying in Dallas. Analysis: Ugh. Another four years of Ott. Great.

[Update] 2:50pm

Signing: Oilers acquired 2nd round draft pick in 2010 entry Draft from the Preds in exchange for Denis Grebeshkov. Analysis: I think we all knew the Oilers would make a move since they can't just call a mulligan on the season and start over. That move was going to be sell sell sell or trade for pick pick picks. They chose picks. This time.

No word on where Denis' second N went.

Updates to be posted as they come in/as we hear about them. Obviously, any moves by the Sharks will get further, more detail analysis. Or at least be followed up with a post involving incoherent yelling or cheering; whichever applies.

So I am a totally jerk because I nearly feel off my couch laughing when the USA tied the game with 27 or 24 or something seconds left. It was just so absurd.

I wasn't nearly as emotionally involved with this game because my goalie wasn't playing. I totally dig Miller now, more than I did before, but he's not Nabby. And no matter WHAT happened, five Sharks were coming home with medals. FIVE! Whoo! I couldn't be upset about that. When I found myself yelling "COME ON, SHARKS!" instead of "COME ON, USA!" at the tv, I knew. It didn't matter how it panned out, I was rooting for my Sharks.

Edzo kept his damn mouth shut about pulling Miller after he let the first goal in, this saving me from feelings of nearly uncontrollable rage. I was a bit disappointed that it looked like the US was just kinda going to hand team Canada the medal, but thankfully they actually decided to show up in the second and make the game less zzzzzzzzzz and more !!!!!!!!!!

And after the game was over, and the medals were handed out (I did watch. Joe, why did you let Pronger hug you?! Don't let  Alternate Capn' Elbows infect you with his Prongerness!!!) I went and started drawing stuff totally unrelated to the Games. The NHL season start again tomorrow, and I need to be ready! Trade deadline, playoffs (wait what?!), so much craziness is coming!

Maybe now that 4 Sharks have gold those choking jokes will stop...

Who am I kidding?! April, May and, one hopes, June are going to be really annoying. Bring it on!

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS!

What scares me most about this game are the ugly displays that are likely to follow the game, no matter the outcome. Jokes and such are fine, especially when said all in good fun, but some people will just act like jerks and I want no part of that nonsense. I don't want to turn the tv off if Canada wins because I have nothing against Canadians. Like half the Sharks are Canadian. I want to be happy for them. But they'll be some jackass with a jackassy sign or chant and I'll get disgusted and have to go stare at the Norwegian men's team's curling pants for awhile. Don't go to the douchy side if your victorious Canada. And my fellow Americans, be joyous if we win, but again, don't cross that douche line. We already have a bad rap for that anyway.

To counter this, I'm just going to tell myself that if Canada wins, the Sharks win, and ignore all those guys on team Canada who are current and former Ducks. Everyone's coming home with a medal, and that's the best outcome anyone could ask for. I still totally want the US to take gold though.

Go Team USA! USA HOCKEY IS DO OR DIE! (or stare at Norway's pants for awhile)

Today at noon Pacific on NBC. Holy crap it's live! Holy crap it's being shown by the mothership! Hell just got a little colder.

Today @ 6 Pacific on CNBC

I am a homer.

I have a Sharks blog. I should hope I kinda strongly favor the team I write about. So it's reasonable to assume that when one (or more) of the players I spend all year cheering on is heavily criticized in a way that I see as not representative of the whole picture, I get kinda pissed off.

Yes. I realize Nabby had a bad game. I was here, on my couch, watching with everyone else. It was pretty hard to miss.

I also realize that Russia's D was beyond weak and that they spent more time watching the game than playing it. They hung Nabby out to dry and Edzo sat there bashing JUST Nabokov for the rest of the game. As if it was all on him and everyone else was playing a great game. What? Did you watch the same game Edzo? Did you see Russia's total lack of this thing called "defense?"

