The night that I've been looking forward to and also dreading has arrived. Tonight is the San Jose Sharks last game of the 2022-2023 regular season. And I'm not going to sugarcoat it... this has been a long season- filled with depressing losses, blown leads and only 8 wins on home ice. But, there were also some highlights.
Today, we're focusing on those highlights, because regardless of how tonight's game goes, we're ending the season at the bottom of the league. Other than how high our percentage of lottery luck towards the NHL draft is, this game doesn't mean anything.
So, let's take a look back at some of the highlights from this season:
The Sharks started their season off overseas as part of the NHL's Global Series. They had a scrimmage game in Berlin, Germany against a local team and then kicked off the season with two games against the Nashville Predators in the Czech Republic.
Eliot and I had so much fun at Opening Weekend at the Shark Tank! We met most of this year's team on the Teal Carpet and got a bunch of photos and a few autographs.
I just about melted when I met Timo and got his autograph on my jersey.
We attended the Doug Wilson Recognition Night when the Sharks lifted a banner to honor their former General Manager and player.
Flashing forward to mid-season, it was fun to watch Erik Karlsson during the All-Star Weekend. This is the first year that he was there with his kids. His daughter Harlow was out on the ice with him during the Skills Competition and she was such a cutie!
During the All-Star Weekend break, Tomas Hertl went to Disneyland with his wife and son Tobias. It has absolutely nothing to do with our season, but it was fun to see one of the guys at Eliot's and my favorite place! Fun must be always!!!
Eliot and I were blessed to go out to San Jose a second time this season in February.
During our second trip, we attended the San Jose Sharks Alumni Game with his entire family. We got to see many Sharks legends and we also checked out the Barracuda's new arena where the game was held!
We went to Sharks practice and were able to see Timo at his last practice before he got traded to the New Jersey Devils. He stopped his car on his way out of the player's parking lot to sign a puck and trading card for us.
Eliot and I met bunch of Sharks Alumni on the Teal Carpet. We took photos with our favorite players and Eliot got autographs on his trading cards and older jerseys.
We got "Jumbo" Joe Thornton's autograph on a puck!
We also got Patrick Marleau's autograph on a puck and Eliot's jersey!
We attended Patrick Marleau's Jersey Retirement Night and watched as his number 12 was raised up to the rafters of the SAP Center... the first Sharks number retired.
We watched Timo adjust and then thrive with the New Jersey Devils.
There were a few new additions to the Sharks family as we welcomed some Baby Sharks this season. Tomas Hertl and his wife Aneta had another son, Theo and about a week or so later, Kevin Labanc and his wife Kelly welcomed their son Eric. We also just found out the other day that Captain Logan Couture and his fiancée Brielle are expecting and that he'll become a father in the next few weeks!
Speaking of additions to the Sharks family, the past few weeks, we've had lot of new Sharks debuting on ice. The end of the season is always full of new potential as the college season ends, but it's extra busy when your team isn't doing well. The coaches usually bring up a lot of younger players to expose them to the NHL level of play, and to see how they handle the opportunity. Eliot and I have enjoyed watching these new guys and cheering for their first points and goals!
Which brings us to the end of the season... and thankfully, we're ending the season on a few good notes. As I already stated, the San Jose Sharks position in the standings isn't so great, but there have been a few individuals whose efforts have paid off. A few Sharks, and former Sharks, hit some major milestones this past week.
Last Thursday, former Shark Timo Meier scored goal number 39 and 40. I wasn't sure if he was going to make it to 40 goals after he got traded to New Jersey. He hasn't been playing as many minutes, and he's playing on the 3rd line instead of the 1st. But he was able to get there during their game against Arizona. (Unfortunately, Eliot and I weren't watching that game. It's the only Devils game we've missed since his trade, but we were driving down to Boston that night.) I'm so glad he got a career high of 40!
Then on Monday, April 10th, a bunch of milestones were hit. Sharks Captain Logan Couture hit 700 career NHL points with an assist on the first goal of the game. Then, a few minutes later, the Sharks tv announcers told us that former Sharks Capitan, Joe Pavelski, reached the 1,000 NHL points mark during his game with the Dallas Stars.
And that wasn't it, defenseman Erik Karlsson of the San Jose Sharks has been on pace to hit 100 points most of this season. The biggest question, was if he would reach it once the Sharks traded Timo Meier- the recipient of many of his passes that resulted in goals. As I mentioned, a lot of new NHL players have gotten ice time for the Sharks the past few weeks, so there was speculation if Erik would reach the huge milestone, but during that same April 10th game, he did it. Karlsson is only the 6th defenseman in NHL history to reach 100 points in a season!
So the past week has been pretty exciting in regards to individual efforts. After tonight, Eliot and I will switch over to cheering for the former Sharks in the playoffs. This year, there are quite a few playing for playoff bound teams- in fact there are 14 of them:
- Timo Meier- New Jersey Devils
- Joe Pavelski- Dallas Stars
- Brent Burns- Carolina Hurricanes
- Martin Jones, Jaycob Megna and Joonas Donskoi- Seattle Kraken
- Barclay Goodrow- New York Rangers
- Matt Neito and Andrew Cogliano- Colorado Avalanche
- Brenden Dillon and Dylan DeMelo- Winnipeg Jets
- Evander Kane- Edmonton Oilers
- Mikey Eyssimont- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Jacob Middleton- Minnesota Wild
We are both looking forward to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and hoping that a former Shark might lift the Cup this year... but this New England girl would also be happy if the Bruins win. (With the season Boston has had, they're my pick!) Of course, I'm rooting for my personal favorites, Timo Meier in the east and Joe Pavelski in the west. But I'm sure the next two months will be exciting no matter how it goes!
As for the current San Jose Sharks, another season is coming to a close. It wasn't pretty, but we still bleed teal regardless. Here's hoping that next year will be better!
Until October boys... have a great summer!!! °o°
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