Tag Archives: Jeff Odgers

Winnipeg Jets – Jet Stream

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Throughout the year, the Sip Advisor will alphabetically travel the National Hockey League (NHL), discovering the best and worst each team has to offer in a variety of subjects. We will also feature a drink based off the franchise. Today, we brave frosty temperatures to fly with the Winnipeg Jets:

Establishment Story: Version 2.0 of the Jets was born when the Atlanta Thrashers were relocated to the Manitoba capital in 2011. The Thrashers had joined the NHL as an expansion team in 1999. After some debate, new Jets owner Mark Chipman/True North Sports & Entertainment decided to return to the Jets nickname, which had been given to the previous World Hockey Association/NHL franchise that had relocated to Phoenix in 1996.

Stanley Cups: The Jets have yet to win a Stanley Cup, coming closest in 2018, when they were eliminated in the Western Conference Final by the Vegas Golden Knights. As for the Thrashers, they only qualified for the playoffs once in their existence, being swept in the first round by the New York Rangers in 2007. The original Jets won the WHA Avco World Trophy three times, but that legacy belongs to the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes.

Celebrity Fan: Professional wrestler Chris Jericho is such a big Jets fan (original and 2.0) that the Winnipeg native has donned his team gear at opponent rinks, including his current home of Tampa Bay, even when he’s been given free tickets by Lightning employees. When jokingly told “You can’t do that,” Jericho simply replied “Watch me!” Jericho also once appeared on WWE Monday Night Raw in a Jets t-shirt.

Thrashers to Jets

Super Fan: Len ‘Kroppy’ Kropioski was often featured on the Winnipeg scoreboard, as the World War II veteran sang the Canadian national anthem and saluted the country’s flag. Kroppy had been a season ticket holder since the Jets returned in 2011, making a 2.5-hour trek from Kenora, Ontario for each home game. Sadly, Kroppy passed away in 2016, at the age of 98. In 2018, Kroppy was immortalized with an Upper Deck hockey card release.

Mascot: Mick E. Moose was the mascot of the minor league Minnesota Moose, moving with the team to Manitoba in 1996. When the Jets returned to the NHL in 2011, Mick E. was called up to the big leagues. He now represents both the Jets and Moose. Benny, the mascot of the original Jets, was resurrected at the 2016 Heritage Classic, becoming a secondary mascot for the Jets 2.0. While in Atlanta, the team’s mascot was Thrash, a brown thrasher, the state bird of Georgia.

Tradition: The Winnipeg White Out was first used for the opening round of the 1987 playoffs, when fans were encouraged to wear all white, as a counter to their opponents, the Calgary Flames, whose fans created a ‘C of Red’. When the Jets won the series, fans continued the tradition. Fans are also known to emphasize the “true north” portion of the Canadian national anthem, an homage to Winnipeg’s geographic location.

Appearances in Media: On the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, character Robin Scherbatsky was occasionally seen wearing a Vancouver Canucks jersey. That all changed in a later season episode, when she is shown wearing a Thrashers jersey, with the logo removed. All this, despite the team having moved to Winnipeg years earlier. Also, the Jets 2.0 franchise is profiled in a series of documentary shorts called Jets Legends, on the Crave streaming service.

White Out

Events/Scandals: When an entire article is devoted to a timeline of a player’s behavioural incidents with a team, you might call said player a problem. Despite his obvious talent, drafted fourth overall in 2009 by Atlanta, Evander Kane caused many headaches during his time with the Jets, including issues around his social media use, relationships with local businesses, angering his own teammates, allegations of faking injuries, benchings by coaches, and even legal matters.

Rivalry: While the new incarnation of the Jets shares some minor rivals with their original predecessors (Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks), these battles aren’t what they used to be, given they no longer all share the same division. The honour of current top rival would likely go to the geographically close Minnesota Wild, with the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators being other options.

Tragedy: On September 29, 2003, Dany Heatley crashed his Ferrari with his Thrashers teammate Dan Snyder in the vehicle with him. Heatley suffered a number of injuries, but eventually made a full recovery. Sadly, Snyder never awoke from his coma, succumbing to septic shock on October 5, 2003. Despite the team’s relocation, the Jets continue to present the Dan Snyder Memorial Award for perseverance, dedication and hard work, in his memory.

