Well, I couldn’t stay away, haha. It’s been almost a year since I’ve last posted, and a lot has happened in the hockey world in that time. Some of it surprising, most of it not. My Sharks lost in the playoffs to Calgary, who ended up losing to Tampa Bay in the finals. Vincent Damphousse, Mike Ricci, and Todd Harvey are gone to other teams. There have been no NHL games this season, so I can’t say I’ve been too derelict in my duties. Ok, ok, I’ve been derelict.

Might as well take this opportunity to weight in on the lockout, it seems like everyone else has. I’m going to be in the minority and take the players’ side, at least partially. Players only spend 3-4 years in the league on average, and they are the ones putting their bodies in harm’s way. If anybody should make a disproportionate amount of money, it should be the players. That being said, it’s not the same as agreeing that the system prior to the lockout was working. There do need to be changes made in the financial structure of the league in order for hockey to survive.

For one, there needs to be heavy revenue sharing. Football has it, and it works. Football also has a gigantic TV contact where the NHL does not, but I have confidence that the NHL business minds can come up with something that will level the playing field a bit. To have one team financially able to spend 3, 4, 5 times as much money as other teams is a problem. It ends up producing exactly what we have- some teams spending so much on free agents that the othet teams have to overspend to compete at all.

But, having a hard connection between revenues and payroll is the same as saying they want a mandated profit margin. Sorry folks, that’s not how a business works in a free market. You do well, market well, sell well, put out a good product and manage expenses, you make money. You don’t do well, you have runaway expenses, you lose money. Pay Bobby Holik $100 million dollars (or whatever it was). Sorry, you lose money. Have fun dumping that contract.

More later.

The most satisfying thing about the Sharks win yesterday was their discipline and focus after they were up 4-1. Iginla tried to get Brad Stuart to fight… no thanks. Gave up a 5-3 goal with Korulyuk in the box for some phantom penalty… no breakdown, no complaint. Simon has managed to get himself a mark on his back; whenever he does anything, he gets called for it. Any while I can appreciate the argument that certain players shouldn’t be singled out, he has only himself to blame. Trying to pound Mike Rathje (total NHL fighting majors: 0) after Korulyuk’s empty-netter in game 3 was just stupid. He knows (and everyone else knows too) that Scott Thornton is more than happy to oblige- they almost went at the end of game 4, and I’d bet big money they’re dropping in game 6.

Keys for the Sharks in Game 6:

– Keep Iginla frustruated

– Jump Stuart up in the play

– Take a goalie interference penalty

– Otherwise, stay out the box

Supposedly the Tampa Bay Lightning have a new season-ticket drive: get season tickets, and get free beer at the games, every game. Sounds great to me. Inevitably, there are vehement protests. I say if you can get a decent buzz from the watered-down MGD they sell at games, more power to ya. Future promotions include rave night where everyone gets free E, and Marion Barry night in Washington where everyone gets free crack. Good thing Marion Barry jokes never get old.

Ouch. All I can say is that without Kyle McLaren, the Sharks are in big trouble. Even if you could combine Tom Preissing and Rob Davison into some sort of mutant mega-player, I’d still rather have McLaren.

Flyers 6, Lightning 2. I know the Flyers are good, but 6 goals?! As Barry Melrose would say, this is the kind of loss that you want (if you’re TB), because there are a host of things the Bolts can look at on film and fix. I predict TB will win decisively in Philly on Thursday, even though the Flyers are unbeaten there this postseason. Over/under on penalty minutes in game 3? I say 100.

While the first rule may be to never start a land war in Asia, only slight less known is that the Sharks don’t win in overtime. They were 3-6-12 (.333) in in the regular season, and now 1-3 (.333) in the postseason. Can’t say it’s too suprising. I’m trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that predispose the Sharks to lose in OT, but for the life of me, I can’t find it. I guess in this game, while SJ was dominant in terms of puck possesion and shots, there were a disturbing number of odd-man breaks for Calgary. Odd-man breaks lose games in OT. All three playoff OT losses for the Sharks came from missed defensive assignments. I know saying that “odd-man breaks lose games” in hockey is about as pithy as “turnovers could hurt you” in football, but it’s time the Sharks realize that in order to win in OT, they need to play long enough to generate opportunities. They aren’t going to generate too many oppotunities in 8 minutes (the average length of the playoff OT losses).

Welcome to my new blog about the NHL. This could include news, views, opinions (both informed and uninformed), rants, laments, and celebrations about all of hockey, and my team, the San Jose Sharks, in particular.