Owen Nolan knew this day was coming, he had just tried to delay it for as long as possible. That’s because he knew how tough it would be for him to walk away from the game he truly loves.
“I was very fortunate to play 18 seasons, 1,200 games in the League, and today I’m announcing my retirement,” an emotional Nolan said at a press conference Tuesday at HP Pavilion. ”I guess I’ve known this day was here for a while. When your body won’t do what your mind and your heart is willing to do, it’s time to move on. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I’ve had the opportunity to play with some great players and great teammates.”
After getting off to a disappointing 1-3 start in the 2011-12 season, the San Jose Sharks couldn’t wait to get out on the road.
But after a grueling, two-week, six-game road trip, the Sharks are finally happy to be sleeping in their own beds at night. The trip proved to be beneficial, however, as the Sharks won five in a row before dropping the final game of the trip to the New York Rangers.
After finally returning home for their game on Nov. 3 (their first home game since Oct. 17), the buzz around HP Pavilion was that the Sharks would somehow manage to find a way to struggle in front of the home crowd at HP Pavilion.
Following the Sharks‘ 5-2 loss to the Rangers, Thornton made the blunder of calling Torts’ team “soft.”
“They were probably the softest team we played on the trip. We should have had these two points,” Thornton said in the midst of the Sharks’ six-game road swing.
“We played some good teams, and I think we probably should have beat these guys, to be honest with you.”
It may still be early, but prior to every new NHL season, a whole host of predictions are made before the puck drops. Naturally, many of these predictions, by both experts and fans alike, come up short. Quite often, not only do our Magic 8-balls fail us, but several surprises come out of nowhere, ultimately blowing our predictions out of the water. Here are a few of those early-season surprises.
Phil Kessel’s Hot Start
Phil Kessel is a good hockey player. Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke knew that when he traded away a first-round pick in the 2010 NHL draft (which ended up being Tyler Seguin) to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Kessel.
This is it. No more excuses. It’s put up or shut up time in San Jose, and that means the time to win the Stanley Cup is now.
Actually, if you ask most San Jose fans, Cup expectations have run rampant through San Jose for the last several seasons. However, despite winning five Pacific Division titles over the last seven seasons (four straight heading into 2012), the Sharks have nothing to show for their brilliant regular-season performances. The Sharks made it through to the Western Conference Finals the last two seasons, but they have yet to make it to the final dance.
The day before the 2011 NHL entry draft, Devin Setoguchi signed a three-year contract with the San Jose Sharks. Draft day showed up and Setoguchi was unexpectedly traded to the Minnesota Wild for defenseman Brent Burns.
“No, not at all,” Setoguchi told the media on Monday when asked if he had any inkling that he’d be traded. “I was just more excited that I signed the new contract. And then the next day you get shipped off. But that’s the way it is. That’s sports. You can never get too comfortable and things happen for a reason. They wanted me here and I want to be here. I want to be a big part to this team and help out. I’m excited to be here and get a fresh start.”
Danny Heatley has played his last game as a member of the San Jose Sharks.
In a shocking move that further proves how discontent the Sharks were with yet another season where they failed to make it to the Stanley Cup Final, Heatley, a two-time 50-goal scorer, was dealt to the Minnesota Wild for forward Martin Havlat.
The move to trade Heatley is a shocking one, considering that when the Sharks acquired him from Ottawa two seasons ago, they were hoping that he was the missing ingredient that could lift the perennial contending Sharks over the hump in the quest for the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.
Although the focus of the hockey world has been deadlocked on the aftermath of the 2011 NHL entry draft, there were several big deals made over the weekend that can’t be overlooked.
Quite possibly the biggest was the Philadelphia Flyers signing of goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov on Thursday. The Flyers signed the Russian netminder to a huge nine-year contract worth $51 million after they cleared cap space by trading away forwards Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. The knock against Philadelphia has always been their shaky goaltending. After another questionable season for them between the pipes in 2011 (in which they used three different starting goaltenders), will Bryz finally be the answer?
I am happy to announce a new promotion here at Hockey Tickets Online. Beginning in October 2011, we will giving away way two tickets each month to a regular season NHL game.
To enter, simply leave your name and email address below. Once you are entered into the contest, your will be eligible to win tickets every month.
Congratulations to Eric who is our October ticket winner. Eric gets two tickets to the Panthers v Penguins game in November.