Player Nicknames: Nikolai Ehlers earned the nickname Fly thanks to his speed and finesse. Ehlers has spent his entire career with the Jets, drafted ninth overall in 2014 by the team. Friend and former teammate Patrik Laine also once dropped the moniker ‘Little Buddy Nik’ towards Ehlers in an interview. The 6’5” Laine is definitely big, but Ehlers holds his own at a respectable 6’0”.

Dan Snyder

Line: One notable line from Jets history was the checking unit of Tanner Glass, Jim Slater and Chris Thorburn, dubbed the GST Line, a reference to the Canadian Goods and Services Tax. Going back to the Thrashers days, Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk were a dangerous combo, even as freshmen. The duo were both nominated for the 2001-02 Calder Trophy (rookie of the year), playing on a line together.

Captain: Blake Wheeler was named captain of the Jets prior to the 2016-17 season. He remained in the role until September 2022, when he was stripped of his captaincy, with Winnipeg electing to go into the season with no selected captain. New head coach Rick Bowness stated he wanted to go with a committee leadership approach, with a number of assistant captains, rather than one particular captain.

Enforcer: Chris Thorburn holds the Jets/Thrashers franchise record for career penalty minutes with 832, while Jeff Odgers tops the list for most penalty minutes in a single season with 226. Had Dustin Byfuglien not surprisingly retired at the age of 35 (more on that later), he certainly would have surpassed Thorburn, as he sits second on the Jets all-time list with 826 penalty minutes. Big Buff is best remembered for his bone-crunching hits and not shying away from the rough stuff.

Family Values: Father and son, Dave and Adam Lowry, enjoyed a coach/player relationship from November 2020 to April 2022. Adam was drafted by the Jets in 2011, with Dave joining the team as an assistant coach in 2020. Dave was named interim head coach just over a year later, with the departure of Paul Maurice, leaving the team at the end of the season to join the Seattle Kraken as an assistant coach.

Dustin Byfuglien

Returning Players: Paul Stastny first joined the Jets at the 2018 trade deadline, brought in to be the team’s second line center. Despite being a perfect fit with the club and the team having a successful playoff run, Stastny signed with the Vegas Golden Knights in the off-season. After two season with Vegas, Stastny was again traded to Winnipeg, where he resumed his spot on the team’s second line for two campaigns.

Short Stint: When Hall of Fame member Chris Chelios retired in August 2010, at the age of 48, he held the record for most games played by a defenseman, with 1,651. The last seven NHL contests of his lengthy career were spent with the Atlanta Thrashers. Chelios had signed a 25-game tryout contract with the minor league Chicago Wolves, being recalled by the Thrashers to close out the 2009-10 season.

Undrafted: Brandon Tanev was signed by the Jets out of college in 2016, joining the team for their final three games of that season. Tanev remained with the organization until 2019, when he was lured away by a six-year, $21 million contract offer by the Pittsburgh Penguins. For much of his time with Winnipeg, Tanev was used in a checking line role, often playing with Adam Lowry and Andrew Copp.

Trade: The organization’s final season in Atlanta saw the Thrashers take great advantage of the Chicago Blackhawks, who had serious salary cap issues. In two separate moves, the Thrashers brought in Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd (among others), who were coming off the Blackhawks 2010 Stanley Cup championship and would be important members of the franchise once moved to Winnipeg.

Chris Chelios

Signing: The Jets don’t often dip their toe into the big name free agent market, preferring to draft and develop their players, while acquiring others via trade. In this vein, one of the biggest moves the organization has ever made was re-signing center Mark Scheifele and goalie Connor Hellebuyck to identical seven-year, $59.5 million contracts, when everyone in the hockey world assumed the players were as good as gone from Winnipeg and would be dealt for packages of draft picks, prospects and other pieces.

Draft Pick: The Thrashers/Jets franchise has had the first overall pick twice, taking Patrik Stefan in 1999 and Ilya Kovalchuk in 2001. Stefan proved to be one of the biggest draft busts of all-time, while Kovalchuk enjoyed some success with Atlanta, before being traded. Mark Scheifele, taken seventh overall in 2011, was the first-ever pick of the franchise after it relocated to Winnipeg. A definite draft steal was selecting goalie Connor Hellebuyck at 130th overall in 2012.

