San Jose Sharks - Some thoughts
People have been asking me if I have stopped posting about the Sharks in fear of jinxing the team.
Yes, that is indeed the case. While it may seem like I was never on the bandwagon truth is that I OWN that bandwagon and it is in my garage. I got on it late in 1994 when someone gave me Sharks tickets to go seem them play the LA Kings. Wayne Gretzky was with them then and that night he scored two goals to tie Gordie Howe's career record at 801. The second goal of the night came with like 30 seconds left to tie the score and send it to overtime.
Sharks went on to lose that game, but I was a hockey fan from that moment on.
That season the Sharks went to the playoffs for the first time. I was at game four of that series when, going into the third period goaltender Arturs Irbe fed a puck to a Detroit Red Wings player who buried the puck in the back of the net to take what looked like an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the game. The Sharks bounced back, rallied to win the game and the San Jose Arena was louder than a jet engine as the place erupted. Had the Sharks lost that game they would have gone down 3-1 in the series and probably gone out quietly. Instead they took the series to seven games.
I remember game seven. The Sharks had opened up San Joe Arena (that's what it was called back then) and shown the game on the big screen scoreboard. There were probably 2-3,000 people there, smallish but hard core fans who were willing to give up something in terms of a quality viewing experience (the JumboTron they had back then was pretty ugly, a series of nine screens strung together) to be with other fans. It was loud and exciting. When Jamie Baker scored what wound up being the game-winning goal, the place went apeshit. When the game finished the place went even crazier, people literally went running into the streets chanting "STAN-LEY-CUP... STAN-LEY- CUP!!!!"
This was for a first round game, I turned to my friend Craig and said "can you imagine what would happen here if this team DID win the cup, they would have to call in the National Guard." It was great and for the rest of that playoff run we closed our shop early and went to the arena or wherever else lots of fans were and watched the games. When the Sharks lost to Toronto in game seven of the second round we were once again at the arena, only this time the crowd was closer to 10,000 (my estimate, what do I know). It was exciting and fun and, yeah, a little uplifting.
A Cup Finals series in San Jose would easily be the biggest thing to happen here in sports, possibly the biggest event in the history of the city period. I think we not only deserve a Cup here as loyal Sharks fans, but maybe this city, which has cancelled 4th of July Fireworks and now a longstanding arts festival due to budget cuts, a place where people are getting less and less for their tax dollar, maybe this city deserves to have it's feel good moment. Maybe this is that year, I think it might, and here's why and it has nothing to do with who's playing well or what team we might play.
If the Sharks do make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, and if there is a game seven, that game will be played in San Jose because the Sharks are now the highest seeded team in the tournament.
Ponder that for a minute. Sixteen years ago people were running in the streets and honking horns and having parades (literally having parades) for a team that was eliminated in the second round. If these guys get to a game seven in the finals, well, I can only imagine what will happen in this town. I may have to sell my car to get tickets to that game.
Go Sharks!
Yes, that is indeed the case. While it may seem like I was never on the bandwagon truth is that I OWN that bandwagon and it is in my garage. I got on it late in 1994 when someone gave me Sharks tickets to go seem them play the LA Kings. Wayne Gretzky was with them then and that night he scored two goals to tie Gordie Howe's career record at 801. The second goal of the night came with like 30 seconds left to tie the score and send it to overtime.
Sharks went on to lose that game, but I was a hockey fan from that moment on.
That season the Sharks went to the playoffs for the first time. I was at game four of that series when, going into the third period goaltender Arturs Irbe fed a puck to a Detroit Red Wings player who buried the puck in the back of the net to take what looked like an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the game. The Sharks bounced back, rallied to win the game and the San Jose Arena was louder than a jet engine as the place erupted. Had the Sharks lost that game they would have gone down 3-1 in the series and probably gone out quietly. Instead they took the series to seven games.
I remember game seven. The Sharks had opened up San Joe Arena (that's what it was called back then) and shown the game on the big screen scoreboard. There were probably 2-3,000 people there, smallish but hard core fans who were willing to give up something in terms of a quality viewing experience (the JumboTron they had back then was pretty ugly, a series of nine screens strung together) to be with other fans. It was loud and exciting. When Jamie Baker scored what wound up being the game-winning goal, the place went apeshit. When the game finished the place went even crazier, people literally went running into the streets chanting "STAN-LEY-CUP... STAN-LEY- CUP!!!!"
This was for a first round game, I turned to my friend Craig and said "can you imagine what would happen here if this team DID win the cup, they would have to call in the National Guard." It was great and for the rest of that playoff run we closed our shop early and went to the arena or wherever else lots of fans were and watched the games. When the Sharks lost to Toronto in game seven of the second round we were once again at the arena, only this time the crowd was closer to 10,000 (my estimate, what do I know). It was exciting and fun and, yeah, a little uplifting.
A Cup Finals series in San Jose would easily be the biggest thing to happen here in sports, possibly the biggest event in the history of the city period. I think we not only deserve a Cup here as loyal Sharks fans, but maybe this city, which has cancelled 4th of July Fireworks and now a longstanding arts festival due to budget cuts, a place where people are getting less and less for their tax dollar, maybe this city deserves to have it's feel good moment. Maybe this is that year, I think it might, and here's why and it has nothing to do with who's playing well or what team we might play.
If the Sharks do make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, and if there is a game seven, that game will be played in San Jose because the Sharks are now the highest seeded team in the tournament.
Ponder that for a minute. Sixteen years ago people were running in the streets and honking horns and having parades (literally having parades) for a team that was eliminated in the second round. If these guys get to a game seven in the finals, well, I can only imagine what will happen in this town. I may have to sell my car to get tickets to that game.
Go Sharks!
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