Sharks News

" Ultimately, Ron Wilson's future as Sharks coach will be determined at the very top of the franchise's organizational chart. "The final decision will be made at that desk," Sharks President Greg Jamison said Thursday, pointing to his own desk. Until then, the process will be the same as every major decision the team makes - with Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson and his staff completing their evaluation and making a recommendation."

"Different feeling. Same result. Tuesday, at what has become the Sharks' annual bounced-in-the-second-round debriefing day, the mood was decidedly mixed. The glow from epic Game 6 had faded, replaced by the cold reality that the team completed another season of falling short of the goal. "It's strange to have pride and disappointment connected," General Manager Doug Wilson said. Unlike last year - when frustration and anger were the predominant emotions - this year's disappointment comes with pride. With heads held high. With knowing that the Sharks left everything they had on the ice in the final game. But, still. Different feeling. Same result. For the third consecutive season."

"Sharks Coach Ron Wilson didn't wait for the TV reporter to finish his question. All he had to hear was the premise: People are talking about your job being on the line. "That's all irrelevant," Wilson interrupted. "You look at my record. It's second to none, literally, in the sport. So I'm not even worried about that."... Because San Jose has made its playoff exit at the same point the past three years, Wilson's future with the team already is the subject of media speculation. The TV reporter recovered well enough to ask Wilson if that kind of speculation is something every coach who doesn't win the Stanley Cup should expect. "I guess it is," Wilson said. "Then 29 guys should get fired every year. And that's unreasonable.""

" This region has no shortage of mesmerizing and historic defeats, yet Game 6 instantly and deservedly joins that pantheon of season-ending Bay Area sports epics. We're going to remember the Sharks' 2-1, four-overtime loss to Dallas on Sunday for an incredibly long time, because Game 6 went for an incredibly long time and because of many other reasons, too. We're going to remember that the Sharks kept pushing it at Marty Turco, kept forcing him to be perfect through 3 1/2 overtime periods, and we'll remember that the Dallas goaltender maintained perfection for every moment. We're going to remember Evgeni Nabokov performing his own mini-miracles. We're going to remember thinking: The Sharks deserve to win and tie the series 3-3, and if they do, Game 7 will be almost too much to bear."

" The formula has to change. Because the Sharks are stuck. They have been good enough to make the second round of the playoffs. But they have not been good enough to go further. For the third season in a row. They are among the NHL's top half-dozen teams. But they are not among the league's top two. For the third season in a row. Does that mean Coach Ron Wilson's job is in final jeopardy? Answer: Everything must be on the table, as the franchise attempts to get un-stuck. And that includes Wilson's status. But you still have to wonder if the Sharks would dare fire the man who owns the most NHL coaching victories since the start of the 2003-04 season."

"It's too bad, for so many reasons, that the Sharks won't have a chance to beat this record tonight. And it's no consolation to anyone who was living and dying with every rush for more than three hours Sunday. (The living and dying, we figure, didn't truly start until the midway point of the third period.) But the classic Game 6 ultra-thriller was Comcast SportsNet Bay Area's (and its predecessors') highest-rated Sharks game ever, averaging 5.9 percent of Bay Area households."

" What should not be lost in the disappointment that surrounded the Sharks after they were defeated by the Dallas Stars in a fourth overtime late Sunday was the fact the teams had just taken part in an instant playoff classic. Maybe it's the enormity of the numbers - the 56:23 in ice time for Sharks defenseman Brian Campbell, the 19 hits by Dallas captain Brenden Morrow, the combined 114 saves by both goalies. Maybe it's the incredible acrobatics behind many of those saves - the Sharks' Evgeni Nabokov stretching to get his glove on a can't-miss shot by Brad Richards just 1:31 into the first overtime, the Stars' Marty Turco throwing his leg high into the air to block a shot by Patrick Marleau about 10 minutes later. Maybe it's the relentless end-to-end action"

"CHARACTER, HEART, grit. Without any doubt, the San Jose Sharks showed all of those marvelous qualities Sunday night, qualities so many observers thought they lacked throughout much of the 2007-08 hockey season. But for all their intestinal fortitude displayed in a 4-OT thriller against the Dallas Stars, there was the chilly reality: The Sharks still lost the game 2-1 and dropped yet another NHL Western Conference semifinal series 4-2. Fortitude aside, that's a 1-2 punch to the intestines that's become tiresome to watch from the alleged "most talented team in hockey.""