Know what your defense shouldn't be doing? Watching the guys on the opposing team skate around with the puck! They're suppose to be defending not sitting in the stands eating popcorn. Hell, they might have bene more effective in the stands. Only after Byrz came in in the second did anyone giving commentary seem to notice the horrible defense. I don't even know how anyone could miss it for that long. It was pretty damn bad in the first. It was also a known factor/problem/issue before the Games even started and they just NOW act like it was a problem. Really?

Did Nabby let some softies? Yeah. He let one in that for sure should have never gone in. But several of those other goals that ended up behind him were solely on his forwards and defense forgetting they were there to PLAY THE GAME. They didn't invite you all here just to stand and watch the puck fly by.

Surely someone else noticed that this match up was like two All-Star teams. Canada wasn't always solid in their zone either, they just happened to be much better than Russia. It would have been hard to be worse.

Was it Nabby's best game? Hell no! Was it all on him? HELL NO.

Would everyone have turned on Bryzgalov if he'd started? Thrown him under the bus so quickly? I'm not so sure. I realize Nabby has a better billing than Bryz, and that he plays on a better team than Byrz does, (sorry Odin), but if you're going to call a guy out for bad play, call the ALL out. Oh, but Bryz hasn't lost in the second round of the playoffs a bunch. I guess Ovie hasn't either. And it doesn't matter that Crosby was a non factor because, well, he's Crosby! What about Malkin? He did jack all game. I didn't even know Semin was IN the game until Boyle slew footed him. That's not a good sign. How come no one spent half the game calling those guys out on their non performance? And while were on the subject, why are people blaming Joe Thornton for stuff? Canada won, guys. It's things like that that makes me, and other Sharks fans, feel like the media are just picking on the Sharks because they can. I mean, did they just pick team names out of a hat and decide to bash only those guys? I have to wonder sometimes.

So, don't ask me if I still feel confident with Nabokov in goal. Don't ask me if his performance worries me in the playoffs. I'm not even worried about the damn playoffs. We're not there yet. I don't let bad games decide the fate of the players during the regular season so why on earth would I do it now? It was a bad game. It was a bad game for ALL of the Russian players on the bench. It was a bad game for their coaching staff. It was a bad game for Russia. Stop trying to pin it on one guy.

You might have noticed that there are a few pretty important hockey games going on tomorrow.  For Sharks fans, no game is going to find a larger test of loyalty than the Russia vs. Canada game.  Nabby on one side. Joe, Patty, Dany, and Dan on the other side.  So which side do you cheer for?  Well that, dear reader, is a question only you can answer.  However, in order to be helpful, I have complied a list of reasons to root for each team to help you make your decision.  You can thank me later.

There are a few games on the docket today. According to my local listings, none of these games are tape delayed.Whoo!

Switzerland v Belarus @ NOON Pacific on USA Network

Canada v Germany @ 5pm Pacific on CNBC

Czech Republic v Latvia @ 7pm Pacific on CNBC

Norway v Slovakia @ 9:30pm Pacific on CNBC

12pm Pacific (NBC)

Unless you're on the west coast of course, in which case NBC made the epically stupid decision to tape delay this game 3 hours. You know, it's not like anyone wants to watch the USA v Canada game without having to jump channels to catch the Russia v Czech game. You have like 2 channels NOT showing Olympic programming NBC. You could have easily shown both ski cross qualifiers AND hockey live. And thanks for advertising this game as starting at noon on NBC across the board btw. It's not like I was looking forward to watching it or anything.

4:00pm Pacific (MSNBC)

9pm Pacific (MSNBC)

Have we got some AWESOME news for you!

The Stockton Thunder (SJ's ECHL affiliate) are offering discounted tickets to all Bay Area Sharks fans for their March 20th game against the Grizzlies. Tickets are just $15 for lower premium seats. And hello, you get a HAT! (or a puck) Free hats! This is open to all Bay Area based Sharks fans. You can order your tickets here.

There's no need to worry about missing a Sharks game either. The Sharks are outta town that weekend, and play on Friday the 19th and Sunday the 21st, but Saturday is wide open.

So head on out to Stockton and show the the newest members of the San Jose Sharks family some love.

Larger view of the flyer found here.