Theelusive StanleyCup

STORYBYMARKPURDY

The best sports moments come out of nowhere. The Sharks didn’t come out of nowhere to reach the Stanley Cup Final last spring, but they did come outfrom beneath agalling tradition of nevergetting anywhere special.

For25 years, ever since the team brought the National HockeyLeague back to the BayArea in 1991, the Sharks had teased andthenfaded. Over the previous 10 years, theyhad won more playoffgames than anyNHL team not toreach the championship round. Sharks fans had grown scars of exasperationontop of scars of frustration that bled into scars of disappointment.

All of thatended on the night of May25in downtown San Jose.

Inthe final minutes ofaglorious night atSAP Center, an emptynet goal by centerman Logan Couture finished offa5-2victoryover the St. Louis Blues to claim a Western Conference title for the Sharks after their third-place regular season finish. Inthe franchise’s 2,020th hockeygame, the Sharks became the last of the BayArea’s many major pro sports franchises to reach the championship round of their respective sport.

Emotion flooded the building that night, despite the California drought outside. Numerous fans, some of whom had witnessed the team’sfirstgame in 1991 at the Cow Palace in Daly City,wept and yelled joyous gibberish. Even afew ushers dripped tears onto their blue jackets.

Patrick Marleau, who finally punched his ticketto the Stanley circusin his 18th season as aSharks player, tried to explain how a group thatwas not expected to do much in the postseason wound up being one of the last twoNHL teams standing.

“Youcan point to a bunch of things,” said Marleau. “Details,

Goalsofmagnitude

The Sharks’ biggest moments in theirStanley Cup Finalinspring 2016: March 28: Aftermissing the postseason entirelyin 2014-15,the team clinches a playoffspot under first-year head coachPeteDeBoer with a 5-2 victory overthe Los Angeles Kings at SAP Center.

April 14: Joe Pavelski scoresthe winninggoal in the playoffopener,a43decision overthe Kings,before the Sharksgo on to win the series in five games.Pavelski will scoreateam-leading 14goals duringthe playoffrun.

May 12: In a wild back-and-forth sevengame series,the Sharks finally subdue the Nashville Predatorswith a 5-0 blowoutin the final game. Nashville goalie PekkaRinne is so exasperated afterallowing the fifthgoal that he smasheshis stick inhalf against the goal post.

May 25: The Sharks polish offSt.Louis in a heavy,physical six games. The series is tied after the firstfour games beforethe Sharks win the next twoand takeGame 6 thanks totwo goals byJoel Ward,who’d been signed asafree agent before the season because of his clutch postseason reputation.

June 9: With the Pittsburgh Penguins leadingthe series by threegames toone and thousands of Pittsburgh fans gathered in the streets outside Consul Energy Arena ready tocelebrate a clinching win,Sharksgoalie Martin Jones cancels the party bymaking 44 savesin a 4-2 victory and sends the series back toSan Jose.

June 12: The Penguins win Game 6 and are presentedthe Stanley Cup beforeasubdued SAP Centercrowdthat gives Sharksplayers a standing ovation as they leavethe ice following their best playoffrun ever.

buy-in, execution,all theusual things.But who really knows? I don’task questions.”

Alas, thespeedy Pittsburgh Penguins had more of theanswers in the Cup Final, defeatingthe beloved Los Tiburones in six games — but only after one more sublimemoment atthe Shark Tank. It camein adramatic Game 3overtime when Sharks rookie Joonas Donskoi,of Finland, shot the puck through two Pittsburgh players andpast the Penguins’ goalie fora3-2sudden-death victory.Once more, the arena heaved with araucousgut punch of joy and Stanley Cup dreams.

Maybe in the spring of 2017,the punch lands andseizesthe Cup itself. MPURDY@BAYAREANEWSGROUP.COM.