San Jose Sharks - Hey, everybody lay off Dan Boyle
So, if you missed it last night, Dan Boyle shot a puck into his own net during overtime to lose a game against the Avalanche. After the game Boyle looked like he had shot his own mother, calling it "the worst thing that can happen to a player."
A lot is being said about a Sharks curse, and how maybe this team is the hockey equivalent of the CHicago Cubs. I am pretty certain nobody has ever tried to bring a goat to a Sharks game, but I don't think the team is cursed.
What I do think is that everybody needs to go easy on Boyle. Sure it was a bad bit of luck, but you can argue that a shitload of shots should have gone in during regulation and that maybe some people on that team don't know how to set a screen properly. You could even argue that, with a defender in the vicinity, Nabby should have been more vigilant about a possible errant shot coming his way.
Besides, this is scarcely the worst thing that ever happened to the Sharks during the playoffs. I was at game four at the SJ Arena when Arturs Irbe mishandled a puck behind his own net and fed it right to a Detroit forward who slipped it into the goal, giving them what seemed like an insurmountable 3-1 lead. What happened next was inspirational. The guys on the ice at the time all came by Irbe and told him (or looked like they told him) "DOn't worry, shake it off, we'll get this one back." They not only got the one goal back, but got two more in the period to go on and win the game 4-3. I was there, it was amazing and got me believing that the Sharks not only could beat Detroit, but that they could go all the way to the Stanley Cup. I think that game, as much as anything, helped make San Jose the great hockey town it is (and it is a great hockey town, so fuck off all you Canadian nay-sayers). That year the Sharks would go on to lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the next round after taking a 3-2 advantage in the series. They lost the last two games in Toronto, but in game seven had a shot at going ahead in the deciding game but Sandis Ozolinsh passed up a shot on a wide-open goal.
The point is that how these guys rebound will say a lot about the team. Boyle is usually the guy calling people out for not showing up and playing. Boyle has won a cup and he was brought here to help the Sharks win a cup. Boyle is usually the best player on the ice most nights, or at least the best defenseman on the ice and he plays with a lot of passion and heart and doesn't take shit from opposing players regardless of the score (just ask Alex Semin).
So, what I hope is that this will not be a loss that robs the team of its confidence, but more like an instance that brings the team together and maybe shocks them all into playing like the team we all know they can be. Yeah, it was a tough one to swallow, nobody knows that better than Dan Boyle, but as rotten a bit of luck as it was the series is still winnable and the players have to know it and play like it. The guys who want to win will respond, the guys who don't, won't.
If I had a ticket for game five I would give Boyle a lot of applause because his entire Sharks career should not be rolled up in that one moment.
A lot is being said about a Sharks curse, and how maybe this team is the hockey equivalent of the CHicago Cubs. I am pretty certain nobody has ever tried to bring a goat to a Sharks game, but I don't think the team is cursed.
What I do think is that everybody needs to go easy on Boyle. Sure it was a bad bit of luck, but you can argue that a shitload of shots should have gone in during regulation and that maybe some people on that team don't know how to set a screen properly. You could even argue that, with a defender in the vicinity, Nabby should have been more vigilant about a possible errant shot coming his way.
Besides, this is scarcely the worst thing that ever happened to the Sharks during the playoffs. I was at game four at the SJ Arena when Arturs Irbe mishandled a puck behind his own net and fed it right to a Detroit forward who slipped it into the goal, giving them what seemed like an insurmountable 3-1 lead. What happened next was inspirational. The guys on the ice at the time all came by Irbe and told him (or looked like they told him) "DOn't worry, shake it off, we'll get this one back." They not only got the one goal back, but got two more in the period to go on and win the game 4-3. I was there, it was amazing and got me believing that the Sharks not only could beat Detroit, but that they could go all the way to the Stanley Cup. I think that game, as much as anything, helped make San Jose the great hockey town it is (and it is a great hockey town, so fuck off all you Canadian nay-sayers). That year the Sharks would go on to lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the next round after taking a 3-2 advantage in the series. They lost the last two games in Toronto, but in game seven had a shot at going ahead in the deciding game but Sandis Ozolinsh passed up a shot on a wide-open goal.
The point is that how these guys rebound will say a lot about the team. Boyle is usually the guy calling people out for not showing up and playing. Boyle has won a cup and he was brought here to help the Sharks win a cup. Boyle is usually the best player on the ice most nights, or at least the best defenseman on the ice and he plays with a lot of passion and heart and doesn't take shit from opposing players regardless of the score (just ask Alex Semin).
So, what I hope is that this will not be a loss that robs the team of its confidence, but more like an instance that brings the team together and maybe shocks them all into playing like the team we all know they can be. Yeah, it was a tough one to swallow, nobody knows that better than Dan Boyle, but as rotten a bit of luck as it was the series is still winnable and the players have to know it and play like it. The guys who want to win will respond, the guys who don't, won't.
If I had a ticket for game five I would give Boyle a lot of applause because his entire Sharks career should not be rolled up in that one moment.
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