Quite the milk-it-for-all-its-worth game for the Sharks as they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. The Sharks were outshot 47-14 and still came out on top.

Through two periods the Sharks had a whopping seven shots on net. Dan Boyle mentioned after the game how pitiful that was and he’s right. Even in the second game of a back-to-back, you’re just asking to lose with those numbers.

So when you look at those numbers and still see a ‘W’ in the column, you know it was the goalie’s doing. Evgeni Nabokov was outstanding tonight. His 45 saves were no doubt the difference. Chicago’s 47 shots weren’t just the 2008-Sharks type either. They were screened, rebounds, and deflection. Nabby plays better the more work he has, and with all this time off recently, he needed to get back in a rhythm.

Come on man, I didn't even punch you this time. (From SJSHARKS.com)

Another Shark who played one of his best games of the season was Jason Demers. San Jose is now 3-0 since Demers was recalled, and that’s no coincidence. Demers scored his second goal of the year off a clean wrist shot past Cristobal Huet. Demers made some key defensive plays — clearing out loose pucks in the crease, blocking shots — and provided solid breakouts to create most of the offense. It’s too bad coach Todd McClellan wouldn’t reveal the changes he wanted Demers to make.

Special teams were a big story tonight. The Sharks talked about not taking penalties, which they did plenty of against Dallas, but they came out and took four penalties in the first. They’d take five more penalties, but the penalty kill stepped up and stopped all seven power-plays (they did allow a four-on-four goal).

One of the Sharks goals came shorthanded as Joe Thornton received a perfect Joe Pavelski pass, and beat Huet up high — where he’s well-known to be beat.

Fight!

Frazer McLaren beat down Bryan Bickell in the second period. Absolute demolition.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 15  CHI 18; No player had more than two.

The Sharks now take a Christmas break and resume play Saturday against this season’s whipping pole, Anaheim Ducks.

–Ray

Quite the typical Sharks-Stars game as the away team won again, this time being the Sharks 4-2. I wonder if there’s ever been such an unusual series besides this one where the away team always wins. The Sharks are now 8-1 in Dallas their last nine games there. Wow.

The Stars ownership should change the arena’s name from American Airlines Arena to Nabokov Airlines Arena. Nabby was once again spectacular on Dallas ice stopping 36 of 38 shots.

Contrary to what the score may indicate, the game very much belonged to the Stars who controlled the pace throughout. What was concerning was the Sharks were actually trying hard but losing a majority of the battles along the boards and for loose pucks. Things started to even out near the end, but luckily the Sharks converted their chances.

Calm down dude. It's just Kent Huskins. (From SJSHARKS.com)

The refs were giving Dallas every opportunity in the world with five powerplays. The Sharks received 0 powerplays and held their ground on the penalty kill until the fifth penalty. Dallas finished 1-5 on the man advantage.

Patrick Marleau took over the goal-scoring lead on the team with his 22nd and 23rd goal of the year. He was tied with Dany Heatley prior to tonight’s game. But Heatley wasn’t quiet. He was placed back on the top line and tallied two assists — both on Patty’s goals.

I’m glad to see coach Todd McClellan put the big boys back together. You can argue putting them together reduces depth all you want, but the “burger” lines produces. It doesn’t matter if the opponent has the last change or not. They find away to put points on the board.

This is the front end of a back-to-back. The Sharks travel to Chicago tomorrow, and because of the long layoff over the last week, Nabby will probably start again.

Stop it Blake!

Rob Blake continues to take bad penalties. Old age is no excuse for constantly whacking other players and hooking them. Calm your hormones old man. Your killing us.

Whoops!

The final Sharks goal came off a stupid play by Stars player Ivan Vishnevskiy. Off a faceoff in front of an empty net, he skated towards his own goal and lost control. And the biscuit went in much to the dismay of Stars fans. It’ll probably end up on SportsCenter’s Not Top 10. He will need a paper bag over his head fast.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 31  DAL 35; Three players led the team with four each.

As aforementioned, the Sharks face the Blackhawks tomorrow.

–Ray

Quite the back-on-track game for the Sharks in their 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Nothing cures losing-streak pessimism like a win over your most hated rival. It wasn’t pretty; it wasn’t flashy. It was good ole fashioned hard work.

Anaheim goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere tried to steal the show with an amazing performance, but the Sharks were too much down low. The Sharks actually used their sized around the crease to manhandle the Ducks defensemen. I think by now we can acknowledge that this type of performance probably won’t happen for another month or two. But it was nice to see the effort and garbage goals.

Leading the way with effort down low was Joe Thornton — yes the big man doin’ his thang around the crease. He caused a lot of havoc 6′4″ 230 lbs frame. He notched four points (2G, 2A) tonight. Jumbo has been throwing his weight around recently and that’s translating into a power forward style we’ve long awaited for.

Patrick Marleau and Devin Setoguchi were the other goal scorers. Patty’s goal came on a deflection, while Seto’s was a wicked wrister. Seto’s goal broke his seven-game point drought. Coach Todd McClellan put him on the top line with Patty and Jumbo to jump-start his production. It was a move criticized by many considering the huge numbers Heatley-Thornton-Marleau put up.

Clowe delivering the "Newfoundland Haymaker" (From SJSHARKS.com)

With Seto scoring, I wonder if McClellan will stay with Seto on the top line. Heatley is much more dangerous than Seto, and now that he’s out of his slump, his mentality will change. And it’s now really a downgrade playing with Joe Pavelski and Ryane Clowe on line two.

One thing I want to mention is before the game Derek Joslin was sent back down to Worcester and Jason Demers was called up. Isn’t it funny how the Sharks all of a sudden win with Demers back? Call it coincidence if you want, but you can’t deny the losing streak included Joslin. Joslin goes bye-bye and the losing streak ends. Hmmm… Just take that home and chew it.

Clowe breaks the ‘Bank

Clowe dropped the gloves with Sheldon Brookbank in the second period. One-sided affair. Clowe threw haymakers, and Brookbank was in way over his head.

Torrey! Torrey! Torrey!

It might have been Torrey Mitchell’s best game since coming back. He showed his blazing speed in picking up a penalty shot (unfortunately he didn’t convert) and forced turnovers. The lone Ducks goal was on the power play, again building the argument for a penalty-kill change. Torrey should get some more PK time in the coming games.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 31  ANA 39; Setoguchi and Douglas Murray led the team with five each.

San Jose is now 3-0 against the Ducks this season.

The Sharks have another three days off before traveling to Dallas for the first game of a back-to-back. The second game is against Chicago.

–Ray

Quite the demoralizing game for the Sharks in their 3-2 shootout loss against the Dallas Stars. The Sharks are now 0-0-2 against Dallas with both losses coming at home in shootouts.

Marty Turco is an annoying little mosquito, and I wish he would just retire. I’m sick of hearing “Save Turco.” He never goes away. I can’t stand him.

Steve Ott should be banished from the league. He isn’t playing hockey out there; he’s playing to get guys hurt, as evidenced by his blatant cross-check on Dan Boyle. Boyle got up and dropped the gloves, but it was Sharks newcomer Jay Leach who attacked Ott after.

Seriously, throw Ott out of the league. He is of no value to the sport of hockey — put him in prison.

Leach’s first game as a Shark was riddled with defensive mistakes. He turned it over in the defensive zone and was out of position. Coach Todd McClellan put Leach and Derek Joslin on the penalty kill, which is probably the worst decision I’ve seen since a World War II sniper decided not to pull the trigger on Adolf Hitler.

Joe Pavelski chases the puck, which will probably end up being a save by Turco (From NHL.com)

But the story of the game was the 11-round barnburner of a shootout. Amazingly, the Sharks scored just once out of 11 tries. That is embarrassing. Turco poke checked four or five guys and they still didn’t learn! Hello! If you see your teammates continuously poke checked, why are you going to attempt a close deke? Just shoot the puck with a quick release. Jesus Greiss.

McClellan should have put Leach out there for the 11th round. When it gets that late in the shootout, expect the unexpected à la Marek Malik against Olaf Kolzig (youtube it).

So now the Sharks finish a dreadful 1-1-3 on their five-game homestand. Surprising to say he least considering many expected a 5-0 homestand.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 29  DAL 38; Joe Thornton led with 6.

The Stars outshot the Sharks 44-35, and if it weren’t for the Sharks blocking 16, it would have been 60 shots against. U-G-L-Y, they ain’t got no alibi.

No time to think about this loss as the Sharks travel to Phoenix to take on the Coyotes, Saturday night.

–Ray

Quite the unlucky game for the Sharks in their 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames. For the second straight game, the opposing goalie made saves he has no business making. The Sharks can’t buy a goal right now.

The game was action-packed, no question about that. Thirty-six shots a-piece and 35 hits a-piece made for another playoff atmosphere.

Ryane Clowe extended his points streak to nine games with a goal tonight. That came off a rebound from Dan Boyle’s shot. Other than that it was the Mikka Kiprusoff show. He couldn’t be beat. San Jose tried everything.

One of his saves was a miracle; he was on his stomach, a shot was taken, he flung his glove up which deflected it. The puck was on its way in when he kicked his skate up to kick it out. Unbelievable. That’s how it went all night for the Sharks.

I think Kipper has X-ray vision because the Sharks stacked a bunch of players in front of him for screens. They were doing everything right according to their game plan. When you hit a hot goalie, there isn’t much you can do except pray.

It was nice to see the Sharks never give up despite all this. Any number of teams would pack it up and take a seat in the press box after seeing saves like that. The Sharks didn’t do that at all. But unfortunately “will” couldn’t win it for them tonight and they’ve lost three of their last six games.

