Points Accumulation Through 47 Games

It's been a while since I've posted, yes. Things should pick up a bit now that college apps are finally completely finished (FINALLY I'M DONE!)...

With that, here's a little intermediate post about points accumulation through 47 GP.

Slightly Advanced Statistics

With about a quarter of the season already played (!!), and the Sharks sitting atop the Pacific, 3rd in the West, and 7th overall*, I thought I'd dust off the old Microsoft Excel, dig up some W/L/OTL stats, and see how the Sharks have been doing this season, as well as how they've played compared to some other teams.

First up, let's take a look at how Pacific Division teams have collected points through 19 games...

Gameday Preview: Red Wings @ Sharks: 11/17/11

Detroit @ San Jose
7:30 PM PST
DET: 9-6-1
SJS: 9-5-1

Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Shark
A parody of Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird"

If you haven't read the original, please do.

Gameday Preview: Sharks @ Red Wings: 10/28/11

San Jose @ Detroit
4:30 PM PST
SJS: 4-3-0
DET: 5-2-0

Hockey Haiku for this preview...

Lidstrom plays defence
Pavel Datsyuk can dangle
Howard likes the snow.

But Thornton can pass
And Joe Pavelski can score
Nemo is super.

Detroit is a pit
It is really kind of sad
But now they've Lions

The Joe is quiet
It doesn't rock like the Tank
Home ice advantage?

No, I do not doubt
I don't doubt the Red Wings fans
But Sharks are better.

Go Sharks, Go! Tonight
Run circles around the Wings!
Come up with big saves!

Tonight, Go Sharks, Go!
Play the best game you can play
Try to get that W.

Prediction: Sharks win 4-3. Goals by Pavelski, Couture, Havlat, and Burns.

Gameday Preview: Sharks @ Ducks: 10/14/11

I like to write with closed form
It’s fun to make a poem conform
So this preview’s in verse
Please don’t find these a curse
‘Cause for some reason the limerick seems the norm

Roughly Anapestic Limericks for Tonight's Game

IT'S OCTOBER

It's October, and every hockey fan knows what that means...

HOCKEY IS OFFICIALLY BACK!

AND NOW SO AM I.


With a new season comes some new features over here at Herrmann's Hockey!
Here's a brief look at some of the posts and features coming your way soon:

Локомотив Ярославль

Локомотив Ярославль, RIP. Даниил Собченко, RIP. RIP Галимов, the last strand of hope for hockey. Fight, Сизов, fight to live, to keep the memory alive. RIP, Локомотив Ярославль.

Memory in math.

Haiku for class, for Lokomotiv

Sasha

The man on that plane

"Brothers, I am Galimov."

But Sasha is gone.

A Couple Blasts From the Past

This video is a must-see for any Sharks fan. Besides the great historical aspect (it follows the Sharks through their first regular season NHL game), it is amazingly 90's. 

Plus you get to see Drew Remenda when he had hair!!!

Why I Want to be an Engineer...

I want to go to Engineering School so I can become an Engineer and design stanchion-less glass for the NHL. I will solve so many problems, and I will make a fortune. Think about it, no Chara-Pacioretty, no Vancouver fluke GWGs.

And that is why I want to become an Engineer.

WOOOOO!!!!!!

Blogger was down, so this post comes about a day and a half late, but...

So, game seven, eh?

Let's Forget About Game Six For a Moment

This is called comedic relief. I would know. I'm in a Shakespeare class this semester!*

So to forget about the letdown that was Game Six (and Game Five. And Game Four.) I'll take a look at something slightly more hilarious.

Umpires.

Analysis of San Jose-Detroit

A single observation. I could write a whole dissertation on tonight's game, but I'll spare you. I will provide just a single piece of analysis. Perhaps you think something else is more important than this that I've singled out. Go ahead and debate it in the comments. But this is one thing that I think killed the Sharks' possibility for a comeback in the third. It may not have killed the game, but it certainly killed the third.

Passing- it's a helluva thing.

In my opinion, the biggest issue for the Sharks right now is striking that balance between producing offensively and being defensively responsible. This is a hard thing to fix, because it's hard to "fix" one without ruining the other. However, there is something that can be done. And it helps fix both.

That would be passing. It's a helluva thing.

Passing is unique in that, when you pass to the right team, you are able to cleanly enter the zone. A clean zone entry allows for shots on goal, cycling the puck, perhaps even some scoring chances. But passing does something else. When you pass to the right team, you are not turning over the puck. When you are not turning over the puck, you are allowing the team to play offensively, and you also don't have to rush back to play on D. So there you have it. Pass to the right team, and you don't have to defend as much, and you get to try to score goals! A helluva concept.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

So apparently Jimmy Howard doesn't like snow showers.

An Epic Snowshower by Jumbo Joe on Howard

This might be why he gets snowed more than any other goalie in the league.

But it's not a new occurrence.

The Sharks (and Joe Thornton) were already practicing snowing Jimmy Howard last season in the playoffs.

