Sharks V Oilers

Tonight at 6pm radio, tv, interwebs

Wondering why there's no game day preview post?

I was nearly carried off by ginormous butterflies today. Fending them off seriously cut into my writing time.

For real.

true story

Post Game Recap:

That's more like it! A full 60 minutes, minus a few sloppy penalties and the Sharks get the win over the dreaded Oilers 4-1.

Other cool things that happened:

Blake got his 500th assist. Way to go Blake!

Staubitz got his first NHL goal! Way to go, kid!

Nabby made some HUGE saves. HUGE.

Todd McLellan became the second rookie coach in NHL history to become the head coach for the All-Star Game.

Patty had two goals.

Semenov and Strudwick had one the slowest fights ever. They actually got five for fighting this time, instead of two for roughing. No joke call this time.

Two PP and two even strength goals for the Sharks.

I can't believe I nearly forgot this but Douglas Murray got his first assist of the season tonight putting him on pace for two points. Congrats on getting that first assist, Douglas!

Other Things:

There were a lot of "what huh?" moments in this game.

The Oilers got hit by the injury bug during the game, which was unfortunate.

Stortini hit his head but hurt his knee fighting with Staubitz.

Speaking of Staubitz, kid had some penalty minutes tonight.

Roloson was chased after the 1st. The Sharks managed 3 goals on 10 shots. Big difference from the last time the Sharks saw him, when he had his magic force field up and could have potentially stopped the Hockey Gods themselves.

Garon let in 1 on 21 shots.

The Sharks overall looked better and played better than they have tin the past few games. It was a marked improvement from the downright embarrassing performance in Calgary earlier this week. Let's hope they can keep the improvement streak rolling tomorow night in Vancouver and beyond.

Sharks goals by: seto, Staubitz, Marleau, Marleau

Oilers goal by: Grebeshkov

3 Stars: (1) Marleau (2) Seto (3) Nabby

Seto was named to the Young Stars team today. The vote for Seto campaign didn't fully succeed, but it got him this far. I'd say that's mostly a success.

Go Sharks!

My Search Fu Needs Your Help

Ahoy there internet denizens. You may have noticed a lack of Overheard at the Game posts lately. We didn't hear anything at the Islanders game worth illustrating (209 is best experienced in person. There is no way to capture it. 208 was too awesome to make fun of) and while we did hear something very much worth repeating at the Sharks v Rangers game on Dec 20th, I need your help to share it.

If you were at the game, and stayed in your seats during one of the intermissions you may have seen a bit on the jumbotron where several Sharks were asked what they'd bring if they were stranded on a desert island. Originally I had wanted to do my own illsutrated version of JR's answer (which was amazingly hilarious) and then post the video. Just one problem, I can't find the video. I don't have the best search fu, but I have done my best to scour YouTube and the Sharks site and as of a few days ago, this gem does not exist online. So I am asking anyone who may have recorded it, or knows someone who did, to YouTube it and send us the link. It was one of the funniest videos I have seen them do during intermission and it's a shame it can't be shared.

Cheer Up, Charlie

There is some good news. Dan Boyle will be attending his first All Star Game this month and Joe will be attending his 80th* While I sadly see no mention of Seto or Marleau, at least the Sharks will have someone on the ice to balance out the Ducks.

Much like the baseball All Star Game, I generally only care about the skills competition and not the actual game itself. It's fun to see these guys do what they do best, without restrictions or the pressure of game time. Maybe this year some people will bust out some crazy stuff for the Breakaway Challenge like Ovechkin did last year. (video of the entire challenge is here in case you haven't see it.) Stuff like that is fun to watch. Since the game itself has no baring on the season, aside from adding travel and a day of work to a player's schedule, and it somewhat requires me to root for players I don't normally like, I have a harder time getting into it. Same goes for baseball. (root for the Angels? GAH!)


*number of All Star Games attended may be slightly inflated

Sharks v Flames

7pm radio, tv, interwebs

Fear the Fin will have the stream it. They will hopefully have a good comments thread too.

The Flames and Sharks both sit atop their respective divisions. If there was ever a time to play for a full 60 minutes it's tonight. The Flames will not be pushovers. Whatever isn't clicking for the Sharks needs to start clicking tonight.

