The media has largely written off the Sharks following Thursday's 7-1 loss to the Wings but that's because they only know the old, tired party line on this team. They haven't watched them all season, they haven't been giving them more than a passing glance in the playoffs. They assume they know this team better than its coaches do. Or the fans. Or even the players themselves. They assumed they couldn't recover from game 3 in round 1, and the Sharks proved them wrong. Is this game a must win? Maybe. I see it as more of "really like to win" and not just because it'd give Mina one of the best birthday presents ever.

We go down tonight and we're still up 3-2 in the series, but the flames of doubt will have been fanned outside. The smug satisfaction of all the perennial haters, who think it fashionable to crap on the Sharks come April and May, will start to overwhelm us. It will be like a massive cloud of unpleasant smug descending upon the psyche of San Jose. We KNOW our team can do this, but that doubt will come in strong from the outside and linger.

Win tonight and you shut them all up, at least until the start of round 3. This is the game where you come out and show them that this is NOT the same old Sharks team of years past. This team has guts, it has grit, and it's ready.

It ain't over til it's over, boys. And the fat lady ain't singing.

Yet.

Go do it.

GO SHARKS!

I will admit that I had a broom out yesterday, although it was only to sweep the seemingly endless piles of dust, spider webs and WTF IS THAT?! off my concrete slab of a patio before succumbing to a massive sneeze attack. (Is snot supposed to be that color...er, wait, nevermind...) I did not bring it out for the game today, because as a long time sports fan I know that a sweep is hardly ever a certainty. To say I wasn't nervous about the idea of a potential season ending game for the Wings would be like saying I wasn't nervous before I had my wisdom teeth carved out of my jaw. (well, ok, I wasn't but I was given pre surgery valium and whoooo it was a good ride to the dental office that day. But then I couldn't find my legs and folks, that was a problem.) And after such a stunning loss I thought it might be good to take stock of what we still have. You know, for perspective.

Legs? CHECK! And with feet too! Thank the hockey gods. Onto other items:

I still have a floating foam torso in my bathtub (with separate arm), the sky is still blue and located firmly above our heads, the sun set as was expected and shall rise again tomorrow, all the planets (including Pluto) still orbit the sun, and oh yes, the Sharks did EXACTLY WHAT WE EXPECTED THEM TO and took 1 game out of the 2 they were to play in Detroit.

So what's with all the chicken littling, man? What? Just because they lost 7-1 you suddenly think the season is over. Really? Best anyone ever expected in this series before it started was that the Sharks would win in 6. Now they have a chance to win in 5. Sure, it's not a sweep but who cares? The team is still a) up 3 game to 1, b) played with heart and grit despite having little chance of coming back to tie or even win tonight and c) should they won't take a loss like this lightly or sitting down. They didn't roll over, they fought. And come Saturday the score tonight won't matter. A loss is a loss no matter how many tallies the winning team has next to its name.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of fans mistook the possibility of a sweep, (and yes, it totally existed), for the guarantee of one. Perhaps as the only guarantee the Sharks would be making it out of round 2 for the first time in 6 seasons. People forgot that this series is a best of 7, and that it's not won of lost in one game, it takes 4.

4 wins anyway you can get them, so long as you get to them first.

There's no reason to believe this series can't or won't be closed out in 5 or 6, the Sharks have been playing too well for that. So they had a stinker tonight. So the D came out and forgot how to play right as Franzen decided to remember how. So what. Get over it. The team has to and we fans should too. This isn't like past seasons. These Sharks aren't curling up and dying at the slightest hint of push back. They're fighting, their overcoming and they're winning. They believe in themselves as a team. This series is 3-1. You had better believe that game 5 will be some of the most amazing hockey you have ever seen at the Tank come Saturday.

So either sit down and firmly hold on to that bandwagon and your finned foil hat or GTFO. This ride ain't for the faint of heart.

Go Sharks!

Holy crap.

Grab a firm hold of you butts ladies and gentlemen, it's about to get crazy up in here.

Up 3 games to none.

Biggest night of your life.

Now is not the time to fold, or to be cocky. You need to bring it. Bring it like you never have before.

The other side won't be stepping down, so you better step up.

Do it.

Fear.

If you don't have it, you haven't been paying attention.

Always a threat. Always.

Do not underestimate his abilities. Be prepared.

The craziest roller coaster ride of your life starts today at 4:30pm. Strap in. CSNCA and 98.5 KFOX.

Friends, Canadians, Countrymen, lend me your ears. And you eyes and mouse clicks!

For awhile now we've been wanting to combine our powers of awesome into some sort of sales machine. Something that would allow us to present you, the reader, with a chance to purchase some of the fine artistic offerings you see here throughout the season, while giving us the ease of not having to do the general upkeep involved with stocking and running a brick and mortar based store. Believe me, I have enough shipping supplies left over from my now defunct Etsy store that we could have easily handled the shipping, but not so much the making of t-shirts, or mugs, or other really awesome stuff like that. We just don't have that kind of infrastructure set up. But then, one night, I created this:

That just has to go on a shirt and it needs to be sold. It is just a fact. Well, dear reader, now thanks to our small (but growing) store front on Zazzle, you too can own a piece of CouchTarts. Might I suggest this one? Or perhaps this one? Every buck we make on the sales of these shirts will be going to the Second Harvest Food Bank here in SJ. Gray chose them because with the economy the way it is, a lot of folks are having problems finding enough money for food, let alone rent or mortgage.Why not try to make one thing just a little easier on them? You never know when you might suddenly be the one in need of help.

So come buy a shirt, or a mug, or a poster, or soon to be added pins and other assorted items. You'll be glad you did.

We also have a handy dandy store link over there -------> and down a bit. Check it out!

Throughout this series the Sharks have been fairly dominate with the puck, which has been a large contributing factor to their wins. They haven't dominated all 60 minutes every night, but they've been able to take control of the game and reign things in when it counts. Last night saw a slight reversal of the Sharks domination as the Wings largely controlled the play for 40 minutes. Maybe 30 to 35. The first 10 minutes of period one were kind of a wash, but either way it was the Wings who came out swinging and scored first.

Despite the Wings coming out and playing strong, like we all knew they would (and could) the Sharks stayed with them.THIS is the biggest and most important difference between this year's Sharks and past year's teams. They aren't crumbling, they aren't folding, they're sticking to the plan and fighting for every game until the very end. They might have come out slow last night but they recovered and played well enough in the third to tie it. Don't forget Seto's goal with 1.8 seconds left in the first. Or Nabby's pivotal stop on Zetterberg's penalty shot. That goes in and who knows how the game ends.

Going into OT you know anything is possible. OT games are largely won because of mistakes. The Sharks had a horrid change that could have cost them the game, but somehow it worked out in their favor and the puck ended up on Joe Thornton's stick. Howard went out to challenge Joe, who passed the puck to Marleau. Marleau, with a nice open net in front of him, shot in the game winner. Cue thealaldksfllfkas;fllsf explosion on twitter.

To say Sharks fans are on cloud 9 would be an understatement. The amazing feeling of suddenly being up 3 games to none in this series is nearly enough to make you cocky. But only nearly. We're all keenly aware that this series is far from over. As Dan Boyle said last night, "If there's one team that can come back from a 3-0 deficit, it's them." (from a retweet of a tweet by Craig Custance)

Todd McLellan had a similar take, "It should allow us to be confident, not arrogant." (from @brodiebrazilCSN)

He's right as well all know it.

There may be something different in the air in San Jose this year, but the Wings are always a dangerous team, and their backs are against the wall. To think tomorrow will be easy, or even set in stone is to dangerously underestimate the Red Wings. But what a ride this has been. Let's all try to enjoy these past three games because tomorrow, it's ON.

Listen!

Do you smell that?

That's destiny. And maybe a side of b.o. I don't know about you, but destiny is a little nervous going into game 3. It's at the Joe. Who wouldn't be?

The rumble in the urban jungle kicks off today at 4:30pm on CSNCA. Pregame show to start at 3:45. On the radio as always at 98.5 KFOX.