"So if it isn't character keeping the Sharks out of the NHL's top four year after shake-the-winners'-hands-and-clean-out-your-lockers-for-the-Ice-Capades year, it must be something else. And it is. Enough things to spread around the organization, actually, and now that everyone has had a chance to decompress from another season of too much talk and not enough walk, let us delegate blame with unerring eye and clear conscience. In other words, kids, it's woodshed time. And well earned, we think, starting with:"

"Last spring, after being eliminated by Detroit, Wilson steered away from drastic change. He chose not to fire his coach or break up his team, aside from trading away goalie Vesa Toskala and opting not to re-sign forward Bill Guerin or defenceman Scott Hannan. Now, he's probably got no choice but to make a drastic alteration, with the top options likely to replace Ron Wilson behind the bench or move captain Marleau after a very strange, up-and-down campaign."

" The make-up call is part of the fabric of the NHL. Generally speaking, officials will balance things out and give each team a "fair" chance to win the game. "Even" is probably a better word than fair, but you get the picture. So it was in Game 6 that the Stars and Sharks each received one power play in overtime. The Sharks earned their man advantage when Patrick Marleau drove so hard to the net in the third overtime, the refs were forced to call hooking on Nicklas Grossman. But as soon as Dallas killed that penalty, the general feeling was that the Stars were going to get the "make-up call." It took officials 26 more minutes to find that opportunity, but they needed a clear-cut penalty. "

" The handshake line is one of the great traditions in hockey. After a series in which two teams try to kill each other, they line up, shake hands and wish each other well. It was clear early Monday morning just how well American-born hockey icons Mike Modano and Jeremy Roenick were wishing each other. The two players, who have known each other since their teens and have competed together for Team USA in the Olympics, World Cup and World Juniors, shared a hearty embrace and a long chat after Game 6 between the Stars and Sharks. "

"The Sharks took the Dallas Stars into a Game 7 on Sunday night. And then into a Game 8. That's not what the official result will say, of course. It will say the Sharks lost a four-overtime game to the Stars 2-1. And that the Sharks lost their playoff series bitterly in six games. Yet as the scoreboard clock moved into the second overtime, then the third, then the fourth, Game 6 did not just become the longest Sharks game in history. It also became the most remarkable game of this year's entire NHL Stanley Cup tournament. And for the Sharks, the worst loss."

"Sharks left wing Milan Michalek remained on the ice for several minutes at the end of regulation after being on the receiving end of a shoulder-to-upper body hit from Dallas left wing Brenden Morrow. There was no immediate report on the extent of the injury, but Michalek, when he eventually got to his feet, had to be helped off the ice."

"It took 5 hours and 14 minutes, but the Sharks playoff dreams came to an end Sunday night. In the longest game in Sharks franchise history, a power-play goal by Dallas captain Brenden Morrow at 9:03 of the fourth overtime ended the Sharks' postseason as the Stars beat San Jose 2-1 to capture the Western Conference semifinal series in six games. It was the eighth-longest playoff game in NHL history."

"For the third year running, the San Jose Sharks proudly could claim that they were the fifth-longest-lasting team in the National Hockey League. Not that they would, mind you. This last-quarterfinalist-standing thing is starting to get on people's nerves. This time, though, the sting might take awhile to be felt. They did, after all, extend the Dallas Stars to the equivalent of seven games before going down."

"Marty Turco saved pucks with his glove, blocker, leg pad, skate and butt. Let's just say he needed everything he had. Turco was somewhat prescient before the third-longest game in Stars franchise history, saying he didn't care if the Stars won in Game 6 or Game 7, in Dallas or San Jose, in a blowout or overtime. "Just so we win," he said. The Stars did just that, taking a 2-1 victory at 69:03 of overtime in Game 6 on Brenden Morrow's power-play goal."