Every broadcast the opposing announcers make mention of the Sharks being No. 1 in the NHL. Can we stop that please? I don’t care if the points say they’re in first, they’re not the best in the league. San Jose’s record is now 19-7-5. Now change the numbers up a bit and we’re 19-12 (Overtime/Shootout losses are losses.) 19-12 is mediocre. That’s not too far from being .500.

Players battle for the puck (From SJSHARKS.com)

That one stretch earlier in the season where they recorded a point in 12 straight games is why the record is what it is.

Reviewing the postgame quotes from last game against St. Louis, coach Todd McClellan was ticked off at his team for allowing that last minute goal. Coaches will say it’s a team loss that encompasses the entire game, but you could tell Todd knew it came down to that last shift. It certainly looked like he sparked something in the players tonight. Good to know they respond well to Todd’s anger.

Also from last game, goalie Evgeni Nabokov mentioned Marc-Edouard Vlasic should have blocked that shot which tied the game up. A little “90210″ in the Sharks locker room? Not so much. Not that big of a deal. Nabby and Vlasic shook it off, and while I know players act like they don’t care all the time, this was an exception.

Maybe I’m spoiled, but losing three of six makes me feel like a New Jersey Nets fan (The Nets started this season 0-18). It’s never fun losing, but losing because of these redonkulous goalies is beyond frustrating. Here’s to turnarounds.

Battle of the Mc’s

Frazer McLaren took on Brian McGratton, but it was too much McGratton for the youngster. He’s officially caught the Jody-Shelley syndrome. There is no cure except to choose more weak combatants. Tread carefully my friend.

So close, yet so far

Before the game Derek Joslin was reassigned to Worcester but then immediately recalled to play. Darn. We were so close to freedom and becoming good again…

Sick Heatley

Heatley is battling flu-like symptoms and was a game-time decision. He played below average. Dion Phaneuf nailed him with a neutral-zone check, and Dany had a bunch of giveaways.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 35  CGY 35; Devin Setoguchi led the team with five.

The Sharks have three days off before facing the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. McClellan better not give anyone the day off.

–Ray

Quite the playoff atmosphere tonight and while the Sharks lost 3-2 in a shootout to the St. Louis Blues, the Sharks deserved to win. Karma is karma, though. The Sharks stole a game in St. Louis earlier this year and the opposite happened this time.

Blues goalie Ty Conklin is insanely lucky. He simply isn’t this good to make the saves he made tonight. All luck. It’s so frustrating to see amazing chances go by the wayside when a sub-par goalie gets confident. This game should have been 6-1 by the third period, and it could have ended 8-1. But nooooooo, Conklin always decides to play well against the Sharks. Prior to the start of the game, he had a 3-2-1 record against San Jose, with a 1.68 goals against average and a .940 save percentage. Crazy numbers. Geez, this guy is annoying.

Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov matched Conklin save for save though. He made a specatcular save with 30 seconds left to keep a 2-1 lead. However, he was unable to stop one more shot with 6.6 seconds left in regulation. That goal tied it at 2-2 sending the game to overtime.

Let’s go back and talk about regulation. What a great game to watch. Both teams played 60 minutes of hockey. No one took any breaks. The Sharks didn’t look sluggish at any point during the game and neither did the Blues. This could very well be a playoff matchup; however, I hope it isn’t because the Blues are like a mosquito to the Sharks.

Dany Heatley scored first from a Joe Thornton pass. He ripped it from a bit inside the blue line and Conklin had no chance.

The Blues got on the board with an awkward, change-up type shot from Jay McClement. Nabby looked like he just saw Ryane Clowe in tights.

Joe Pavelski scored the other Sharks goal in the second period. Douglas Murray took a shot from the point, and Pavs, standing right in front of Conklin, deflected it in.

Joe Pavelski gives Ty Conklin a serving of Wisconsin booty as he scores (From SJSHARKS.com)

That was the only good thing Murray did tonight. He did try hard, but he got burned bad by both T.J. Oshie and David Perron. Two times each. I hope coach Todd McClellan saw that, because Murray needs defensive help. Right now he’s just a pylon taking up space.

The Sharks power play looked outstanding. Unfortunately, they never converted an opportunity. The puck movement was there, passes were quick, decisions were made swiftly and the correct shots were taken. But like I said before, Conklin’s jersey must have had a few thousand four-leaf clovers in it.

This loss is tough to take. I can’t put it any simpler than that. A game-tying goal with 6.6 seconds left, and it was shorthanded — it just sucks. I’m sure the guys are extremely downtrodden in that locker room. Hopefully one of them thinks like me and hopes Conklin never plays against the Sharks again.

I can already hear the postgame quotes now: “Give St. Louis credit,” “You gotta give the Blues credit.” I really don’t want to hear that mess. Just say, “Well that friggin’ blows; that goalie is so lucky.” Stop giving other teams credit.

Shootout

In the shootout, Nabby showed his weakest part of his game – his infamously wide five-hole. Man is that thing big. (Pun intended).

Fight

Right off the bat, Ryane Clowe dropped the gloves with B.J. Crombeen. Mainly a throw-a-whiff affair, Clowe got a few punches to land. Clowe gets the win.

Also, David Backes was being a rat trying to get Heatley to drop the gloves. Heatley didn’t go for it, but Frazer McLaren jumped off the bench and went to beat down Backes. Backes turtled like a true coward, while McLaren got a third-man-in penalty and was thrown out.

Fourth Line

The fourth line of McLaren-Mitchell-Vesce looked really good tonight. Vesce and Mitchell played together down in Worcester and developed some chemistry. I don’t recall any bad mistakes from the line. They always seemed to be on the forecheck wearing the other team down. I hope Vesce stays up.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 23  StL 28; Murray led the team with four.

The Flames come to town on Saturday. It’s the last game before the Sharks begin a streak of 8/10 games against divisional opponents.

–Ray

Quite the fun game tonight as the Sharks defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-2. Dany Heatley played his former team for the first time, as did Milan Michalek and Jonathan Cheechoo.

Things were very spirited in the first period. Those three players definitely tried to make statements to their former clubs, and one was very successful.

Michalek netted two goals, so as far as I’m concerned, only Sharks scored tonight. He looked like a man on a mission to score. He pushed the Sens’ play and forecheck, constantly battled in front of the net. What else can I say? Milan deserved it. Buuuttt, the Sharks are too good.

A fourth man entered the ring to prove something; Patrick Marleau played his 900th game, all with the Sharks, and showed everyone it was a good decision to not trade him after all these years. He scored two goals as well and almost had a third, but lost the puck on a cut-in towards the net.

It was just a fun game to watch. There wasn’t a shortage of effort, maybe lack of intelligence (I think of one player to be named later), but all the players tried hard.

Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau celebrate after Marleau scores (From SJSHARKS.com)

Frazer McLaren dropped the gloves with Matt Carkner in the first to continue the entertainment. Unfortunately, McLaren dropped another decision. It was close after Carkner ended the fight on purpose by dragging Frazer down, but Carkner had more punches land. Frazer needs to start winning some fights soon and not continue this Jody Shelley syndrome.

Both the second and third periods started off considerably slower than the first period; however, things picked up about halfway through each time.

Ryane Clowe came through with a goal after a tough battle between Manny Malhotra and Sens defenders. My tune is slowly starting to change on Manny. He scored an empty netter tonight and has shown some good speed and toughness lately. But I’m not so quick to change my mind on people. Hopefully this stays consistent.

Thomas Greiss manned the net for the Sharks. He hadn’t started in two weeks so coach Todd McClellan gave Evgeni Nabokov the night off. “Jesus” Greiss sure likes to flail. Reminds me of Magikarp from Pokemon. Both Greiss and Magikarp have one move: Flail. Obviously Greiss is more effective at it. He made some spectacular saves to preserve the lead. This backup situation could get juicy next season. After the Sharks decide whether or not to resign Nabby, will they put all their stock in Greiss as the heir apparent? Or will they look further to stud prospects Alex Stalock and Tyson Sexsmith? Who knows, but that’s getting a little ahead of myself.

The Sharks’ top line of Heatley-Thornton-Marleau amassed six points tonight continuing their William-Sherman-March-to-the-Sea trek torching any team in their path.

Douglas Murray

This guy took three penalties in the third period alone. What in the world was he thinking? Maybe he was excited because his grandfather was watching him play for the first time since he was in college. I don’t know, but regardless, this is the kind of thing that gets you in the coach’s doghouse. I mean, almost half of the period was shorthanded because of Murray. Use your friggin’ head, son.

Cheech ‘n’ Seek

Boy has Cheech ever fallen off the radar. He’s a third-liner in Ottawa and has been reduced to scrubbing the poop deck every game. Long gone are the days of him scoring 50 goals. Poor Cheech. Guess you really find out how good Joe Thornton is when the sniper leaves Jumbo’s side.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 21  OTT 18; Scott Nichol (4) and Devin Setoguchi (3) led the team.

Seto and Torrey Mitchell aren’t getting much important action on the fourth line. Torrey received an extra minute compared to last game and Seto’s ice time was decreased. I wonder how much rust these two actually accumulated, because I think we all know these guys are much better than fourth liners. Patience is a virtue I guess. Can’t wait to see them fully recovered.

The Sharks play St. Louis on Thursday.

–Ray

Quite the just-like-old-times performance for the Sharks in their 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks. The Sharks roster finally looked like it should be with a couple exceptions. And with the added aspect of facing former Sharks, Christian Ehrhoff and Steve Bernier, it was a reunion of sorts.

