Duck for dessert

Today was a special day for the Finatic. The Finatic got to eat lots of food today- cake, chicken parmigiana, cake, and for dessert, DUCKS! The Finatic's Sharks beat the Anaheim Ducks in the shootout to have 104 points with 2 games left in the season. The Finatic is sad to say that the Finatic must attend a night class on Thursday, otherwise the Finatic would be able to attend the two remaining games.

Tonight's win over Anaheim gives the Sharks a chance at the Pacific Division title. Should the Sharks win their last two games, and Anaheim should win only one, lose in overtime, or lose overall, then the Sharks will tie Anaheim in points but win the Pacific because they would have more overall wins than Anaheim. Go Sharks!

The Finatic is so thrilled for the Sharks. After trailing 2-0 at the end of the first, the Sharks battled back during the second. A hard shot from Scott Hannan got the Sharks on the board and made the score 2-1 Anaheim. Steve Bernier scored the second goal off of a hardworking play by Kyle McLaren. The two teams went into the third period tied at two apiece.

In the third period the play picked up in intensity, but both goaltenders were flawless. At the end of the third, Craig Rivet was sent to the penalty box for hooking.The Sharks killed the first 35 seconds of the penalty as regulation closed. At the beginning of the overtime, the Sharks bench challenged the curviture of Teemu Selanne's stick- the same Teemu Selanne who once played for the Sharks and worked with the team's equipment managers (uh-oh, haha!). The referees ruled that the curviture was illegal and Selanne went to the sin-bin for two minutes to serve an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

The overtime period exhibited some outstanding play by goaltenders Evgeni Nabokov (Sharks) and Ilya Bryzgalov (Ducks). The overtime ended with a flurry of chances for both teams, but soon the teams were going to the shootout.

The Anaheim Ducks elected to shoot first. Their first shooter was Getzlaf, who scored on Nabby. Jonathan Cheechoo fired up the "Rocket Richard Trophy" winning wrists and slipped a shot above the glove of Bryzgalov. Selanne was the second shooter for Anaheim, but he was stoned by Nabby. Ryane Clowe was the second shooter for the Sharks and he fired his shot into the net behind Bryz. With Clowe's goal, the Sharks had a 2-1 lead in the shootout. The Duck's shootout survival came down to McDonald slipping the puck past Nabby, but as he approached the goal he lost the puck. With his mishandling, McDonald sealed the win for San Jose and the entire team came out on the ice to congratulate Nabokov. The Finatic proceeded to jump up and dance in circles.

Yes, all in all, the Finatic sure did enjoy eating duck for dessert.