It's puzzling to me, all this surprise and woe over the Sharks current place in the standings.(Now 8th, thanks to last night's OT win over Detroit) Puzzling because, as I see it, this is exactly what the media seemed to think the Sharks were capable of for years. Underachievers, choke artists, always playing below their potential, a team that has no earthly reason to succeed does, and then fails, as everyone assumed they would.

More surprising is that this reaction comes after several seasons of saying "the Sharks need to face more adversity." Where “adversity” apparently meant not being involved in a playoff race that will go down to the wire. A team that faces adversity in the sense that it plays hard teams but always wins and then easily coasts into the finals, Cup guaranteed. That's not adversity, that's a fantasy land and it doesn't exist. Not here, not now. And probably not ever.

Let's entertain the idea, for just a moment,  that this is a good thing for the team, and for us as fans. The Sharks are the only other team besides the Wings to be in the playoffs every year since the 2005-06 season. If, like me, you started watching the team that season, it would seem like the playoffs are all but assured. They aren't though. They never were. This is a good reminder of that. For a lot of other teams, other fan bases, this race is a good thing. Why not let it be the same for the Sharks? No gliding into the playoffs unchallenged, this time they really have to fight.

Sure, they had to fight last year too, but by the end of the regular season, they'd wound down. They started too early and finished too soon. This year they're in the thick of things right up until the very end. These last 3 weeks of divisional games will be huge in decided how the Pacific shakes out. Let's embrace this for what it is and what it could be, a chance to go all the way. Sure, the Sharks have to make it first, but they have to do it  without backing in, without skating in, without coasting. This is a good thing for this team if they're able to take advantage of it and use it the right way. Now it's up to the team to decide what to do.

Back with another rousing video for your motivational needs, it's Reader Emily! THIS is your rally video.



Go Sharks!

Yes!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!

9th never tasted so good!

Ok, ok, I know, it's really nothing to be excited over. The Sharks are still out of the top 8 spots in the West and they still have a helluva hill to climb if they want to make it back in, and STAY back in playoff contention, but they HAD to get this win. There's not time to fart around anymore. You win, or the season ends, and ends soon. That's it.

The Sharks currently sit one point back of the Avs in eighth, with games in hand. (as of right now, the Avs have played 71 games, the Sharks 68) Remember, those games only matter if they win them. They mean nothing if they result in a loss. To really make a run of it, the Sharks will have to pick up their game. They're still too sloppy in the neutral zone, and they'll need to clean that up if they really want to play until June. The lines looked good tonight though. As long as McLellan rolls the four lines like he did tonight, the Sharks have a pretty damn good shot at reviving their post season hopes. In case you missed it earlier today, Puck Daddy had a round table on this very subject. Yours truly even got to participate! Check it out!

Let's keep those "winniking" ways rolling, boys, and get back into the top 8.

Get ready, because this is going to be one hell of a ride.

Pattygeddon? It's coming

In case you hadn't heard, JR is on another Patty Marleau rampage.  Someone is bitter as hell over his time with Patty and he's not scared to say it. Twitter decided this meat that Patrick Marleau was the reason for all the bad things in the world. Stub your toe, get food poisioning, see the four horsemen of the apocolypse. All Patrick Marleau. Fail a test, Patrick Marleau. Fender bender, Patrick Marleau. Missing sock? PATRICK MARLEAU.

He is the bringer of the end. Tremble in awkwardly pleasant looking fear.

Since everyone seemed pretty bummed after the game last night, (I didn't watch, but I DO have tickets on Tuesday and that's kinda scary), I figured I'd blog about something completely unrelated.

Last night I played an early 90s "interactive" board game called "Nightmare." The object is simple. First to get all their keys and get to the exact center of the board wins...as long as they don't draw their fear from the pile of cards stacked up in the center, anyway. A video (no, really a VIDEO TAPE) comes with the game and enforces a 60 minute playing period. If no one wins by the end of the game, the sPooOOOOOooooOOkkkKKKKyyyYYyy Gatekeeper wins. *gasp* You roll a die to move and stay on the perimeter of the board until you have all 6 of your keys.

The tape is a series of pre recorded "interactions" with the players, which occur at preset times and slow down play time. The Gatekeeper most often shows up to "punish" players, by banishing them to the black hole which is essentially the game's equivalent of Monopoly Jail. If you don't have a a card or key to play to release yourself from the black hole, you have to wait for the Gatekeeper to pop up and release you.

