The San Jose Sharks couldn’t score a goal in regulation time during their playoff game against the Colorado Avalanche, but they would up scoring the game winner in OT. On themselves. Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle tried to flip the puck behind his own net when it actually went in his own net. Slipping one past the goalie, if you will.

“We didn’t beat their goalie,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “We found a way to beat ours.”

Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said it was as strange an ending as he’s ever experienced.

“It’s certainly right up there, there’s no question,” he said. “I’d like to think I’ve seen my fair share of hockey, but once in a while you see something like that. We’ll obviously take it.

“I saw our guy chip the puck behind their ‘D,’ which is something we were preaching all night. Obviously it was a very fortunate bounce for us. I saw Boyle go back, he got the puck on his backhand. He was probably trying to go behind the net with it, I’m sure, and it just found a way to go in.” –NHL.com

Highlights are after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

So I got a bit of grief from my last post about Brent Seabrook’s injury and James Wizzi’s subsequent suspension, and perhaps deservedly so. So accept this as sort of a peace offering, Mike Comrie and Scott Nichol in a do-si-do, with video after the jump. After Comrie’s Oilers put a hurtin’ on the Sharks, Comrie did same to Nichol.

ASYLUM POLL: Are fights bad for hockey?

Even though Comrie seemed to strike the winning blow, Nichol landed more punches. So who wins? Hockeyfights, who brings us this wonderful video, had 58 percent of its voters giving the fight to Comrie. Do you see it that way? Is this even a hockey fight? You know, because I know so little about the game and all. Read the rest of this entry »

The inspiration for one of the greatest video game athletes of all time is expected to announce his retirement tomorrow. Jeremy Roenick was one of the greatest Americans to ever play in the NHL; he’ll leave the game with 1,216 points, placing him third among U.S.-born players and 39th on the all-time list.

After breaking into the NHL during the 1988-89 season, Roenick was one of the original players incarnated in the Electronic Arts’ NHL video game series, starting with NHL Hockey in 1991. Roenick left his mark in other ways as well, whether it was voicing his opinions over the NHL lockout in 2004-2005 or appearing in an episode of TNT’s Leverage. He’s done TV analysis, too, and I think one time he killed a bear while having sex with your mom in 1997.

The San Jose Sharks didn’t seem too jazzed about keeping Roenick around; he turns 40 in January and second-year head coach Todd McLellan appears ready to part ways. Watching his team post the best regular-season record last year and then crapping out in the first round might have something to do with that. But Roenick was one of those guys that helped make the NHL a little more personable to fans with a great deal of charisma, much like Alex Ovechkin does today. and he leaves some mighty big skates to fill. Yeah, it’s the end of an era.

This is San Jose Sharks fan Adrian Ruiz, celebrating after he got tickets to Game 3 of last year's Western Conference Semifinals.  The AP contrasted this happy-good-times photo with this news:

Ruiz, 24, a surfer, was killed by a shark attack off the coast of Mexico. Ruiz was surfing at Trancones beach off the Pacific coast of Mexico on Monday, April 28, 2008 when he was bitten by a gray shark on his right thigh.

Way to kill the party, AP.  Sheesh, the people at the Ironic Death Department must have stayed up all night working on this one.  As a Mariners fan, it makes me afraid that I'm going to get raped to death by drunken sailors.  I think I'll avoid deepwater ports for a while. 

(thanks to burly contrarian Jim Jones) 

I haven't exactly been paying attention to the hockey playoffs, so I'm just going to rely on the YouTube description to describe the scene here:

after a vicious knee on knee hit by predators forward scott hartnell on sharks forward jonathan cheechoo in game 1, followed by a blatant boarding call by alexander radulouv in game 2 on sharks forward steve bernier, you knew it was only a matter of time before tempers would flare up.

Oh man, did I ever!

this is by far the most exciting series to watch in the 2007 stanley cup playoffs, and if you haven't been watching it, what have you been doing ?

Tough question.  Mostly drinking tallboys of Miller High Life, ordering takeout, then begging the deliveryman to stay and hang out for "just five minutes." Hey, I get lonely.