And frankly, I'm totally down with it if it means Howard will continue to do stupid stuff that could lead to penalties. So,

Let it Snow,
                   
                     Let it Snow,

                                              Let it Snow

In Which I Trash Talk Detroit In A Single Sentence

Ordinarily I am against attacking a fan base on things they can't necessarily control, but
Little kid excuse: But Detroit starrrteeeddd it!
Big kid reasoning: but Detroit has shown that they are willing to openly mock the San Jose fanbase.
Therefore, I mock back.


Detroit has thrown the gauntlet: They think our fans don't know anything about hockey. 


Clearly the video is edited, which is just one more reason for me to counter this video with one simple idea that settles the matter once and for all.

No matter who wins the series, fans in Detroit have to live in Detroit, and fans in San Jose get to live in San Jose.

We know you're jealous, but personal attacks on our fanbase are not necessary. Because if it continues, we WILL respond.

Not that it's necessary. After all, most Wings fans have to live in Detroit. Sucks for them.

The Lesser of Two Evils

*Note: I intended to publish this before the playoffs started, but life got in the way (I had to get life out of the way before the playoffs started, so there was much to do).

Today the NHL released the official list of the 20 or so referees who have been assigned to officiate the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Given my love for referees, I immediately had to open that link...

"Paul Devorski... Eric Furlatt... eh not a huge fan of Greg Kimmerly... Steve Kozari... CHRIS LEE?!?"

Those who frequent this blog may have noticed that Chris Lee and I tend not to see eye to eye when it comes to officiating an NHL game, so when I saw that he'd been assigned to work the playoffs, I was a little bit disappointed, to tell the truth. Given that he tends to work Western Conference (especially Pacific Division) games, there is an unfortunately high likelihood of his working some of the Sharks-Kings series.

This.

Is.

Bad.

Mmmmm.... Contoversy!

Apparently the way to gain blog readership is to write about controversial subjects like the Chara/Pacioretty ordeal. Unfortunately there's nothing that controversial happening in the NHL right now... but there is an exciting story breaking in the Pacific Division! That's right! Anaheim Ducks Head Coach Randy Carlyle* was pretty mad last night! I suppose he had enough reason to be a little bit ticked off... The Ducks had lost a 2-0 lead, they'd blown a ton of powerplay opportunities, he felt the refs** had missed a few calls in that game***, and Dougie Murray may or may not have injured their best defenseman.

So what does an enraged coach do in such a situation? Well first he chirps at the opposing team's players! Why, then he sends his fightin' line out onto the ice with just 30 seconds left in the game! Then he has them fighters go after the closest defenseman, Marc-Edouard Vlasic! When Vlasic won't fight, but other Sharks step into the mix and suffer game misconducts, Carlyle sends the Parros line back onto the ice again! With 4 seconds left in a 4-2 game! And who do they go after this time? Marc-Edouard Vlasic, aka the one Shark who will never fight, ever. But oh the fun does not end there. In fact, Carlyle's finest moment came after the game when he stormed across the ice (and oh did he storm). Careful lip readers were shocked by the foul language that came out of that man's mouth.**** There has been some disagreement about whether the F-bombs were directed at the refs or the Sharks, but either way I think we can agree Carlyle displayed a serious lack of professionalism. To put the icing on the cake, Carlyle sent up the one finger salute!

So there you go, controversialism at its finest! Although I'm not so sure why there's any dispute over Carlyle's professionalism last night, I do know that Ducks fans seem to be mad for some reason, so bring on the viewers! And dear Ducks fans, Corey Perry is a tool, and Everybody Hates Corey Perry. Thank you.

*I think this is the first time I've used six capitalized words as the first six words of a sentence.
**Chris Lee was one of the refs, of course the officiating sucked.
***But if we're being technical, most of the missed calls in that game should have been against the Ducks, so you should count yourself lucky on that front, Carlyle.
****In the words of the always quotable Randy Hahn, "It looked like Randy Carlyle was chirping the Sharks Douglas Murray at games end. I believe he dedicated a Cee Lo Green green song to him."

An Observation...

Jamal Mayers gets a lot of breakaways for a fourth-liner. Too bad he never scores on them.

Jamal Mayers, not shown on a breakaway.

Maybe this is just me seeing too much into a theory, but I swear to god, about every two or three games I look up and see a breakaway, and who is but Jamal Mayers. Now this does make some sense, he actually logs a lot of shorthanded minutes, but still. Can't McLellan have him practice scoring on breakaways during practice. Seriously, if he scored on every breakaway he's had this season, he'd have at least another 10 or 15 goals.

Absolutely Disgusting

In case you've been living under a rock, news came out today that Zdeno Chara will not be suspended for his hit on Max Pacioretty. If you haven't seen the hit, I suggest you take a look at it (you can watch it here).

Two Questions

At this juncture in my life, there are two questions that keep popping up into my head, and I keep pondering them, but I never arrive at an answer, so maybe someone can help me out with these.

1. Why do Californians hate anything having to do with hockey if they've never watched any hockey?

Irrelevant to the post, this just shows my new plate cover.

2. Why do people feel the need to tailgate? What does one achieve by tailing another?