SJ Sharks Hockey Talk 2006-2007

http://www.sjsharks.com/news/news.asp?story_id=2503

Can the Sharks do well without Scott Thornton and Alyn McCauley? I hope so. With all these trades and free agents being signed, maybe the Sharks will be able to get a decent defensemen. That is what they need.

Mike Grier, one of their new signings to replace McCauley and Thornton is a hell of a good player that nobody knows about. He's a Boston U alum and I saw him play his entire college career and in college he was a tough physical forward who scored a lot of goals. Size was one of his assets in college, but at the NHL level, he's not the same hulking figure he was in college, but if the comments of Sabres fans mean anything, he can still play with an exclaimation point even if he's not scoring with regularity at the NHL level.

I wonder if Scott Thornton picked playing in LA so he could keep his family in the SJ area. It's interesting how much interest Dean Lombardi is expressing in Sharks and ex-Sharks players. Reportedly, he was willing to give up a stash of players if SJ would trade Nabby to him.

What a weird offseason with the whole Chris Pronger situation and all. That man is gonna be hated with a capital "H" in that town for years to come.

Someone drop the puck already! I'm ready for hockey season again!

I just want to be at the following games. One you get to see Syndey Crosby, two you get to see Eastern Conference teams

OCTOBER
SAT. 7 N.Y. ISLANDERS 7:30 P.M

NOVEMBER
THU. 2 N.Y. RANGERS 7:30 P.M.
SAT. 4 PITTSBURGH 7:30 P.M.
SAT 18 PHILADELPHIA 7:30 P.M.
SAT. 25 NEW JERSEY 7:30 P.M.

DROP THE PUCK ALREADY!!
Training camp for the 2006 season will begin in early September at Logitech Ice at San Jose, the official training facility of the Sharks.

This post has been edited by piglet18 on Jul 13 2006, 03:17 PM

Hmmm, so why the interest in the Eastern Conference teams, Becca? Is it because we so rarely get to see them under the new NHL organization?

I think the Islanders will be an interesting team this year. They sure made some interesting personnel moves and I love how Tom Poti (another BU alum!) gave the middle finger to the Big Apple and walked over to the Island. Hey, they already hated him in Ranger Blue while he was on their team, he might as well make it official.

Sharks re-sign seven free agents July 15, 2006

Center Marcel Goc and right wing Grant Stevenson.

Defensemen Doug Murray and Jim Fahey, center Tomas Plihal, defenseman Garrett Stafford and center Craig Valette.

Sheldon,

It is because the Eastern teams rarely come here and it is fun to watch the different styles of hockey between the West and East.

Forget hockey and the Islander's game in October! I want a ticket to the circus that is the Islander's Front office this offseason.

Holy ****! They fire Neil Smith as GM and replace him immediately with Garth Snow, who retires from as the team's backup goalie to take the job.

That IS funny!

McSorley Named Sharks Television Color Analyst
http://www.sjsharks.com/news/news.asp?story_id=2538

Sharks are scheduled to hit the ice on September 15, as their 2006 Training Camp begins at Logitech Ice. The Sharks first preseason game will be Sept. 19 vs. the Kings at Staples Center.

Sharks Mark Smith And His Band To Perform At The Bargetto Winery
August 22, 2006

San Jose Sharks Center Mark Smith and his band, The Talking Trees, will be featured at the Bargetto Winery’s “Thursday Night Music Series” on Thursday, August 24 from 6-8 p.m.

Smith, an accomplished musician, plays guitar in addition to several indigenous instruments, including the didgeridoo (Australia) and African xylophone.

He describes the music of his band, The Talking Trees, as “original” and “organic energy music with good vibes.”

The Bargetto Winery is located on 3535 North Main Street in Soquel, California.

The Talking Trees recently completed a number of performances over the summer months. The band performed at various Bay Area locations as well as a tour of Western Canada, with dates in Vancouver, Kelowna, and Edmonton.

Man, why don't the Talking Trees ever perform in SJ? I've never heard them. Has anyone heard them before?

Here is Mark's record label website

http://www.lunarrecord.com/lyricsindex.htm

Sharks Prospects Set For Pacific Division Shootout

The Sharks will open the four-team tournament, Sept. 8 facing the Phoenix Coyotes at 4 p.m.

The Sharks squad consists of high-profile first round picks and tryout players looking to make an impact. Some could end up on the Sharks roster, while others will be happy to earn an invitation for a tryout opportunity in Worcester with the Sharks AHL affiliate.

Islanders sign DiPietro to long-term deal

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) - Rick DiPietro re-signed with the New York Islanders on Tuesday, agreeing to a record 15-year deal that will pay the No. 1 goalie $67.5 million.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/5958252?FSO1&ATT=HMA

Isn't that CRAZY? If he has a no trade clause in there, then it'll be absolutely insane. I suppose this means Garth Snow and the Islander's "top brass" believe that the NHL salaries will shoot up and up in coming years. DiPietro's no one season wonder, but 15 years is still... um something that you can only expect from the crazy people on the island.

It is crazy to sign someone for 15 years.