Holdouts: A number of top Jets players have staged holdouts with the organization. Both Josh Morrissey in 2018 and Patrik Laine in 2019 missed training camp, but put pen to paper before the start of the season. Jacob Trouba was a different story, missing the first month of the 2016-17 season and even requesting a trade out of Winnipeg, before finally coming to terms with the organization.

Buyouts: Blake Wheeler played 12 seasons in Winnipeg, the last remaining player to come over from Atlanta. In 2023, the Jets bought out the last season of Wheeler’s five-year, $41.25 million contract, leading to the player being owed $5.5 million over two years. Wheeler left the organization as its career leader in games played (897), assists (550) and points (812). He signed a one-year deal with the New York Rangers for the 2023-24 campaign.

Blake Wheeler

Unique Game: The Jets have been involved in two Heritage Classic games, facing the Edmonton Oilers at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg in 2016, and the Calgary Flames at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan in 2019. The Jets were shutout 3-0 at home against Edmonton, while they defeated the Flames 2-1 in their neutral site game, although they were listed as the hosting team.

Goal: On November 24, 2018, Patrik Laine scored five goals against the St. Louis Blues. Even more impressive, the Finnish sniper only had five shots in the game. The feat earned a Winnipeg man $1 million, as part of a promotional contest. Another notable tally in team history was Nik Antropov scoring the first goal of Jets 2.0 history, giving fans their first chance to erupt for an NHL marker in 15 years.

Fight/Brawl: While the original Jets had their fair share of melees, version 2.0 hasn’t shied away from scuffles with opposing teams, particularly against divisional rivals such as the Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues. A memorable one-on-one tilt, saw unlikely fighters Blake Wheeler and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins drop the gloves, as Wheeler looked to avenge an elbow to the head by Malkin during the teams’ previous meeting.

Injury: In an injury that would make all men squeamish, former Jets captain Blake Wheeler suffered a ruptured testicle when hit with a friendly fire shot during a December 15, 2022 game against the Nashville Predators. Amazingly, Wheeler finished the contest, quipping afterwards: “There’s a difference between being hurt and being injured. I didn’t know I was injured until the next day.” He missed five weeks of action to heal.

Patrik Laine

Penalty: During the second round of the 2021 playoffs, the underdog Montreal Canadiens were on the verge of winning Game 1, when Jets center Mark Scheifele decided to take his frustrations out on Canadiens forward Jake Evans, who had just scored an empty net goal, with a massive hit. Evans had to be stretchered off the ice and missed multiple games recovering from a concussion. Scheifele was handed a four-game suspension for the infraction.

Wildest Story: Dustin Byfuglien was among the Jets top defensemen coming into the 2019-20 season. As training camp was set to begin, news broke that Byfuglien had been granted a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons. Then, the popular player just never returned, being suspended by the team, so his contract wouldn’t affect Winnipeg’s salary cap. Byfuglien never played again, his contract mutually terminated in April 2020. In retirement, Byfuglien became a professional fisher.

Blooper: During an October 6, 2013 game between Winnipeg and the Anaheim Ducks, Jets defenseman Zach Bogosian retrieved the puck from behind his own goal line. When he attempted to pass the puck up the ice, he fanned on it, sending it straight to Ducks center Corey Perry, who promptly put it past Jets netminder Ondrej Pavelec for an easy goal. Worst of all, the marker was a 3-2 game-winner for Anaheim.

Miscellaneous: Although technically not connected to the original franchise, whose history belongs to the Arizona Coyotes, Jets 2.0 has honoured those jerseys retired by the first club. This includes Bobby Hull, Dale Hawerchuk and Thomas Steen. The team has also built a Hall of Fame, annually recognizing members of the original Jets, such as Randy Carlyle, Teemu Selanne and Teppo Numminen.

Winnipeg Jets: Jet Stream

Jet Stream

  • 1.5 oz Crown Royal
  • 0.5 oz Crème de Violette
  • 0.5 oz Sweet Vermouth
  • Splash of Lime Juice
  • Dash of Agave Syrup
  • Dash of Angostura Bitters
  • Garnish with a Lemon Slice

I found this cocktail on a Jets Reddit page. Crown Royal is produced in Gimli, Manitoba, so I appreciate its inclusion in the beverage. This wraps the year-long NHL project. I hope you’ve enjoyed travelling the best sports league in the world with me!

