Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo what a game that was! Took the better part of the day for my voice to recover fully from cheering all sjdkfjskfjsklfjsakdjksadskjfdksfj for the goals. You see, we had a family of 4 Blackhawks fans sitting behind us. Whenever there are two or more fans of the opposing team that close to us, I get really competitive with them. Basically, I want to see their hockey related hopes squashed like so many bugs on a windshield. I mean, we can't let these guys win and leave happy now can we? No! Thankfully the Sharks were up to the task, beating the Hawks in a 5-2 game that showed some real flashes of steadiness in a very up and down season.
I will admit to having some reservations when I heard Nemo would be in net tonight. I didn't feel entirely comfortable with it based on his unsteadiness earlier this season, even if I did kinda get why McLellan made that decision. Mina admonished me and further rationalized the choice by saying this was actually a good thing, good test for him, gets the team behind him, blah blah blah. Then I was like "ok, you're right, " and mostly acquiesced. (which is rather uncharacteristic of me, but what can I say, she had some good points). My fears were further allayed when I we got the stats sheets and I saw the despite playing more games than any other team, Chicago didn't have many more points than the Sharks did, even if they did have 2 or so more wins. (whoo loser points!)
BRAUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNN as I was calling him, was called up to take the place of an injured Demers, but we were excited because Murray was back in the line up. Oh how the blue lines misses him when he is gone. And ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you Murray did no disappoint. No longer forced to deal with Buffy, Murray had his way with Chicago. Hits, smashes, even SAVES, let me tell you it was beautiful. A sight to see. Something to behold. In short, MURRAY SMASH. Murray was playing so well, he could have scored a hat trick. Usually when we say "Douglas Murray, offensive power hours." it's meant in light hearted jest, but on Wednesday night, it was a serious statement of fact. 240 pounds of it.
The night was not all about Murray, as Patty Marleau reminded everyone why we kept him (and that he should be a Shark for life), scoring two goals to seal the deal in the third. The first was a PP goal and the second was an empty netter that saw him beat Campbell down the ice like a rented mule. We have Patrick Marleau on our team, Brian Campbell is irrelevant.
Speaking of Campbell, we weren't aware the tradition was still going on after last seasons big fuss over it, but every time he had the puck, boos rained down from above. Now, personally, we find this funny. We get that for most people, it's now a funny joke thing to do. Sure, some folks are still mad that we gave up a lot for him, and he lied and left, but we're far enough removed from that now that's more a fun tradition in the works than anything else. I was momentarily confused though, because we were booing someone and I was pretty sure Pronger wasn't on the ice. With Pronger now back east, someone had to fill the void. Looks like we chose you, Soupy.
When the game hit 3-2 in the third, I was a tad concerned. I'd be messaging the other half, who had mentioned the score looked good last he check. The Chicago scores. I sent him back "You jinxed it, jinxer." Thankfully, Patrick Marleau made sure that was not the case, but I was a little worried for a few moments there. The Hawks had life and the Sharks suddenly weren't playing as well as they had been most of the rest of the game.
For reference, the reviewed Chicago goals was not explained during the game. We guessed they might have though a skate kicked it in, but no one said why it was under review, and they only showed one replay which clearly showed the puck as in. Despite this, when the call on the ice stood, a bunch of Sharks fans booed. Mina shouted, "You don't even know why you're booing!" but no one seemed to care.
The kids of the Hawks fans behind us, aside from spending all night kicking the back of my chair (they needed to kick it a little higher and to the right. Free massage chair.)ere young enough to not understand they people cheer for a team, not just EXCITING THINGS. They even started joining on on the "Let's go Sha-arks" chants, much to their mother's chagrin. (at one point she turned to the father and said "We may need to send them back." Ouch.) They also were very much into the Turco chant, but were unaware people were actually saying his name and just sat there mimicking the general sounds instead. This in between them deciding to scream at the top of their lungs because clearly, that's how you cheer.
I think mom was suddenly really happy dad had brought her a beer instead of a hot coco.
As the Sharks made it clear that the only team leaving the ice that night with points would be them, I turned around to see mom with her head in her hands, shaking it in dismay. I'm pretty sure this is how the Hawks fan Sharkie owned earlier that night was feeling too. (The guy kept shouting about how "WE" have a ring, and so Sharkie came back with a sign that said "Where's YOUR ring?" and they guy sat down and moped. Good stuff.)
Next up the Sharks take on Vancouver on Friday at 7pm. Be there or be super square.
