April 10, 2008

San Jose, CA (UWIRE) -- About 200 fans gathered at Stanley's Sports Bar inside Sharks Ice at San Jose, formerly Logitech Ice, on Wednesday night to watch the San Jose Sharks face off against the Calgary Flames.

The place was packed, with every available seat taken for game one of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Everyone's eyes were glued to the 10 TVs plastered around the restaurant.

A few of the fans crowded into the appropriately named Stanley's said they couldn't buy seats for the sold-out game.

"I couldn't get tickets. My boyfriend took someone else," said Stacey Kolbo. "But I am going tomorrow night."

San Jose trailed 2-0 in the first period, but the crowd went insane when the Sharks scored with 14 minutes remaining in the opening period.

"Well, honestly I think Calgary got lucky on a couple goals," said Chris Gangai.

With the score 2-1 after the first period of play, some fans still felt the Sharks would recapture the lead.

"It's all right. The Sharks are down one point so far," said Mike Bedolla. "Hopefully they will come back."

With 3:39 to go in the second period, however, the Flames added their third goal of the game, and the crowd went dead silent.

"This is not good. Sharks are down," said Brian Comeau. "This is the first game in the series. It's not looking good."

The Sharks would add a goal late in the third period, but it wasn't enough as they lost 3-2.

Aside from the Sharks' loss, many fans complained about the poor TV coverage, as the beginning of the hockey game was cut off due to the Oakland A's game.

"Can I just say that the A's suck, and that the Sharks should have TV rights over baseball." Mike Ament said.

(C) 2008 Spartan Daily via UWIRE