San Jose Sharks – Shark Bite

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Throughout the year, the Sip Advisor will alphabetically travel the National Hockey League (NHL), discovering the best and worst each team has to offer in a variety of subjects. We will also feature a drink based off the franchise. Today, we visit the Bay Area and go swimming with the San Jose Sharks:

Establishment Story: The Sharks joined the NHL as an expansion team in 1991. The Gund family wished to return a team to the San Francisco Bay Area, having previously operated the California Golden Seals there. The Seals were relocated to Cleveland and later merged with the Minnesota North Stars, which the Gunds wanted to sell their share of. A Dispersal Draft was held to divvy up players between the Sharks and North Stars.

Stanley Cups: The Sharks have never won the Stanley Cup and have only made one Finals appearance, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games in 2016. This, despite long stretches of time being considered among the best teams in the league, reaching the Western Conference Finals on four other occasions. San Jose have qualified for the playoffs in 21 of the 31 seasons they have been an NHL franchise.

Celebrity Fan: The Sharks have a number of famous followers, including musician Neil Young, tech guru Steve Wozniak and members of the band Metallica. Young and Wozniak have been season ticket members for years, while Metallica – who have been based in San Francisco for much of their careers – have provided the team with their entrance song, Seek & Destroy, since 2013 and were honoured with Metallica Night in January 2015.

Sharks

Super Fan: Sam Tageson grew up a fan of the Sharks. On March 18, 2014, the then 18-year-old, who suffers from hypoplastic left heart syndrome, was signed to a one-day contract by the team. Tageson participated in the teams pre-game practice and hit the ice with them for their contest that night against the Florida Panthers. The night was immortalized with an Upper Deck rookie trading card of Tageson posing by the team’s shark entrance prop.

Mascot: S.J. Sharkie debuted a few months after the rest of the Sharks, in January 1992. He has been called ‘The Hardest Working Fish in Sports’, making 450 public appearances each year, including fundraisers, birthday parties, corporate events and even weddings. S.J. Sharkie was named the 2012 Most Awesome Mascot for the Cartoon Network’s Hall of Game Awards, becoming the first hockey mascot to win the honour.

Tradition: For home games, Sharks players enter through a menacing looking shark mouth, while Seek & Destroy by Metallica blasts throughout the arena. A former entrance song, Get Ready for This by 2 Unlimited, is the team’s current goal song. Another long-standing ritual for fans is to do a chomping gesture with their hands, particularly while the team is about to go on a power play, as the memorable theme track from the movie Jaws plays.

Appearances in Media: Due to his unique look and personality, during his time with the Sharks, defenseman Brent Burns appeared in two episodes of the TV series Vikings and was featured in commercials for Kit Kat Chunky chocolate bars and CCM Hockey equipment. Also, the character of Lester Averman wears a Sharks hoodie in The Mighty Ducks, years before San Jose and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim would be rivals.

Tageson

Events/Scandals: Evander Kane was no stranger to controversy by the time he joined the Sharks in 2018, but things seemed to get worse during his San Jose tenure. Incidents included Kane being sued for unpaid gambling debts, Kane filing for bankruptcy, accusations from Kane’s estranged wife that the player bet on his own games, as well as assaulted her, and Kane using a fake COVID-19 vaccine card. In the end, the organization had enough and terminated his contract in January 2022.

Rivalry: The Sharks chief rival is the Los Angeles Kings, who they met in the playoffs four times between 2011 to 2016, with each club taking two series. The feud is not surprising, given rivalries between San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles teams in other leagues (Giants-Dodgers [MLB], 49ers-Rams [NFL] and Earthquakes-Galaxy [MLS]) and the general Northern California vs. Southern California opposition.

Tragedy: Bryan Marchment, who had played parts of six seasons with the Sharks from 1998 to 2003, had moved into coaching and scouting roles with the team after retiring in 2006. On July 6, 2022, while attending the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal in his scouting capacity, Marchment died suddenly. No cause of death was released. Sharks GM, Mike Grier, paid tribute to Marchment prior to the team’s first-round draft selection.

Player Nicknames: Long-time Sharks star Joe Thornton was given the nickname Jumbo, thanks both to his large stature and also because there is a statue of the famous circus elephant of the same name in Thornton’s hometown of St. Thomas, Ontario, where the elephant died after being hit by a train. Thornton gained another nickname, Big Joe, in contrast to teammate Joe Pavelski, who was dubbed Little Joe. Pavelski was also known for a time as The Big Pavelski, a reference to the film The Big Lebowski.

