Sharks Gameday: Sunny Afternoon

• Afternoon games are weird. It's great to have hockey on TV in the middle of the day on a Sunday, but it just doesn't feel quite right. The Sharks and Blackhawks both have had a number of days off, so as far as timing goes I don't think it will be an issue - it's probably much tougher to play an afternoon game right in the middle of the season in the midst of normal evening games. With enough days off to reset everyone's body clock, there's no reason this game won't be a full-intensity affair.
• The Blackhawks played nine afternoon-ish games this season and won four of them. The Sharks only played three and won two. These stats are completely meaningless, like most stats.

• The Western Conference is so much better than the East it's ridiculous. This is IT people - this series between San Jose and Chicago is the match-up between the two best remaining teams. No matter who comes out of the East or what happens in the finals, this is the series with the highest talent-level and the two best teams.
  
• Would it be fair to say that every single team that has lost in the East is deserving of the "choker" label? I think it might. The Penguins may get a pass because of the Cup, but for the rest...chokers through and through.
• I like how totally screwed NBC has gotten by all this. The network probably had grand dreams of a Washington-Pittsburgh Eastern Final and would have liked anything involving the Red Wings in the West to generate the best ratings. Instead we've gotten what's really best for fans - the two best teams in the league playing each other in the West and two incredible stories unfolding in the East. These playoffs have been unbelievable, and it's been a great experience so far.
• Great quote from the great blog Working the Corners on Friday:

Most of the Blackhawks didn’t have to worry about such things today as Coach Joel Quenneville gave his team the day off so everybody could play tourist and head to San Francisco for a tour of Alcatraz.

(Which at least led to a fresh line of questioning for the Sharks — Which Blackhawk should they leave up there?  “Leave them all,” responded Dany Heatley.)

• Please make your own joke about Heatley being the one who should be in prison. And I did the Alcatraz tour for my birthday one year. It was kind of boring - much less exciting than The Rock.
• Do we still need to do the booing thing for Brian Campbell? Isn't his horrible sweating condition punishment enough? Plus Dan Boyle is way better anyway.
  

Prediction: Sharks win 4-2, goals by Thornton, Pavelski, Boyle, Nichol. Sharks fans go out and enjoy a sunny afternoon.

Hey guys I have an idea for our song about an afternoon in the sun in the summer...SNOW!