The title speaks for itself. I'm going to try and compile a collection of the best memories, in my opinion, of the season that ended with the franchise winning, regardless of the manner, its first ever President's Trophy with 117 points.
To start things off:
Team MVP:
Patrick Marleau. Dan Boyle could almost be argued here too, as both players were injured at some point in the season which led to a huge dropoff in offensive production. Boyle may log the ice time, but Marleau is the captain, and he leads by example on the ice.
Best addition to the team:
Dan Boyle. Duh.
Most improved:
Joe Pavelski. He centered the most consistant and dominant line of San Jose, and he set career highs in goals and points. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of shootout goals he scored, all in the exact same manner. You'd think goalies would study video, and he still scores on them with the same shot. He also had some ridiculous faceoff win percentage, and the only part of his game that lacked was when he was called upon to replace Dan Boyle on the point during the power play when Boyle was injured midway through the season. And Marleau shouldn't win two awards.
Best at his position:
Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Rob Blake and coach Todd McLellon have said that they have never seen a more dominant defensive player with their stick than Pickles. He's still young but will probably be resigned with a big contract next year. And during the giant chain of injuries late in the season, Vlasic picked up his point production, and became the fourth defenseman in the last game of the season to hit the 30 assists mark.
Best goal:
There are a lot of candidates for this, mostly in the beginning of the season. Joe Thornton's overtime winner against Chicago, Dan Boyle's overtime winner against Philadelphia in that crazy home and home series, Patrick Marleau making both Turco AND Mason look retarded by scoring two amazing game winning goals. But the award goes to Milan Michalek, in the January 17th game against the Detroit Red Wings that had San Jose take over the lead in the Western Conference that they never gave up since then. Game sold out for two months, huge back and forth match-up, classified as the most intense regular season game ever to be played. Michalek out-muscles two Detroit skaters and flies by the third. And listen to that beautiful sound on that perfect shot. Perfect.
Best goaltending performance:
Brian Boucher going 10-1-1 early in the season, including a franchise record-breaking performance in minutes played without allowing a goal, when Nabokov injured himself on a shootout save. Looking back, that was probably the cornerstone in winning the Conference and President's Trophy. Not to mention he's a hilarious guy in the locker room. Go Bouch.
Best game:
Is there any question? January 17th, 2009 vs Detroit Red Wings. Oh you missed it? Have a look:
And to wrap up the award ceremony and to get ready for the playoffs, here's one of the best playoff moments in San Jose Sharks history:
With a first round match-up against Anaheim (hey it's Pronger again), they'll need nothing short of this sort of effort for the full 60 minutes of each game. GO SHARKS!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment