Song of the day:
Video of the day:
Two years ago my friend Kirsten and I, along with 17,560 of our closest friends, experienced one of the best (and most stressful!) hockey comebacks of all time. Also known as “The Reason Vegas Hates the Sharks”.
The agony of thinking it was over in the second period. I remember Kirsten thinking about leaving because she wasn’t sure she could watch us lose again. I fully understood. But she stayed.
The horror of seeing Joe Pavelski motionless on the ice. I have never heard the arena so quiet. It was terrifying. We were on the other side of the ice and couldn’t tell completely what happened but we knew it wasn’t good. You could see the blood. We thought it was definitely over then, that there was no way we could come back without the captain. But then…
The magic of watching four goals scored in five minutes. I have never seen anything like it. Vegas was given a five-minute major penalty for what happened to Pavs and the Sharks came to life. There are all kinds of stories about what was said on the bench, what was happening elsewhere in the arena. One player’s dad was sitting in the club and swore he wouldn’t leave his chair once we started scoring. Jumbo said a few choice words and truly, the rest is history. They just kept scoring. But then Vegas tied it. But there was still hope.
The agony of going to overtime. Anyone who knows me knows I hate overtime in the regular season, but in the playoffs it’s even more stressful. Each overtime goes a full 20 minutes and this one was almost over. We were beside ourselves. It was so stressful.
And then…
Barclay Goodrow made one of the greatest goals of all time. On its own it was a beauty of a goal, but the fact that it not only won the game but also won the series and completed the greatest comeback of all time was incredible. I have never heard The Tank so loud. And I’ve never screamed so much. Truly one of the best nights ever.
Vegas complained the entire off-season and into the next season and is probably still complaining, saying it shouldn’t have been a five-minute major, saying Pavs wasn’t that hurt (mind you he missed all but the final game of the next seven-game series, but okay). They were UGLY about it and just added more fuel to the rivalry that started the prior season. This is why it was honestly so weird to see them honor Marleau so well earlier this week. To be fair though, they have completely owned us this year, and most of last year as well. We’re not the same team we were that night two years ago, not even close. And they just keep getting better.
Thinking about this game made me miss hockey even more than I was already missing it. The Sharks are opening the arena to fans starting Monday but I didn’t get tickets. They were more money than I wanted to pay, and I’m still not all that sure about being around that many people even though I’m fully vaccinated. I think I’ll be more than ready when the next season starts. And there can be more of this…
Great memory. #GoSharks ... One of these years, we're gonna have to make it down there and go see a game with you!
Great memory! #GoSharks