Got to mention the injuries, returns and transactions. Devin Setoguchi and Rob Blake returned to the lineup tonight; Benn Ferriero and Jason Demers were sent down to Worcester because of that. Of course this was Torrey Mitchell’s second game back so he’s still getting used to NHL-level speed.

Jody Shelley and Brad Staubitz are still out with injuries, so Frazer McLaren played on the fourth line. Derek Joslin retained his spot on the defense upon Demers’ reassignment.

OK so the game — a slow back-and-forth game. One team would control for 10 minutes, then things would switch. Vancouver got on the board early in the first and controlled the play. McLaren scored his first NHL goal to tie things up before the first ended. He took a big hit behind the goal-line but stayed on his feet and kept his stick on the ice. Joe Pavelski found him and it was an easy tip-in. Glad to see Frazer add his name to the list of first-time scorers this season; Ferriero, McLaren, Demers, Logan Couture and Ryan Vesce all have scored their first NHL goal so far this season.

The Sharks dominated the second period, outshooting Vancouver 15-4; however, they only managed one goal, which came from Dan Boyle on the power play. It was a cool goal to watch on the replay because you saw how much Boyle moves on the man-advantage. One second he would be up high at the point, five seconds later he was down low. Always keeps his skates moving in a very fluid motion.

Captain Rob Blake made his return against Vancouver (From SJSHARKS.com)

San Jose backed off during the last frame but withstood a fierce Canucks forecheck. The Sharks capitalized on a counterattack, as Manny Malhotra deked — yes deked — goalie Roberto Luongo fairly easily. Thirteen seconds later Jamie McGinn notched his fourth goal of the season after Jed Ortmeyer battled beyond the goal line and sent the puck to the crease.

Let’s go back to the decision to send Demers down to Worcester. Coach Todd McClellan cited bad play in the defensive zone as the reason for the reassignment. Demers and Joslin were battling for the final defenseman spot with Rob Blake returning and T-Mac said Joslin played better over the last 10 games. Demers has definitely not played up to par lately. I think back to last game where Demers attempted a stretch pass only to have it intercepted and turned into an Edmonton goal.

T-Mac said before he likes how Demers takes risks, and now he’s going back on that? I don’t get it. Demers is clearly learning from Boyle how to be an offensive threat and doing a pretty good job at it. He has one goal and 12 assists in 27 games. He’s been one of the league’s most surprising rookies and you choose Joslin over Demers? I’m sorry, but this is a dumb move by T-Mac. Joslin is a joke of a player and isn’t going to amount to anything.

Perhaps it will help Demers not to play with Kent Huskins and actually someone good down in Worcester. Huskins was on the power play tonight again. Stop doing that T-Mac. Just stop. Demers needs to be on the power play and Huskins needs to be sent down. No one will claim him off waivers.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 16  VAN 14; Jamie McGinn (4) and Devin Setoguchi (3) led the team.

The Sharks wrap up November with a 9-2-3 record and are the first team to reach 40 points.

All eyes will be on San Jose on Tuesday when the Sharks battle the Ottawa Senators. Dany Heatley versus his ex-girlfriend. Should be good.

–Ray

Quite the come on Sharks performance in their 5-4 shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers. After the 7-2 debacle last game against Chicago, I expected a bit more effort tonight, but alas, this is San Jose. Effort is harder to come by than a 2012 convention at your local church.

Patrick Marleau scored a hat trick with Joe Thornton as the set-up man on all 3. And every goal of Patty’s looked similar. All involved Joe being at or behind the goal line and throwing the puck to Patty in front of the net. Easy pickings for Marleau, who also tallied an assist later for a four-point night.

Ryane Clowe was the other goal scorer. He and Joe Pavelski camped out in front of the net, and Clowe pocketed the rebound.

Not many Sharks showed up tonight, unfortunately. And since all my angry emotions are drained from the Chicago game, I won’t be going off on them as much.

Please tell me why you wouldn’t play as hard as you could after a crappy performance. Your manhood was tested and you come back tonight with another ball-less act. You’re making a joke of yourselves. This should have been a blowout. Edmonton is destined for the NHL cellar and you guys needed a shootout to beat them? Really now?

I’ve avoided the Todd McClellan criticism, but this goes on him. I still don’t know what he’s like in the locker room, but if he doesn’t yell, that needs to change. This was inexcusable.

Joe Pavelski fights for position (From SJSHARKS.com)

OK, I’m really tired of talking about defensive letdowns but tonight it was as blatant as ever. One Edmonton goal came when Dan Boyle tried to bring the puck into the Oilers’ zone and was pickpocketed. A breakaway later, the Oilers were on the board. Another time, Jason Demers attempted a stretch pass, which was promptly intercepted. An offensive breakout later, another Oiler goal.

I guess I should just accept these kinds of things because that’s what Boyle and Demers do — try to create offense — but it’s just so annoying seeing it EVERY SINGLE GAME.

Tell Me Why

Kent Huskins and Derek Joslin were on the ice in overtime for a 3 on 3 situation. For the love of all that is holy, give me one good reason why those two have any business being out there.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 16  EDM 22; Douglas Murray and Ryane Clowe led with 3 each.

Torrey Mitchell returned to the lineup for the first time this millenium; however, we didn’t get to see much from him. He accumulated 6:25 of ice time with one shot.

The Sharks play Vancouver on Sunday.

–Ray

By Cara Sulieman

IT HAS been a popular playground game for generations, but children in one Scottish school have been banned from playing British Bulldogs on “health and safety grounds”.

Pupils at Edinburgh’s Firrhill High School have been told not to play the game, along with other “physical” pastimes such as wrestling.

The game involves kids running across the field and trying to break through a human chain formed by the other team.

It has had a revival in recent years as schoolchildren are encouraged to be more active in the playground – but has been banned in schools across the country.

“Not allowed”

And a series of minor injuries caused by playing the game at Firrhill has led to the acting senior depute Nick McClellan telling the kids not to play it during school hours.

A note in the daily bulletin message to pupils on the school’s website reads: “Please note that taking part in physical games such as wrestling or British Bulldogs is not allowed in the school grounds at breaks and lunchtimes.

“On health and safety grounds there is a significant risk of injury to pupils and these types of games are therefore unacceptable in school.”

Just last year, the Local Government Association (LGA) – which represents councils in England and Wales – called for the game to be reintroduced, saying schools needed to strike a balance between health and safety and getting the kids active.

But the move has support from local councillors, who say the game is “not appropriate”.

Councillor Jeremy Balfour said: “If schools can’t provide the necessary supervision, it’s probably a game that is not appropriate for kids at break times.”

“Don’t get out of hand”

Other councillors are calling for the school to life the ban, saying risk is “part of growing up”.

Councillor Alison Johnstone said: “This is a game that I played when I was at school and the fact that it’s still going strong shows it does have a real appeal.

“Clearly we have to take health and safety considerations into account but we have to be a lot more imaginative and can’t simply ban anything that has a bit of risk attached to it, as that’s part of growing up.”

A spokesman for Edinburgh City Council said: “We don’t have a central policy on activity in playgrounds.

“The school doesn’t want to see children wrestling or running into each other and getting hurt. They are simply trying to ensure things don’t get out of hand.”

See more of our pictures at our Flickr site and videos at our dedicated channel,  Deadline TV.

DISCLAIMER: Minor language. Proceed with caution.

Quite the piss poor, I-feel-like-disowning-you “performance” by the Sharks in their 7-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Sharks should have just stayed home in their cribs and choked on their pacifiers rather than “play” tonight.

Joe Thornton: Hey guys, let’s step on the ice.

*SILENCE*

Team: …and do what Jumbo? Are you going to finish that thought?

Thornton: Ya know, step on the ice and succeed with good ol’ fashioned California chillin’.

Team: OMFG, you iz brilliant Jumbo! Why didnt us think of that?! LOLZ.

Give me a damn break. This was disgusting. Absolutely putrid. Um, helllllooooo? Um, hi? You little children play professional hockey. Sounds kinda cool when you think about it. How about you actually play the game. And try. Just try.

What the hell happened during this long layoff to make the Sharks play like a beer league team? They allowed three, THREE shorthanded goals. Two of them were on the same power play!

Nobody wanted to play, everyone played with jocks on their heads. Turnover after turnover, fail after fail. If there was any doubt left about our defense, those were put to rest. From now on, if anyone tells you the Sharks defense is good, go ahead and tell them to remove their secret Ducks jersey or to go watch the NBA.

What a joke. Jason Demers played his worst game of his career. Dan Boyle felt like playing with an injured foot because this was a big game. He did end up scoring very late in the game, but it’s refreshing to know he waited 56 minutes to do something with his life. He finished with a -4 rating.

Also joining Pimple — I mean Boyle — with a -4 rating were Thornton and Dany Heatley. For all the great stuff they’ve done recently, this game shat all over it. Good gracious, it was atrocious. They must be stunned to know you have to play defense too. What a concept!

Manny Malhotra does his best pylon impression (From NHL.com)

With five minutes left to go in the second period, the shots were 26-7 Chicago. What in the blue hell is that about? Seven shots after 35 minutes? I could get eight shots on net by doing cartwheels the whole time.

At that time it was 4-0 and after the fourth, Ryane Clowe took it upon his messed-up-nose self to take a penalty. Brilliant. What a smart hockey player. Take a penalty and you show those bad guys you can beat them even with a man down. Ryane Clown. Blow me up a balloon while you make a joke of yourself.