Staubitz is back up. Go Staubitz!

Post Game Recap:

Well, that wasn't a full 60 minutes was it?

So here's the deal. I could talk about the few pluses in this game, and there were some, or I could talk about all the minuses, and there were a lot, or I could not do either. We all know what went right and what went wrong, (and if you don't both teams will have official and unofficial recaps nowish-tomorrow) and instead explain it in a way that might make everyone feel less like hitting the booze hard tonight.

At my school we had this saying; everyone has so many bad drawings in them an the only way to get them all out is to draw all the time. Draw early and often, if you will. It's a clever way of saying "keep drawing and you'll get better."

Same goes for hockey. Keep working and you'll play better. The hope is that the Sharks get all these bad games out now so they have that many more good games come playoff time. It might be a stretch but it's a good way to keep the season in perspective on night when you're feeling a little down (angry, frustrated, miffed, saddened, etc) about how the game went.

That's the end of my pep talk for tonight.

Go Sharks!

Totally Irrelevant Post

This is Marcel Goc.

care of the sharks team roster page

This is Marcel from season 2 of Top Chef

care of msnbc and half a dozen other places on the web

They don't really look alike.


For some reason when I think Marcel Goc I picture Marcel from Top Chef even though I know they're totally different people.


I don't get it either.

Sharks V Islanders

Were you expecting a Long Island iced tea?

7:30pm, radio, tv, Tank, interwebs.

We'll be at the game. Mina has a thing for goalies named Rick DiPietro. She bought the tickets before he broke for half a season. Should be a fun game.

Islanders fans will probably come out of the woodwork for this one. Who wouldn't?

Post Game Recap:

Semenov fought an Islander in the first. Let me repeat that. SEMENOV fought someone.

Know who else got in a fight? Ehrhoff.

I think the first level of hell just froze over.

Anyway...

The game started out with an awkward picture ceremony and delivery of a fake to check to Joe Thornton. Joe is Seagate "Player of the Month" for Dec. Go Joe!

The first was a pretty good period for the Sharks. I felt like every time I looked down at my Chinese Chicken Salad the Sharks had a shot on net. Clowe and Grier (Grier!) both got goals, with Grier's coming right at the very end of the period. Whoo.

Semenov's aforementioned fight was also in the first. Again, I was looking down into the abyss that was my salad and missed what started it.

Anyone notice Semenov was playing forward? Took Mina most of the game. I'd read about him possibly playing forward before the game and wasn't surprised.

Ehrhoff also fought in the first. Apparently he punched Streit and Weight took offense. I didn't see the punch as I was once again lost in a sea of lettuce.

Penalties were hard to find in the second. Mina suggested that the refs thought that $2100 up for grabs if the Sharks got a PP goal in the second was coming out of their pockets.

AT one point my lettuce too offense to a non call and attacked Mina. She survived but was a bit surprised by the attack.

The third saw a lot more time in the Sharks end as they sat back and let the Islanders try to win the game. Ryane Clowe gave up the puck that ended up behind Nabby for either Islander goal 2 or 3. Either way, less of that please. A full 60 minutes would be awesome.

The elderly gentleman who ended up sharing part of my walk home said he thought Nabby was dreaming when Islander goal 3 went in. (that was the one that might have been off a high stick, but didn't.)

Empty net goal in the final moments of the third sure took some effort, but it finally went in the give the Sharks a 5-3 win over the Islanders.

Wondering how the kid (Joslin. We refer to all the rookies as "kid") did? He got on the score sheet with a roughing penalty in the third.

Cheecho got three assists. Go Cheech!

Three stars were MacDonald (makes sense), Cheechoo and Grier.

And now, some love for section 208.

208 is an amazing section. We've sat in 209 before and that was an experience not for the faint of heart or inclined to lean. 208 was full of awesome and we'd love to sit there again. Our regular section kind of blows. It was refreshing to sit around a good group of folks instead of next to grumble mc grumbleson who yells at us for talking and then leaves after the 1st. So to the folks at the end of rows 15, 17 and next to us in 16, you rule. Thank you for being so awesome.

New Year's Day