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Attention!

I'm happy to be able to say that Fear the Fin's Night at the Tank is almost here!

Just to give everyone a quick rundown of the events, we'll be meeting at Firehouse #1 in Downtown San Jose at 4PM, where we'll enjoy Happy Hour specials ($3 beers and appetizers) the entire time! We'll also be having a raffle (2 tickets for a dollar) for multiple FTF prizes, including a signed Joe Thornton hat, a signed puck, some FTF store coupons, and original artwork from our very own CTGray (above). We'll also have some gear from Firehouse.

For those of you who aren't meeting up with us before, we'll be leaving for the tank at around 6:45.

I'm really excited that this is finally here, and I'd like to let everyone know how thankful we are for your continued support. Plank and I can't wait to meet all of you.

Committed Indian of SB Nation's Chicago Blackhawks blog had some questions for us concerning tomorrow night's matchup. Here's what I had to say:

So what did Sharks fans make of the 7-2 defeat in November? Just a bad night at the office? Or a frightening vision of the future?

Sharks fans took that loss harder than most any loss in recent memory... I myself felt almost as sick about the game as I did when the team dropped the sixth game to Anaheim in last years Stanley Cup Playoffs. As much as I'd like to shrug it off and say it was another day in the office, three shorthanded goals should never be allowed to happen under any circumstance, especially on home ice. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say it was a "frightening vision of the future", as I doubt it will ever happen again. I'm not of the camp that thinks that you can "get losing out of the way", but I do think that the Sharks ability to overcome some early struggles will help them in the long run. Last year, the team wasn't really embarrassed in the regular season. This year, coach McLellan has used the occasional embarrassment and disappointment as a motivational tool and teaching opportunity.

Obviously, the big problem has been secondary scoring. While no one expects Malhotra, Nichol, and the Ortmeyer's of the world to bang them in, why aren't Pavelski, Clowe, and Setoguchi producing as much?

Secondary scoring has been an issue to be sure, but timely scoring has been more of a problem as of late. And although Clowe had a rough start to the year, he just snapped a 10 game point streak. As for Pavelski and Setoguchi, both have missed some considerable chunks of time this year. Although Pavelski has looked better as of late, he's still got a long way to go before he regains his form. Setoguchi looked like he was going to have a career year next to Thornton and Heatley, but a knee injury has haunted him all season. He' has played on all four lines while trying to get his form back. The second line will produce, but it's been hard to establish much chemistry with the injuries and almost constant line juggling.

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"Matt", they asked me

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"Please make an OT thread"

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"So we can shoot the shit"

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"And get away with it"

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So, I made the thread

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Now it's up for you

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So talk about Star Wars

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Or, whatever else it is that you nerds come to this thread to talk about and waste even more time than you usually do at work or at home where you should be doing more productive things but instead you come to Fearthefin.com to post goofy pictures and make fun of Alexei Semenov and other stuff that no one thinks is funny execpt for me, Plank and this very exclusive community of Sharks fans

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On my drum...

I choose you, official gamedayopenthread-achu!

Go Sharks.

	@ 5:00 PST
19-7-7, 45 points		18-11-2, 28 points
1st in Western Conference		7th in Western Conference

In the Sharks last seven games, they've been to the shootout three times. Now, we can bitch and moan about the shootout as much as we want, but fact of the matter is that it's a part of the game. No if's and's or but's about it. It's unavoidable.

What should have been avoidable, though, is going to the shootout. The fact that the Sharks have led late in the third period in both of the shootout losses is troubling. Aside from the miraculous comeback in Edmonton, the Sharks have shat the bed twice and had to settle the score in the crapshoot. Blech. (I can also bitch because I was at the Tank live earlier this year to watch the Sharks do practically the same thing against the Stars. Deja vu... terrible feeling, terrible TV show, terrible movie.)

Like Plank said yesterday, it is really to early to start to worry about the team. Every squad hits a lull here or there, it's just what happens in an 82 game season. But ever since that stomping against Chicago on November 27th, the Sharks just haven't looked the same. Before, they were playing like they knew they were the best team in the NHL. When the Blackhawks hung seven on them, well, that was a blow to the ego. 

The Sharks will get their swagger back, but it's going to take some hard work and improved skating to do that. In the last two games, the Sharks have taken two hooking penalties and three tripping penalties. That's more than two penalties per game stemming from a lack of hustle. You just can't have that. In addition to those five calls, the Sharks have been shorthanded five more time, and the Kings and Stars happily cashed in at a clip of 30%. In that same span, San Jose is one for nine with the man advantage.

