Tempers Light Up The Night At HP Pavilion

“It’s a team thing, and I think everybody is sticking up for everybody else,”………Patrick Marleau

By Barbara Mason –9/23/07 E-mail Barbara Mason
Bay Area Sports/Raiderdrive.com

Saturday night, fans at HP Pavilion got a chance to watch more of their favorite Sharks in action in another pre-season match-up as San Jose took on the Vancouver Canucks. With four pre-season games left, roster hopefuls like Torrey Mitchell, Devin Setoguchi and Tomas Plihal had another opportunity to showcase their skills before Coach Ron Wilson. Wilson had said that any of the players that do not make the final roster would be unable to say that they didn’t have ample opportunity to show what they can contribute to the team. These guys have been mixed and matched on different lines in an effort to evaluate their adaptability and talent.

The speed of the San Jose Sharks is no secret, it’s something that they have been know for. They came out fast against Vancouver Saturday night, scoring the first goal of the game at 8:34 when #27 Jeremy Roenick scored his first goal of the season on a power play assisted by( #12 Patrick Marleau-photo left) and #39 Tomas Plihal. When it seemed like San Jose would take the lead into the locker room at the end of the period, the Canucks scored at 18:35 courtesy of #45 Nathan Mciver who was assisted by #38 Greg Classen and #39 Brad Moran for a 1-1 tie. Vancouver had worked itself back into the game taking away some of San Jose’s momentum.

The second period came alive when a group fisticuff broke out and it seemed to all go downhill for Vancouver. The ice was littered with helmets and gloves, as captain Patrick Marleau was challenged by the Canucks bad boy Nathan Mciver which got the main event underway. Craig Rivet stepped up for his team captain smacking Alexandre Burrows, and Ryane Clowe (photo left) got into an exchange with Jeff Cowan. When the referees finally sorted out the penalties, Patrick Marleau was charged with a major for fighting (5 minutes), Craig Rivet also a major (5 minutes) for fighting along with a 10 minute game misconduct, and Ryane Clowe for fighting (5 minutes), slashing (5 minutes), and two game misconducts. With the Sharks skating a four on three, San Jose scored to break the tie when #48 Devin Setoguchi sent a bullet scorching past goalie Roberto Luongo assisted by #10 Christian Ehrhoff and #18 Matt Carle for a 2-1 lead.

The third period saw more penalties for fighting when San Jose’s Doug Murray got into it with Pierre-Cedric Labrie. When the Canucks #21 Mason Raymond was called for hooking, San Jose went back on the power play giving #14 Jonathan Cheechoo his first goal of the pre-season assisted by #8 Joe Pavelski and #18 Matt Carle San Jose a 3-1 lead. With less than two minutes left in the game #5 Rob Davison took a few swings at Nathan Mciver resulting in five minutes for each of them for fighting.

Jeremy Roenick who scored his first goal of the season and the first goal in this game is still feeling his way into the system. He spoke with the media after the game. “I haven’t even finished two weeks at camp so I’m going to get a lot better,” said Roenick. He admits to not feeling completely comfortable just yet. “It’s a comfort thing. Your out on the ice for a long time and it takes a good month for me to start feeling comfortable, to where my hands start feeling comfortable. It’s nice, you have guys on the ice that are there for you. This team is so well balanced. A mistake by one guy and there are four other guys to help out and that’s such a great feeling,” he said.

The attack on San Jose’s team captain was not taken very kindly as evidenced by the fights that broke out throughout the second and third periods. Patrick Marleau explained it away as just something that happens. “It’s a team thing and I think everybody is sticking up for everybody else and you don’t like to see your guys getting kicked out but sometimes you have to do that,” said Marleau of the fighting and the penalties that they drew.

When you are not allowed to take shot on goal you are obviously at a great disadvantage and the 10 shots on goal that Vancouver took was a total mismatch for the 37 taken by San Jose. The Sharks power play was working, their intensity was on overdrive and they maintained total control of this game. “We did a pretty good job on our forecheck. I think we had quite a few power plays tonight too,” said Marleau.

Coach Ron Wilson looked at the positive side of the fighting that broke out. “In an exhibition game, they shouldn’t be challenging our captain and Clowe and the whole team took offense to that which is a good thing, to see that it shows that we are a little more mature than we have been in the past and not leave a quality player out there hanging.” Wilson spoke of the tough decisions ahead of him. “ We’re pretty deep,” he said of the current team. “We could almost have two very competitive teams in this league right now, which is a great position to be in. All I can say right now is when the regular season starts, we will have what we feel is the best team on the ice.”

San Jose now takes it out on the road against Calgary and Vancouver before playing their final pre-season game at HP Pavilion against Calgary on Saturday September 29.

Contact: Bay Area Sports Drive (BASD)