Up 2 games to none

Don't get cocky, kid

Bring it tonight

Datsuyk?

Is that you?

Let's recap this sucka.

Firstly, there's the matter of uneven penalties. Now personally, I feel, much as I did in the Colorado series, that the differential is largely due to the Sharks FINALLY using both their size and their skill. You frustrate a guy enough and he'll take a penalty. That said, I do think there were a few chincy clals last night on BOTH teams. The Bertuzzi calls, the Heatley call, Marleau for boarding? Yeah, it was weird. (Bertuzzi has a reputation which will likely influence calls going against him, but he deserves every bit of that rep, and he did it to himself. Does that make it fair? No. But I'm not going to be surprised when Bertuzzi gets called for weak stuff. Nor will I feel sorry for him.)

David Pollak, the Sharks beat writer, actually sat down and re-watched the game last night in an effort to get to the bottom of this newest conspiracy. Here's his take. The fact of the matter is, as it was in the series against Colorado, the Sharks deserved the wins. That doesn't make it any less frustrating for the fans of the opposing team, (and considering the Sharks were one of the most penalized teams in the regular season, I think I can indeed sympathize. Believe me when I say some of those were weak ass calls), but the fact is the refs are NOT handing the Sharks the game. The Sharks aren't goons either, though I am slightly amused their getting that rep this post season. Nor are they divers. Many of the "dives" have really been dudes just falling down. Remarkably ice is slippery. That sort of thing can happen. There seems to be no other satisfactory way to explain their winning other than to assume it's by brute force, and few good cannonballs, and poor officiating. These Sharks are the Sharks every fan knew they COULD BE. Now they're here and the rest of the league will just have to deal with it.

Please click below to read more.

You know you want to.

It's on like Donkey Kong.

If you're attending the game tonight (well hello miss!) please be aware that the Cinco de Mayo parade is also taking place today. It's going on as I type this. The streets SHOULD be mostly open by game time, but there is a festival taking place after the parade and lasting until 7pm downtown (Discovery Meadows). Please plan ahead, expect extra traffic, and take VTA if you can.

Up by 1 game. 6 games to go

Always a threat.

See you at 5pm.

I think everyone but Sharks fans were surprised by Team Teal's victory last night. It's not just that the Sharks are facing the Wings, one of the best teams in hockey today, it's that they were facing them in a game 1 scenario, at home, after a decent rest. Anyone who follows the Sharks can tell you that that is not always a recipe for success. The Sharks dropped game 1 to the Avs last series, also at home, and long time supporters knew that was par for the course. A very disappointed water trap filled, sand trap riddled course, but par none the less.

Then tension pregame was palpable. I didn't sleep the night before and I know I wasn't the only one. Now, I could blame it on the large amount of work that I knew I'd have to do that day, and that would be a pretty reasonable excuse considering that was all I dreamt about, but odds are good the game was somewhere in the back of my mind too.

Go down in game 1 and oh, what the hockey pundits would say! It would reaffirm their beliefs that my team has no chance in this series and allow them to promote their previous written story lines and spout off  used up cliche after used up cliche about the Sharks and the post season and the violent act of having one's breathing passage blocked by a foreign object.

To them I say: SUCK IT.

You cannot pre-write the story of the post season, you have to let it write itself. Those of us who've been watching this team all season know that while, yes, this match up is a challenging one, the Sharks and Wings are fairly evenly matched. Both teams have weakness, yes, but both also have enough strengths to overcome those.

This is going to be a hard fought, well played, at times nasty, at times full of more finesse than Don Juan, hard hitting, teeth gnashing, goal scoring, puck stopping type of series. You don't have to win game 1 to win a series, but it sets a good tone.

Game 2 is coming. Are you ready?

Get ready to have your mind blown, son. It's on.

6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern

TSN, Versus

There is NO LOCAL TELEVISION COVERAGE for this game

Versus has exclusive rights to games 1 and 2

You can still listen on the radio/online 98.5 KFOX

Radio coverage begins at 5:30pm

GO SHARKS!