One Fan's Recollection of the Early Years of the San Jose Sharks

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

There has never been a better time to be a Sharks fan.  All the other pro teams in the Bay Area are living in the past.  Their fans are full of nostalgia for days gone by.  But not Sharks fans.

I have been a Sharks fan since their inception in 1991.  I remember reading an article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, “So You Want to be a Hockey Fan?,” which explained such foreign terms as icing and the two-line pass. 

The Sharks' first game was a road game against Vancouver.  There was no TV or radio broadcast of the game.  I think the franchise wanted the home opener the next night—also against the Canucks—to be the opener fans remember.  But it wasn't, and I still think it was a conspiracy. 

Doug Wilson was on that first Sharks team.  Wilson gave an interview in that inaugural year, and when he was asked about the Chicago Blackhawks, he said candidly that he “hoped they won the Stanley Cup.”  Now he is our GM, and posed to help the Sharks win their first Stanley Cup.

The Sharks were horrible their first two years.  They actually were worse their second season than the first.  At one point in the season they had 17 straight losses.   

I was able to see one game at the old Cow Palace with my Dad.  It was memorable because it was the day after Brandon Lee died filming The Crow.   

The Sharks got beat by the Winnipeg Jets 9-5, but there were a lot of fights.  I remember fans throwing beer at a Jets player as he went to the locker room.  It was my first hockey game.  That's when I learned that TV did not do hockey justice.  There is so much that goes on in a hockey game that is not seen on TV.  

The Sharks third year was memorable.  They upset the Red Wings in the playoffs in Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs.  That was an incredible win for the franchise.  Then we came within one game of the Conference final. 

That third season was the first at the San Jose Arena, which has since become the HP Pavilion, or simply The Shark Tank.  I went to the home opener with a friend of mine from high school.  As was customary for the Sharks during that time they lost the game to Calgary 2-1. 

I remember the men sitting in front of me sneaking in beer to the game and throwing their used chewing tobacco at fans leaving the game early.  They were egalitarian in that they targeted both men and women.

It was disgusting and crude, and I should have been appalled by their actions.  But I was a 16-year-old junior in high school, and I thought it was hilarious. 

I went to several games that season with my Dad.  We had tickets for all of the games against the LA Kings.  The two games we were able to go to were ties.  One game we could not attend because of an intense rainstorm in Santa Cruz.  Naturally the Sharks won that game 4-3. 

In theory the games against the Kings were good rivalry games, because you always wanted to “beat LA.”  It wasn't possible to hate the Kings though. 

Any sports fan had to respect Wayne Gretzky, and his trade to the Kings had sparked a lot of interest in hockey in California, which did a lot to enable San Jose to get an NHL

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