I Believe
April 23rd, 2008, 10:42 am
People were jumping left and right off the Sharks playoff gravy train on Monday. “Michaek is no good”, “JR is old and can’t contribute”, “Thornton isn’t a big game player”, “Nabby isn’t playing like a Veizena nominee”, “Sharks have no heart”….blah, blah, blah. To these people, I want to say.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong and Really Wrong.
This team has answered the bell. Sure, Calgary was a seven seed, but they aren’t your ordinary seven seed. The Flames have an all world goalie and two superstars that no one seems to be able to contain. It was a supreme challenge, an amazing series – and the Sharks won the big game that has been their achilles for the last four years.
What does all this mean? This is the year.
Yes. This is the year the Sharks will go all the way and us fans here in San Jose will witness a Stanley Cup Final at the Tank. Will they sweep the Stars? No, they will stumble, they will make bad plays, they will probably lay a giant turd at some point like they did in Calgary during Game Six – but in the end, the Sharks are better and a date with Detroit is a fitting obstacle before getting their shot at the Big Prize.
I’ll give my thoughts on the series in more detail tomorrow. For now, let’s enjoy the moment.
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I humbly disagree with you on one point. I think that we will end up playing Colorado. Not because I think they are superior, but I think that Detroit isn’t the goliath that we all envision. Their goaltending can be hit or miss, and I think that we will start to see guys start falling off with injuries that they can barely hide now.
Sharks vs Avs – Western Conference Finals…mark it down!
As a Dallas fan, I could want nothing more than for Sharks fans to be worrying about round three. Yes- will it be Colorado or Detroit? Once never knows. Think about it. Talk about it…… lull yourselves to sleep…. the Stars are no problem…. the fact that you are even with them this year and they mop you up on your own ice is of no concern….. keep thinking about round three.
But seriously, as a northern Cali transplant to Texas, I am thrilled at the second round match ups. I was hoping to Calgary to win so that the Stars could have taken Colorado. No shame in admitting that the Sharks are the more intimidating tem, is there? But I don’t think the Stars give up anything to them and history this season supports me on that. I went to every pacific division game in Dallas this year and I have to say that San Jose doesn’t play a dominant aggressive style like the Ducks. The Stars are going to have to make some adjustments because we stole two of the games against the Ducks from them based only on their stupidity, rather than skill. The Sharks won’t make such dumb mistakes- but I am still calling Stars in 5! Why? What are my reasons? I don’t have any. I’m just a fan and I want to see the Stars win. That’s my logic!!!
The problem, dear Liam, is that the Stars are still playing regular season hockey and the Sharks are playing playoff hockey. The Stars won the first round because the Ducks lost the first round.
You can talk all you want about the regular season. Try to convince yourself that you have an edge. The difference between the Stars and the Ducks is that there was some weird mental block the Sharks couldn’t seem to break through with the Ducks, and that worried us fans this time of year. That block doesn’t exist with Dallas and the boys know they can them. You all should be nervous, just look what the Sharks did in game 7 when they *knew* they could beat a tougher Calgary team.
I’m not saying this will be an easy series. Not by a mile, but I think Sharks in 5 or 6 is a fair prediction.
I have been watching JR since he was a skinny rookie with the Blackhawks. I had no doubt how he was going to perform in game seven of the series. The rest (benching) was actually perfect. Both Ron Wilson and JR knew exactly what was going to be gained out of that move.
JR is proving that he still has something left in the tank.
Now the Sharks need to keep playing with consistency all the way around.