I am ready for the puck to drop. By the way, training camp starts this week at the Logitech Ice Center.

http://www.newyorkislanders.com/team/player.asp?id=65

He is only 25 so that means he will be 40 when his 15 years are up.

40 is pretty ripe age for any hockey player, much more so for a goalie. The Islanders are not just a hockey team. They're pure entertainment from the ice surface all the way up to the front office.

I hope DiPietro knows what he's doing because that can be an awfully long 15 years for him as well given the recent lunacy of the Islanders.

Flyers' Primeau expected to retire
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/hock...u.ap/index.html

Primeau could be set to retire
http://www.nhl.com/news/2006/09/281906.html

Pre-season starts tonight in LA. DROP THE PUCK!!!

Opening night at the tank tonight at 7:30pm

Sharks vs. Blues

LETS GO SHARKS!!!

The Sharks start this year with high expectations just like last year, but let's hope that they get a better start to the season than they did last year.

A few more people are picking them as favorites to win the Cup this year too... Vegas included. Well, ESPN seems to have a total love affair with the Ducks, but then again, it's ESPN.

NHL on TSN Consensus Picks
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?fid=2844&hubname=

ESPN: Ducks clear front-runner for Cup
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/preview2006/...tory?id=2607868

I totally understand that the Ducks have arguably the two best defensemen in the league now that they signed Chris Pronger, but I'm not sold on their offense to like them as Cup favorites. I think it's going to be interesting how they get their scoring. Selanne would have to be a new man all over again or one of their rookies is going to have to be the next great unknown for them to be a huge threat on offense.

SAN JOSE Sharks are 3 and 0 right now. My next game is October 19th against Detroit.

LETS GO SHARKS!!!

I don't know about everyone else, but the more I see of Grier, the more I like him. My Dad had a good point when he said he though Grier filled a gap left behind by Ricci.

Grier is AWESOME! I think I might have mentioned it earlier in this thread, but if not, I saw him play in college. He played for four of the six years I was at Boston University and won an NCAA championship with Chris Drury while I was there and in college he was a scorer. He was so much bigger than the average college hockey player that he could just park in front of the other team's net and nobody could do anything about it. He hit hard back then too. I was absolutely thrilled to see that we signed him this summer. Big loss for Buffalo.

Speaking of surprises, I can't believe how steady Vlasic is. If he didn't have that baby face and the announcers always pointing out that it was a green rookie that just made that play, you'd never know.

O.k., so what is everybody thinking about the Sharks these days?

I thought they were looking really tired on the ice tonight against the Panthers. But it's been a long roadtrip, and they still came through in the end and won the game.

Any predictions for the season based on what we're seeing so far? Are they living up to pre-season expectations?

Went to the game on Saturday, it was a packed house. There were a lot of penalties and fights. The funny part of the game was when every time Sidney Crosby touched the puck everyone booed. The game was 0-0 in the first period, so you can imagine what kind of play was going on. They are both fast and young teams. Although, Pittsburgh does have two veterans (Recchi & LeClair). The Sharks ended up winning 3-2.

This post has been edited by piglet18 on Nov 6 2006, 08:31 AM

The Penguins looked pretty good, but I think they still have a ways to go. As impressive as they looked on their many rushes that night, they looked really rough with some of the details. I can't remember the last hockey game I watched where I saw so many passes back to the blue line end up as gifted clearing attempts out of the zone for the Sharks. Then again, I guess that was also a product of the over-aggressiveness of the Penguins, which was what made them look so impressive.

You guys got into a helluva a great game!

It's interesting that Crosby got all those boos considering how eager many people were to see the guy. Did it seem like they were booing in the name of fun or were people really going Chris Pronger on him?

QUOTE (Sheldon @ Nov 6 2006, 09:55 AM)

It's interesting that Crosby got all those boos considering how eager many people were to see the guy. Did it seem like they were booing in the name of fun or were people really going Chris Pronger on him?

It seemed more in the name of fun because it started after Cheechoo hit someone hard into the boards and landed on that guy and then Crosby came over and started a fight. Then Cheechoo was ejected.

Yeah, I was at saturday's game too.

I'm of the opinion we were booing him because of the fight that got Cheechoo kicked out. (Total BS, btw) And goals from both teams taken away for goalie interference? That was some serious crazy going down.

That game was all about Grier and McLaren. Without those two we wouldn't have had a chance in hell. They made some amazing plays.

QUOTE (hyperchinchilla @ Nov 7 2006, 08:08 AM)

That game was all about Grier and McLaren. Without those two we wouldn't have had a chance in hell. They made some amazing plays.

Grier was a scoring machine in college.

However, most of the goals I remember weren't of the pretty variety. He was just so much bigger than the average college player that nobody could move him out from the front of the net. It's good to see that he can still score.

I think Cheech needs to be moved back to Joe's line soon. Getting bumped to the top line might be a nice reward for Michalek, but I think his speed is better spent paired with Marleau's to cause some extra panic in the other team's zone.

Tough couple of games for Cheech! A bogus ejection and a puck in the temple. I'm really surprsied he came back last night.