"The toughest check in hockey is not the forecheck. Or the back check. Or the hip check, stick check or poke check. It is the reality check. Let me throw out this one: Now comes the hardest part for the Sharks. All of that hoo-ha celebrating over Friday's miracle comeback? Nice. But it puts the Sharks only halfway toward a series victory over Dallas and the biggest NHL playoff comeback in 33 years."

" Ron Wilson is refusing to limit himself to conventional coach-speak. "I'm not afraid to talk about being down in a series 3-0 and finding a way to win because you guys are all, 'Ooooh, you're not supposed to do that,' " the Sharks coach said after San Jose's 3-2 overtime victory in Game 5. "Well, the last 60 teams acted that way and talked about taking them one at a time - and they didn't win." Coaches on those teams probably talked about taking things one period at a time, one shift at a time, too. Anything to break down the enormity of the challenge into bite-size chunks. But Wilson doesn't shy away from the big picture."

"One of the undertold stories of the Sharks' 3-2 overtime victory over Dallas in Friday's fifth game of the Western Conference semifinals was their new willingness to confront the nettlesome character issue. Why they have it when people say they don't, and how coming back from a two-goal deficit in the third period was the final proof. Their central theme: "We have lots of character, you mean old weasels." In rebuttal, let us say, "Wa-a-a-ait just a minute there, Sparky." See, "character" is a loaded word, especially in a game like hockey, where the central tenet is simple persistence."

" As the San Jose Sharks continue toward an elusive rendezvous with history, they might want to be wary about a small roadblock known as tonight's Game 6. Three other teams in the last 20 years have equaled the Sharks' feat of winning two straight after beginning a best-of-7 series down three games. Hartford (1988), Carolina (2001) and Colorado (2004) each dropped Game 6."

"A Sharks team that was dull and nearly dead through two periods Friday sprung to life in the third, scoring two goals to tie the score and then beating Dallas 3-2 on Joe Pavelski's goal 1:05 into overtime to keep their season alive."

" When does being behind sort of feel like being ahead? Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the San Jose Sharks. "You've got to attack, lay it out there and see what happens," defenseman Brian Campbell said after the greatest comeback playoff victory in franchise history. "We've got our backs against the wall. Why not throw everything at them?""

" Sharks defenseman Brian Campbell's third-period goal that sent Game 5 into overtime was his first of the post-season. But Campbell, who came to San Jose from Buffalo at the trade deadline, downplayed any personal significance that might have for him. "It's whatever wins hockey games," he said after the Sharks' 3-2 overtime victory Friday night. "I don't care who scores the goals. I'm just trying to help out in any way I can and be involved in a lot of areas.""

" For Stars captain Brenden Morrow, there also was anger. He was fuming about two apparent goals he scored that were disallowed after lengthy video replays. "Everyone has an off night," Morrow said of NHL officials in Toronto. "Everyone makes mistakes. Obviously they do, too. It's too bad when they have the advantage of seeing them on the replay.""

" Pavelski scored just 65 seconds into overtime, giving the Sharks a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Friday night, keeping San Jose's Stanley Cup dream alive when less than an hour earlier it looked as if the postseason were over. The Stars still lead the series 3-2 with Game 6 set for Sunday in Dallas, but the Sharks have survived two elimination games and regained much of the momentum that vanished after losing the first three games against Dallas. "

" The season goes forward. Sharks coach Ron Wilson goes on. Beleaguered Ron Wilson. The Sharks seemed finished, and so said the hockey people, was Wilson. Somebody had to be blamed for all these playoff failures, for these disappointments that burn through the endless summer. Ah, but this disappointment became elation almost before we knew it. "

"So not only did the Sharks not go down Friday night, they powered their way back to Dallas fueled by a stretch of incandescence that could conceivably redefine a series that seemed hopelessly lost Wednesday morning. Joe Pavelski's nasty wrist shot past goalie Marty Turco 1:05 into overtime gave the Sharks a 3-2 come-from-the-morgue victory, made them reportedly the first team in 19 years to overcome a two-goal deficit in an elimination game and punctuated arguably the finest stretch of play in Sharks postseason history. Now all they have to do is do it again. And then again."

