NHL on Christmas Break; Sharks and Others Involved in Closely Contested Season

The NHL heads into Christmas break and the standings are very close in the Eastern and Western Conferences. The Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings lead their respective conferences by a decent margin, but the teams fighting for the playoffs aren't separated by much. In the West, the Stars are in secondplace with 46 points, while the 8th and final spot belongs to the Anaheim Ducks, who have 41 points. In the East, second and eighth place are only separated by 5 points. Many teams that are below the playoff line are not far behind, which makes for an exciting three months of NHL regular season hockey.

This is the first that I am actually into the NHL for real. A couple seasons ago, I got into the first seven games or so and then lost interest. This season, I started watching this month and for some reason, I'm totally into it. I'm a San Jose Sharks fan and hopefully they can get over their troubles at home (6-9-3), overtake the Stars in the division and get a decent playoff seed. They lost to the Detroit in the Western Conference Semi-Finals last season and the Red Wings look like they will be tough to handle again this season. Detroit is a storied franchise and it's not a suprise they are atop the Western Conference. The Sharks on the other hand, came into the league in 1991 and are looking to capture their 1st ever Stanley Cup. I think they can do it if they play up to their potential, but their offense sometimes looks obsolete, especially their pwer play.

This is how close it is in the NHL, especially in the West. Last week, the Sharks were second in the West, but after a shootout loss to Phoenix and getting blown out by the Stars, San Jose finds themselves in sixth place. Another loss would most likely have them on the outside looking in. Maybe in this case, it's a good thing that the NHL is a long season. The Sharks have time to move back up the standings and I am looking forward to seeing how it plays out. Once Christmas is over, it's back to the ice for these players and the quest for the Stanley Cup will resume.

Shawn Marosek