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Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:26 am EDT

Video: Joe Thornton attempts to inspire teammates, fails

By Sean Leahy

Taking a lesson from the Maxime Talbot school of firing up your teammates, San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton attempted to help his team force a seventh game last night in Anaheim and dispel critics who have dogged "Jumbo Joe" for his annual early summer vacations.

Immediately after the opening faceoff, Thornton went at it with the Anaheim Ducks' Ryan Getzlaf. While 82 percent of readers at HockeyFights.com gave the bout to Thornton, much like in the Talbot-Daniel Carcillo fight from Saturday the winner didn't end up getting the spoils:

"The two most dominant centers in the NHL?" Remember this one next time someone claims there's no such thing as West Coast bias. What exactly does Thornton dominate? The month of October?

This was the third straight year that San Jose finished with 100-plus points and had a season that "had so much promise" before it epically flamed out. So where do the Sharks go from here? Does the team need to be broken up and have new life injected into it? Does that mean trading Patrick Marleau or Joe Thornton?

If you were hoping to tune in on Versus to catch the start of the Ducks-Sharks Game Six, you were probably surprised to see Calgary Flames-Chicago Blackhawks in its place. And when you went to the Yahoo! box score page, you saw that Thornton and Getzlaf dropped the gloves two seconds in and were pretty pissed. That's what happens when you get two games starting within an hour of each other, and only one network (if you don't have Center Ice) to broadcast them.

We received a slew of emails this morning from irate fans that had hoped to see the Battle of California, and instead were subjected to the Blackhawks' domination over the Flames in Game 6 of their series. For whatever reason, Versus decided not to switch over until there was about two minutes left in the second period, according to one viewer.

Speaking of conflicting schedules, with two Game 7s tonight within a half hour of each other, some Canadian fans will be screwed by the fact that the New Jersey Devils-Carolina Hurricanes game will be TSN2. You've got less than 12 hours to find an Internet stream that doesn't buffer every three seconds ...

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104 Comments

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  1. P.O.
    1. Posted by P.O. Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:33 am EDT

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    two most dominant centers huh? i guess in california they never heard of this one dude named malkin and his teammate crosby
    thornton dominates charity golf outings in the spring, woooooooooooo
  2. microtide
    2. Posted by microtide Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:34 am EDT

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    Thornton's fight seemed way too staged. Almost as if his agent told him to show heart, and gave exact instructions. Would have been far better if he fought in an earlier game, during an actual scrum.
  3. lowerNC
    3. Posted by lowerNC Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:52 am EDT

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    wish we had the link to where they shook hands at end of the game............or did they do the fatso/avery routine???
  4. knucklehead
    4. Posted by knucklehead Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:54 am EDT

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    The fight was lame. Maybe Getzlaf will fight Rafalski next.
  5. Bruins
    5. Posted by Bruins Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:57 am EDT

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    These people don't have CBC? That's obviously the better coverage anyways.
  6. Geoffrey S
    6. Posted by Geoffrey S Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:57 am EDT

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    I'm sure those Canadian fans can still get good seats at the Prude if they can drive down there by gametime.
  7. GT
    7. Posted by GT Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:05 am EDT

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    I don't know why hockey fans keep complaining about the poor television coverage. You have it better than American Hurling fans, so give it a rest!
  8. Fin-atic
    8. Posted by Fin-atic Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:08 am EDT

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    Let's trade Joe for a couple of gritty playoff hardened Jason Arnott type players who can stir the pot that Joe is obviously unwilling to stir.
  9. Art N
    9. Posted by Art N Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:12 am EDT

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    An evolution change before our eyes?
    Ducks have teeth
    Sharks have no teeth
  10. Its Cold In Here
    10. Posted by Its Cold In Here Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:12 am EDT

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    @ Bruins - Not when Crawford is on the announcing team, ugh
    Games on TSN and TSN2 are sweet though, because it's easy to flip between them during commercials and intermissions
  11. Svipal
    11. Posted by Svipal Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:14 am EDT

