Vs. the Gilligan's Island Blackhawks.
Castoffs? Get it? Never mind.
:clears throat:
Vs. the Atlanta Thrashers!
Gorgeous night in San Jose. In case you haven't noticed, this is the 20th anniversary for the Sharks.
That very much featured at HP Pavilion in new banners, etc.
As always, we left Sacramento as early as possible so that we could get in, get settled, and hang out at the glass for warmups.
Since there's been a dearth of Sharks player photos on my blog :eyeroll: allow me to fix that. ;-P
First order o' business...Captain Joe!!! Yay Jumbo!!
Alternate Captain Dan Boyle looking hot and intense as usual...
And Alternate Captain (for home games) Patrick Marleau
And because one can never, ever have too much Patty
And our alternate captain for the road, Ryane Clowe
One thing about Clowie...he's frequently the last one on the ice or close to it. I, as a fan, appreciate that.
Gotta get my favorite baby sharks in here. Demers and Ginner.
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| This boy is always smiling with his teammates |
Someone else who always seems happy to be at the tank...the Big Pavelski!
Dougie stretched within full sight of the Thrashers...all the better to intimidate them.
Now how about some goalie pics. Niemi was scheduled to start, which was very worriesome considering Niitty has an awesome record against the Atlanta Thrashers. Well, Doug and TMac must have a reason...
I'm not feeling really verbose tonight...must have something to do with the very, very bad alzheimer's related day I've experienced with my mom. So here's the rest of the warmup photos. I'll caption if I feel ambitious.
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| Here's a cute little thrasher dude, defensemen Ron Hainsey |
End warmups.
We made our way to our seats in the upper bowl, Section 220, Row 5. Here's the view...
Cue the pregame interview from the locker room with Dan Rusinowski (sp). On this opening night of 2010 it was with - who else?? - our newly crowned captain Jumbo Joe Thornton. Alas, he was not shirtless.
Then we got to watch a delightful video saluting the last 20 years while the names of notable players from Sharks history scrolled throughout the arena.
The video promised us that the next chapter started that night...
Then they brought out all the players and formed a conga line. No, wait...that was a dream I had the other day. No, they actually just lined the poor bastards up and did introductions.
I am a little disappoint as it was fairly brief and not at all creative.
Couple close(er)-ups. First some of the vets then the baby Sharks.
The loudest ovation came for Jumbo of course. Patty, Heater, and Pavs received the next level of cheers. Surprisingly (or not) Torrey Mitchell might have received slightly more cheers than those guys. Or maybe the tweens in the crowd just have louder voices. Not sure.
The funniest moment of the intros happened to poor Frazer McLaren. He was last in line and when the cameraman got to him, the announcer was completely silent. Frazer got a weird look on his face, then started laughing uncomfortably. Finally the announcer put him out of his misery. lol
Now on to the game. Started out pretty good. Heatley and Clowe scored in the first period. Heatley's was his 300th career goal and came on the power play with assists from Marleau and Thornton. Clowe's was even strength with help from Torrey Mitchell and Dan Boyle.
The line of Clowe - Couture - Mitchell was by far the best line of the night. They held the puck in the zone far better than the other lines. That's probably not good news.
Here, in no particular order, are the game pics. Excuse the net.
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| Strategizing |
Hmmmm...judging from my pics, there were Sharks flying all over the place. And not in a good way.
- Goalies -
There was a fight. Frazer McLaren was apparently pissed off about not being announced quickly so he took it out on former Blackhawk Ben Eager.
And to the penalty box with both of you. Five for Fighting.
By-fug-lien scored the go ahead goal in the 3rd. Dammit.
Oh look...another Thrashers goal...
Boyler and Dougie did NOT have a good game. Laddie scored a shorthanded goal and other Stewart brother and Evander Kane also scored as the Thrashers won.
:facepalm:
Well, at least we had Sharkie?
Ya know, the drive back to Sacramento seems waaaaay longer after a loss. But it was still a fun night and I'm blessed to have been able to be there. And thanks to my dear friend Melanie for coming over to stay with my mom on very short notice so that we could go with no worries.
The sad final:
