January is over and our San Jose Sharks have played fourteen games. Up for grabs was twenty-eight points. How did the boys in teal do? They had nine wins, three of which were shut-out wins. Of the remaining five games, three were losses and two were overtime losses (both in the shoot-out). San Jose ended January with twenty points out of twenty-eight. Niemi was in goal for the last two games. Both of those games were shut-outs, a 1-0 win against the Calgary Flames on Jan. 24th and a 6-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on the 1rst.
Niemi ended the month with a 2.24 GAA, 0.92 save %, and back-to-back shut-outs. Griess starts February with a 1.98 GAA and a 0.927 save %.
For those of you paying attention, Logan Couture was a lone Shark representative at the 2012 All-Star festivities in Ottawa. The NHL decided to go with the ‘Fantasy Draft” again, and to my dismay Logan was chosen last. He took it in stride, with a big grin in his face. After all, the last player is awarded a car and a large donation (from the NHL Players Association) of which is to be awarded to the grassroots charity of his choice. Logan gave a solid accounting of his skills during the All-Star game on Sunday.
With the All-Star weekend over, the second half of the regular season begins and the race for the Cup begins in earnest. The Sharks must knuckle down and dig deep. They can’t afford any losing streaks. Thankfully, key players are returning to the team. Burns is back in the line-up and Ryane Clowe could return as soon as February 2nd. Demers is listed as day-to-day per Alex Aragon’s blog.
As a side note, Jared Boll was fined $2,500. Resulting from an illegal check to the head of Joe Thornton, announced Brendan Shanahan. There has been some grumbling that Shani has backed off some since the pre-season on his discipline. I can’t say if that is true or not, but Shanahan isn’t staying clear of busting the ‘Stars’ of the game, as his recent 3 game suspension handed out to Oveckin on January 23rd. Ovie used this discipline as the reason for not attending the All-Star ceremonies.
In the last season covered under the current CBA, a possible realignment was set aside, at least for now. Will it happen at all? If one could only be a fly in the room for that meeting…I hope the NHL and the NHLPA take a long look at the NBA. With the economy still in a terrible slump, the folks who aren’t represented (the fans) have the most to lose. Every time a player signs a big multi-million dollar contract or an owner gets a fancy new stadium, who do they think pays for it in the end? We, the fans do, in the form of taxes, higher ticket prices, higher parking fees, higher merchandise prices, etc. (you get the gist). I love hockey. When I lived in California, I went to as many games as I could, but I could only afford the cheap seats for the most part. Purchasing tickets down low meant working overtime (lots of overtime).
When an International Hockey League (IHL) team opened in San Francisco, the Spiders, I must have attended at least half of their games. Unfortunately, they folded after one season. In Las Vegas, we went to the Las Vegas Wranglers games, again moderately priced tickets allowed us to attend games frequently, as our work schedules allowed.
I offer a plea to both players AND owners both: you both want what is fair. I understand that. Players worked hard to get to the elite level of their chosen career, which is limited by skill and to some point, age. Owners have expenses, overhead, advertising, other employees, stockholders – they need to keep their heads above water to keep the team going. Be reasonable. How much is enough? $525,0D0 is more than the average working married couple makes in ten years. Even in my highest year as a 9-1-1 Supervisor, or my husband’s as a Paramedic Field Supervisor, together we couldn’t come close to the league minimum. We’re talking about saving lives, not playing a game for entertainment. When I was at a closed union shop, I had a set pay scale. When I hit a certain point, I was maxed out. I live in a right-to-work state. Last year, Governor Sandoval gave us a 2.5% pay cut and we still have to take six days off a year without pay.
Just keep that in mind when it’s time to hit the bargaining table.
Back to happier topics. Lord Stanley’s Cup looms on the horizon. Dig deep guys, your fans are eager to see it come to San Jose!
Go Sharks!!
After reviewing the final stats for January, the winners in the categories are as follows:
The Spartacus Memorial Warrior of the Month for making his presence known winner for January is:
Brad Winchester with 71 penalty minutes (no street fighting pass allowed)
The Red Ryder Sharp Shooter award for the player with the most shots on goal goes to:
Dan Boyle with 160 shots (hunting permits not included)
The John McClane “Yippee-Ki-Yay” Tough Guy award for handing out the most hits this month is cautiously handed out to:
Jamie McGinn with 32 (boxing ringside seats no longer included)
The Superhero Sidekick Award for the most assists this month is passed to:
Joe Thornton (but he can’t share it with Slappy) with 31 assists
The Public Safety Red Light Award for the most goals scored in the month is bestowed on:
Logan Couture with 21 goals (but this doesn’t give you a free pass to speed on the road).