" Somewhere in the dark, lifeless moments of the third period on Friday night, the Sharks found their pulse. They rediscovered their heartbeat. They decided to make this hockey series a fight to the finish. The Dallas Stars had all but wrapped it up. They had all but secured their plane reservations to Detroit for the next round. The Sharks were cold and lifeless. Washed up on the shore of despair. And then suddenly, unexpectedly, improbably, the Sharks fogged the mirror. They came alive, winning 3-2 in overtime."

"The San Jose Sharks call him Little Joe because they already have a hoss. Second-year center Joe Pavelski, 23, earned his nickname for logical reasons. He stands five inches shorter and is 40 pounds lighter than teammate Joe Thornton. Pavelski's wizardry with the puck has drawn comparisons to Thornton, who has led the NHL in assists for three consecutive seasons. By season's end, he had claimed second-line center duties behind Thornton. Pavelski credits a chat with coach Ron Wilson, who told him that being good wasn't good enough in the NHL."

"The adversity the Stars have battled all season grew tenfold Friday night. Dallas saw two goals disallowed and saw a 2-0 lead evaporate in the third period as the San Jose Sharks won a 3-2 overtime game and pushed this best-of-7 Western Conference semifinals series to a sixth game Sunday in Dallas. Joe Pavelski scored at the 1:05 mark of overtime as he flicked a shot in over Marty Turco. "

"The suffocation of the San Jose Sharks appeared to be complete. Instead, nothing could be further from the truth. Joe Pavelski's goal past Marty Turco just 1:05 into overtime completed the Sharks' biggest comeback victory of the series, breathing more life into a team that looked given up for dead when it trailed the series, 3-0. "

" This time, the Dallas Stars were the team that had to live with a third-period collapse. And this time, the Sharks were the ones jubilantly celebrating an overtime victory that kept their playoff hopes alive for at least more game after Joe Pavelski's goal just 1:05 into the extra period gave San Jose a 3-2 victory in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals."

"Odds say they won't. In fact, I wouldn't bet half a glass of half-priced beer on them to do so. As several of us pessimists have noted, only two NHL playoff teams in 152 attempts have recovered from an 0-3 start to win a best-of-seven series. Plus, over the past 20 years, of the 68 teams that fell behind 3-0, none has rallied to even reach a Game 7. But know what? Phooey on the odds. Phooey on the record book. Otherwise, why would we even watch the rest of the games? Let's try to build a case for the Sharks and concoct a scenario in which they could pull it off."

" Curtis Brown returned from his brief exile in style Wednesday for the Sharks. Although the veteran center didn't score a point in the 2-1 victory over Dallas that staved off postseason elimination, Brown played well as he recorded 11:59 of ice time. It was a big contribution for Brown, who hadn't been in the lineup since the 2-0 loss to Calgary in Game 6 of the first-round series April 20."

" The Sharks know that their task is daunting. Their hard-fought 2-1 victory in Dallas on Wednesday still leaves them trailing the best-of-seven series 3-1. They're fully aware that only twice in NHL history has a team advanced after losing the first three games. But even before that Game 4 victory, Sharks players were talking about the need to try to plant seeds of doubt on the Texas prairie."

"San Jose's 2-1 victory over Dallas in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals was portrayed as proof that yes, the Sharks can be taught, and that much is true. They did the hard things over and over, they did not forget the mission they took the ice with, and they did not let their concentration or devotion to their version of the basics wane. So why, you ask for the 358th time, don't they do this all the time? Well, because it's hard to do that night after night against a team that has as many good players as you, has as good a goaltender and has as good a plan."

