Long review of Pavelski goal jars movie memories
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — That long delay while they reviewed Joe Pavelski’s goal during the 2-1 victory over the Predators reminded me of a couple older movies, “Blow-up” from the late 1960s and “Blade Runner” from the 1980s.
That’s because each featured a critical scene where they took a standard photo and zeroed in on one particular spot to discover something that didn’t appear to be there. Similarly, the early video shown of Pavelski’s goal was pretty inconclusive. Until they zeroed in on one shot and bingo — there the puck was, across the goal line.
But Pavelski said he was thinking of a different movie, “Cinderella Man.” Why? I played that angle up bigtime in the print edition, so rather than undercut my own story, how about I shamelessly just suggest you check it out in print or online. Or maybe you know the Russell Crowe movie well enough to know the scene and the line that stuck with Pavelski.
Ron Wilson said the bench was advised there really wasn’t much doubt that the puck crossed the goal line, and that the time was spent making sure it wasn’t kicked or knocked across with the glove.
The streak now stands at 10 and in case you were wondering, this is the longest in the NHL this season.
A few other things worth mentioning, then it’s g’night and a travel day tomorrow. Which means that unless something significant happens, I’ll be back here Thursday.
***********Despite the fact the Sharks have been on the road for all but four of the past 25 nights, they didn’t take their customary post-game flight home, but instead stayed an extra night here in Nashville. Why? Their plane was unavailable. Oh well, at least they’ll be able to land in San Jose tomorrow afternoon and NOT bus down from Oakland.
***********Since Stevo asked, the official attendance at the Sommet Center was 14,965. And, yes, the Predators and their fans seem to be developing a genuine dislike for the Sharks. But, duh!, isn’t what supposed to happen when a team gets eliminated from the playoffs twice by the same team?
**********Also, since Stevo mentioned it in a comment in the previous post, I did have an entire row of the press box to myself in Nashville. But the reason I have the row to myself is that it’s reserved for visiting media and team personnel. I am the visiting media, singular and plural. Occasionally, as in Pittsburgh, some of the healthy scratches show up to share the space. Here, they must’ve had better options.
**********One last thing. Yesterday, about 150 backed up comments on a variety of threads showed up. I’m guessing that had something to do with the new approval process for first-time users. I only mention because a lot of you had specific questions. And not that I normally answer every one posed, in this case I don’t think I’ll be able to get to any of them. Just too many from too long ago. Sorry.
A gritty win.
Still they let down for a few minutes after Michalek scored. The difference from earlier in the season was that they picked it back up. The couple lazy penalties (esp McLaren’s) kept hope alive for Nashville.
On the Pred’s feed of the game the showed an interview, overlaying the game, with RW where he again emphasized continuing to go for it in the 3rd with a lead…meanwhile the guys were holding back playing dump and sometimes chase.
Bubba, what in the world are you doing up at this hour of the morning? he,he,..
Mr. Pollak,
Thanks for the attendance #’s. Here’s the strange thing about that…the local radio post-game host had said that attendance was 13k and change.
I’m learning that some things here are not exactly Bay Area caliber/quality, though I won’t go as far as the ‘hillbilly’ blasts from yesterday.
And while I’ve got ya here, what in the world was being shown on your CRT monitor to your left? I obviously couldn’t see it clearly, but from my vantage point it looked like a screen saver (which it must not have been), not a TV game c/c feed like I used to watch over the shoulders of the TV crews at the Tank.
Have a safe trip home and congratulations on “making the cut”. I, like the rest of us here, am so glad to have you’re still around.
P.S. You missed out on the free pizza I had waiting for you… he,he
Obviously I need another “expresso” or “late” before I hit the road this AM…I meant ‘glad that you’re still around’..
Yes David, healthy scratch JR was in the TV booth, then the radio booth — apparently a better option.
JR was very insightful and downright hilarious. I was on the floor when he starting calling Tootoo “DumDum”.
I look forward to the day that JR becomes a color analyst. Wearing a Sharks Stanley Cup ring!
David do you have your first groupie?
It’s great David made the cut.
David now that you’re answering questions. Why do you have a link to Kawakami and he doesn’t provide one for you?
It’s not like he’s going to lose both people who post on his blog.
Hey Bubba I agree that it was a gritty win, but to say Big Mac’s penalty was lazy, no way. His first penalty was roughing when Vlasic was speared, only problem was that the officials missed the call, so Mac is in for two all by himself. Second call was not due to lazy play, but due to the hussle of the pred player. Penalty kill was awesome, especially that little choker Nabby (not my discription of Nabby but one used by other bloggers).
Whatever happened to the old goaliepuke? The new one is not near as funny.
Question: Would JR make a better captain than Patty?
Stuart (#5), your last line hit the nail on the head - if/when Drew decides to give it up for good, JR would be the perfect replacement.