Evander Kane

Line: The Jumbo Heated Patty Line (also known as the Burger Line), consisted of Joe Thornton (Jumbo), Dany Heatley (Heated) and Patrick Marleau (Patty). When defensemen Dan Boyle (Boiled) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (Pickles) were added to the mix, you had the Boiled Jumbo Heated Patty with Pickles Line. These players comprised the core of the Sharks roster for many seasons.

Captain: Doug Wilson was the first captain in Sharks franchise history, leading the team for two seasons (1991 to 1993), prior to retiring. Wilson would return to the organization as GM in 2003, serving in the role until stepping down in April 2022, due to health issues. The team’s current captain, Logan Couture, has held the position since the 2019-20 season. Couture was drafted by San Jose ninth overall in 2007.

Enforcer: Although Link Gaetz only played 48 games with the Sharks, his NHL career ended by a car accident, he’s fondly remembered, in part because of his wild reputation and willingness to take on all combatants. Gaetz was nicknamed ‘The Missing Link’ and legend has it, he showed up to the 1988 draft with two black eyes from a bar fight the night before. In his brief Sharks tenure, Gaetz recorded 326 penalty minutes, a franchise single-season record.

Family Values: Cousins Scott and Joe Thornton played together with the Sharks for the 2005-06 season. Also, father and son, Ulf and Jonathan Dahlen, both enjoyed tenures with San Jose. Ulf played parts of four seasons (1994 to 1997) with the club, while Jonathan suited up for a single season (2021-22). Lastly, brothers Jamie and Tye McGinn had separate stints with the organization.

Link Gaetz

Returning Players: Patrick Marleau had three separate stints with the Sharks. The first began with him being drafted second overall in 1997 and lasted two decades. Following two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Marleau had his contract bought out and he returned to San Jose. Following a trade deadline deal to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Marleau returned again, allowing him to surpass Gordie Howe’s NHL games played record where it all began.

Short Stint: Hall of Fame goalie, Ed Belfour, was shockingly traded to the Sharks on January 25, 1997, when he refused to sign a contract extension with the Chicago Blackhawks. Belfour’s time with San Jose did not go well, winning only three games in 13 appearances. While with the Sharks, Belfour changed his number from 30 to 20, as a tribute to legendary netminder, Vladislav Tretiak, who was his coach with the Blackhawks.

Undrafted: Jeff Odgers was signed by the Sharks in 1990, joining the team for their inaugural 1991-92 season. Over his five years in San Jose, Odgers set the franchise record for all-time penalty minutes with 1,001, and holds the runner-up spot for penalty minutes in a season with 253. Odgers also served as Sharks captain for a season and a half. He finished his career with 821 games played, 75 goals, 70 assists and 2,364 penalty minutes.

Trade: The Sharks acquisition of Joe Thornton from the Boston Bruins early in the 2005-06 season is regarded as one of the most lopsided deals in NHL history. Thornton, a former first overall draft pick in 1997, was dealt for forwards Marco Sturm and Keith Primeau, as well as defenseman Brad Stuart. Thornton would go on to win the Art Ross (NHL regular season points leader) and Hart Memorial (NHL MVP) Trophies in his first season in teal and become a league superstar.

Patrick Marleau

Signing: In 2010, the Chicago Blackhawks loss, was the Sharks gain, as San Jose picked up the most recent Stanley Cup winning goalie (the first Finnish backstop to do so) on a relatively team-friendly deal. Antti Niemi had been rewarded $2.75 million by an arbiter, but Chicago was forced to walk away from the decision, due to their salary cap constraints. The Sharks swooped in and signed Niemi to a one-year, $2 million pact. He would go on to become San Jose’s netminder for the next five seasons.

Draft Pick: The Sharks have never drafted first overall, but have done well with the second choice, highlighted by selecting Patrick Marleau in 1997. The team also has a couple diamond in the rough picks that looked like steals later in Evgeni Nabokov (219th overall in 1994) and Joe Pavelski (205th overall in 2003). Time will tell how recent high draft picks, such as William Eklund (seventh overall in 2021) and Will Smith (fourth overall in 2023) turn out.