"Standing against the window of his office Thursday, Ron Wilson sounded nothing like a coach with his back against the wall. Even with the San Jose Sharks trailing the Stars, 3-1, entering tonight's Game 5, Wilson didn't resort to standard coach talk about the next shift or period. He referenced British writer Rudyard Kipling and Monty Python's refuse-to-surrender Black Knight minutes apart. After his team's 2-1 win in Dallas in Game 4, Wilson acknowledged challenging his players to make history by becoming the third NHL team to rally from three games down. "

"Shift by shift. Period by period. When a hockey team is digging out of a big hole, the shovel loads have to be small. The bites must be tiny. The progress must be incremental. The Sharks were dynamically incremental Wednesday night. That's how it must be from this point, as long as they are still playing. But at least they are still playing. After a mandatory 2-1 victory over Dallas, they are still playing. They are behind three victories to one. But they are still playing."

"With his team facing elimination, Sharks Coach Ron Wilson tweaked his lineup once again Wednesday. He used forward Curtis Brown for the first time against the Dallas Stars and brought back defenseman Matt Carle after making him a healthy scratch the previous night. It was the second consecutive night of lineup changes after Wilson stood pat the previous three postseason games."

"It was just a 60-watter, nothing too big or bright, but the light finally appeared, fully illuminated over the Sharks' helmets Wednesday night. There's no telling how long it will stay on; the history of the last 20 years suggests it will go out for good Friday. But an idea, however late, is still an idea, and it should be developed for as long as school is in session."

" Facing a three-game deficit, the San Jose Sharks found that sweet spot where desperation and relaxation blend. The result was a 2-1 stayin' alive victory in Game 4 Wednesday at American Airlines Center. One quarter of their mission is complete. "We had nothing to lose," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "Let's go out and have some fun. Create a challenge out of a chance to make history when you're down 3-0." Facing elimination, the Sharks said they needed the emotional investment of a Game 7, times four. "

" Desperation met playoff scheduling Wednesday night at American Airlines Center, and tired legs were the result. Playing on back-to-back nights after an intense overtime game Tuesday, the Stars and San Jose Sharks slogged through a less intense affair in Game 4. But the desperate Sharks proved the more durable of combatants as they fought off potential playoff elimination and came up with a big third period to take a 2-1 victory."

" Sergei Zubov and Mike Modano are two of the best players in franchise history. No one would argue with that. But each made an uncharacteristic miscue Wednesday night, forcing the Stars to make at least one more trip to the West Coast to end their series against San Jose. The Stars didn't play anywhere close to their best game, and still played San Jose virtually even. But the Sharks won, 2-1, and now return to San Jose with a chance to grab momentum in the series and become the third team in NHL history to rally from a 3-0 series deficit. "

"A little more than a minute into the third period, the giant video screen at center ice showed a Dallas Stars fan holding a sign with a simple declaration: It's handshake time. No, as things turned out, it wasn't. With Patrick Marleau getting his second short-handed goal in two nights and the Sharks' power play clicking for only the second time in this series, San Jose outlasted the Stars 2-1 Wednesday to stay alive in the Western Conference semifinals."

"The Sharks got a scare about six minutes into the third period when defenseman Craig Rivet slumped to the ice after a three-way collision and didn't get up for several minutes."

"The Sharks fell to 0-3 in their Western Conference semifinal series with the Dallas Stars. Not exactly where a team that considered itself a serious Stanley Cup contender expected to be at this point. "Another bad break against us," a disheartened Roenick said Tuesday night after the 2-1 defeat. "

"The Sharks have been ahead in all three games. The Sharks have been behind at the end of all three. Sometimes things really are as simple as they sound."

"Oh, we get it now. The San Jose-Dallas series is a tape loop, played over and over and over to the Sharks' continued detriment. For the third time in a row, the Sharks played two strong periods in a row. For the third time in a row, they played a bad third period, and for the second time in three games, they croaked after a brief overtime."

" "You have to continue to make your own breaks, and that's our mind-set right now," Turco said after Dallas beat the San Jose Sharks, 2-1, in overtime Tuesday to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 Western Conference semifinals series."