Let’s go ahead and give credit to Chicago. They came in with an exceptional gameplan and their coach Joel Quenneville and perfected it. Sharks coach Todd McClellan was lost in the Tao of Joel’s stache.

This is the Blackhawks’ eighth win in a row and they’re no signs of slowing down.

LOL WUT?

Frazer McLaren managed a +1 for the Sharks. Ha ha ha ha.

AHL

Five AHL players were in the lineup: Jamie McGinn, Benn Ferriero, McLaren, Steven Zalewski and Derek Joslin. Certainly looked like Worcester was playing.

Kent friggin’ Huskins…

…was on the power play. Yes. On the power play and caused the turnover that led to a Chicago goal. Don’t EVER put that guy on the PP again.

Optimism Corner

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 26  CHI 17

Faceoff Percentage: SJ 56%  CHI 44%

The game ended.

Other Dreadful Notes

The Sharks’ injuries are plaguing them so badly now. Rob Blake, Devin Setoguchi, Jody Shelley, Brad Staubitz, Torrey Mitchell need to come back.

Per NHL rules, the Sharks are required to play again. They play Edmonton in Edmonton, Friday.

–Ray

A Milestone in the Health Care Journey

by Ronald Brownstein

When I reached Jonathan Gruber on Thursday, he was working his way, page by laborious page, through the mammoth health care bill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had unveiled just a few hours earlier. Gruber is a leading health economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is consulted by politicians in both parties. He was one of almost two dozen top economists who sent President Obama a letter earlier this month insisting that reform won’t succeed unless it “bends the curve” in the long-term growth of health care costs. And, on that front, Gruber likes what he sees in the Reid proposal. Actually he likes it a lot.

“I’m sort of a known skeptic on this stuff,” Gruber told me. “My summary is it’s really hard to figure out how to bend the cost curve, but I can’t think of a thing to try that they didn’t try. They really make the best effort anyone has ever made. Everything is in here….I can’t think of anything I’d do that they are not doing in the bill. You couldn’t have done better than they are doing.”

Gruber may be especially effusive. But the Senate blueprint, which faces its first votes tonight, also is winning praise from other leading health reformers like Mark McClellan, the former director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services under George W. Bush and Len Nichols, health policy director at the centrist New America Foundation. “The bottom line,” Nichols says, “is the legislation is sending a signal that business as usual [in the medical system] is going to end.”

Both the Senate bill’s priority on controlling long-term health care costs, and its strategy for doing so, represents a validation for Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-MT). When Baucus released his health reform proposal last September, after finally terminating months of fruitless negotiations with committee Republicans, Democratic liberals excoriated his plan as a dead end. And on several important fronts–such as subsidies for the uninsured, the role of a public competitor to private insurance companies, and the contribution required from employers who don’t insure their workers–Reid moved his product away from Baucus toward approaches preferred by liberals.

But the Reid bill’s fiscal strategy, and its vision of how to “bend the curve,” almost completely follows Baucus’ path from September. Baucus’ bill was the first to establish the principle that Congress could expand coverage while reducing the federal deficit; now that’s the standard not only for the Senate but also the House reform legislation. And, perhaps even more importantly, the Reid bill maintains virtually all of Baucus ideas’ for shifting the medical payment system away from today’s fee-for-service model toward an approach that more closely links compensation for providers to results for patients. In the Reid bill, there is some backtracking from Baucus’ most aggressive reform proposals, but not much.

Almost everything Baucus proposed to control long-term costs have survived into the final bill. And, with only a few exceptions, that’s just about all the systemic reforms analysts from the center to the left have identified as the most promising strategies for changing the economic incentives in the medical system. (The public competitor to private insurance companies championed by the Left would affect who writes the checks in the medical system, but not what the checks are written to pay for.) Most of the other big ideas for controlling costs (such as medical malpractice reform) tend to draw support primarily among Republicans. And since virtually, if not literally, none of them plan to support the final health care bill under any circumstances, the package isn’t likely to reflect much of their thinking.

In their November 17 letter to Obama, the group of economists led by Dr. Alan Garber of Stanford University, identified four pillars of fiscally-responsible health care reform. They maintained that the bill needed to include a tax on high-end “Cadillac” insurance plans; to pursue “aggressive” tests of payment reforms that will “provide incentives for physicians and hospitals to focus on quality” and provide “care that is better coordinated”; and establish an independent Medicare commission that can continuously develop and implement “new efforts to improve quality and contain costs.” Finally, they said the Congressional Budget Office “must project the bill to be at least deficit neutral over the 10-year budget window and deficit reducing thereafter.”

As OMB Director Peter Orszag noted in an interview, the Reid bill met all those tests. The CBO projected that the bill would reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion over its first decade and by as much as $650 billion in its second. (Conservatives, of course, consider those projections unrealistic, but CBO is the only umpire in the game, and Republicans have been happy to trumpet its analyses critical of the Democratic plans.)  “Let’s use the metric of that letter,” said Orszag, who helped shape the health reform debate for years from his earlier posts at CBO and the Brookings Institution. “Deficit neutral; got that. Deficit-reducing second decade, got that. Excise tax: That was retained. Third is the Medicare commission: has that. Fourth is delivery system reforms, bundling payments, hospital acquired infections, readmission rates. It has that. If you go down the checklist of what they said was necessary for a fiscally responsible bill that will move us towards the health care system of the future, this passes the bar.”

McClellan, the former Bush official and current director of the Engleberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, was one of the economists who signed the November letter. McClellan has some very practical ideas for improving the Reid bill (more on those below), but generally he echoes Orszag’s assessment of it. “It has got all four of those elements in it,” McClellan said in an interview. “They kept a lot of the key elements of the Finance bill that I like. It would be good if more could be done, but this is the right direction to go.”

Reid gave ground on one Baucus proposal that the economists identified as a priority-taxing high-end insurance plans. Like many health reformers, the economists who wrote Obama argue that such a tax “will help curtail the growth of private health insurance premiums by creating incentives to limit the costs of plans to a tax-free amount.” Amid intense opposition from unions, Reid raised the thresholds at which family plans would face that excise tax from $21,000 to $23,000. But given all the pressure from labor, the more striking thing may have been that Reid didn’t increase the thresholds even more; the CBO calculated the proposal, which the House excluded from its bill, would still raise $35 billion annually by 2019. “They held pretty strong,” said one administration health care expert. “It’s not like unions haven’t been making the case that it shouldn’t have been a much higher number.”

On delivery reform, Reid stayed even closer to the Baucus blueprint. The Finance bill laid out a series of measures to change the way providers are paid for delivering care to Medicare recipients; the hope was that once Medicare instituted these reforms, private insurers would also adopt many of them. “The goal here is that the things we do in Medicare will translate over into the private sector, and there is quite a bit of historical precedence for that,” said one Democratic aide involved in drafting the package.

The Baucus delivery reform ideas revolved around two central aims. One was to reward Medicare providers who deliver care more efficiently and penalize those that don’t. The Reid bill upholds the major proposals Baucus offered to advance that goal. For instance, hospitals under current law must report on their performance in treating patients for common conditions like heart problems and pneumonia; under the bill, their Medicare payments, for the first time, would be affected by their ranking on those reports. Hospitals would also be penalized if they readmit too many patients after surgery or allow too many to acquire infections while in the hospital itself. Another provision would begin the process of applying such “value-based purchasing” toward other providers like hospice providers and inpatient rehabilitation facilities.

With physicians, the Reid plan takes a step back from the Finance Committee bill but still a long step beyond current law. The Finance Bill proposed automatic reimbursement reductions for doctors who order up the most care for Medicare recipients with similar medical and demographic characteristics. That was meant to respond to the research showing big disparities in spending on medical services for similarly-situated patients in different communities. But, Democratic sources say, that proposal ran into charges that it would promote rationing-and even function as “a death panel by proxy”-by compelling doctors to arbitrarily reduce care. So the final bill takes a less direct route toward a similar end. It requires Medicare to begin studying the utilization patterns of doctors participating in the program. And then it establishes a “values based payment modifier” that would, in a budget-neutral manner, increase reimbursements for physicians found to deliver high-quality care at lower cost, and reduce them for physicians at the other end of that spectrum. “It will, we believe, have the same net effect [as the original proposal],” said the Democratic aide. “It should change behavior around that threshold.”

The other set of Baucus proposals were intended to promote more coordination among providers. These have survived almost verbatim into the final bill. The bill encourages groups of providers to establish doctor-led “accountable care organizations” to more comprehensively manage patients’ care by allowing them to share in any savings for Medicare they produce. It also establishes a voluntary national pilot of “bundled” payments that would encourage hospitals, doctors and other providers to work more closely together. Another pilot program would test coordinated home-based care for chronically ill seniors.

Finally, the Reid bill maintains the two powerful institutions the Finance legislation proposed to promote these reforms and develop new ones. The one that’s attracted the most attention is an independent “Medicare Advisory Board.” Under the Senate bill, that board would be required to offer cost-saving proposals when Medicare spending rises too fast; Congress could not reject its proposals without substituting equivalent savings. Since the board would be prohibited from offering changes that raise taxes or “ration care,” and since the legislation initially exempts hospitals from its recommendations, it could choose to promote the sort of payment reforms the bill establishes. (More prosaically it might also clear away some of the expensive coverage mandates that Congress imposes on Medicare under pressure from different elements of the medical industry). Given the limitations imposed on the commission, an equally important means to expand these reforms might be a second institution the legislation creates: a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation in the Health and Human Services Department. Though this center has received much less attention than the Medicare Commission, it could have a comparable effect. It would receive $1 billion annually to test payment reforms; in a little known provision, the bill authorizes the HHS Secretary to implement nationwide, without any congressional action, any reform that department actuaries certify will reduce long-term spending. While the House bill omitted the Medicare Commission (a top priority for Obama) it included the innovation center.