Finally, the I Need a Hero Award, for the most Game Winning Goals goes to:
Patrick Marleau for his six absolutely, thrilling, fantastic 6 GWG (keep ‘em coming!)
Go San Jose Sharks!!
*I tallied the hits from the play-by-play so I apologize if I miscounted – please let me know and I’ll adjust my stats accordingly.
Player | Goals | Assists | Points | Hits * | PIM | SHG | GWG | SHOTS | PP | GAA | Wins | SA | GA | S% | OT | L |
p / L | blocks | fcffwn | wcfflst | gvwy | tkcwy | |||||||||||||
Thornton | 10 | 31 | 41 | 8 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 93 | 1 | 15 | ||||||||
Marleau | 18 | 19 | 37 | 12 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 145 | 4 | 12 | ||||||||
Pavelski | 18 | 18 | 36 | 10 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 150 | 5 | 15 | ||||||||
Couture | 21 | 17 | 38 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 144 | 5 | 10 | ||||||||
Clowe | 9 | 17 | 26 | 9 | 54 | 0 | 1 | 108 | 4 | 0 | ||||||||
Boyle | 4 | 25 | 29 | 8 | 53 | 0 | 1 | 160 | 2 | 13 | ||||||||
Handzus | 4 | 15 | 19 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 62 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
Vlasic | 3 | 14 | 17 | 5 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 81 | 0 | 18 | ||||||||
Havlat | 2 | 13 | 15 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 62 | 1 | 8 | ||||||||
McGinn | 10 | 8 | 18 | 32 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 85 | 1 | 10 | ||||||||
Burns | 7 | 10 | 17 | 6 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 129 | 4 | 12 | ||||||||
Demers | 2 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 39 | 1 | -7 | ||||||||
Mitchell | 5 | 7 | 12 | 27 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 0 | 4 | ||||||||
Winchester | 6 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 71 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 0 | -2 | ||||||||
Desjardins | 3 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 31 | 0 | 2 | 50 | 0 | 7 | ||||||||
Ferriero | 6 | 1 | 7 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 47 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||
Braun | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
Murray. D 3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 28 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 49 | 0 | 8 | ||||||||
Vendermeer | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||
Murray. A. 28 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 26 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 3 | ||||||||
White | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | -1 | ||||||||
Wingels | 1 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | -1 | ||||||||
McCarthy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -2 | ||||||||
McLaren | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
22 | 1056 | 84 | 0.92 | 5 | 10 | 2 PIM | 4 shutout | |||||||||||
6 | 301 | 22 | 0.927 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||||
January Games | *Hits Jan only | Points | Total | |||||||||||||||
2-Jan | 3-2 win | Vancouver | road | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||||
4-Jan | 3-1 win | Anaheim | road | 2 | 4 | |||||||||||||
4-Jan | 2-1 win | Columbus | home | 2 | 6 | |||||||||||||
7-Jan | 5-2 win | Washington | home | 2 | 8 | |||||||||||||
10-Jan | 4-5 OTL | Minnesota | SO Loss | road | 1 | 9 | ||||||||||||
12-Jan | 2-0 win | Winnepeg | shut-out | road | 2 | 11 | ||||||||||||
14-Jan | 2-1 win | Columbus | road | 2 | 13 | |||||||||||||
15-Jan | 3-4 loss | Chicago | road | 0 | 13 | |||||||||||||
17-Jan | 2-1 win | Calgary | SO win | home | 2 | 15 | ||||||||||||
19-Jan | 1-4 loss | Ottawa | home | 0 | 15 | |||||||||||||
21-Jan | 3-4 loss | Vancouver | road | 0 | 15 | |||||||||||||
23-Jan | 1-2 OT L | Edmonton | SO loss | road | 1 | 16 | ||||||||||||
24-Jan | 1-0 win | Calgary | shut-out | road | 2 | 18 | ||||||||||||
31-Jan | 6-0 win | Columbus | shut-out | home | 2 | 20 |
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