Saturday, March 14, 2009

Sharks and Kings. This Game Will Go Better, Right?

Tonight @ 7pm Radio, TV, Tank. Tank, thank gods for that

Ok, so maybe the beat up Shark is overkill for this meeting, but we do still have a few guys out with bumps and bruises and mystery injuries (syphilitic lung* for 1000, Alex?) so we're not totally playing at 100% here.

Nabby will be back in net tonight. I feel a bit bad for Boosh. The guy is a solid backup, but he didn't have a lot of help in front of him these past few (7) games and it made him look a lot worse. My hope is that the guys step it up for Nabby's return. We'll see.

My feelings of premature glee at this match up are tempered by humanity's unique ability to see patterns were none exist. I have a pretty decent track record when it comes to game. Games I attend are more often than not wins. However, in my past two ventures to the Tank, I have witnessed two rather crushing defeats. Tonight I shall once again boldly venture forth to the lands of teal. I'm slightly concerned that my presence will precipitate a loss. As I said, patterns where there are none. And, to be quite honest, the Sharks haven't exactly been tearing up the ice lately.

No one ever said sports fans needed to be rational.

Factor in that the Kings are no longer the laughing stock of the league (that would by the Islanders) and you have to potential for a gut churning evening. To risk giving myself the "Randy Hahn, Bringer of Doom" award that Sharks are 15-4-1 against the Kings at home since 2002. So, there is some hope, if not light at the end of a dark late season tunnel.

And hey, if it all goes bad, I recently unearthed my copy of "A Link to the Past" for the GBA. That will give me something else to curse at other than the game as I once again fail to make it out of the same stinking dungeon for the 50th time. If you hear a loud obscenity and see the glint of a gold DS while at the game tonight, that will be me, alerting the blue coats to my electronically induced tribulations.


*I just put that in there so I could use the word "syphilitic" I have no idea what's wrong with anyone, other than the obvious injuries to Mitchell and Roenick.

Post-game Recap


Gray is off hangin' with the FTF kids so you're stuck with me for a recap. BWAHAHAHAHHA!!!1!

The pre-game meal at Amici's was awesome. The food was good and the company was much better. Mr. K is crazier than I thought (I have no desire ever to teach the lil' ones. Lurker Shark and his friend (whose posting name I never caught) seem very smart, but are A's fans which makes me question that intelligence, or at the very least their sanity. Ang6666 and her cousin may have thought I was insane (it happens a lot, trust me) but were sweet enough to give me their free mistake pizza when I underestimated my hunger. All in all, an enjoyable dinner was had but at least me.

The game was equal parts excitement and frustration. The Sharks had a lot of chances and a lot of near misses, which seems to be a common theme of the last few games. Ersberg had an awesome game and probably deserved a star. My favorite thing about him was the way he'd lean back against his goal with his arms out when the play wasn't in his end. It seemed to be a very pimp thing to do. The Sharks are really going to need to do something to get them out of their scoring slump. 1 goal in regulation is not going to be sufficient for the playoffs. Not by a long shot.

The shootout almost made me piddle. I kept picturing what Rudy Kelly would write as his post the next day for every Kings player who took a shot during the shootout (The "best" one was simply a picture of a squirrel). I never realized how nervous the Kings players can make me. It was very nice to see Cheechoo get the shootout winner. That boy needs a nice points streak to get him starting the playoffs right.

Sean O'Donnell got a nice pop from the crowd for his 1,000 NHL game. Congrats Sean.

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