Life's Too Sports

While the San Jose Sharks haven't yet had the luxury of playing at SAP Center this season (now slated to open their campaign with 12 consecutive road games), an abbreviated 56-game schedule provides "Team Teal" with little room for error. The Sharks entered Friday's contest against their Southern California rivals with an unflattering record of 3-5-0 on the young season.  All things considered, their fortunes could have been much worse. San Jose's first two victories of 2021 came by way of the shootout, while their third was secured courtesy of a brilliant individual effort from six-time NHL All Star Brent Burns. Meanwhile, the Sharks' losing efforts have typically been less tightly contested, including a dominant two-game stint from the Colorado Avalanche -- outscoring San Jose by seven goals. Thus, adopting a simple mindset seemed necessary on Friday: find a way to emerge from the first of back-to-back games in Anaheim with two points. Although the Sharks ex

For the first time since 2004, the Tampa Bay Lightning are Stanley Cup Champions. Despite faltering in Game 5 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals, the Lightning clinched eternal glory on Monday night with a 2-0 victory in Game 6. The deciding goal came off the stick of young phenom Brayden Point in the opening period, as the Dallas Stars mustered only 22 shots in the series finale. After falling in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals, Monday's victory had to feel particularly sweet for the Lightning, who endured 15 postseason overtime periods -- the most in NHL history -- en route to their second title. Emerging as the best in a 31-team league is no small feat, and the 2019-2020 NHL season tested this explosive Tampa Bay squad in more ways than one. After a four-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Lightning secured their spot as the 2-seed in the Eastern Conference following a series of mid-summer Round Robin matchups. However, a

With the NBA and NHL deep into their respective playoff brackets, MLB approaching its modified postseason format, and the first NFL Sunday on tap for tomorrow, I thought it might be interesting to illustrate some of the more meaningful moments in my time as a sports fan. Recognizing that everyone invests in a unique combination of teams, I'm interested to know how my "Top 10 Sports Moments" stack up with those of my readers.  Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below and don't forget to "Subscribe" for future post notifications :) 10. The 2018 World Series: Red Sox beat Dodgers in 5 games As an avid San Francisco Giants fan, something about the Dodgers losing in the World Series is simply irresistible. There's nothing sweeter than watching your rivals spend absurd amounts of money each offseason, stack their roster to clinch the NL West, and ultimately crumble when it matters most. While this one wasn't quite as memorable as the Dodgers&

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the New York Islanders by the score of 5-4 in double-overtime on Thursday night. For the Flyers, Game 6 of the Second Round was prefaced by the inspiring return of star forward Oskar Lindblom, who had missed nine months of action while undergoing treatment for Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. Though Lindblom failed to make an impact on the scoresheet tonight, his return to the lineup undoubtedly boosted morale. In general, this evening's contest served as a prime example of narrative defiance for a resilient Philadelphia squad. Once again, the Flyers simply refused to accept elimination, despite the glaring absence of superstar Sean Couturier due to a knee-on-knee collision with Mathew Barzal in Game 5. In other narrative relevance, New York forward Josh Bailey entered Game 6 with a total of 15 postseason points, the most by any Islander since 1993. He failed to record a point tonight. Finally, entering Game 6, the Islanders boas

One year ago today, Barclay Goodrow netted perhaps the most significant goal in the history of San Jose Sharks' hockey. (Sorry, Jamie Baker.) Admittedly, this is a bold statement to make about a team that has qualified for the Conference Finals on five separate occasions and recently conquered the West to duel the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals. However, Goodrow's goal seemed to carry extra weight for a franchise in dire need of a "moment". Nonetheless, his Game 7 overtime winner would have been impossible without the historic rally preceding it. April 16, 2019: Game 4 in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights rout the Sharks by a score of 5-0 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in this best-of-7 series. San Jose packs their bags and returns home, searching desperately for answers. In Game 5, the Sharks found their winning formula at last, as Tomas Hertl scored only 76 seconds into the contest and Martin Jones made 30 saves to carry the Sharks to a 5-2 vi

Patrick Denis Marleau was born on September 15, 1979 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. After showcasing his immense talent as a member of the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds, Marleau was selected by the San Jose Sharks as the second overall pick in the 1997 NHL Draft. From the moment he first donned a teal sweater, it became evident that Marleau was bound to leave both a prominent and lasting legacy in San Jose. Over the course of nineteen hard-fought seasons as a Shark, he amassed a plethora of impressive records, posting notable performances seemingly every night he took to the ice. Upon the conclusion of the 2016-2017 NHL Regular Season, Patrick Marleau was viewed as someone who had unmistakably revolutionized the Sharks' organization. Tallying 508 goals and 574 assists in 1,493 games with the Sharks, Marleau's time under contract with San Jose officially spanned more than two decades. On July 2, 2017, Patrick Marleau shocked the hockey world by signing a three-year, $18.

