sharkticon
Registered User
Hi all. This a write-up I did about the Sharks. Hope you enjoy it.
A Quarter (Century) for Your Thoughts
The San Jose Sharks Hockey Club turns twenty-five this season. For a quarter of a century, we have cheered on our teal clad team through good times and bad times. A Stanley Cup still eludes this team. Even a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals still eludes this team, and to some that means they have failed. However, as Marc-Édouard Vlasic's famille de Québécois might put it, "Au contraire, mon amis."
The San Jose Sharks may not have reached hockey's nirvana, but failures they are not. In their entire existence, the Sharks have only missed the playoffs six times! Not many professional sports teams can claim that. And while there are some younger expansion teams who have already been etched into Lord Stanley's prize, they have not had the same amount of success in reaching the playoffs, with the Ducks missing the post season ten times and Lighting missing it fourteen times. "Sharks Territory" is not even in double digit territory. I realize the point of a hockey club is to compete for the cup year in and year out, but would I trade what the Sharks have brought to San Jose for what the Ducks or Lightning have brought to their respective cities? Absolutely not.
In twenty-five years, the Sharks turned northern California into a hockey hotbed. This after another NHL franchise tried and failed (Remember the Golden Seals?). The Shark Tank (the unofficial official name for what is now called the SAP Arena) is considered one of the loudest arenas and hardest for a visiting teams to win. Hockey actually matters here... not just when the team makes a deep run in the playoffs. Every day hockey matters here. Every day you will see a Sharks logo. Every day there will be games played at the several Sharks Ice locations throughout the bay area. Every day there will be hockey. Not just the days when the team does well.
The Sharks Ice Adult Hockey League (SIAHL) is the largest adult hockey league in the entire country. Yes, that's including Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota. SIAHL has around 5,000 adults playing ice hockey and the San Jose location is the largest rink facility west of the Mississippi. The Jr. Sharks program is credited in advancing the careers of NHL alumni (Matt Tennyson - Sharks, Viktor Tikhonov - Phoenix Coyotes, Alec Martinez - L.A. Kings, Brett Sutter - Calgary Flames, Casey Wellman - Minnesota Wild).
While the other two California teams can claim a Stanley Cup, we can claim undying loyalty... and it didn't take the greatest player of all time to get it. From day one, we've been there. Through the 1992-93 season, when the Sharks set the league record for most losses with seventy-one, as well as most consecutive losses in a row (seventeen), we were there. When they failed to make it past the second round of the playoffs year after year, we were there. When they were up three games to zero on the L.A. Kings, only to join the small club of teams to lose that same series, we were there. When they missed the playoffs after 10 consecutive years of playoffs appearances, we were there.
We were there for "Like Wall", Momma Gaetz, THE goal, Ricci's smile, Freezer, the called shot, Nabby's debut, the Thornton trade, the Cheechoo Train, the 5-on-3, and Ninja Hertl. And we'll be there next season. Because this is San Jose. Shark City, Teal Town, Fin-land if you will. We don teal proudly, despite it being an early nineties fashion trend. We bleed teal; we cry teal. This is the city that we love. This is the team that we love. This is Sharks Territory.
A Quarter (Century) for Your Thoughts
The San Jose Sharks Hockey Club turns twenty-five this season. For a quarter of a century, we have cheered on our teal clad team through good times and bad times. A Stanley Cup still eludes this team. Even a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals still eludes this team, and to some that means they have failed. However, as Marc-Édouard Vlasic's famille de Québécois might put it, "Au contraire, mon amis."
The San Jose Sharks may not have reached hockey's nirvana, but failures they are not. In their entire existence, the Sharks have only missed the playoffs six times! Not many professional sports teams can claim that. And while there are some younger expansion teams who have already been etched into Lord Stanley's prize, they have not had the same amount of success in reaching the playoffs, with the Ducks missing the post season ten times and Lighting missing it fourteen times. "Sharks Territory" is not even in double digit territory. I realize the point of a hockey club is to compete for the cup year in and year out, but would I trade what the Sharks have brought to San Jose for what the Ducks or Lightning have brought to their respective cities? Absolutely not.
In twenty-five years, the Sharks turned northern California into a hockey hotbed. This after another NHL franchise tried and failed (Remember the Golden Seals?). The Shark Tank (the unofficial official name for what is now called the SAP Arena) is considered one of the loudest arenas and hardest for a visiting teams to win. Hockey actually matters here... not just when the team makes a deep run in the playoffs. Every day hockey matters here. Every day you will see a Sharks logo. Every day there will be games played at the several Sharks Ice locations throughout the bay area. Every day there will be hockey. Not just the days when the team does well.
The Sharks Ice Adult Hockey League (SIAHL) is the largest adult hockey league in the entire country. Yes, that's including Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota. SIAHL has around 5,000 adults playing ice hockey and the San Jose location is the largest rink facility west of the Mississippi. The Jr. Sharks program is credited in advancing the careers of NHL alumni (Matt Tennyson - Sharks, Viktor Tikhonov - Phoenix Coyotes, Alec Martinez - L.A. Kings, Brett Sutter - Calgary Flames, Casey Wellman - Minnesota Wild).
While the other two California teams can claim a Stanley Cup, we can claim undying loyalty... and it didn't take the greatest player of all time to get it. From day one, we've been there. Through the 1992-93 season, when the Sharks set the league record for most losses with seventy-one, as well as most consecutive losses in a row (seventeen), we were there. When they failed to make it past the second round of the playoffs year after year, we were there. When they were up three games to zero on the L.A. Kings, only to join the small club of teams to lose that same series, we were there. When they missed the playoffs after 10 consecutive years of playoffs appearances, we were there.
We were there for "Like Wall", Momma Gaetz, THE goal, Ricci's smile, Freezer, the called shot, Nabby's debut, the Thornton trade, the Cheechoo Train, the 5-on-3, and Ninja Hertl. And we'll be there next season. Because this is San Jose. Shark City, Teal Town, Fin-land if you will. We don teal proudly, despite it being an early nineties fashion trend. We bleed teal; we cry teal. This is the city that we love. This is the team that we love. This is Sharks Territory.