No one can say for certain that these initiatives will improve efficiency enough to slow the growth in health care spending. Some are only pilots; others would affect only a small portion of providers’ revenue from Medicare. CBO typically evaluates them skeptically: it generally scores little or no savings from most of them. Former CBO director Robert Reischauer, who signed the November 17 letter, says that’s not surprising. “CBO is there to score savings for which we have a high degree of confidence that they will materialize,” says Reischauer, now president of the Urban Institute. “There are many promising approaches [in these reform ideas] but you…can’t deposit them in the bank.” In the long run, Reischauer says, it’s likely “that maybe half of them, or a third of them, will prove to be successful. But that would be very important.”

While generally supportive of Reid’s approach, McClellan, the former Medicare administrator under Bush, offered several specific ideas for strengthening it. He says the Senate should improve the capacity of HHS to more quickly evaluate whether the payment reforms are working, and also to provide data and technical assistance to new physician groups like the accountable care organizations that will be attempting to better coordinate care. “Ideally you’d both be able to tell the organizations involved and Congress what is working or not, and give the organizations the feedback and data they need to know whether they are doing a good job,” he says. McClellan also believes that the plan needs sharper sticks-tougher penalties on providers who don’t provide efficient and effective care. “There are a lot of carrots and not so many sticks,” he maintains. Of course, tougher penalties might provoke more opposition from provider groups like hospitals and physicians now tenuously supporting the legislation.
[[McClellan stands at the forefront of centrist Republican thinking on health. Even the more ideologically conservative health care thinkers to his right generally don’t oppose long-term reform ideas like bundling payments (John McCain promoted that during his presidential campaign). But they tend to view them as insufficient or tangential to the real problem. Their view highlights a fundamental difference between the parties’ on health care. To save costs, Democrats mostly want to change the incentives for providers. Republicans mostly want to change the incentives for patients by shifting toward a model where insurance covers only catastrophic expenses and people pay for more routine care from tax-favored health savings accounts. In essence, the Republican view is that the best way to hold down long-term costs is to directly expose patients to more of them. Few Democrats accept that logic though and it has little influence on either chamber’s legislation.

Another Republican cost-containment priority missing from the bill is meaningful medical malpractice reform. (The bill only encourages states to think about it.) Nichols, of the centrist New America Foundation, would like to see that included as well. Its omission is one reason he says he gives the plan a “b” rather than an “a”; the other is he’d like to see mechanisms to more quickly diffuse into the private insurance system reforms that show promise in Medicare. Democratic sources say a group of centrist Democrats led by Virginia Senator Mark Warner is trying to devise a package designed to do just that, perhaps by expanding the role of the independent Medicare advisory commission.

The attempt in all these ideas to nudge the medical system away from fee-for-service medicine toward an approach that ties compensation more closely to results captures how much the health care debate has shifted toward cost-control. So far, the rise in health care spending has proven almost invulnerable to every previous attempt to tame it, like the managed care revolution in the 1990s. Even if Obama signs into law a final bill embodying all these reform proposals, many skeptics wonder if they can bend, much less break, the seemingly inexorable increase in health care spending. Reischauer understands that skepticism, but isn’t able to entirely suppress a kernel of optimism that this latest reform agenda may prove more effective than its predecessors. “One never knows whether we’re turning the corner or if this is just playing the same old game for another inning,” he says. “But I sense there’s something different out there. I think the medical profession and its leaders have read the handwriting on the wall and are trying to evolve.” If so, the ideas the Senate will begin voting on tonight could mark a milestone in that journey.

Quite the methodical win for the Sharks as they defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-2. The Sharks are two-for-two against Anaheim this season, and while this game wasn’t as dominating as the first, the result was the same: a win. Also remember this is the second time San Jose beat Anaheim at Anaheim.

It was KISS night in Anaheim. I can’t think of a stupider promotion. I was forcefed two makeup artists during the Ducks broadcast. I will say the makeup was more fun to look at than listening to the commentators.

There wasn’t anything flashy about this game; it was all hard work and determination. Both teams made mistakes — of course a few Sharks giveaways in their own zone stick out to me. But I’ve come to expect that, unfortunately, from the Sharks.

Douglas Murray was bad tonight. Don’t let the +1 rating fool you. He had so many giveaways and positioning errors — one of them led directly to a goal ten seconds later. He also took a penalty late in the second period, and the Ducks converted 11 seconds later. Dan Boyle was just a step behind tonight and couldn’t cover for Murray’s mistakes.

Frazer McLaren and George Parros get busy. (From SJSHARKS.com)

Things were frisky early with a quick fight out of the gates: Frazer McLaren vs. George Parros. Frazer won the first half of the fight, and Parros won the second half. Draw. Good to see Frazer making an impact with such a minute amount of ice time.

It looked to be another boring, close game after a scoreless first period. But the red lights were tiring out from four goals in the second. Ryane Clowe got on the board with a shot from the point. It’s his second straight goal from the point. Not the place you usually see him scoring from, but hey, whatever works.

Dany Heatley scored to keep his title of goal-scoring leader (18). It came off a Joe Thornton shot and rebound. I don’t think Anaheim was expecting Joe to shoot after his passes last game. That’s probably why the play worked.

But Anaheim hung in there, leaving the second period tied at 2-2.

The third period resembled the first, and I started getting deja vu; the game looked a lot like the playoff series between these two from last year. The difference? The Sharks were the ones who willed a goal out of themselves. Heater played passer and found Thornton coming up the side. Jumbo pocketed the puck perfectly to the far side to put the Sharks up for good.

People questioned coach Todd McClellan’s move to keep Evgeni Nabokov in goal for back-to-back games. He didn’t look as sharp as he usually does, but he was competent enough to earn the W. He’ll get a long rest because the Sharks won’t play again until Wednesday.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 20  ANA 19; Scott Nichol (4) and Joe Thornton (3) led the team.

Every Sharks player who was on the ice for an Anaheim goal redeemed themselves; No Shark had a negative +/-.

The Sharks battle the Blackhawks, Wednesday at HP Pavilion.

–Ray

Quite the suhweeeet performance by the Sharks in their 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Sharks withstood the punches and counterpunches, both figuratively and literally, and sealed the win.

The man of the match was Dany Heatley who notched his ninth career hat trick and second with the Sharks. Winning co-man of the match was Joe Thornton who received the primary assist on all three Heater goals and added a fourth assist.

It was just an unbelievable game all around. The Flyers haven’t beaten the Sharks since 2000, but the games are always entertaining. They bring out the best in both teams, and I hope this is a Stanley Cup Finals preview.

Everything for the Sharks worked tonight: the even strength forecheck, the power play, the penalty kill. All exceptional. Well, I may be wrong about everything working. The defensive zone giveaways were enough to give fans and coach Todd McClellan migraines. If it weren’t for those, it would be a 6-0 victory.

Philly sure didn’t like Sharks ice. They saw it as a slip-and-slide, with public enemy #1 Chris Pronger as the main slip-and-slider. One of his slips ended up being a Heater goal. It really was home-ice advantage tonight.

Heatley’s hat trick was the EPS Trifecta (trademark pending). Even strength, power play and shorthanded goals. Two were carbon-copies. Joe would receive the puck in what looked like a perfect shooting opportunity, but it he would stop right to the side of the crease, wait, wait, wait for the defenseman to make a move, then BAM! Pass to Heater’s stick and it’s as easy as an Ovechkin toothless smile.

Dany Heatley notched his second hat trick as a Shark (From SJSHARKS.com)

San Jose now has its top two lines set in stone for at least the next month. McClellan saw some great play between Heatley-Thornton-Marleau last game and decided to start them tonight. That choice proved epic as every time they took the ice, something good happened. Remember when everyone shook in fear from the Marleau-Thornton-Cheechoo line? Multiply that by 10,000.

The second line was Malhotra-Pavelski-Clowe and they meshed talent with will. This line will probably be broken up since Devin Setoguchi will come back from injury. Move Clowe to left wing and put Seto on the right. While Malhotra did net a goal tonight, he also netted a goal for the Flyers; for some reason he tried to handle the puck in the crease during a scramble, and instead of just knocking it out, he thought it best to backhand it first — bad idea.

The Sharks still haven’t lost in regulation at home either. Oh, how sweet the confines of HP Pavillion are.

Friday Night Fights

Frazer McLaren, up from Worcester took on Daniel Carcillo and McMan-handled him. I this kid is better than Staubitz and should get a few more looks. And he will because Staubitz is out for a couple weeks with an injury. I wish it were under better circumstances, but whatever the situation, cease your opportunity F-Mac.

Wait…Who? And he’s fighting who?

That’s right, my friends. Marc-Edouard Vlasic showed a nasty side tonight. Don’t know if someone stole this pickles from the pickle jar, but he was angry tonight. He dropped the gloves for the first time in his career with Daniel Briere and earned the win. Vlasic was the only one to throw a punch, and he also took Briere down. Vlasic also was featured in some scrums. I really hope this continues; I don’t want another Thornton situation where a guy plays better angry, but chooses to be angry once every leap year.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 25  PHI 26; Jed Ortmeyer (6) and Douglas Murray (5) led the team.

With the amazing play of the top two lines, the fourth line saw as much action as a young Bill Gates. McLaren played for two minutes, Benn Ferriero played four and Logan Couture played six. That’s fine with me if I can get first-line production like this every game.

