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Will the real Sharks please stand up?
Waiting for a statement
10/17/07 - By Steve Flores

Is it my imagination or did it the real San Jose Sharks finally show up in the third period of game number six? Honestly folks I am not sure who the team was that I watched during the first 5 games of the season but it surely wasn't the one group that I viewed in the final period of the team's 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night.

I realize the Sharks scored 3 goals in the first period on opening night in Vancouver. I was there I saw it. But, despite the 3 goal outbreak in that game the team still did not have that 'look' if you will. Yeah I know it was the first game and there are new players etc, etc, etc I am aware of all that and I blew it off as such. But, when the team continued to lack fire and weren't able to truly put any cohesive efforts together through the next four games I began to wonder if maybe there was going to be a problem.

I was wrong, or at least it looks like I was wrong as the real Sharks actually showed up in their second battle against their Pacific Northwest rivals. The zest was there. The speed was there. The skating was more ballet-like. The goals were hard fought and the result of good effort and positive energy and the Sharks couldn't have chosen a better time to find themselves with the Detroit Red Wings coming in on Thursday.

Of course, that period could be an aberration and the Sharks could, perhaps, actually be that non-cohesive, non-finishing type of team that we saw in the first few games but I don't think so.

Recent Sharks history dictates that this team is good. That may be an understatement. That may be a statement that many feel only applies to the regular season. Be that as it may, it is currently the regular season and the Sharks do have all of the necessary skills to once again contend for the whole banana.

The additions of rookies Torrey Mitchell and Devin Setoguchi along with a fitter, trimmer Steve Bernier, an ever improving Milan Michalek have given the Sharks an increase on the skill monitor. Yes, youth is still present and that alone will be cause for some breakdowns. But, the high level of skill present on the roster should more than compensate for the expected learning curve.

Evgeni Nabokov, now the solo number one net minder yet again, has been his old self and has kept the Sharks in nearly all of the games played thus far.

Note to all the bloggers: Ron Wilson still has his head. I realize the fan reaction during frustrating times is a mixture of frustration and anger that leads to the desire and demand for changes. Coaches, goalies and superstars all carry a heavy burden and the people in these positions on the Sharks are all top notch folks. Believe me Wilson wants to win and is doing everything he can to see that winning is the result of his decision making. To do anything less would be professional suicide.

Patrick Marleau's reunited line (he, Bernier and Michalek) has played pretty well on most shifts and looks to be gaining momentum. Joe Thornton is Joe Thornton. Mike Grier has been Mike Grier and the youth has been, well, youthful. Mistakes are going to happen.

Patience, patience, patience folks. Thursday will be a telling performance once the ice is taken and the Sharks show us whether or not Monday was a fluke or a portend of things to come.


Contact Steve at stevybo@yahoo.com


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