F***ing hell, I get it, but f***ing hell. Thanks for everything Tomas
Tomas,
I was a Sharks fan for several years prior to Tomas Hertl joining the organization, but when I think of my most meaningful experiences with the Sharks, Tomas has always been there.
I remember precisely where I was when the Sharks drafted him: watching a baseball game at Fenway Park on vacation with my family, frantically refreshing twitter as Teuvo Teravainen started falling towards the Sharks’ pick. Teravainen had been my favorite prospect in the 2012 draft and I was getting perhaps a smidge too excited as the Sharks’ pick approached. My heart fell when I saw a name that wasn’t Teravainen next to “San Jose Sharks - #17”. And yet, I was strangely not disappointed—looking back at the HF Sharks 2012 draft thread will paint me in a good light, for those curious. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt weirdly okay with the pick despite my disappointment.
I remember waking up before the crack of dawn every few days to see Hertl play for Slavia Praha during the 2012-2013 lockout. Watching 19 year old Hertl on a grainy, illegal stream is one of my earliest memories as an amateur scout, and I remember the confidence I had that Hertl was going to be a special, special player when he finally hit the NHL.
As a Shark, Tomas was nothing but pure emotion. The highs of watching him retire Marty Biron in front of his mother and then-girlfriend. The lows of Dustin Brown pretending to be a hockey player. The sweetness of Hertl’s water-exercise amongst a sea of old folks. His broken but ever-improving English, the joyful sound bites birthing new memes every day.
Tomas is and will always be my favorite hockey player of all time. His physical, creative style of play, his joyful and unrestrained personality, everything about him was created for me as a hockey fan.
There are too many amazing moments to count—his triumphant return to excellence in 2015-2016 on the best line in hockey all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, calling his shot against Vegas in 2019 game 6 and then winning the game himself, the 4 goal comeback the next game. So many special little goals like opening day against the Ducks in 2018, the butt-bump that put Malkin flat on the ice before driving the net, every time he put the team on his back and never gave up.
Probably this is something you don’t know, but Tomas and I share a birth year and our age is just a few months apart. So it’s always felt like I almost grew up alongside him. I don’t usually get emotional about stuff like sports, but seeing Tomas traded out of the blue like this is my lowest moment as a Sharks fan. Worse than the reverse sweep, worse than seeing any other player I’d loved leave SJ, worse than any draft failure, worse than any playoff series loss.
I’ll be back, maybe in a few weeks, maybe in October, but I think I should take some time away from hockey for a bit. Until then, please take care of yourselves, HF Sharks, and treat each other well.
Tomas,
I was a Sharks fan for several years prior to Tomas Hertl joining the organization, but when I think of my most meaningful experiences with the Sharks, Tomas has always been there.
I remember precisely where I was when the Sharks drafted him: watching a baseball game at Fenway Park on vacation with my family, frantically refreshing twitter as Teuvo Teravainen started falling towards the Sharks’ pick. Teravainen had been my favorite prospect in the 2012 draft and I was getting perhaps a smidge too excited as the Sharks’ pick approached. My heart fell when I saw a name that wasn’t Teravainen next to “San Jose Sharks - #17”. And yet, I was strangely not disappointed—looking back at the HF Sharks 2012 draft thread will paint me in a good light, for those curious. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt weirdly okay with the pick despite my disappointment.
I remember waking up before the crack of dawn every few days to see Hertl play for Slavia Praha during the 2012-2013 lockout. Watching 19 year old Hertl on a grainy, illegal stream is one of my earliest memories as an amateur scout, and I remember the confidence I had that Hertl was going to be a special, special player when he finally hit the NHL.
As a Shark, Tomas was nothing but pure emotion. The highs of watching him retire Marty Biron in front of his mother and then-girlfriend. The lows of Dustin Brown pretending to be a hockey player. The sweetness of Hertl’s water-exercise amongst a sea of old folks. His broken but ever-improving English, the joyful sound bites birthing new memes every day.
Tomas is and will always be my favorite hockey player of all time. His physical, creative style of play, his joyful and unrestrained personality, everything about him was created for me as a hockey fan.
