SB Nation User Blog: Diecast Dude

[Open Thread] Game Twelve: San Jose Sharks at Colorado Avalanche (Sunday November 2, 2008)

Diecast Dude — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:27:30 -0000

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9-2-0		5-5-0
1st Pacific Division		5th Northwest Division
1st Western Conference		T-10th Western Conference

The Sharks begin a grueling lengthy road trip tonight with a... oh, wait, it's one game and then back home. Wonder if the team even bothered to pack.

The Avs have redefined the work streaky thus far this young season. Colorado started by losing its first three games. It then won the next five in a row. This has been followed by losing its last two. Nothing like consistency.

As to Los Tiburones, their main opponents tonight besides Milan Hedjuk and Paul Stasny et al will be the altitude and letting down after a tremendous win last Thursday at home against Detroit in a game where they out-Red Winged the Red Wings. Hey, if you can't beat 'em do a better them than they do.

Enjoy the game, everyone.

[Open Thread] Game Eleven: Detroit Red Wings at San Jose Sharks (Thursday October 30, 2008)

Diecast Dude — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:55:48 -0000

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7-1-2		8-2-0
1st Central Division		1st Pacific Division
2nd Western Conference		1st Western Conference

Come tomorrow morning, if you are an employer on the East Coast and one or more of your underlings come stumbling in with eyes a-bleary and a coffee IV firmly in place do not make the mistake of berating them for starting their Halloween party a tad early. They're just hockey fans who stayed up to catch this must-see battle of the ocean dwellers.

The Cephalopods are no doubt in a foul mood after getting torched by the Fowl... er, Ducks last night for five goals, three courtesy of Teemu Selanne, en route to an overtime loss. Nevertheless they're still the Red Wings, the against which all others measure themselves. The franchise that never rebuilds, only reloads. Latest example is Marián Hossa, picked up as a free agent this past off-season and currently the leading points man on the team in the city through which the road to the Stanley Cup always runs.

That all said, while Detroit leads the league in goals scored they're also not exactly boasting about a defense that's tied for allowing the sixth-most goals thus far this young season. When you venerable #1 goaltender (Chris Osgood) is carrying a 3.38 GAA and an .879 save percentage, you're not exactly putting the tentacles on anyone. The Red Wings power play has been hot (32.4%, trailing only St. Louis) but the penalty kill is mid-pack at 81.4%. If the game turns into an affair featuring more flying rubber than a sorority water balloon fight it should be to the Sharks advantage.

There is of course the Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker angle minus the parental portion as Sharks head coach Scott McLellan faces off against his boss of last year Detroit head coach Mike Babcock. Which doesn't really mean anything unless one can glean some information based on their past working together that will translate into an advantage in terms of how their team should approach the other.

At any rate, plenty of star power and firepower tonight. San Jose has a clear advantage in goal, which will help when facing Hossa and Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holdstrom and the ageless Niklas Lidstrom among others. This game matters as much as a game in October can matter. Most definitely not one to be missed. Enjoy, everyone.

[Open Thread] Game Ten: Pittsburgh Penguins at San Jose Sharks (Tuesday October 28, 2008)

Diecast Dude — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:02:13 -0000

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5-2-2		7-2-0
2nd Atlantic Division		1st Pacific Division
4th Eastern Conference		2nd Western Conference

Trick or treat time.

It's not often both teams from last year's Stanley Cup finals come to town in successive games. If nothing else, other than guaranteeing a full house it provides an excellent opportunity now that all parties concerned are legitimately into the season to see how a couple of league powerhouses stack up.

While on paper the Penguins are weaker than last year due to the defection of Marián Hossa to Detroit and losing Sergei Gonchar to injury, they still have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. FrankD over at Pensburgh is dreading this game due to Pittsburgh's defensive woes, but I'm not exactly enthralled with the thought of seeing either of the above against a Sharks defense I'm not always comfortable with.

The last time the Penguins were in town was one of the best games in Sharks franchise history, a contest between Joe Thornton and Crosby as to which is truly the NHL's top dog. Tonight promises more of the same as two of the league's best seek to make a statement at the other's expense just in case they see each other again this season. And I'm not talking the game in Pittsburgh on February eleventh of 2009.

[Open Thread] Game Nine: San Jose Sharks at Tampa Bay Lightning (Saturday October 25, 2008)

Diecast Dude — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:16:57 -0000

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6-2-0		1-2-3
1st Pacific Division		5th Southeast Division
1st Western Conference		T-12th Eastern Conference

Okay, let's try this again.

The Sharks will no doubt be a snarling bunch of selachimorphas after last night's 4-3 loss to the Panthers. Not shooting wasn't the problem; San Jose fired 50 shots at Tomas Vokoun as compared to Florida's 35. Unfortunately, two of Florida's shots were by Cory Stillman. Between a former Predators goaltender and a former Flames (and Blues and Lightning and Hurricanes and Senators) forward who's obviously regained his scorer's touch, ah well. There's also the (ahem) "minor" detail of how the defensive pairing of Rob Blake and Marc-Edouard Vlasic registered a minus three for the game...

