Sharks-Ducks: San Jose Clinches Pacific Crown

The San Jose Sharks secured the Pacific Division title on Friday night in a decisive road victory over the Stanley Cup-defending Anaheim Ducks, with Jeremy Roenick getting his league-tying 10th game winner...out of just 14 goals. In the process they broke the Ducks ten game home winning streak and extended their own streak to 18 games without a regulation loss, during which they are 16-0-2.

That's a .944 point percentage, and even if you take away their two shootout victories, they have won 14 of their 18 games through legitimate hockey (shootouts are a skill competition--it's like giving a team a win by having a race). If they do that in the playoffs, they will be two games from hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup.

Now they must guard against complacency and avoid thinking about the impossibility of their streak being maintained throughout the play-offs. It is obvious they have nothing left to play for: one more win and they secure home ice against anyone in the East; one win and an overtime loss for the Red Wings and the Sharks are out of the running for the President's Trophy.

For now, they made a statement to the Ducks: "we're not the same team you beat in five of our first six meetings."

Neither team played its full complement, but to this point one advantage the Ducks have shown is more grit. It makes sense grit would exist in anything that is dirty, and the Ducks are the league's dirtiest team--they lead the league for the second year in a row in fighting majors. Chris Pronger has been suspended eight times, Brad May served one of the longest suspension in NHL history for whacking someone on the head with a stick, Todd Bertuzzi should not even be in the league, and George Parros is nothing but a fighter. Besides them they have Travis Moen, who on most teams would be their tough guy, akin to the Sharks' Jody Shelley--an enforcer who is not a liability on the fourth line.

The Ducks took a cheap shot at Jonathan Cheechoo when it was clear they had lost last week, but instead of retaliating and getting someone suspended, they answered by outplaying their nemesis. Maybe the Sharks are showing you don't have to be dirty to have grit, and if they have found their two missing elements before the deadline--Shelley's toughness and Campbell's puck-moving skill on the blueline--maybe they finally have enough to take the Ducks.

If so, they can take the Red Wings and anyone coming out of the East; then the Cup would only need to take a 45 minute flight to its new home.