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    The NHL blows. They can't even get games on the air for all viewers. It's a f@cking joke, and the fans end up getting screwed over.
  12. Panda God
    12. Posted by Panda God Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:14 am EDT

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    @GT
    There is American Hurling?! Why isn't it on TV! Dang media conspiracy! (first time I saw hurling some dude got his leg broken, and still finished the game; it was awesome)
    Also, someone explained before in another post, CBC/TSN and NBC/VS are contracted to certain games/series, and if those end earlier than the others, then tough shenanigans. Yay Center Ice!
  13. Pure Evil
    13. Posted by Pure Evil Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:16 am EDT

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    Lame fight? Joe smoked him, not even close. As for the announcer, Joe got away with murder in game 5? How about that little RAT PERRY or how many times did Parros run Nabby? Sharks blew it, there obviously has to be a shake up. Patty Marleau is not the leader that the Sharks have wanted him to be. Ship him out, move Cheech if anyone is buying and let's see who will be Nabby's replacement after 09-10.
    As great of a season as it had been for the Sharks, this is an ABJECT FAILURE!
  14. Matthew
    14. Posted by Matthew Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:19 am EDT

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    Getzlaf left his helmet on like a little girl
  15. G
    15. Posted by G Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:21 am EDT

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    Hahahaha Joe Thornton and the San Jose Guppies a match made in heaven. Both the losers deserve each other. My heartfelt thanks to the Ducks for ruining the season for the Guppies. LOL, the only thing better than watching the misery of San jose guppie fans is watching the philly fans whine and cry. This has made my summer.
  16. colin c
    16. Posted by colin c Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:29 am EDT

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    Thorton?? heart?? LOL
    But what i loved most was the announer saying thorton got away with a ton... have you seen what the Ducks are getting away with?
  17. Bruins
    17. Posted by Bruins Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:31 am EDT

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    @ Its Cold In Here
    I actually think Crawford is pretty good. Because he was a coach, he offers different insight into the game. I'll take him over the other color guys HNIC has.
  18. mrfluffy02
    18. Posted by mrfluffy02 Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:32 am EDT

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    "You've got less than 12 hours to find an Internet stream that doesn't buffer every three seconds ..."
    Uh huh. Right. If you n00bs knew how to change your buffer rates you wouldn't be having issues.
  19. Curt S
    19. Posted by Curt S Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:39 am EDT

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    Well I guess Thornton is listening to the media. I think what they meant when they called him heartless was that he doesn't have any killer instinct around the net though. You see him drive around the last defender and he could easily push all the way to the net but he lays up, holds the puck, and passes to a teammate. He's a hell of a player but I'd like to see him show some of the Lemieux-esque net cutting that his frame implies he'd be capable of.
  20. Curt S
    20. Posted by Curt S Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:41 am EDT

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    @ Leahy
    As a PS, you've really been picking up your socks lately on the blogging front. Keep up the good work!
  21. jmox
    21. Posted by jmox Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:43 am EDT

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    "What exactly does Thornton dominate? The month of October?"
    Brilliant Leahy!
  22. Hemsky
    22. Posted by Hemsky Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:46 am EDT

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    the second line in the announcers comment was best.
    ""the two most dominant centers in the nhl go toe to toe. are you kidding me?"
    uhh... are you kidding me?
  23. Hemsky
    23. Posted by Hemsky Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:47 am EDT

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    The second line in the announcers comment was best.
    ""The two most dominant centers in the NHL go toe to toe. Are you kidding me?"
    Uhh... Are YOU kidding ME?
  24. jesse d
    24. Posted by jesse d Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:47 am EDT

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    Dude, as long as you're not talking about the canes or the red wings, i think you're hilarous. Love your blog.
  25. Hemsky
    25. Posted by Hemsky Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:48 am EDT

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    Whoa, triple post. FTW?

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