There are three types of cards, chance, time and fate. They all do pretty much the same thing, but time is bound to a certain point on the countdown clock and chance and fate are character bound or playable by all. The cards tell you to do things like scream at a certain time, or if someone gets too close to your grave stone (which is your player piece), or what to do if someone lands on you, etc. You keep hoping the cards will do something cool, but at most they'll keep you from losing a turn or allow you to steal a few fate cards from an opponent, which may or may not help you out.

Pluses: The game is short and easy to learn. The video of the Gatekeeper is hilarious.

Negatives: If you aren't 12 years old and female, or blitzed out of your gourd, it isn't very good. The characters you play have little impact on the game, and unless you are rolling fast and furious, there's almost no way to win before the hour is up. You get to hear a tape rewind again. Super old skool!

We decided the game would be a great slumber party game for preteen girls, but it would need updating. Most people don't have VCRs anymore and your kids would laugh you out of the room if you tried to use one. The game could be more interactive as well and the keys made easier to acquire so you actually have a shot at winning.

We had a good time, and made the best of it by snarking at the tv and making a lot of silly jokes, but I'd recommend going with some other options if you're looking for something gamey to do on a Saturday night.

The nightmare road trip is finally over! Even though February isn't quite, it might as well be as the Sharks FINALLY returned home to the friendly confines of HP Pavilion last night. There was much discussion on how they might rebound, or not, from their 2-6-1 plane broken trade in air trip from hell while facing the Flyers and the consensus was that it didn't matter how, the Sharks just needed to win. Jamie Baker pointed out that traditionally, trams coming off a long roadie do poorly their first game back home. This was quite simply not an option for the Sharks. The Yotes had already taken over 1st in the division, and while their hold isn't too strong, 4 points back is a lot worse than 2. I don't think any of us knew what to expect, but what we hoped for was a barn burner. Ran the Flyers out of town 20 to nothing, magically earn 15 points and move to the top of the division once again. What we got was a nail biter of a 1-0 game.

After Clowe scores 1:22 seconds into the first period, it became a battle to our tun the clock. Usually 1-0 games are boring but this game was a fight all the way through. There was some real concern with the goaltending battle being an unsteady Nemo versus an equally unsteady Bryzgalov, but one figured it would be way more of a blow out. Nemo decided to surprise us all and play they way we all have HOPED he could play, and was nuts in his crease, blocking everything and anything that came his way. Damn, he put on a show. A clinic even. It was nuts. Sadly, Brzyglov seemed ot be paying attention to Nemo as well, and after letting that one early goal in, he didn't let in a gatdamn thing for the rest of the night. The Flyers just kept pushing. By the end there, I was pretty sure I was going to collapse, it was so stressful. It just kept looking like the Flyers were going to score. Thank the hockey gods, they didn't.

Bring your diapers and paper bags with you tomorrow night. The Buffalo Sabres are in town, and you might need them.

Trade deadline day is always a mix of emotions. Some good, some bad, and a lot of them reminiscent of boredom mixed with anticipation, tinged with amusement at the utter lack of content for the folks at TSN to talk about while on air. The past few deadlines have been a mix of rentals, disappointments, success, stay putted-ness (if that's not a word, I just made it into one), and general malaise. But this year? This year was different.

A move was coming. You could sense it, smell it in the air. No, it didn't smell like Rick Nash, or goalie move, or even Ott. It smelled a bit like maybe some improved D, maybe nothing, maybe a few small tweaks here and there but instead DW made a moved that shocked everyone. Jaime McGinn, Mike Connolly and Michael Sgarbossa for forwards T.J. Galiardi and Daniel Winnik, and a seventh round selection in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

Whoa.

Overall, I like the move. Winnick and Galiardi should fit in well, and there's a decent chance the team can resign both for a good price after the season ends. Sgarbossa is kinda of a big loss, he was one of the better looking prospects in the Woo and many of us were looking forward to seeing him with the big club, but that's how the business of hockey goes. It was the loss of McGinn though, that hurt the worst.

Immediately there was backlash, he's not a franchise player, but he's a crowd favorite. For me, I remember talking about him a few short seasons ago, when he was just a wee lad coming up in the Woo, skating at camp with the big club. This kid, we said, he's got promise. I took to him immediately, I don't even remember why buy he truly was one of m favorite players. That's why I am so sad to see him go. Not because he's the best man on the team but because he was a good solid piece. He worked hard, he developed his skills, he toughed out the back and forth of the Woostah Shuttle and earned a spot on the team. I enjoy watching him play and while I know this trade is probably good thing int he long run, I will miss watching McGinn skate, mix up Clowe or the field, and look pleasantly puzzled by all that is hockey in San Jose.

Good luck McGinn, hope Colorado treats you well.

Word.