Two poor games does not a season make, but I haven't been happy with what I've seen the last week or so. The Sharks need to realize that it's up to them to force the opposition to play their game for 60 minutes. They played well in the first 20 last night, and then let the Stars dictate the game. From here on out, it should be an end to end battle.

Last night wasn't all bad though. We got our first look at Jay Leach, who in my opinion, looked like a solid pickup for a team in need of defense. He shouldn't be a top pairing guy if Murray is healthy (Murray shouldn't either, but that's another story), but I thought that he played well, facilitated the breakout, and adjusted quickly to the Sharks game plan. He was much better than Huskins last night, and I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Leach get some starts over Ken in the coming weeks. That won't make us any better on the offensive side, but he looked good doing what we needed him to do: make some hits, don't make mistakes, and don't slow the team down. He's not the end all be all fix on the team, but he could be a nice surprise going forward.

Thank God the Sharks are on the road again, since that's the only place they seem to win games as of late. I have to be honest... I never thought December (a month in which we play four games on the road) would the month where we would have the most trouble thus far. I guess that's why I'm laying in bed eating a hot pocket instead of sitting next to Brett Hedican. Oh, to be Brodie Braz... never mind, I think I'll just stick to my hot pocket.

Prediction: Sharks win 4-3. Goals by Setoguchi (2), McGinn, and Marleau. Thomas Greiss makes some erratic movements either on the bench or between the pipes. Shane Doan scores a goal, celebrates, then wonders if selling his soul for special powers against the Sharks was worth it.

Go Sharks.

More photos » by Paul Sancya - AP

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When you are drafted only 8 players after NHL 10 cover boy and (insert taxi cab joke of choice here) Patrick Kane, there's bound to be some hype around your arrival. That hype is bound to turn to pressure when you're compared favorably to NHL legend Steve Yzerman and are one of only three players selected in the top ten by your team in the decade.

Oh yeah, and you're 17. Good luck with all that.

Couture wasn't ready to succeed at the NHL level when he was selected 9th overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 2007 NHL entry draft. That's actually to be expected, considering the team he was drafted by. Although it's something that happens mostly in the later rounds, the Sharks love drafting project players. Players who aren't great skaters (Joe Pavelski), players who don't accelerate well or struggle with consistency (Ryane Clowe), or need to add some size to their frame (Marc-Edouard Vlasic). Well, Couture needed to work on most all of those things heading back to juniors.

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More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

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In my line of work, we do these things called BOV's. For those of you who aren't "in the know", that stands for Broker's Opinion of Value. Now, I'm not about to say that I'm Patrick Marleau's "broker". I have very little knowledge of the in's and out's of his daily life besides what I can deduce by digging through his trash can (That bin is riddled wirh empty containers of Nutella and moustache wax. No idea what's going on there). But I can give a Bloggers Opinion of Value, and that's something I'm going to do... now.

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Official gameday thread, activate!

Go Sharks.

	@ 7:30 PST
13-7-4, 30 points		18-6-4, 40 points
7th in Eastern Conference		1st in Western Conference

So, Plank and I got our game day wires crossed, and the story got posted a little late. So sue me/us/whatever. Our lawyer will rip you apart.

However, as opposed to just mailing it in, I've got some things that I was going to use for a piece on Sunday that I'll throw into the mix here.

First off, you can't ignore the media generated significance of a game against two non-division, non-conference, non-rival teams. Even though these two squads have relatively no past when it comes to on ice activity, the Heatley-gate saga manufactured enough drama to make this seem like a game with the importance of a seventh tilt in a playoff series.

Granted, there will more than likely be some bad blood coming from the Senators squad, who will want to show that they don't need Heatley to succeed. So far, they've done a good job of that... posting 30 points on the year and holding down the seventh playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.

Problem is, most of  that success is independent of the pieces that the Senators acquired in exchange for Heatley. Although Milan Michalek has gotten hot of late and leads the Senators with 13 goals (Czech him out!), Jonathan Cheecoo has struggled, posting only 4 points in 24 games with his new team. Regardless, it will be nice to see Cheech back at HP Pavilion, but this time I won't necessarily be rooting for him. Hell, he can score a goal once the Sharks are up six. Least we can do for the guy.

The Senators are also trying to get past an injury to Pascal Leclaire, their starting goaltender, who took a puck to the face while sitting on the bench during an off night. Ouch. Brian Elliot has filled in admirably in relief, putting up better numbers than Leclaire through 10 games.

The Senators won't be the only ones with something to prove, though. Dany Heatley is going to want to come up big tonight, I can just feel it. After being held goaless for three straight, I'm thinking he's going to put some in the back of the net.

It goes without saying that I think our odds of winning this quasi-rivalry game are quite good.

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