head coach: Darryl Sutter

roster: C - Tony Granato, Bernie Nicholls, Ron Sutter, Dody Wood, Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm, Victor Kozlov. LW - Shawn Burr, Murray Craven, Jeff Friesen, Stephane Matteau, Andrei Nazarov. RW - Owen Nolan, Shean Donovan, Todd Ewen, Alex Korolyuk. D - Doug Bodger, Todd Gill, Bill Houlder, Al Iafrate, Marty McSorley, Marcus Ragnarsson, Mike Rathje, Andrei Zyuzin. G - Mike Vernon, Kelly Hrudey.

injuries: Al Iafrate, d (back, indefinte).

transactions: None.

standings:

GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   HOME      ROAD
 2   1   1   0     2    6    7  1-1-0     0-0-0

game results:

10/1  Edmonton  L 5-3 
10/4  Chicago   W 3-2

team news:

by Al Swanson, San Jose Correspondent

Two outta three ain't good...

Anyone who's followed the Sharks for the past three years is painfully aware of the fact that two of the past three have ended up with the Sharks at the bottom of the heap. In point of fact, the flesh-eating Fish have never had a winning season. But that fact can almost be overlooked when a team makes it to the playoffs. Something our smelly friends had better really strive for this year because the fans are restless.

Toward the end of last year the Sharks had the longest sell-out record ended when fans had seen too much heartache. Bungled plays, bad penalties, horrible defense, awful goaltending. And for the first time in six years, the fans booed the home team.

So what has George Gund (owner), Dean Lombardi (GM) and Darryl Sutter (new head coach) done this summer to repair the damage caused by the last two years? Let's take a quick look:

"What I did on my summer vacation", by Dean Lombardi

After the end of last year's festivities(?!), Deano -- as he is affectionately known to 'Los Tiburones' fans -- decided to do something he'd never done during the summer break before: Build a winning hockey team. Did he accomplish the monumental task of rebuilding a franchise that for two years has floundered like minnows? Of course, only the full season will tell, but here's what did happen...

First, Eddie 'the chicken' Belfour flew the coup for less money than our own Goldfish were offering. Do we blame him? No. Let's face it, for two years it's looked like the Gunds' wanted more to earn dollars than wins. Do we hate him? Emphatically YES! I mean, come on! When Belfour wanted outta Chi-town, the Sharks were there. The Hammerheads even traded a decent player or two (Ulf Dahlen and Michal Sykora, along with goalie Chris Terreri) for the low-flying buzzard. But it's ancient history now. At least until Dallas plays in the Arena. Then the Eagle had better watch out or he'll be seeing more Stars than he counted on.

Then it seemed like the Deanster just passed over every decent goalie available. OK, there were no superstars (Moog?) and he knew the waiver draft was coming. In addition, next year several top names in net will become available. Fish fans would have not been all that happy with that line of thinking, though... But in the works all along was a deal to acquire last year's playoff MVP: 34-year-old Red Wing Mike Vernon. True, with Vernon and Hrudey in net, the Great Whites have the oldest tandem in the NHL. However, some of the other trades the Deanmeister made may make up for that.

Defense in the past two years was laughable if you weren't a Sharks fan, a damn shame if you were. With Al "The Planet" Iafrate in the lineup, the Sharks denfense could play .500 hockey. Without him -- as they were most of the season -- they were simply cannon fodder for whatever team was on the ice against them. The Sharks managed to come in with the highest goals-against record in the NHL. (No wonder, since they spent more time defending the power play than any other team.)

Lombardi and Sutter have again bet on Iafrate to come through this year. It's not starting out as well as they might have hoped because Big Al is still rehabilitating his back after last year's surgery. In addition, Lombardi has added Bill Houlder (from Tampa Bay) and much-anticipated newcomer Andrei Zyuzin to the blue line to help bolster the lackluster defense. Also, Mike Rathje (amazingly) looked sharp in the opener against Edmonton. In fact, his rippin' shot from the blue line had shades of Iafrate written all over it.

One of the gaping holes from last season was left wing. Deano decided to fill that to the brim, bringing in Stephane Matteau, Shawn Burr and Murray Craven. With speedy Jeff Freisen (albeit not under contract right now) and Andrei "The Russian Bear" Nazarov in place, these three make a nice -- if not spectacular -- addition to the left side of the ice. Jeff should be entering a point in his career where words like 'potential' should be restated in terms like 'talent'. He thinks so, too, and that's probably why his contract negotiations are going so slow. Andrei -- if he can stay outta the Sin Bin -- is a force to be reckoned with.

Center is also full of 'potential' this year. The second pick overall in this year's draft yielded Patrick Marleau -- one very bright spot in the Sharks future and already under contract at age 18. Marco Sturm is another youngster the Sharks have been grooming in Germany. Hard work during the preseason earned him a place at center -- at least for now. But -- in this writer's humble opinion -- the star at center has to be Viktor Kozlov. He's been maturing in the ranks for four years, often showing flashes of brilliance. Too often, those flashes have been between long periods of mediocrity. During the preseason and in the first game against Edmonton, however, he looked like a changed man -- and changed for the better. Two goals and a willingness to finish made him look tough even to the Edmonton press. Center is more than rounded out with Bernie Nicholls, Dody Wood and Ron Sutter.

Right wing has the explosive Owen Nolan. Last year he was called "our superstar" by then-coach Al Sims. And a superstar he would be, too, if he could show up to play every night. Everyone -- including Owen -- knows he can do it, but knowing and doing are worlds and goals apart. It's fair to say that along with Vernon and Iafrate, this guy has to play every game for the Sharks to be contenders for anything but last place.

Opening Night Jitters...

October 1, 1997. A night Sharks fans had been looking forward to for six long months. Or so we thought. After taking a back seat to Edmonton early on, Viktor Kozlov had a bang-up night, scoring two goals. But that was the single bragging point. From the two five-on-three's to the three power-play goals to the horrible number of penalties, it looked a lot like the past two years. Marleau looked good in his NHL regular season debut, but with the Sharks as support, what can you expect? Scratches included Zyuzin, Strum, Korolyuk and Iafrate. Friesen sat at home watching while contract negotiations drag on. This new trend of high pay and contract holdouts threatens a sport just coming into its own.

Blackhawks at San Jose:

For the second game, Coach Sutter decided to bring in most of the rookie class. Andrei Zyuzin was the sole freshmen scratch, leaving Strum, Marleau and Korolyuk to face Amonte and Co. Amonte scored early, putting the Sharks in the all-too familiar position of second-place. Korolyuk scored his first NHL goal in the first period. But it was Marco Sturm's goal in the second period that was the highlight of the game. Coming on the ice after a rather bunk penalty, Sturm headed right into Chicago's zone. With a kick pass from McSorley, Sturm made one of the nicest plays to come from a Shark in a long time. He drew Hackett out till he over-committed, then shot over the head of the sprawling goalie. The play also took Hackett out of the game and sent in former Shark Chris Terreri. San Jose went on to win 3 - 2.

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