There are too many amazing moments to count—his triumphant return to excellence in 2015-2016 on the best line in hockey all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, calling his shot against Vegas in 2019 game 6 and then winning the game himself, the 4 goal comeback the next game. So many special little goals like opening day against the Ducks in 2018, the butt-bump that put Malkin flat on the ice before driving the net, every time he put the team on his back and never gave up.
Probably this is something you don’t know, but Tomas and I share a birth year and our age is just a few months apart. So it’s always felt like I almost grew up alongside him. I don’t usually get emotional about stuff like sports, but seeing Tomas traded out of the blue like this is my lowest moment as a Sharks fan. Worse than the reverse sweep, worse than seeing any other player I’d loved leave SJ, worse than any draft failure, worse than any playoff series loss.
I’ll be back, maybe in a few weeks, maybe in October, but I think I should take some time away from hockey for a bit. Until then, please take care of yourselves, HF Sharks, and treat each other well.
Tomas,
I was a Sharks fan for several years prior to Tomas Hertl joining the organization, but when I think of my most meaningful experiences with the Sharks, Tomas has always been there.
I remember precisely where I was when the Sharks drafted him: watching a baseball game at Fenway Park on vacation with my family, frantically refreshing twitter as Teuvo Teravainen started falling towards the Sharks’ pick. Teravainen had been my favorite prospect in the 2012 draft and I was getting perhaps a smidge too excited as the Sharks’ pick approached. My heart fell when I saw a name that wasn’t Teravainen next to “San Jose Sharks - #17”. And yet, I was strangely not disappointed—looking back at the HF Sharks 2012 draft thread will paint me in a good light, for those curious. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt weirdly okay with the pick despite my disappointment.
I remember waking up before the crack of dawn every few days to see Hertl play for Slavia Praha during the 2012-2013 lockout. Watching 19 year old Hertl on a grainy, illegal stream is one of my earliest memories as an amateur scout, and I remember the confidence I had that Hertl was going to be a special, special player when he finally hit the NHL.
As a Shark, Tomas was nothing but pure emotion. The highs of watching him retire Marty Biron in front of his mother and then-girlfriend. The lows of Dustin Brown pretending to be a hockey player. The sweetness of Hertl’s water-exercise amongst a sea of old folks. His broken but ever-improving English, the joyful sound bites birthing new memes every day.
Tomas is and will always be my favorite hockey player of all time. His physical, creative style of play, his joyful and unrestrained personality, everything about him was created for me as a hockey fan.
There are too many amazing moments to count—his triumphant return to excellence in 2015-2016 on the best line in hockey all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, calling his shot against Vegas in 2019 game 6 and then winning the game himself, the 4 goal comeback the next game. So many special little goals like opening day against the Ducks in 2018, the butt-bump that put Malkin flat on the ice before driving the net, every time he put the team on his back and never gave up.
Probably this is something you don’t know, but Tomas and I share a birth year and our age is just a few months apart. So it’s always felt like I almost grew up alongside him. I don’t usually get emotional about stuff like sports, but seeing Tomas traded out of the blue like this is my lowest moment as a Sharks fan. Worse than the reverse sweep, worse than seeing any other player I’d loved leave SJ, worse than any draft failure, worse than any playoff series loss.
I’ll be back, maybe in a few weeks, maybe in October, but I think I should take some time away from hockey for a bit. Until then, please take care of yourselves, HF Sharks, and treat each other well.
Tomas,
I was a Sharks fan for several years prior to Tomas Hertl joining the organization, but when I think of my most meaningful experiences with the Sharks, Tomas has always been there.
I remember precisely where I was when the Sharks drafted him: watching a baseball game at Fenway Park on vacation with my family, frantically refreshing twitter as Teuvo Teravainen started falling towards the Sharks’ pick. Teravainen had been my favorite prospect in the 2012 draft and I was getting perhaps a smidge too excited as the Sharks’ pick approached. My heart fell when I saw a name that wasn’t Teravainen next to “San Jose Sharks - #17”. And yet, I was strangely not disappointed—looking back at the HF Sharks 2012 draft thread will paint me in a good light, for those curious. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt weirdly okay with the pick despite my disappointment.
