Not this time Red Wings!!

[Upton]

The only history you need to know about is you've been eliminated 2 years in a row by the Sharks..

:woohoo:

Congratulations to the Red Wings on a great series. These two teams are so close..and with Todd McLellan coming out of the Detroit organization, they're like mirror images of each other..

[Forkboy]

1. That was an awesome series.

Really impressed with how San Jose responded, and Thornton played as good as I've ever seen him. It's not getting any easier though, that's for sure. Should another tremendous series with the Canucks.

[Upton]

2. I've never been so tense watching a hockey game

It's one thing to lose a series, quite another to go down in NHL history for losing a 3-0 series lead. You already know that with your Bruins, but a loss last night would have given all sorts of ammunition to those who believe the Sharks are playoff chokers and want to blow up the team, get rid of GM Doug Wilson or even McLellan. Last night, the future direction of the franchise lay in the balance. It was being called the biggest game in Sharks' history. To see them come through under that kind of pressure was especially gratifying..

The Bay Area media had been all over the Sharks and their most recent scapegoat Marleau since game 5. And some of the comments on the Sharks boards have just been way over the top....agreeing with JR's "gutless" comment and much much worse.

Thornton has always been my favorite player since he came to San Jose. And even though he's had an excellent playoffs, if the Sharks had lost in that fashion under Jumbo's first year of wearing the C, it could have had devastating consequences for those of us who appreciate all he's done for this franchise and want him to remain a Shark for the rest of his career..

Vancouver was a tough matchup for the Sharks all year..in 4 games, each team had a SO win, but the Canucks also won 2 in regulation.. after last night though, I can only be optimistic.

[Forkboy]

3. I think the winner of this next series wins the Cup.

I think both Western teams are better than Boston and Tampa (not drastically better, but better). Not to take anything away from Chicago and especially Nashville, who played great, but Vancouver has lacked a killer instinct so far. I think the Sharks had it in all but one game, but the Wings are just a great team that wasn't going to go down easily.

The Sedin twins were quiet against the Preds and may be thrilled to play someone else. Not that the Sharks are bad defensively, but Nashville just smothered them. After that anything will seem wide open. And this is a huge series for Vancouver. They are totally built to win it and win it now, and they know it. But Luongo has some playoff demons to beat, and the pressure is more on them than San Jose, imo.

I like both teams a lot, and picked Vancouver all year, but I just hope it goes the distance and is good hockey. I'll be happy with either of them winning the series, and the Cup...if its against Tampa.

[KamaAina]

7. Never mind McLellan, Marleau or Thornton

I was ready to place the blame squarely on the, uh, fins of the mascot, S.J. Sharkie.



I mean, seriesly, does any other hockey team have a mascot? I can just picture the Lone Ranger on skates shooting silver bullets into the crowd at the Garden, or some guy with a water hose and a fan simulating a hurricane in hockey-mad Raleigh, N.C. :sarcasm:

Had the team completed the seemingly inevitable Fukushima-style meltdown, I would have had no choice but to introduce my very own mascot, Chokey McFail.

[Upton]

8. I think they just about all have mascots.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NHL_mascots#Current_mascots

but only SJ Sharkie is tight with Al Gore..



Remember when Sharkie got caught up in the rafters? I know Jon Stewart had fun with it..

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-july-22-1999/a-tale-of-survival---s-j--sharkie

[KamaAina]

9. And it was against the Wings!

That was years before I landed here (note that Los Tiburones are wearing the old home whites), but still, :rofl: .

[LisaM]

4. Crying today. I do not like the Sharks.

But, thanks for rubbing it in.

[KamaAina]

6. See #5 below

and thanks for all your most excellent trash talk. :-)

[KamaAina]

5. Our go-to sports columnist Mark Purdy had this to say about the vanquished Wings

http://www.mercurynews.com/mark-purdy/ci_18055015

Still, the Red Wings kept coming. They are one dogged and admirable hockey team. It's why the series stretched to the limit. During Thursday's game, they lost two of their fiercest players -- Todd Bertuzzi to a suspected back injury and Dan Cleary to a friendly-fire body blow administered accidentally by teammate Jiri Hudler in an open collision -- but the Red Wings kept coming. In fact, even as they were going through the post-series handshake line at center ice, you were wondering if they might still come back and tie the game and send it into overtime.

Indeed. Really, I can't think of any team I'd rather have a bitter rivalry with: before moving to Sharks Territory a year and a half ago, they were among my favorites, particularly Zetterberg. And they're one of the Original Six, no less.

[LisaM]

10. Wait ----- you moved, and changed your team?

You're a sports bigamist?

I've lived in Seattle for ages, but I would never change teams!

[KamaAina]

11. I moved from Honolulu

where they can't even find a place to hold an exhibition game; the only building on the island large enough to hold a 200'x80' ice surface is UH's Stan Sheriff Center, which by law must be used only for nonprofit purposes. :-)

I did think about having a fantasy team called "Tsunami Honolulu", with a logo of a giant wave poised to engulf an island, though.