Following their impressive 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in the 2016-2017 Season Opener, the San Jose Sharks flew eastward to Ohio, in preparation for a five-game road-stint, beginning at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. In their opening contest, the Columbus Blue Jackets were forced to watch multiple two-goal leads dissipate, eventually falling to the always-scrappy Boston Bruins by the disappointing final of 6-3. Though certainly looking for more positive results on Saturday evening, the Blue Jackets night would not exactly open "according to plan". In the opening stages of the game, Sharks' defenseman Brent Burns took a high-stick directly underneath his visor, which would lead to a double-minor power-play for the typically-ferocious Sharks' "man-advantage" squad. After managing to squander four minutes of power-play time, however, it seemed almost certain that the pendulum of momentum would swing from the Sharks bench, in favor of the newly-e

Following a previously unprecedented run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2015-2016, the San Jose Sharks took the ice once more at SAP Center on Wednesday night, with the aspiration of achieving yet another improbable run through the West Coast's finest. First on the docket for Team Teal: perhaps their fiercest rivals. Victors in both the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup Finals (against the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers, respectively): the always-impressive Los Angeles Kings. With eleven-year veteran Anže Kopitar donning the Los Angeles "C" for the first time in his career, the battle-tested Kings came into tonight's season-opening contest with renewed vigor, seeking to dethrone the reigning Western Conference Champion Sharks. Indeed, the opening stages of tonight's game proved to be nearly flawless for Los Angeles. After an unfortunate tripping penalty was attributed to Logan Couture just 33 seconds removed from the opening puck-drop, it was Kings' forwar

Throughout the course of twenty-five hard-fought seasons of NHL Hockey (or twenty-four, if you prefer to exclude the 2004-2005 NHL Lockout), the San Jose Sharks have often been selected as favorites to win the sport's ultimate prize: Lord Stanley's Cup. And while the appealing title of 'Stanley Cup Champions' has somehow managed to elude Team Teal in each and every one of their campaigns, hockey experts and loyal Shark fans alike have frequently resorted to the laughable, clich é murmurings of, "They'll get 'em next year . . ." In reality, this is an indisputable case of a franchise which has enjoyed countless regular season "highs" since its inaugural season in 1991 (such as clinching the 2008-2009 Presidents' Trophy for the NHL's best record), while merely achieving mediocrity in their many fruitless postseason endeavors. Yes, the Sharks battled their way to the Western Conference Finals in 2004. Yes, they did it again in 2010

Fresh off of Saturday evening's 4-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes, the San Jose Sharks (29-20-5) traveled to Western Florida to take on the defending Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Bay Lightning (30-21-4). Backed by starting goaltender Martin Jones, the Sharks entered Amalie Arena on Tuesday night with thoughts of triumphantly avenging their 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay on December 5th. As the first period developed, however, it became clear that both Ben Bishop and Martin Jones were on top of their respective games. In fact, it wasn't until there was 2:09 remaining in the opening frame that either squad broke the scoreless tie, as Alex Killorn led a break for Ryan Callahan, who opened the scoring by burying his sixth goal of the season. Thus, San Jose entered the first intermission trailing 9-8 in the shot totals and 1-0 on the scoreboard. Nevertheless, the deficit wouldn't last long, as Joel Ward opened the second frame for his team by blasting his 16th of the se

With 30 games remaining in the regular season, the 2015-2016 San Jose Sharks sat second in the Pacific Division, posting a record of 28-20-4. After returning from a grueling road trip, head coach Peter DeBoer decided to place reserve goaltender Alex Stalock between the pipes for Team Teal on Thursday night. As the first period raged on, however, this proved to be a rather poor decision. Merely 4:12 into the opening frame, Sam Bennett ripped an unassisted goal past Stalock, propelling the Calgary Flames to an early 1-0 advantage. Only 1:06 later, the Flames capitalized on a Logan Couture penalty to expand their lead to 2-0, as Mark Giordano fired one towards Stalock, which deflected off of Sharks' defenseman Justin Braun and into the back of the net for a power-play goal. The resilient Sharks were quick to bring a rowdy SAP Center crowd back into the action, however, as Joonas Donskoi fed Tommy Wingels in the slot for his 6th goal of the year. Still only 8:45 into the game