Goalies With Problems

If any of you are still interested in Kari's totally justified outburst amid the collapsing scenery in the third period of that game against the Caps, Custance shares some thoughts here.

Now then, on to Sharks hockey. I was delirious when I found out that last night's SJ Sharks-Phoenix Coyotes game was going to be the late broadcast on the Versus channel, as 1) it was a Sharks game, and 2) I like the Coyotes too. I was probably triply delirious because I'd been watching the boring-as-hell prime-time game: a struggle between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers, two teams I positively loathe.

10:30 PM arrived right on time, though, and the Sharks game commenced. For whatever reason Darren Eliot was the color commentator, which was interesting and strange, a bit like running into someone you vaguely knew in high school at a bar or a restaurant. I won't give you a play-by-play recap, but my Jehoshaphat, what a game!

I think Evgeni Nabokov must've been high the entire time: he uncharacteristically gave up some avoidable goals and just looked damn clumsy and goofy most of the game. Definitely stoned. At one point after Ron Wilson pulled him and put in the back-up fella, Brian Boucher, the camera cut to a bench-sitting Nabokov burrowing his face into his jersey, as if he was trying to commune with the the Shark Spirit or the essence of teal. He's one of my absolute favorite players, but seriously Nabby, lay off the wacky weed.

Nabokov's back-up goalie on Team Russia, Mr. Ilya Bryzgalov (known to me as the Other Ilya), also happens to be the goalie for the Phoenix Coyotes, and he turned in a fine performance last night, though it was one among many on both sides. The Great One must be teaching the young ones on the Coyotes well, because they definitely held their own against the formidable Sharks defense and managed to resist the Thornton-Campbell line's scoring antics for the first two periods. In the third, however, the Sharks came roaring back with a Joe Thornton hat trick (which featured two assists from legendary dancing hockey dandy Jeremy Roenick) and a game-tying goal that sent the game into overtime...where the Coyotes won, damn it. Oh well, the Coyotes deserve a few more points and victories. I think they're going to become a force to be reckoned with as their young players develop and mature and so on and so forth...

It's always exciting to see JR and Mighty Joe T. rack up the points, but I reiterate: control your urges, Evgeni; no glaucoma patient ever won a Stanley Cup.