SJ vs. Colorado...Oh and thoughts...

Ok, so we almost came back inthe third, just ran out of time. Anyone see this game?

With kippur starting, and losing again, can anyone identify if he was soft or did CO just make good plays?

SJ is now 1-3 in preseason and I am hoping we can get some solid wins with our prospects/hopefuls in the line-up.

Free for all on this thread....so write it up!

Nice pic of Yuri Moscevsky's fight from Yahoo...

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030926/capt.dxa10109252158.sharks_avalanche_dxa101.jpg

Colorado started the vast majority of its starting lineup, so its hardly surprising that the Sharks lost that game. Only losing 3-2 is the surprising part.

I came into this preseason, pretty much certain that this team would be terrible. While I'm still concerned, it at least looks like the Sharks have the possibility of being an above average team.

They still have Nabby, who is a top 10 goalie when he plays at 90% of his normal level.

They have one hell of a big mean defense with McLaren, Rathje, Hannan, Stuart, and maybe Davison.

As far as offense, who knows where it'll come from, but it definitely looks like Michalek is going to earn a spot.

I still would like to see the Sharks trade Kippissoft to some team for some low round draft pick.

I've been approaching the season with cautious optimisim, that I think is based on reality, but a reality where the "if's" tend to go for us more often than against us. Which is dodgey I know.

After seeing the game the other night, I feel more encouraged, granted we weren't playing a majority of our prime time guys and Phoenix had alot of prospects to. But what was most encouraging was the chemistry, the passion, the comraderie that seemed to be out there on the ice. That to me suggests a good camp experience, which bodes well for the guys I didn't get to see on the ice.

The NHL guys all looked good, there was fire in their games, and they had an eye out for who was doing what to their teammates. It looked like a real team again. Give that, and what very much appeared to be the return of Nabby, the increaseing game of Cheech, Harvey playing better, Smith with all his passion, and Parker not just being a warm body with fists hanging off of it, McCauley showing vision, Dimitrakos, etc... Like I said it started a little slow, and in the opening minutes they were chasing the game a little, but they caught up and grabbed hold. They didn't lay down, and they didn't lay down in the Colorado game from the sound of things. Which you could hardly say in October of last year, let alone late in the season. These intangibles are probably the best signs of all. I recognize that saying "they came to play" should be a given in the NHL, but given last year, it seemed like a real turn around in the team mentality.

You add to that that I think we've got 6 maybe 7 potential 20 goal scorers, 5 I feel real confident in, you start seeing the balanced scoring that took us to the top of the Pacific Division. I'm honestly not real worried about the loss of Teemu or his production, because he was never the Teemu of legend for the Sharks anyway. Nolan's ability to go make something happen will be missed, but I saw some of that in some of the younger guys. And the added responsibility of guys like Marleua, Sturm, Thornton, Ricci... I think that "damnit I'm gonna score a goal now" attitude will be more evident in those guys.

The defense did seem to be more offensive minded, and some of the goals in the preseason have come from D.

So while there are question marks, and guys will have to truly do their part and then some, I saw guys on the ice that were willing to do that. It was one preseason game I understand that, but I feel pretty good about this season. I don't expect to win the division or anything, but looking at the West I think we should be able to nab one of the 6-8 spots and make a go of it in the playoffs.

I also think that we are back to a team that will be under estimated, at least for awhile. I haven't seen any write ups that I can recall that really give this team much of a chance. We lost our big names, and so I think at least in the early weeks we have the ability to make some strides because we get talked about with teams like Carolina, Pittsburgh and the like now rather than Colorado or Vancouver and may not be taken as serious competitors

I don't know... Maybe it's just the optimism of loyalty and hope, but I think there is a lot to look forward to.

As I see it, the Sharks can finish anywhere from 6-14th.

Only Dallas, Detroit, Colorado, St Louis and Vancouver do I KNOW will be better than SJ. Everyone else, anything can happen. If you had said Anaheim and Minnesota would be where they were last year before the season started, you would have been laughed it. Did Anaheim or Minnesota have a better team at the start of last season than the Sharks do right now? :dunno:

If you have the chemistry and goaltending, you will do well. The Sharks had neither last year. Goal scoring doesn't worry me. If Nabby is back, and the team has chemistry, I think they can make the playoffs.

Michalek and Ehrhoff connected on the 2nd goal.

:) Both should stick in the NHL.

Didn't get to see the game, but I noticed that Korky only logged about 11 minutes. That isn't second line ice time.

I really haven't heard much from him, and Ekman seems to be right in the thick of things. If if comes down to Korky or Ekman starting in October I wonder how that is going to pan out.