I’m in EDT. Just getting ready to leave for work at 7 am :-).
#7 David H
It seemed like Mac wasn’t moving his feet and was playing D with his stick on the play…a lot like the way I play D.
To give him props, I thought he played a much better game than a couple he did last week. He got a decent hip check in the first period. I always like a good McLaren hip check. There always so much motion after the impact…Sticks, gloves and people.
Pollack I haven’t said this in a while but thanks for this great blog.
Thats cool, that the refs actually saw the puck. I didn’t realize that the delay was on the fact that Pavs did or didn’t kick the puck in.
Did anybody catch Shelley’s radio interview? How he felt Hordichuck wanted goat him into a instigator.
#5 and #9
I didn’t see JR on TV, but caught the first part of his time in the radio booth. I love how he barely has a second to get the headphones on and said “YAH!!” as Michalek scored.
Then he went on to rant about how that the refs didn’t miss a call on Campbell, but they missed an obvious dive.
He’s frankness is hilarious, and I think it kind of let Bakes feel a little looser. I think that when Baker first got in to the booth, he didn’t realize how being biased can effect his analysis. Something Drew had a problem with for a long time too. But with JR in the booth, Baker was able to see how far he had come.
I did catch Drew say how he has been getting the most grief for supporting Mitchell’s decision to shoot at the open net the other night. That was funny as well.
Agreed, JR in the radio booth was comedy. And he made some really good points. He’s been attacked by previous teams for schmoozing too hard for a TV star job instead of practicing for the next game but, I gotta say, next time he doesn’t suit up (hopefully not any time soon), I hope he visits the broadcasters again.
Andy #8. I’m still here. Just very busy. Projects picked up and sometimes work gets in the way of hockey.
Funny you say? I’m not funny! Maybe funny lookin’ like most of here.
I can say one thing, a lot of stuff has come up recently about the captain and what it means that all support my opinions about it. Like when Stevo reported what Crisp said and last night what Dan and Jamie said. Also, we’re getting treated to Marleau as a force on this team on the ice — like taking a hit to get the puck out of the zone with 20 seconds left — yet another clutch play by mon’capit’an.
So, I’m still here enjoying the win streak and the catching and passing of Dallas when I clearly remember some mathmatician a couple weeks back calculated that the Sharks would never catch the Stars with 9 pts back and only 4 games in hand.
He he! Is that more like the Goaliepuke you all know and love?
LOL! When I heard JR in the booth, it was like a free-for-all with the Microphone. JR, just being a fan and not caring that Dan and Jamie have a job to do. I loved it. I am glad though, it doesn’t happen every game.
JR was quite the comedian… heard him on the radio first and then on the TV… he was getting around pretty good… loved that “DumDum” comment… classic!
One thing I wanted to mention… I was watching FSN Final Score last night and they finally showed the “high light” from Sunday night’s game when Marleu knocked the puck out of mid-air to prevent the game winning goal… then went on to score the game winning goal in the shoot out… they’re really on top of it, eh?
And some people claim West Coast teams get no coverage?
For those of you who missed JR on the TV side in the 2nd period, he told Randy & Drew that with Nashville getting frustrated and the play starting to get chippy, the Sharks will have to maintain their discipline and not get caught on retaliatory penalties.
When Mac took the 2 for defending Pickles on the spear, JR was on the radio side and mouthed over to R&D, “See, I told you.”
Stuart,
Yeah… i caught that too… they were telling him he was a prophecy too… too funny!
On another subject, I remember awhile back there was some discussion about the new NHL’s 3 points per game and some of you didn’t like it… well, if you want to see a heated discussion between Drew and Randy on the subject, check out the most recent Hockey Hot Stove: Episode 25 on the Sharks website… pretty entertaining… http://sharks.nhl.com/index.html
I think their man-crush may be over… and i tend to agree with Drew… no points for losing… grow up!
Goaliepuke, #15
I also remember some people, including myself, calculating right around the 5-game losing streak, that we won’t make the playoffs.
I just looked at the standings. It appears we will make the playoffs.
Re: McLaren penalty for roughing..I tried and tried to find it via TIVO, but all I saw was he skated up to a Pred who was hassling a Shark after the play, and appeared to just give the guy a very lite tap with the glove…was that the penalty? It looked like nothing, and if so, the ref was using it as a make up for Pred’s complaints (especially perhaps the no call on Nabby vs Tootoo).
That was it… and I agree with you as far as the makeup penalty… as did Randy and Drew… of course the ref didn’t see the hook/slash/spear to Pickles prior to McLaren coming to back him up…
I watched the Hot Stove about an hour ago, and I completely agree with Drew. OTL points are a socialist idea. Getting points for losing is stupid. Do you all realize that the Sharks would have won the Pacific if it weren’t for the OTL? This year we would be behind Dallas still by two points, with two games in hand.
