It took 1,411 regular season games and another 166 playoffs games but finally Aneroid, Saskatchewan’s Patrick Marleau has made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Marleau is a 18-year National Hockey League player playing every game for the franchise that drafted him second overall in 1997, the San Jose Sharks.
His Sharks teams have been consistently good for a long time as they had made the playoffs 15 of the previous 16 seasons before last season’s shocking playoff miss.
In that time his team has won six regular season division titles, advanced to at least the second round nine times and had made three appearances in the conference championship game yet he has never made a final, until now.
This year’s appearance in the final is a feel good story for not only him but for 11-year teammate Joe Thornton who amassed 1,518 regular season and playoff games of his own without a cup final appearance but for Marleau it almost did not happen.
Earlier this season there was a possibility the long time Shark had become frustrated with his role in San Jose as his role had diminished and a trade seemed to possibly be on the horizon.
Thank goodness for both Marleau and the Sharks that trade never came to fruition.
It would be a really great story if Marleau and even Thornton for that matter if they could finish the job and capture their first Stanley Cup each but also the first Stanley Cup in the 25-year history of the San Jose Sharks organization.
Besides having the cup in Saskatchewan is never a bad thing.
Granted if the Penguins were to win, the cup would be in the province three times as long since there are three Saskatchewan born players on the Penguins roster (Josh Archibald from Regina, Chris Kunitz from Regina, and Derrick Pouliot from Estevan) to only Marleau on the Sharks.
As the finals begin the most important thing to remember is how difficult it is for players to get to this stage of the season, as seen by the over 3,000 games that Marleau and Thornton had to play to get here, but let us look forward to seeing some great hockey.
Feel good stories are great and all but if the teams wilt under the heat of the bright lights known as the Stanley Cup Finals hockey fans as a whole do not win.
So here’s hoping we get a feel good ending to this Stanley Cup season but an even bigger hope for just a great final.