I remember waking up before the crack of dawn every few days to see Hertl play for Slavia Praha during the 2012-2013 lockout. Watching 19 year old Hertl on a grainy, illegal stream is one of my earliest memories as an amateur scout, and I remember the confidence I had that Hertl was going to be a special, special player when he finally hit the NHL.
As a Shark, Tomas was nothing but pure emotion. The highs of watching him retire Marty Biron in front of his mother and then-girlfriend. The lows of Dustin Brown pretending to be a hockey player. The sweetness of Hertl’s water-exercise amongst a sea of old folks. His broken but ever-improving English, the joyful sound bites birthing new memes every day.
Tomas is and will always be my favorite hockey player of all time. His physical, creative style of play, his joyful and unrestrained personality, everything about him was created for me as a hockey fan.
There are too many amazing moments to count—his triumphant return to excellence in 2015-2016 on the best line in hockey all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, calling his shot against Vegas in 2019 game 6 and then winning the game himself, the 4 goal comeback the next game. So many special little goals like opening day against the Ducks in 2018, the butt-bump that put Malkin flat on the ice before driving the net, every time he put the team on his back and never gave up.
Probably this is something you don’t know, but Tomas and I share a birth year and our age is just a few months apart. So it’s always felt like I almost grew up alongside him. I don’t usually get emotional about stuff like sports, but seeing Tomas traded out of the blue like this is my lowest moment as a Sharks fan. Worse than the reverse sweep, worse than seeing any other player I’d loved leave SJ, worse than any draft failure, worse than any playoff series loss.
I’ll be back, maybe in a few weeks, maybe in October, but I think I should take some time away from hockey for a bit. Until then, please take care of yourselves, HF Sharks, and treat each other well.
Tomas,
I was a Sharks fan for several years prior to Tomas Hertl joining the organization, but when I think of my most meaningful experiences with the Sharks, Tomas has always been there.
I remember precisely where I was when the Sharks drafted him: watching a baseball game at Fenway Park on vacation with my family, frantically refreshing twitter as Teuvo Teravainen started falling towards the Sharks’ pick. Teravainen had been my favorite prospect in the 2012 draft and I was getting perhaps a smidge too excited as the Sharks’ pick approached. My heart fell when I saw a name that wasn’t Teravainen next to “San Jose Sharks - #17”. And yet, I was strangely not disappointed—looking back at the HF Sharks 2012 draft thread will paint me in a good light, for those curious. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt weirdly okay with the pick despite my disappointment.
I remember waking up before the crack of dawn every few days to see Hertl play for Slavia Praha during the 2012-2013 lockout. Watching 19 year old Hertl on a grainy, illegal stream is one of my earliest memories as an amateur scout, and I remember the confidence I had that Hertl was going to be a special, special player when he finally hit the NHL.
As a Shark, Tomas was nothing but pure emotion. The highs of watching him retire Marty Biron in front of his mother and then-girlfriend. The lows of Dustin Brown pretending to be a hockey player. The sweetness of Hertl’s water-exercise amongst a sea of old folks. His broken but ever-improving English, the joyful sound bites birthing new memes every day.
Tomas is and will always be my favorite hockey player of all time. His physical, creative style of play, his joyful and unrestrained personality, everything about him was created for me as a hockey fan.
There are too many amazing moments to count—his triumphant return to excellence in 2015-2016 on the best line in hockey all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, calling his shot against Vegas in 2019 game 6 and then winning the game himself, the 4 goal comeback the next game. So many special little goals like opening day against the Ducks in 2018, the butt-bump that put Malkin flat on the ice before driving the net, every time he put the team on his back and never gave up.
Probably this is something you don’t know, but Tomas and I share a birth year and our age is just a few months apart. So it’s always felt like I almost grew up alongside him. I don’t usually get emotional about stuff like sports, but seeing Tomas traded out of the blue like this is my lowest moment as a Sharks fan. Worse than the reverse sweep, worse than seeing any other player I’d loved leave SJ, worse than any draft failure, worse than any playoff series loss.
I’ll be back, maybe in a few weeks, maybe in October, but I think I should take some time away from hockey for a bit. Until then, please take care of yourselves, HF Sharks, and treat each other well.