Anyway, San Jose will be playing Tampa Bay tonight in a game where the only possibility of local interest stems from the probability that Game Three of the World Series between the Rays and the Phillies will most likely be rained out. The Lightning certainly aren't void of talent; there isn't a team in the NHL that wouldn't love to have Vincent Lecavlier and Martin St. Louis on its roster. Overall, though, it's difficult to remember this team won the Stanley Cup in 2004. There's a promotion for tonight's game where fans who buy a flu shot from Walgreens for $25 can purchase a game ticket for as little as $10. This is only appropriate as thus far Tampa Bay's fans (I assume they still have some) must feel like they have the flu whenever they contemplate the current state of their team, led by ownership that thinks Barry Melrose can lead the Lightning back to the promised land. Really. I mean, really.

There's no local television tonight, which is a pain as another promotion taking place at the St. Pete Times Forum tonight is called 'Pink Out Night' where all fans in attendance are encouraged to wear pink to raise awareness of and make donations to combat breast cancer. Having had both family and friends suffer with breast cancer there's nothing amusing about it. However, the thought of seeing a bunch of hockey fans in pink... and why not make the players wear it as well, selling both the game-worn and replica jerseys then donating the proceeds to cancer research? C'mon, NHL. One-off special jerseys are a slam dunk at the souvenir stand.

Anyway, David Pollack reports Brain Boucher will be starting tonight. Whether this was pre-planned or because Evgeni Nabokov has been less than stellar the past three games is unknown. And there's the whole "Dan Boyle returns to Tampa Bay" angle, but that's been covered by most every everyone already.

Enjoy the game.

[Open Thread] Game Eight: San Jose Sharks at Florida Panthers (Friday October 24, 2008)

Diecast Dude — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:35:37 -0000

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6-1-0		3-3-0
1st Pacific Division		3rd Southeast Division
1st Western Conference		T-10th Eastern Conference

Okay, Aficionados De Los Tiburones, You Can Breathe Now

Diecast Dude — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:43:15 -0000

Okay, Aficionados De Los Tiburones, You Can Breathe Now

Joe Thornton's groin issue isn't deemed serious enough to keep him out of the lineup tonight. Also expect to see Tomas Plihal on the ice tonight after missing the last four games due to that dreaded lower body injury. (Just once don't you wish an NHL team would come out and say what an injury actually is? But I digress.) Brad Staubitz figures to be a healthy scratch, thus greatly reducing the possibility of any fisticuffs unless it behooves Jody Shelley -- providing of course he is in the mood to be behooved -- to drop the gloves should any given member of the Panthers be so inclined. Given that to date Florida has had a whopping two fighting majors in six games, probably not going to happen.

Pre-Order Your Third Jersey Today!

Diecast Dude — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:09:44 -0000

Pre-Order Your Third Jersey Today!

Just don't ask what it looks like, because they won't tell you.

[Open Thread] Game Seven: San Jose Sharks at Philadelphia Flyers (Wednesday October 22, 2008)

Diecast Dude — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:25:34 -0000

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5-1-0		0-3-2
1st Pacific Division		5th Atlantic Division
1st Western Conference		15th Eastern Conference

It's a good thing for the Flyers that the Phillies are in the World Series, as for at least a few days it'll divert everyone's attention in the City Of Brotherly Love Not So Much. Adding to their woes, the Sharks are in town. Hopefully for their sake everyone will stay home to watch baseball.

This is the first home and away for Los Tiburones against an Eastern Conference team in who knows how long if in fact it's ever happened. Although the schedule still isn't perfect in that all Western and Eastern Conference teams don't play once in each other's rink, still a far site better than the way it was where we all became royally bored with seeing division opponents thirty times a year. Or at least it seemed that way.

According to David Pollack, expect to see Milan Michalek back in the lineup and on the second line. Brad Staubitz will probably skate on the fourth line with Jody Shelley and Jeremy Roenick, so it could get interesting whenever said ensemble hits the ice.

Being that the game starts even as I write this, obviously I'll be missing most of if not all of the game. Ah well. Is this the east coast's revenge for when their teams come out here and the games start at 10:30 PM their time?

[Open Thread] Game Six: Philadelphia Flyers at San Jose Sharks (Saturday October 18, 2008)

Diecast Dude — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:21:24 -0000

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0-3-1		4-1-0
5th Atlantic Division		1st Pacific Division
15th Eastern Conference		1st Western Conference

Like last night, the Sharks opponent is a team that's struggled coming out of the gate. Hopefully the result won't be the same as last night's 4-0 roasting by the Ducks.

No Milan Michalek or Douglas Murray tonight, with Tomas Plihal a maybe. Expect to see Alexi Semenov (oh joy) and Brad Staubitz on the ice. Also expect to see a more aggressive power play in terms of skaters planting themselves in front of the Flyers net, especially after last night's 0 for 7 with the man advantage.

As to the Flyers, expect it to be a toss-up as to which group will be more boorish -- the ones on the ice in Philadelphia jerseys or the ones in the stands with Philadelphia jerseys. Not a lot of finesse with either group.

Update To The Third Jersey Rumor

Diecast Dude — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:56:39 -0000

Update To The Third Jersey Rumor

Talk is now while it will be black, it'll have the shield logo on the front. Be something different; could look good. We'll find out for sure sometime next month.