Holdouts: Goalie Evgeni Nabokov was one of the NHL’s best goalies going into the 2002-03 season and he wanted to be compensated as such. Five games into the season, after the Sharks managed to win only one contest, the team and Nabokov finally agreed on a new deal. One year prior, defenseman Mike Rathje sat out 24 games, before a four-year, $8.25 million contract brought him back into the fold.

Buyouts: In July 2017, the Sharks signed Martin Jones to a six-year, $34.5 million contract extension. Just three seasons into that deal, following a drop in performance (three straight .896 save percentages), Jones was bought out, owed $10 million over the next six years. Jones has bounced around the NHL since departing San Jose, playing for a different team in each subsequent season.

Joe Pavelski

Unique Game: The Sharks opened their 1998 season with a pair of games against the Calgary Flames in Tokyo, Japan. They also took part in the 2010 NHL Premiere with two contests against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Stockholm, Sweden, as well as back-to-back matches against the Nashville Predators in Prague, Czechia, for the 2022 NHL Global Series. A 2015 Stadium Series event featured San Jose against the Los Angeles Kings.

Goal: The Sharks have a history of upsetting favoured teams in playoff Game 7s, based on memorable goals. Underdog Sharks teams defeated both the Detroit Red Wings and Calgary Flames back-to-back in 1994 and 1995, with goals from Jamie Baker and Ray Whitney in double overtime, respectively. In 2000, Owen Nolan’s center ice slap shot tally helped to eliminate the St. Louis Blues. Also, goaltender Evgeni Nabokov became the first European backstop to score a goal, when he did so on March 10, 2002.

Fight/Brawl: The playoffs brings a whole new level of intensity to NHL hockey. A great example of that occurred during the first round of the 2009 post-season, when the Sharks battled their California rivals, the Anaheim Ducks. In Game 6 of the series, Joe Thornton fought Ryan Getzlaf, while later Joe Pavelski scrapped with Ryan Whitney. All four players were not known for their fisticuffs, but rose to the occasion at the most important time of the year. The Ducks would go on the win the series.

Injury: It’s not often that an injury leads to good. That was the case in the 2019 playoffs, when Joe Pavelski fell to the ice after being hit by Cody Eakin of the Vegas Golden Knights and suffered a head injury. Eakin received a five-minute major, during which San Jose scored four goals, to erase a 3-0 deficit. While Pavelski did not return to the contest, the Sharks would go on to win the deciding Game 7 in overtime.

Joe Thornton

Penalty: Raffi Torres had a long history of NHL discipline before his hit to the head of Anaheim Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg during a 2015 pre-season contest. Torres was suspended for 41-games (half the season, which is the longest ban in NHL history for a hit and longest non-lifetime suspension in league history). Torres never played again in the NHL, being assigned to the Sharks minor league affiliate after serving his punishment.

Wildest Story: The Sharks once invested in a Chinese hockey team, agreeing to send five players and three coaches to China. Thus, the China Sharks briefly existed, lasting two seasons from 2007 to 2009 in Asia League Ice Hockey, before the NHL Sharks were done with the international experiment and pulled their funding. Perhaps the most notable occurrence of the team’s existence, was Claude Lemieux beginning his comeback attempt there with two contests, before suiting up for San Jose for 18 games.

Blooper: Blunders happen, but it’s not often they result in playoff elimination. Game 5 of the 2011 Western Conference Finals went to double overtime, with the Vancouver Canucks one win away from a Stanley Cup Finals berth. Suddenly, Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa was celebrating, while few others had any idea he had just scored the winning goal. Replays showed the puck had bounced off a glass stanchion, allowing Bieksa to shoot the puck on net, while others on the ice had lost sight of the biscuit.

Miscellaneous: A little more on how the Sharks team name was chosen, the moniker could have been Blades, based on the name winning a fan vote, but concerns about the term’s association with violence, led to Sharks being selected, as it was the runner-up amongst 5,000 submissions. It should be noted, the Sharks minor league affiliate from 1990 to 1996 was the Kansas City Blades.

San Jose Sharks: Shark Bite

Shark Bite

  • 0.75 oz Spiced Rum
  • 0.75 oz Light Rum
  • 0.5 oz Blue Curacao
  • Top with Lemon-Lime Soda
  • Drops of Grenadine
  • Garnish with Shark Gummies

I amalgamated a couple different Shark Bite recipes here. This was a fun drink that took a little more prep than your typical cocktail, but was totally worth it!