San Jose Sharks vs Washington Capitals photos

Here are a few photos from the Sharks 7-2 thrashing of the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. Evgeni Nabokov returned to the lineup to backup Brian Boucher, and he is expected to start Wednesday night against Chicago. More photos and notes from the game are available here, and postgame comments from the coaches are available here. Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis was kind enough to answer a lot of questions for me about technology and the NHL prior to the game here, and Offwing.com and AOL's Eric McErlain also answered a few questions for me about the Capitals here.

Naturally Jody Shelley and Donald Brashear fight when I am in the tunnel going from one side of the rink to the other, but hockeyfights.com posted a video clip of the fight here. I am the first to admit I was not as positive about Shelley when he was with Columbus, but scroll through some of his fights this season on HF. He is having an incredible season, and Todd McLellan is throwing him out on a line with Marleau and Thornton late in the game, and sometimes subbing Marleau or Thornton at center on the fourth line. Something to keep an eye on.

Thanks for hitting the highlight video.

Sharks Gameday: Black Jerseys, Huh?

So, you may have heard there's this little thing called, erm, BlackArmor debuting against the Caps on Saturday night. It's black (duh) and not a heck of a lot different from the old black jerseys. Guess those early reports were wrong.

(The good news? There's not a Seagate logo to be found. Fortunately, Euro-style sponsorships haven't crept into the league as some had feared.)

Still, you guys know that I'm just a teeny tiny bit superstitious. The old black jerseys were seemingly cursed, at least for the first few seasons. I don't have specific numbers but I believe that the team's record when wearing them was roughly 0-19573893-2. They did eventually start winning with the black jerseys on, so whatever curse they had was apparently shaken off.

History does tend to repeat itself though, and with the Sharks wearing the new duds on consecutive nights (Caps and Wednesday night against the Blackhawks), I say this: if you lose both games, burn them. Burn them all and never speak of them again.

Oh yeah, and some dudes named Alexander Something-or-other are going to be skating. Fingers crossed that Jose Theodore will be in net. What are the odds of a Donald Brashear/Jody Shelley fight -- and what's the over-under on number of punches Shelley actually gets in before Brashear takes over?

Positivity!

Oh, wait! This team is only "mostly dead".
Wow. What a fucking game! Who would have guessed that I could attend a Ducks/Sharks game where Joe Thornton fought but Jody Shelley wouldn't? Great work by Steve Montador and Brad May in each instance.

Add in a Giguere shutout and a Pahlsson out-of-the-box breakaway goal (plus I didn't lose my wallet), and guess what I'm feeling? Some goddamn positivity!

Go Ducks.

George Parros fight collection 2007-08

Courtesy of the fine people at ducks-hockey.com, here is a video collection of 19 George Parros fights from the 2007-08 season. A little pre-game reseach prior to Thursday's ANA-SJ home opener.

Parros vs. Thornton 9/30/07
Parros vs. Boogaard 10/14/07
Parros vs. Fedoruk 10/20/07
Parros vs. King 10/23/07
Peters vs. Parros 12/05/07
Peters vs. Parros -Round 2- 12/05/07
Parros vs. Koci 12/07/07
Parros vs. Shelley 12/10/07
Parros vs. Davison 12/18/07
Parker vs. Parros 12/19/07
Belak vs. Parros 1/9/08
Parros vs. Ivanans 1/24/08
Parros vs. King 2/1/08
Parros vs. Cote 2/2/08
Parros vs. Orr 2/7/08
Parros vs. Downey 2/10/08
Godard vs. Parros 2/17/08
King vs. Parros 2/22/08
Parros vs. Shelley 3/21/08

Sharks-Avalanche photos

Here are a few photos from the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks last night at HP Pavilion. The Avalanche came out on fire, and it took a period and a half for the Sharks to match that intensity. Jose Theodore came up big in the final 40 minutes. With Sakic, Stastny and Ryan Smyth injured, Colorado received solid play with goals by Ben Guite, TJ Hensick, and Jeff Finger. Marek Svatos and Jaroslav Hlinka also provided consistent pressure.

More notes and photos will be up on Sharkspage soon.

Sharks acquire Jody Shelley

Why? I believe this is the reason:

Ron Wilson: "Patty, if you don't start playing consistently, Shelley will beat the shit out of you."

Patrick Marleau: "Oh." (furrows unibrow with confused apathy)