The Sharks travel to Anaheim to face the Ducks. In their first meeting, the second game of the Sharks’ season, San Jose pummeled Anaheim 4-1.

–Ray

Quite the disheartening performance by the Sharks in their 3-2 shootout loss against the Dallas Stars. The Sharks looked to be on the road to victory until they broke out their trademark lazy third period performance. I’m sensing a trend, and coach Todd McClellan better address it quick.

Dany Heatley and Ryane Clowe were the goal scorers tonight. Heatley scored on a behind-the-net feed from Joe Pavelski, while Clowe scored on a wrister from the point. That’s about all the offense there is to report.

The game was all about the goalies. Dallas goalie Marty Turco is probably the luckiest man on earth. He had no right making some of the saves he did. It’s so frustrating to see a goalie beat so many times, yet fling his arms or stick out and make a save. I don’t think that’s skill at all. I can only imagine what it felt like to the Sharks players.

Ryane Clowe screens Marty Turco (From SJSHARKS.com)

Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov matched Turco’s saves to keep the game tight. One of the Stars’ goals was a wacky deflection that Nabby had zero chance in getting. Unfortunately, that goal came back to haunt the Sharks.

Enough about the Stars’ luck, though, this third-period collapse trend is scary. I think it was a couple years back in one of Ron Wilson’s last years, if not his last year as Sharks coach, where they could never hold onto leads well. They also got complacent and lazy, and it’s coming up again. I realize I’m not a professional hockey player, but come on. Don’t you want to beat every team 10-0 every night? Why do you want to take shifts off and not try? Please tell me.

This is a rivalry game. Pummel your opponent.

Pacific Division games are boring, I must admit. I don’t know if every fan feels this way about their teams’ division games, but they put me to sleep. Playing Los Angeles, Phoenix and Dallas is so lackluster. Anaheim is better, but I don’t feel any intensity. Maybe some of the Sharks feel that, I don’t know.

Why did Ryan Vesce only play five minutes in this game? He looks healthy and he was on that point streak before he got injured. Give him more ice time. He deserves it, and he’s earned it.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 33  DAL 26; Douglas Murray had six hits. Jed Ortmeyer had five.

The Sharks earn another point by getting into a shootout to extend their point-streak to 10 games.

All five games the Sharks have played past regulation have gone to shootouts. They’re 2-3 in those games.

Next game is Saturday at St. Louis.

–Ray

MC300-MS5 York-Sunbury Historical Society Collection
Description (page 106)

If you are interested in any of these files then please contact the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.

“Charles Sidney Burpee was born in Sheffield, Sunbury County, New Brunswick, on June 18, 1817, the son of Jeremiah Burpee and Elizabeth Stickney.  He was educated at the common school in Sheffield, and eventually became a farmer.  He was married twice: first to Mary Perley and then to Charlotte H. Perley.

He unsuccessfully contested the Sunbury County seat for the House of Assembly in 1854.  In 1867, he was elected to the House of Commons as a member of the Liberal Party for Sunbury County. He was re-elected in 1872, 1874, 1878, and 1882.  At the General Election of 1887, he was defeated and retired from active politics.  In 1900, Burpe was made a member of the Senate of Canada, and sat until his resignation to become Commissioner to the Paris Exposition.  Burpee died November 29, 1909, at Sheffield.  He was survived by two sons.

The Burpee Papers, which date from 1814 to 1949, are largely made up of Charles Burpee’s correspondence in which political discussions play a major role.  A great deal of information on Sunbury County matters and personalities can also be found in the letters.  Material, which is not correspondence, is found at the end of the collection, and includes legal papers, notes for speeches, and general information on the Burpee family.  The series measures 13 centimeters.”

1 Letter from Mary Ann Rideout to her Uncle [?] on familial matters; [no place], October 28, 182[7].

2 Letter from T.W. Anglin to Charles Burpee discussing temperance and prohibition in their political ramifications; Saint John, February 18, 1856.

3 Letter from W.E. Perley to Charles Burpee commenting on the close election in his parish mentioning Mr. Pennington (free-will Baptist Minister), Glazier, Tapley, John Farris, Lunt, Plummer, James Hamilton, and the Orangemen; Blissville, June 16, 1861.

4 Letter from Charles Perley to Charles Burpee discussing the prospects of union mentioning Tupper and Charles Young; Woodstock, April 3, 1862.

5 Letter from R. Hoben to C. Burpee discussing the activities of the “Perley Party” mentioning Duncan Glazier, and others; Burton, March 21, 1868.

6 Letter from Moses H. Cobourne to Charles Burpee mentioning several political matters and some items of news from New Brunswick; Little River, March 23, 1868.

7 Letter from William Mowat to Charles Burpee asking about the Tariff bill and that a post office be established at the North Forks of Salmon Creek; Northfield, March 25, 1868.

8 Letter from John Glazier to Charles Burpee on his departure for Ottawa reflecting on Hoben and D. Morrow in a future election; Saint John, March 25, 1868.

9 Letter from R. L. Babbitt to Charles Burpee discussing the situation in the party caused by John Glazier’s appointment to the Senate. He mentions a possible party-split over who should be offered for election. He also comments on the Civil Service Act and the debate over the coming railway; Gagetown, April 1, 1868.

10 Letter from R. Hoben to Charles Burpee discussing Glazier’s appointment, and the railroad route in New Brunswick; Burton, April 2, 1868.

11 Letter from R. Hoben to Charles Burpee discussing Glazier’s position, A. Harrison’s stand, and the railroad route; Burton, April 7, 1868.

12 Letter from George Hoben to Charles Burpee asking for a position on the railroad survey or as a commissioner; April 13, 1868.

13 Letter from R.L. Babbitt to Charles Burpee expressing his views on the role of the Dominion Government with respect to pre-Confederation matters, the Repeal Movement, the railroad route, and the reaction to D’Arcy McGee’s death; April 13, 1868.

14 Letter from Amos Stickney to his cousin, Charles Burpee, inviting him to visit; Port Ryerse, P.Q., April 13, 1868.

15 Letter from R. Hoben to Charles Burpee discussing the Militia Law, the reaction to McGee’s death, the opinion of a Fenian, and some mundane matters; Burton, April 14, 1868.

16 Letter from C.B. Barker to Charles Burpee giving news from home, and discussing McGee’s death and the Fenians; Sheffield, April 20, 1868.

17 Letter from R.L. Babbitt to Charles Burpee discussing reasonable expenditures, the effect the railroad route has on public opinion of the Union, Glazier’s procrastination, and the militia Bill; Gagetown, April 23, 1868.

18 Letter from Nathaniel Hubbard to Charles Burpee commenting on Tilley’s unpopularity, McGee’s death, the railroad route, and the affinity of himself with Charles Burpee and R. Hoben; Burton, April 24, 1868.

19 Letter from R. Hoben to Charles Burpee sending news from home and discussing Glazier and the railroad route; Burton, April 24, 1868.

20 Letter from J. & J. Burpee Co. to Charles Burpee commenting on the free tariff in pig iron; Saint John, April 29, 1868.

21 Letter from R.L. Babbitt to Charles Burpee commenting on the constitutionality of some of the Dominion Governments actions; Gagetown, May 2, 1868.

22 Letter from Francis Collins to Charles Burpee commenting on the free tariff on pig iron; Saint John, May 3, 1868.

23 Letter from R. Hoben to Charles Burpee asking for the position of fishery warden mentioning Glazier, Perley, George Estabrooks; and commenting on the road money for Sheffield mentioning Moses Cobourne, John Townsend, Charles Upton and Samuel Ferguson; and on their candidate in the next election, mentioning George Morrow, John Glazier and others; [Burton], May 4, 1868.

24 Note from P. Mitchell to Charles Burpee suggesting Burpee vote with the Resolution for Fortification; [House of] Commons, May 7, 1868.

25 Letter from John Glazier to Charles Burpee telling him that Perley has been offered the Surveyor-General’s Office and commenting on the political ramifications of the fact mentioning Arch. Harrison and the next election; Lincoln, February 12, 1869.

26 Letter from Charles Burpee to Sidney and Tommy Burpee, his sons on familial matters; Ottawa, May 4, 1869.

27 Letter from Charles Burpee to his sons discussing familial matters; Ottawa, May 11, 1869.

28 Letter from Charles Burpee to his sons discussing familial matters; Ottawa, May 18, 1869.

29 Letter from Charles Burpee to his sons on familial matters and mentioning working long hours; Ottawa, May 29, 1869.

30 Letter from J.C. Burpee to Charles Burpee asking for mail service extension to “my place”; Chipman, November 28, 1870.

31 Letter from Charles Burpee to Tommy, his son, on familial matters; Ottawa, April 2, 1871.

32 Letter from Charles Burpee to Tommy, his son, on familial matters; Ottawa, April 22, 1872.

33 Letter from Charles Burpee to Sidney, his son, on familial matters; Ottawa, April 24, 1872.

34 Letter from E.R. Burpee to his uncle, Charles Burpee, questioning Charles Burpee’s lack of support for Tilley and his government; Fredericton, March 6, 1873.

35 Letter from R. Hoben to Charles Burpee discussing the political climate in New Brunswick and his philosophy of individual responsibility within the political system; Burton, May 12, 1873.

36 Letter from M.C. Cameron to Charles Burpee discussing the Liberal Party’s victory in the election (mentioning Cartwright, Sir John A. MacDonald, Scott and others); and the possible political future of the Party; Gooluch, Ont., December 1, 1873.

