I know, I know. Its so late, that its almost not even worth posting. But damnit, I went to the thing, so I’m going to post the stuff that I got!

For those of you who have no idea what the State of the Sharks is (which probably isn’t many), its an open forum for Sharks fans to talk to the management and a few of the players on the Sharks. This year Greg Jamison, Doug Wilson, Todd McLellan, Mike Ricci (surprise!), Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Dan Boyle, and Joe Pavelski showed up. Yeah, not exactly the scrubs of the team. You know who else showed up? Around 5,000 Sharks fans. Seriously, look:

This guy was on the computer pretty much the entire time, buying baseball and football tickets and buying stuff on ebay. I have a sneaking suspicion he was only there for the free WiFi.

Probably a good third of the lower bowl was completely filled (its not that obvious in the picture, but the stands were PACKED). The half of the upper bowl that was open was filled too. We were sitting near the end, since we only got there 20 minutes beforehand and couldn’t get a better seat (seriously, 20 minutes before the thing even starts and the place is packed). They also ran out of the popcorn and chips they were giving out, which made me sad. But I digress.

The evening started out with a highlights video, which was received okay but not great (understandable, under the circumstances). Randy Hahn came out and introduced himself as the moderator, and then introduced the staff (Jamison, Wilson, and McLellan) as they came out on stage. Each of them had an opening statement, but the ones that I found most interesting were Wilson’s and McLellan’s. I was actually kind enough to record part of DW’s statement and all of McLellan’s, so here it is for your viewing pleasure:

One of my favorite comments by McLellan was about how he was surprised at how many people were there, and how the same thing wouldn’t happen in Detroit. I think he realized, finally, why the Tank is used to hold the meeting, besides it being essentially free to use.

Then the players came out, prompting a standing ovation. And, as mad as we are about the early playoffs exit, you can’t really deny them of your gratitude for playing night after night, being the best team in the league in the regular season, and generally being awesome. And so we stood and applauded.

Patty looked a little scared, and didn't talk much, but when he did he had good things to say. Also, this is one of the better quality pictures I got. Wooo.

They didn’t have any opening statements like the management did, so they got right to the questions. And there were a LOT of them – the event went on for three hours, and even then there were still questions left. However, the event wasn’t exactly helped by the number of people that decided to tell their life’s story (“I grew up in New York, and so I was a fan of the Rangers, blah blah blah…” and “My kid plays hockey, so let me ramble on about him for five minutes”). The only guy that I could stand that did that was this kid who lives in Chicago for college – he explained how he got into hockey through video games, and then watched a Sharks game and just liked it a lot. One of the best one-liners too: “I almost bought NHL2K9 just so I could get my fix of Randy.” And if you know anything about hockey video games, that’s saying something.

The question “What could the Sharks do differently?” was repeated ad nauseum, and it received somewhat of a different answer every time as different people answered it. McLellan was concerned with the 5-on-5 play. Marleau said his line – the top line – was just flat outplayed by Anaheim’s top line. Pavelski echoed that sentiment with the second line. Thornton agreed with Marleau. Boyle, however, called out the goaltending as well as the scoring and defense, and, well, everything. He was visibly pissed off about it.

The result when you try and take a picture while zoomed all the way in and not using flash. Also, Boyle is mad.

Boyle continues to impress me with the way he presents himself. Like I said, he was visibly pissed off, and wasn’t hesitant to call out anyone he think deserved it. He was the only guy that brought it all six games of the playoffs (if Torrey Mitchell didn’t miss the first two games I’d totally include him in that statement as well). One lady even asked, “What could we do differently, besides cloning you [Dan Boyle] three or four times.” That got some laughs and a whole lot of applause, pretty much indicating that everyone agrees with me in that Dan Boyle is freaking awesome.

However, the funniest moments of the whole thing revolved around a certain 1997 #1 overall draft pick (not #2 overall; he was rather quiet, but angry. Quietly angry). 

I forgot to turn off the flash, so this picture is mucho grainy. And Joe is answering one of the many funny questions - see the Todd laughing in the background.

One of the questions to Joe concerned what all Sharks fans wonder as we watch him skate around: “Why don’t you shoot the puck more?” Of course, the questioner had to include his whole life’s story and the reason why he was asking (besides, you know, it just being one of the most constant annoying parts of Joe’s game). But, yeah. Got a HUGE laugh, and a bunch of applause.

Joe’s answer: “Its not like I hear you guys telling me to shoot more on the powerplay!”, which drew even more laughter. He then promised to shoot more next year.

Another funny moment came when talking about what the players would do differently. Joe quipped he would like more ice time. McLellan quipped back that maybe he should give some of Joe’s minutes to McGinn. A sort of “OH SNAP” reaction went through the audience as Joe turned bright red. 

But the funniest moment, hands down, came from this one guy’s question. Since it was so great, I decided to transcribe it word-for-word:

By my count you led the league this year in getting thrown out of the faceoff circle. I was hoping you could explain what exactly is the rule in the faceoff circle and why it is that you kept getting thrown out.

Joe Thornton: Wow, great question. Apparently I don’t know the rules because I’m always getting thrown out. I really don’t have an answer for that. Its like, I guess I cheat, I don’t, I play cards and everything and I don’t cheat at all but apparently I get too excited when I go into a faceoff, and I don’t know. But, yeah, I get thrown out way too much. I have to improve on that.

Todd McLellan: Its important for you to understand the impact of a faceoff. And the impact that Joe had in the faceoff circle. Players are taught to cheat. Pavs takes faceoffs, Patty takes faceoffs. The best cheaters win. Joe’s not a very good cheater, he gets tossed out.

The players left about an hour and a half into the session, and I did too, largely because I had school the next day and didn’t want to get back at midnight. The whole “I have no idea how to drive on the freeways” thing also messed me up as well. Needless to say, I got lost, and was well on my way to LA before I called my mom to get directions. But that’s a whole other story.

Apparently, there were a few characters after I left (some guy referred to mainly as “the plane guy”), but nothing that I hadn’t already heard repeated about four times. All in all, it was a great meeting, one that both showed the organization that people really cared about the eam, as well as showing the fans that the organization knew about all the things that people are bitching about on the internet.

So, yeah, that’s it. I still have a few more pictures, but – believe it or not – the ones that I posted had the best quality. Yeah. But if you want them, just comment or shoot me an email or something.

Peace.