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It is what it
is
Devastating end to last season casts a pall over
this season
| 10/7/14 - By Paul Krill -
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I don't know about you, but I'm finding it hard to
get excited about this new Sharks season, which starts this Wednesday.
Of course, this is all about the disastrous ending to last season, when the
Sharks choked on a 3-0 series lead and lost to the Kings in the first round,
becoming one of the only teams to ever lose a series after being ahead three
games to none. It just seems like last season's collapse is the big elephant in
the room whether people want to talk about it or not. I've been to two
pre-season games this year (in which the Sharks had plenty of trouble scoring
and goaltender Antti Niemi failed to stop either shootout shot he faced). I
went to the recent Fanfest. And for me, at least, the stench of last season's
ending just casts a pall over this season.
It's as if last season's
complete failure ruins this season. We know from the annual playoff choking
that the regular season means very little - the Sharks could win all 82 games
in the regular season and pundits, etc still would not take them seriously in
the post-season. And who can blame them?
In the off-season, we've seen
Sharks management upset Joe Thornton, taking the captaincy away and calling
this a "tomorrow" team. But Thornton is still here, as is Patrick Marleau.
There really haven't been many big changes in the roster - some tweaking here
and there. But the bottom line remains the same: This has been a topnotch team
that just can never get it done in the playoffs, no matter who is on the team
or who is coaching the team. We even have Larry Robinson on the coaching staff,
and he has something like nine Stanley Cup rings from his playing days as well
as coaching. Still, the Sharks early playoff exits have continued just the
same.
Like every year dating back to 1991, I'm hoping the
Sharks can get to the Stanley Cup Final this season, at long last. Can they? We
won't even know for another seven or eight months. At least from here on out,
we'll breath a sigh of relief when the Sharks lose of one of the first three
games in any playoff series. That has to count for something, no?
…Penalty shots…Kudos to the NHL for selecting Levi's Stadium in Santa
Clara as the site for the Sharks' outdoor game and not AT&T Park in San
Francisco. Besides being just a few miles from the Sharks' everyday arena,
unlike AT&T Park, Levi's also is not the home of an organization blocking
San Jose from ever hosting Major League Baseball.
Thumbs up on this
call, NHL. Now let's hope we don't get a big wind-and-rainstorm the day that
game is played in February…Speaking of Major League Baseball, the Oakland
A's just finished another season where they looked so promising but then
collapsed at the end. Why does this all sound so familiar?
Contact Paul at at paulkrill@letsgosharks.com
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