37 Letter from M.C. Cameron to Charles Burpee commenting on the overwhelming defeat of the Tories with some candid mention of those who were defeated or elected including Blake, McAdam, Palmer, Domville, and Jim McDonald; Gooluch, Ont., February 10, 1874.

38 Letter from R. Hoben to Charles Burpee discussing the impact of the MacKenzie victory on New Brunswick and matters of local politics; Burton, April 6, 1874.

39 Letter from A.H. Gilmour, Jr. to Charles Burpee mentioning McAdam’s intention to carry on the law suit, the crusade of the Tilley Party against the McKenzie Government, the vote on the Riel Question, and the proposed treaty in trade; St. George, July 29, 1874.

40 Letter from M.C. Cameron to Charles Burpee discussing his own political situation, and the trade treaty; Gooluch, August 20, 1874.

41 Letter from Henry F. Perley to Charles Burpee enclosing a list of the tenders [missing] and discussing the cost of the dam at Oromocto; Saint John, November 3, 1877.

42 Letter from D.D. Glazier & Sons to Charles Burpee asking him to forward to the proper department their expenses incurred in clearing an obstruction from the Oromocto river; Fredericton, February 14, 1878.

43 Note from Henry F. Perley, Department of Public Works, to Charles Burpee regarding Glazier & Sons note [see 5/42]; Ottawa; February 20, 1878.

44 Letter from C.L.B. Miles to Charles Burpee seeking Burpee’s aid in getting a position as engineer on “some good road”; Maugerville, February 22, 1878.

45 Letter from C.B. Lockhard to Charles Burpee asking for a $500 loan; Blissville, February 23, 1878.

46 Letter from Samuel Nevers to Charles Burpee asking to have the lighthouse position occasioned by the death of James K. Hazen; Burton, February 16, 1878.

47 Letter from E.R. Burpee to his uncle, Charles Burpee, discussing people and politics at home mentioning John Boyd, Armstrong, Kurr, Hepworth, Gibson, O’Leary, Howard McLeod, Tilley, and others; Fredericton, February 28, 1878.

48 Letter from C.B. Harrison to his uncle, Charles Burpee, discussing the applications for the lighthouse and the prospects for the next election mentioning Gerhardus K. Clowes, Brennan, McLean, Currie, Perley, Covert, and Sterling; Maugerville, March 1, 1878.

49 Letter from D.S. Duplisea, Post-Master at Tracey Station, to Charles Burpee asking him to help settle a postal matter relating to commission on stamps; Tracey Station, March 1, 1878.

50 Letter from A.S. Randall to Charles Burpee bearing news from home mentioning William Porter and Thomas P. Taylor and asking Burpee to get him an increase for keeping the post office; Lakeville Corner, March 4, 1878.

51 Letter from Hanford Brown to Charles Burpee sending a good deal of political news from home mentioning the Perley Party, Dell Perley, Covert, William Deveber, Hamilton, Calvin Tapley, Launchlan McLean, G.S. Brown, Charles Clowes, Captain Alexander, Brennan, Terry McAlroy, and others; Maugerville, March 4, 1878.

53 Letter from Hanford Brown to Charles Burpee concentrating on the political alignments in the county, mentioning Thomas Sterling, George Brown, the Dykemans, Dell Perley, Mrs. Hazen, and others; Maugerville, March 5, 1878.

54 Letter from A.S. Rileigh giving details on the political alignments in the County mentioning Covert, W.D. Perley, John E. Smith, E.D. Lockhart, J.W. Hoyt, and Arthur Graham; Hoyt Station, March 7, 1878.

55 Letter from E.R. Burpee to his uncle, Charles Burpee, giving details on the political situation at home mentioning King, William Rannie, Henderson, Rafter, Smith, Domville, and others; St. John, March 15, 1878.

56 Letter from George Hoben to Charles Burpee offering his assessment of the political situation in the County and their chances in the upcoming election mentioning William Rutledge, W.D. Perley, Henry Estabrooks, and others; Burton, March 15, 1878.

57 Letter from C.H. Kingston to Charles Burpee regarding the political climate mentioning John Alexander, Thomas Alexander Sr., D.T. Hartt, J.R. Seely, and others; March 16, 1878.

58 Letter from C. Berton Lockhart to Charles Burpee concerning a loan with J.W. Hoyt as the endorser, to open a business in Hoyt Station; Blissville, March 16, 1878.

59 Letter from Moses Burpee to his uncle, Charles Burpee, regarding his prospects of employment and an invention he would like to patent; Carleton, March 24, 1878.

60 Letter from M.H. Cobourne to Charles Burpee concerning the cutting of the public lot; Little River, March 28, 1878.

61 Letter from E.R. Burpee to his uncle, Charles Burpee, concerning political activities at home mentioning Gibson, Pickard, Perley, Wark, Turnbull, Tupper, Fraser and others; Fredericton, April 4, 1878.

62 Letter from George Burpee to his uncle, Charles Burpee, relating political news from home mentioning Elder, Domville, Isaac Burpee, and discussing business matters; Saint John, April 4, 1878.

63 Letter from John C. Tapley to Charles Burpee commenting on injustice in Montreal and asking for a cash advance and an appointment; Little River, April 8, 1878.

64 Letter from J.W. Travis to Charles Burpee on behalf of Mr. Turney and himself discussing local politics, the temperance legislation, and advising Burpee concerning some dissatisfaction in his area; Swan Creek, April 9, 1878.

65 Letter from Thomas Wright to Charles Burpee giving political news from home mentioning Dell Perley, Dr. Wiggins and Mr. Johnson; Salmon Creek, April 13, 1878.

66 Letter from E.R. Burpee to Charles Burpee discussing the political situation facing his uncle in the upcoming election; Saint John, April 15, 1878.

67 Letter from J. James Fraser to Charles Burpee discussing federal political matters mentioning Pickard, Crawford, Stephenson, Gilmour and Smith; Fredericton, April 20, 1878.

68 Letter from D. Morrow to Charles Burpee concerning the Isle of Haute lighthouse account mentioning Calvin Cogswell, Sir A.J. Smith and Mr. Verner; Steamer “May Queen”, August 10, 1878.

69 Letter from Charles Burpee to Sidney, his son, discussing both familial and political matters; February 28, 1879.

70 Letter from Hedley to C. Sidney Burpee discussing school-mates and related gossip, mentioning Dr. Jack; U.N.B., Fredericton, January 23, 1880.

71 Letter from Hedley V.B.B. to Sidney Burpee which mentions mundane college matters and comments on the House of Assembly and its incumbents; U.N.B., Fredericton, February 13, 1881.

72 Letter from Hedley to Sidney Burpee discussing social and political matters mentioning Mr. Covert’s death, Jarvis S. Verner, Sterling, Charles Harrison, and others; U.N.B., Fredericton, March 6, 1881.

73 Letter from Rosella —–, a child, to Grandma —– relating familial news; Upper Sheffield, March 12, 1882.

74 Letter from David Burpee to his mother, Mrs. P.E. Burpee, Bangor, relating domestic and familial news; Upper Sheffield, March 30, 1883.

75 Letter from David Burpee to his mother, Mrs. P.E. Burpee, Bangor, bearing news from home mentioning John Pickard’s death, cousin Hannah, Willie and Maggie Alexander, and several family members; Upper Sheffield, December 23, 1883.

76 Letter from Charles Burpee to Sidney, his son, discussing railroad matters in New Brunswick; Ottawa, March 27, 1884.

77 Letter from George Scott to George A. Perley concerning a land sale from Charles Burpee; Fredericton Junction, May 7, 1884.

78 Letter from Isaac Burpee to his uncle, Charles Burpee, discussing the Central Railway mentioning Whitehead, Inches, Gibson, and others; Saint John, July 23, 1884.

79 Letter from Isaac Burpee to his uncle, Charles Burpee, discussing the Central Railway; Saint John, July 25, 1884.

80 Letter from Charles W. Weldon to Charles Burpee discussing business and political matters mentioning Backer, Judge King, Fred Fisher, Mitchell, C.L. Wetmore, and others; Fredericton, October 25, 1884.

81 Letter from John Quinton, grandson of Hugh Quinton, to [Charles Burpee] describing the early settlement of Maugerville, and the “renegade Allan”, and asking Burpee’s moral & literary backing to produce “Pioneer Days of New Brunswick, 1762-1783…”; Saint John, December 9, 1884.

82 Letter from William N. Allen to Thomas P. Burpee concerning a parcel of land; Sheffield, January 22, 1885.

83 Letter from Charles Burpee to Mr. Wilson concerning several memoranda on a mortgage; Sheffield, March 23, 1888.

84 Last page of letter from Attorney-General Andrew Blair to ———– regarding Sunbury County politics mentioning Farris, Taylor, and Morrow; [?] c. 1890.

85 Letter from L.H. Davies to Charles Burpee discussing the political situation of King; February 22, 1895.

86 Letter from H.R. Emmerson to Charles Burpee regarding the placement of W. Harrison; Dorchester, March 26, 1895.

87 Letter from M.H. Davies to Charles Burpee on the effects of the Manitoba School Question; Ottawa, July 4, 1895.

88 Letter from M.H. Davies to Charles Burpee discussing New Brunswick’s representation in the Laurier Government mentioning Andrew Blair, George King and Senator McClellan; Ottawa, July 16, 1896.

89 Letter from G.A. King to Charles Burpee discussing several political matters of the day mentioning Blair, Babbitt, Laurier, and Farris; Ottawa, March 19, 1897.

90 Letter from Andrew Blair to Charles Burpee discussing the possible appointment of a Fishery Inspector mentioning “Miles”, and John Anderson; Ottawa, July 2, 1897.