And growing up in Connecticut, my original team was the Hartford Whalers. Thanks to a Detroiter named Karmanos (who still sucks, by the way :grr: ), no further loyalty to them is possible. :cry: If I'm a sports bigamist, he's a sports philanderer.

edit: Did you know? Presently hockey-deprived Seattle was one of the "Pre-Original Eight Or So"; its Metropolitans actually won the Cup in 1917! The other team that competed alongside the Original (Surviving) Six was the Ottawa Silver Seven; yup, seven to a side back then, with a "rover" position.

[JonLP24]

12. I may root for a Sharks-UCLA Stanley Cup

I think Vancouver would be a fun team to watch in the Stanley Cup but I hate it when teams got losing in the playoffs label. I almost (and I stress almost) want the Dallas Mavericks to win it all because they have the same label.

I think it most cases that kind of label is unfair. There are often great teams in the playoffs and there is no shame in losing to them.

[1gobluedem]

13. I think the Sharks play dirtier than the Wings

Especially that spraying-the-goalie-with-ice thing and acting all innocent like it wasn't on purpose. Right.

It was a wonderful series and, if the Wings had won one of the close earlier games, instead of needing to win four straight, I think they'd be in the finals instead.

Hoping for a Bruins-Canucks final.

[Upton]

14. I don't think either team plays dirty..

I mean, if the biggest thing you have to complain about is an occasional snow shower on your goalie, something that McLellan pretty much put a stop to after game 2 anyway...that only makes my point. However, if you wish to continue down that road, just keep in mind your Wings employ Todd Bertuzzi..

It was a great series alright. Chris Osgood said it was “the best seven-game series I've ever seen.” In fact, it was the first series in NHL history in which 6 games were decided by 1 goal...and it would have been all 7 if not for the empty netter at the end of game 6..

As for your other point, yeah I'm sure Detroit is kicking itself for giving up late goals in the losses in games 1 & 3. Then again, the Sharks have a similar case looking at games 4, 5 & 6..

And I can understand you rooting for Vancouver. I would be doing the same thing had the Red Wings won. For though I greatly respect them, I still dislike the Wings with a passion..but that's what rivalries are all about..

One thing I think we might agree on..there's nothing in sports that matches the intensity and drama of the NHL playoffs..

[KamaAina]

15. You clearly have no clue how to trash-talk the Wings.

This guy does:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Eulogy-Remembering-the-2010-11-Detroit-Red-Wing?urn=nhl-wp4864

For example, it was the 20th straight season in which the Red Wings qualified for the NHL playoffs, a notable and praiseworthy accomplishment. After all, it's truly difficult to have one of the highest payrolls in the league for 14 of those years, then make the postseason in an NHL where 16 out of 30 teams do so once a salary cap is put in place....

This is the same intelligent GM-ing mind that certainly did not successfully throw two darts at nothing in particular in the sixth and seventh rounds and back into a pair of the most dynamic two-way players of their generation. After all, Holland has replicated the success he found with Datsyuk and Zetterberg since then with stunningly excellent late-or-even-mid-round picks such as… ahem, umm.. well. Look it took a lot of skill to draft those guys there, alright?...

The endless highlights of his obscene levels of skill that play seemingly on a loop on TSN are the ultimate sign of disrespect. Indeed, he is held in such low regard that there is not even currently a series of statues of Datsyuk outside NHL headquarters in New York, each depicting one of the 400 different wonderful aspects of his ebullient personality and overwhelming hockey capabilities. And it should be noted, by the way, that the Hockey Hall of Fame has not yet been pre-humously renamed in his honor. They might as well spit on his children....

And though it's the 17th straight year we've had to hear about how Kris Draper(notes) was once traded to the Red Wings for a dollar (about as much as he's worth, just FYI), it may also be the last. A sad day indeed for all people who are fans of longtime NHLers who averaged eight goals and 10 assists a year. It leads one to wonder how they will replace him with a quarter-decent NCAA prospect on a league minimum salary. I'm sure Kenny Holland can do it though. That guy's a genius.

I have left out his gratuitous swipes at Wings fans and Detroit in general for obvious reasons. And he's not from San Jose. I swear. He even took a backhanded swipe at "the chokin'-est team to ever choke".

[Upton]

16. Whoa..that's some mean stuff..

and hilarious :rofl:

I see by some of the comments Red Wing fans don't share in my amusement. That's okay though, I gave them the old :thumbsdown:

Btw, thanks for posting this, I hadn't seen it..

[Onceuponalife]

17. It was probably the best series I've ever seen

Give Detroit a lot of credit for hanging in there. Datsyuk has an unbelievably wicked backhand!

I think the Sharks played fine in Game 1 of the Canucks series. The bounces just didn't work out for them. I'm not worried unless they lose game 2 also.

I agree with the comments about the intensity of playoff hockey and the Sharks/Wings series in particular. I personally need to get shitfaced and smoke a ton of pot just to calm my nerves. If the phone rings, I don't answer. I can have no distractions during Sharks games lol.