Friday, September 28, 2007

And so it begins...

Saturday morning (roughly 10 hours from now) begins the long and grueling road to the Silver. At 9 am PDT (5:00 pm London time) the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks kick off the 2007/08 NHL season in style, in front of 20,000 people at the brand spanking new o2 Arena in London, England. The game should be on Center Ice for those of you with it. For those of you without it, well, it's still on Center Ice, but you guys can't watch it. Sunday's game, at the same time, will be on Vs.

Unfortunately, with the beginning of a new season comes season predictions. Every year, hockey experts look at the teams, and after many many hours trying to figure out who goes where and who will win, they throw all the names into an empty Taco Bell cup and just pick them at random. Usually, the teams that are picked to win are the teamst that have the least success, and this year, it is apparently the Sharks turn.

4 of 7 Canadian Press writers, ESPN, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Larry, the mascot at the local high school, and everyone's favorite talking mullet, Barry Melrose, picked the boys in teal to raise the Cup next June. A few times before we've seen this story, and unfortunately, every time that happens, the Sharks cannot live up to expectations, and the predictions go down as jinxes.

This year, there is no doubt that the Sharks have the talent to get the job done, but that has never really been the issue. Each of the past couple years eliminations have been difficult to swallow as each year the Sharks had a series lead, only to relinquish it to a squad that was better prepared mentally, and just a whole lot hungrier. With the bitter defeat at the hands of the Wings still fresh in their mouths, 07/08 is being seen as the Sharks year. Now they just gotta go realize their dream, and fulfill their destiny. And make Barry Melrose look like a jeanyuss (he's already on a two year winning streak).


GO SHARKS ('ello 'ockey)
-Jess


The Sharks wrap up preseason tomorrow night when the Flames come to town (7:30pm). The teams played to a shootout last Tuesday in Calgary, with the Flames coming out on top. As both teams are playing their final preseason game, expect a lot of familiar faces ready and raring to go for the regular season.

2 Comments:

Blogger Beerslayer said...

Jess,

Good to run into you at the kosher burrito joint after the game Saturday... thought I'd let you know that I found your blog, finally! :)

It's too bad the season starts on the road and the first home game is still almost two weeks away... I'm just coming off my summer methadone (soccer) and looking forward to my hockey fix.

I'm just curious, though: does it bother you (or anyone else reading this) that two NHL teams had to go all the way to Europe to play a regular season game? An exhibition game, OK... that I can understand. But one that actually counts? Granted, it was only the Quacks vs. the Queens, but still... it doesn't really seem fair. Could be us next year.

12:15 AM  
Blogger Beerslayer said...

Oh, and one more thing:

Someone needs to kick Dion Phaneuf's ass quite thoroughly. It might actually do him some good, before he turns into another Pronger with all the dirty play and half the skill.

12:18 AM  

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