The Sharks Got What They Need
(Originally published at Sports Radio Service)
SAN JOSE- If the 2013-14 Sharks had to come up with a wish list right now, I believe it would take a lot of thinking. They are 2-0 against the top-ranked team in the league now. They might have a case of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” though Todd McLellan is probably making some adjustments to his fourth line today. Nothing drastic, nothing GM Doug Wilson would have to get involved in.
Saturday morning, Ducks’ Head Coach Bruce Boudreau had some thoughts about what the Sharks need: (more…)
Crossing the Language Barrier: Jagr and Hertl
(Originally published at Sports Radio Service)
SAN JOSE- Tomas Hertl arrived in the US with several adjustments to make. He had to adjust to NHL hockey. He had to adjust to being a young man in a new country. He had to learn to get by in a foreign language. That last one is the toughest. You need language to understand instructions, to make your requirements known, and to connect with people. Hertl is climbing the language barrier now, playing for the San Jose Sharks. Jaromir Jagr did it at the start of his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The best way to learn a new language is through immersion. If you want to learn to teach English as a foreign language, you don’t have to learn to speak the local language, because translation isn’t how you will teach. You build the new language word by word, the way a child does when they first learn to speak. It is a time-proven method, but just as being immersed in water can drown you, being completely immersed in a foreign language can be overwhelming. (more…)
Sharks Short Lightning 5-1
(Originally published at Sports Radio Service)
SAN JOSE- Thursday night, San Jose defeated Tampa Bay 5-1, but it was not the way a 5-1 game usually looks. Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi had to make a lot of good saves and some very tough ones. Four Sharks scored, with two goals coming from Tommy Wingels, and one each from Brad Stuart, Brent Burns and Patrick Marleau. Despite the team having many good chances, the only Lighting player to score was Tyler Johnson. (more…)
San Francisco Has a New Hockey Team
SFSU Gators Team Photo, 2013
(Originally published at Inside Hockey)
San Francisco is just coming up hockey these days, with two new teams in two seasons. Last season, the ECHL came to town, and now San Francisco State has a Division 3 club too. On top of that, both teams won their home openers last Friday at the Cow Palace. For the SFSU Gators, it was also their first win of the season. That is some nice symmetry. (more…)
Learn from (what you teach) your children
I feel like I’ve been painfully (for me) silent about fighting lately. My thoughts on the matter are pretty straightforward: it serves no legitimate purpose to allow people to fight under any circumstances. Even fighting in self defense isn’t “permitted” because it is by definition a response to a wrong act, and if the wrong were not to occur, there would be nothing to defend against. Fighting in hockey is even less defensible than a street brawl. Many fights are staged, or scheduled, or expected, whatever you want to call them, and fought by designated fighters who may or may not have other skills to offer their team. Hockey fights almost never qualify as self-defense, and rather than being in defense of another, they are acts of revenge. Whether you waste the health of a skilled player on a fight, or you waste a space n the lineup on a fighter who can’t do much else, it is still a waste of people and perfectly good hockey. (more…)
Sharks Lose to Jets in Shootout, Losing Streak at 5
(Originally published at Sports Radio Service)
The San Jose Sharks started a five game road trip with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan summed up the good and the bad of Sunday’s game:
That was much better. Not everybody that watched tonight’s game got to see what we did against Vancouver, which was poor. So we made strides as far as competitiveness, I still don’t think we were at our best. Thought we looked slow, especially to retrieve pucks. They’re a very quick team and they exposed some of our speed issues in certain areas that we have to get better. The goals they scored, we’d sure like to have a couple of them back but full marks to them. (more…)
Sitting Sharks: SJ Losing Streak Stands at Four
(Originally published at Sports Radio Service)
SAN JOSE- The Sharks are not winning anymore. Fans might be having flashbacks to every season past, when even the most magnificent point streak was marred by some inexplicable, nonsensical streak of poor play, bad luck and predictably disappointing results. It would be reasonable to assume that it is time for the Sharks to break pattern, at least in some subtle way. (more…)
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