The San Jose Sharks have once again come out swinging, breaking or tying records from as far back as the 1943-44 season of the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs came out strong that year, scoring 43 points in a mere 25 games. I, of course, wasn’t alive to see that, but my father, a long time hockey fan who passed this summer, often spoke of the season as being a dream season. He told me hockey fans were clustered around their living rooms glued to the voice of Hockey Night in Canada on CBC Radio. The players and coaches from that year are legends, such as Tom Gorman, Toe Blake, Maurice Richard and, of course, Mike McMahon (Sr.) That team would go on to win the Stanley Cup that year, their fifth.
BUT, what about the Sharks? At 21 wins in 25 games (the Habs had 20 wins in the same 25 games) they’ve broken that record as all other teams have had 4 losses to the Sharks 3 losses, but more on that in a minute. Hasn’t San Jose done this "kind" of thing before? Well sure they have. Have they been able to capitalize before this? Well, no, not exactly, But they will this year. That’s right, Stanley Cup 2009 will go to the San Jose Sharks!
Okay, how can I make such a bold statement. I must have something to back it up with, right? You bet!
The Sharks aren’t the 2005-06 Senators who started of like gangbusters only to falter later in the season and finish up with a 52-21-9 record. The Boston Bruins also had a year like this, back in the stone ages (just kidding) of 1929-30. They continued strong all through the year, starting with a 21-4-0 record in the first 25 games, and finishing up at 38-5-1. On to the Stanley Cup they went, but lost it in the final.
Let’s get back to the Canadiens for a minute. They had momentum on their side, they didn’t get cocky and arrogant, they gained respect as the season went on (or so my dad tells me - 90% of what I learned from hockey I learned from him - he strapped me into my first pair of skates and handed me a stick when I was all of 4 years old - but that’s another story)
The Sharks also seem to be keeping their heads on straight. Said Devlin Setoguchi, who grabbed a goal and an assist in their game against the Leafs "we talked about it before the game, but we didn’t want to jinx it" After the win, they weren’t bounding around like a bunch of kids celebrating the one victory, they were focused, concentrating on what they have to do to go the end - the Stanley Cup. The team is focused, working on consistency and teamwork.
But more on the why I think they will go to the cup and win it. Let’s do some comparisons, shall we? Let’s look at some other sports. In the NBA the best record at the 25 game mark (as at today’s date) belongs to three teams who each share a 23-2 record (‘95-96 Bulls, ‘69-70 Knicks and ‘66-67 76ers). All three of those teams went on to win the NBA Championship! Oh, but that’s basketball you say, it isn’t the same.
How about MLB? The winners of the 1955 World Series was the Dodgers. What was their opening 25 game record? It was 22 and 3. What’s that? You want to know about the 1907 Giants who had the same opening 25 game record? We won’t talk about them (they finished 4th in the NL).
So you see, I have no proof that San Jose will win the Stanley Cup this year, it’s just a gut feeling that is strongly backed up by historical numbers. But, the one thing my dad taught me is that records do get broken. He passed away last summer. I think it’s time for the Canadiens record to go. San Jose is the team to do it.
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