I haven’t liked the OTL from the get go. I kinda saw where they were coming from in the pre-shootout era, but with the rule changes they’ve made i see absolutely no need and will be thrilled when it’s gone. Assuming that it goes away.
By the way, my wife saw the comments that you all made about thanking veterans, and it brought tears to her eyes. I hate a woman crying, but thank all the same.
Darn - I listened to the first 2 periods on the radio then watched the third on TV, so I missed JR BOTH times! I have the game tivo’d so I can go back and watch him with Randy and Drew, but does anyone have a copy of his radio stint? Sounds like that was a BLAST!
I remember Ivano. But you weren’t the guy I remember that made the statement just because we could only grab 8 pts because of the GIH.
I believe you said it at a time when things were NOT going well no matter the Sharks played well enough and ended up losing (AKA “loosing” for the Stevo fans). The possibility actually entered my mind that my PowerPlayTRader ticket balance would be used for next seasons tickets instead of the playoffs.
Ivano #20, I seem to recall giving you a hard time about that dismal prediction as well. Not that I’m trying to rub it in or anything.
JR described Tootoo perfectly. That kid had the whole world rooting for him due to his background and brother’s tragic suicide. Unfortunately, he has blown all of that goodwill by playing like a cheap shot punk.And why do the Preds fans say they hate the Sharks when they copy all of SJ’s schtick, about 2 years later. We skate through a giant Shark head, they come up with a giant SaberToothedTiger(is that a Predator?)couple yrs later. We buy and blow Cheechoo whistles in 2005-06, they blow their Tootoo whistles all night long no matter what’s happening(VERY annoying). We got on the Cheechoo train in the 56 goal season, they are now on the Tootoo train. Maybe he’ll man up and hit double figures some day. The only original thing going for them is the neckless, Boris Badinov look alike behind the bench.
Boris Badinov? I thought he looked more like Jabba the Hutt, myself.
Personally, I think he’s more of a Humpty Dumpty.
JR also mentioned that Dan Ellis’s butterfly style made him a five-hole candidate. Michalek scored his own rebound through the five hole.
BC(#27),
That’s too funny… that’s exactly what my wife said the first time she saw him too!!
I just call him the little Toadie… maybe more like one of the Slowski’s… those tortoises on the Comcast DSL commercials?
During the Playoffs last year, didn’t everyone decide that he looked most like Shrek?
I thought Dr. Evil myself, especially when he’s wearing his silver suit.
Brian #23,
If you go onto the Sharks website between now and Friday afternoon and click the LISTEN link for the St. Louis game on the front page, you can listen to a replay of the Nashville game. They almost always archive the radio broadcast of the previous game.
Anybody see Muppets from space?
He looks like the govt agent bear.
Sharks are #1 in ESPN and CBC Power Rankings this week…
I was just thinking today if there’s one skill that our team or defensemen lack as a whole is the ability to one time the puck.
I personally believe that this is a learned skill and not something inherent such as size, speed and quickness. So it boggles my mind why our guys (with the exception of JR and maybe little Joe) are not very good at it or why they don’t practice it. To have this as a weapon in a team’s arsenal is huge on the power play.
Any thoughts?
Ting -
How many extraordinary one-timer shooters in the league do you know besides Ovechkin and Kovalchuk? It’s a useful skill to have, for sure, but it’s one of those things that if you’re extraordinary at, you’ll lead the scoring charts, and we happen not to have those players. Otherwise our guys are not good enough at it, so they prefer to have a bit more control of the puck to shoot it on target. Well, unless you’re Ehrhoff and it makes no difference whether you one-time-it, or use your wrists.
It is time to lay off Ehrhoff! It even rhymes.
He is the best defensive defenseman the Sharks have, certainly based on the minutes he is playing.
When he originally came up he was a defensive liability, but offensively dangerous.
This season he has trouble hitting the net with his shot, but otherwise significantly improved.
Ting, why do you think the guys don’t practice one timers. There are all kinds of drills hockey players at all levels do. I cannot imagine where that thought came from. I remember a very pretty goal, a one timer by the captain, set up by Brian Campbell. Just how many of Cheechoo’s goals were one-times from a Jumbo set-up.
You might need to get yourself to a Sharks practice on an off day at Sharks ice before playoffs. They’ll probably close-off practice during playoffs.
I remember going to a practice when Nolan was here. They started late, but Owen was out before most of the team. He had someone, unknown, dishing him the puck so he could work on timing/one-timers. He may have done about 50 snap shots before moving on to a slap shot.
Do you have a different idea of what a one-timer really is. BTW:doesn’t have to be a slap shot, could be a wrister or a snap shot. All that needs to take place is that the player takes the shot without teeing it up in any way. The puck is usually moving — but not a requirement.
Getting one-timer ops is also very difficult since the defenders will usually have a say — especially at the NHL level.