With the San Jose Sharks finally in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s a good time to look back with teal-coloured glasses at the origins of a 24-year-old franchise.
And nothing accomplishes that better than this Youtube gem: an eight-minute mini-doc on the Sharks’ first NHL game, played on October 4, 1991 against the Vancouver Canucks.
Oh, it’s incredible. The piano noodling of those retro Body Break commercials, the receding-but-still-prominent mullets, Doug Wilson reading a newspaper in the dressing room…it’s almost too much to take in at once.
The narrator sounds like he just finished recording a traffic awareness educational video in the next booth and had some extra time on his hands: “It’s the day of the San Jose Sharks’ historic first regular season National Hockey League game.”
We’re treated to scenes of the Sharks in a cramped, visitor’s dressing room fiddling with helmet straps, taping stick blades, and Rob Zettler — most recently the coach of the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch — looking like a 12-year-old. Nothing sells excitement more than nervous looking hockey players milling about a dressing room hours before game time.
Fortunately, we get some insight into Brian Hayward’s fantastic goalie mask. Unfortunately, he sat on the bench for the game while Jeff Hackett got the start. “I’m still a little bit overwhelmed by the response,” says Hayward.
Then, it’s on to the coaches. George Kingston looks more like an extra from Tombstone than an NHL bench boss but we have to keep in mind that this is 1991 — when the ’80s, and the ’70s, let’s face it — still had a stronghold over personal style in hockey. The great Drew Remenda, a longtime Sharks broadcaster who’s now with the Edmonton Oilers, rocks a maroon suit jacket. This just keeps getting better.
Kingston on his feelings ahead of puck drop: “I’d say very calm…and anxious to start,” he says with beads of sweat racing down his back, no doubt.
The videographer (documentarian?) asks a couple of Sharks fans how they’re already behind a team that is yet to have played: “Nice colours,” they answer. You’re darn right, said everyone throughout the ’90s.
Then, the narrator has some bad news as the players shuffle out to take the ice for the first time:
“Defenceman Neil Wilkinson’s number five sweater is missing. He’ll wear uniform number 45 instead,” for all of you scoring at home.
Finally, we get some on-ice action paired with the kind of music you’d remember from any menu screen in early EA Sports NHL video games. Craig Coxe scores San Jose’s first ever goal on Kirk McLean who went with his patented stack-the-pads attempt that saved the Canucks in 1994 against the Calgary Flames. Then, Pat MacLeod scores his first and second NHL goals in his career. He would only play 53 games in his career, scoring five goals.
Current Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was a member of this Sharks team as well but joined the club later in the season.
Sadly, the Sharks lose this one to the Canucks 4-3 despite Hackett’s 48 saves. The narrator calls the contest, “the most historic game they would ever play.”
I’d say the games they’re playing this week are right up there too, but do they come with sharp videos like this one does? No way.