91 Letter of thanks from H.R. Emmerson to Charles Burpee; Fredericton, November 3, 1897.

92 Letter from Andrew Blair to Charles Burpee regarding the lighthouse; Ottawa, April 19, 1898.

93 Letter from Andrew Blair to Charles Burpee regarding the matter of the lighthouse keeper in its political perspective; Ottawa, March 27, 1899.

94 Letter from L.W. Davies to Charles Burpee giving his support to Burpee’s claims to the Senate vacancy; Charlottetown, September 1, 1899.

95 Letter from L.P. Farris to Charles Burpee agreeing with the suggestion of Burpee’s appointment to the Senate; Fredericton, November 9, 1899.

96 Letter from W.T. Whitehead to Charles Burpee stating his support of Burpee’s appointment to the Senate; Fredericton, November 10, 1899.

97 Letter from H.R. Emmerson to Charles Burpee discussing the hopeful prospects of Burpee being appointed to the Senate; Fredericton, November 11, 1899.

98 Letter from G.A. King to Charles Burpee reporting his conversations with Davies and Blair; Chipman, December 10, 1899.

99 Letter from Andrew Blair to Charles Burpee regarding Burpee’s appointment to the Senate; Ottawa, January 6, 1900.

100 Letter from G.A. King to Charles Burpee concerning conditions to Burpee’s appointment to the Senate mentioning Gilmour as the other candidate for the seat; Chipman, January 11, 1900.

111 Letter of congratulations from John McQuickin (?) to Charles Burpee; Saint John, February 2, 1900.

112 Letter from Robert P. Allen to Charles Burpee congratulating Burpee and commenting upon his appointment to the Senate; Fredericton, February 3, 1900.

113 Letter of congratulations from D. Morrow to Charles Burpee, which also discusses a postal matter; Oromocto, February 9, 1900.

114 Letter from Thomas Harrison to Charles Burpee concerning the re-issuance of a grant to the University of New Brunswick; Fredericton, February 12, 1900.

115 Letter from W.H. Steeves to Charles Burpee congratulating him on his appointment to the Senate, and requesting the position of enumerator in the upcoming census; Waasis, March 1, 1900.

116 Letter from Daniel E. Smith to Charles Burpee congratulating him on his appointment and requesting the position of enumerator in the up-coming census; Hoyt Station, March 9, 1900.

117 Letter from W.W. Hubbard to Charles Burpee regarding weights and measures legislation and farmer representation in Ottawa; July 5, 1900.

118 Letter from Arthur Glazier to Charles Burpee thanking him for his kindness; Fredericton, July 6, 1900.

119 Letter from A.S. White to Charles Burpee thanking Burpee for his kindness on he occasion of his [White's] defeat; [no place], November 15, 1900.

120 Letter from A.S. White to Charles Burpee presenting his philosophy and use of patronage; Sussex, December 12, 1900.

121 Letter from Thomas A. Kelly to Charles Burpee regarding a mortgage; Blissville, March 6, 1901.

122 Letter from T.G. Kelly to Charles Burpee regarding a transfer of a mortgage; Blissville, March 22, 1901.

123 Letter from G.G. King to Charles Burpee regarding the buoy service; Ottawa, May 3, 1901.

124 Letter from E.R. Burpee to “Uncle——” regarding domestic matters; Bangor, September 17, 1901.

125 Letter from Agnes Burpee to her uncle, Charles Burpee, bearing sympathy on the death of his wife; Mount Pleasant, February 4, 1903.

126 Letter from Moses —– to his uncle, Charles Burpee, bearing regrets on the death of his wife; Houlton, February 6, 1903.

127 Letter from H.R. Emmerson to Charles Burpee regarding Stephen Appleby and the Liberals in Carleton County; Dorchester, October 31, 1903.

128 Letter from Stephen B. Appleby to Charles Burpee regarding the situation of the Liberal Party in Carleton mentioning the “Carvell gang”, Tweedie, Jones, and Blair; Woodstock, November 12, 1903.

129 Letter from “Glenn” to “Dear Squire” bearing familial news; Boiestown, July 21, 1909.

130 Letter from Premier J.D. Hazen to Charles Burpee accepting his resignation as Commissioner for the Parish of Sheffield Civil Court; Saint John, April 22, 1910.

131 Letter from “Uncle Tyler” to his niece concerning familial matters; Fredericton, June 17, 1915.

132 Letter from Lizzie B. George to Mr. ? Burpee answering a query on teachers at the Sheffield Grammar School; Upper Sackville, September 29, 1934.

133 Letter from ——- to “Family” concerning familial matters; Fredericton, March 25, 1949.

134 Twenty-six deeds; 1815-1897.

135 Sixteen mortgages; 1857-1887.

136 Four leases; 1853-1884.

137 Twenty memoranda of agreement; 1851-1887.

138 Four bonds; 1850-1885.

139 Two awards of arbitration; 1858 and 1910.

140 Thirty-nine summons issued by C. Sidney Burpee as Commissioner for the Parish of Sheffield Civil Court; 1903-1909.

141 Miscellaneous receipts and invoices; 1860-1910.

142 Notes used by Charles Burpee for speeches; n.d.

143 Nine certificates and commissions to Samuel Randal, Charles Burpee, George A. Inch (5), C. Sidney Burpee (2); 1869-1903.

144 Miscellaneous printed items relative to the Burpee Family; 1854-1944.

145 Notes on Senator Charles Burpee and his papers prepared by the York-Sunbury Historical Society.

146 A sketch of the Sheffield Academy, two lists prepared in 1919 of Academy men, and a notebook containing information in the academy.

147 Sheffield Parish Voters’ List; 1920.

148 Poem by Thomas Gilbert encouraging the voters to send Charles Burpee, not Ned Perley, to Ottawa in the next election; n.d.

149 Notebook used to record receipts, genealogical information, and religious notes; c. 1814-1870.

150 Minute book of the Total Abstinence Society of Sheffield, 1846-1850; (includes Society constitution, membership and activities).

151 Notes of Lorenzo Sabine on the Loyalists that landed in Saint John on May 18, 1783, aboard the Ship “Union”; 1847.

Quite the courageous performance by the Sharks, despite losing to the Detroit Red Wings 2-1, in a shootout. It ends their six-game winning streak, but they keep in-tact their seven-game point streak. Thinking about all the adversity the Sharks face coming into this game, it’s hard to be mad at them for not pulling this one out.

Allow me to discuss some of that opposition.

Let’s start with the obvious: the Sharks are injured. It’s like Stalingrad in San Jose. Players injured consist of Ryan Vesce, Devin Setoguchi, Torrey Mitchell, Joe Pavelski and Rob Blake. None of those guys are expendable. Maybe Vesce, but remember he was scoring like crazy on the top line. Dany Heatley got hit hard in tonight’s game and all fans held their breath. He returned and looked fine, however.

The Sharks called up Derek Joslin and Joe Callahan. Yea, that creates a hell of a lot of opposition when you call up those two.

This was the second of back-to-back games.

The Sharks have been on the road seemingly the whole season. Constant travel and stinky motel rooms will do a number on you.

The Sharks never win in Detroit. This is just a weird fact of life. They have a few wins at the Joe, but San Jose always finds a way to come out with a loss there.

And this is all before opening faceoff! Yet, these guys came out, exhausted, lethargic and earned a point. Outstanding.

Logan Couture scored his first goal of his career tonight on a wrister between the legs of goalie Chris Osgood. I really wish this kid could get a better opportunity with a higher line rather than meandering around with Jody Shelley. With the injuries, he’s going to be sent back down to Worcester, so put him on the top or second line for a few shifts. See what happens.

Logan Couture celebrates his first NHL goal (From SJSHARKS.com)

OK, so let’s jump out of Optimismville and get into some criticism, shall we? Goalie Evgeni Nabokov gives me heart attacks with his puck handling. He’s been giving the puck away to opposition on a consistent basis lately. I realize he wants a quick breakout — maybe because the Sharks’ breakouts have struggled — but Nabby, don’t put your team behind by doing something you aren’t required to do.

The Sharks power play forecheck was abismal tonight. I’m sure part of it was exhaustion, but they allowed a bunch of 2-on-1s and 3-on-2s tonight, while on the man advantage. Patch that up pronto.

The shootout was ugly for the Sharks. They didn’t convert on either chance and Nabby allowed two out of 3 chances. Ryane Clowe used the same exact move he’s used in the last two shootouts. It worked the first time, but the last two chances were easy stops for the goalie. Either come up with a new move for stay on the bench.

Brad Staubitz

Bitz was a healthy scratch tonight, presumably because coach Todd McClellan was angry with his penalties against the Blue Jackets last game. He received 17 minutes worth of penalties after a fight with Jared Boll. He was eligible to return in the game, but Todd kept him benched. As a result, Couture only had Shelley as a linemate. Bitz better keep his head together. I haven’t see Todd keep anyone in a doghouse, but there’s a first for everything.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 27  DET 32; Scott Nichol, Joe Thornton and Douglas Murray combined for 14 of those.

The Sharks go home for a week, and they will play three games at HP Pavillion against Pittsburgh, Nashville and Dallas, in that order. I think Thomas Greiss needs to spell Nabby for Pittsburgh on Saturday. I know it’s baptism by fire, but Nabby needs a break.

–Ray

Quite the even matchup tonight for the Sharks against the Columbus Blue Jackets, but the Sharks came out with a 3-2 win in a shootout. The Sharks now ride a six-game winning streak.

It was an interesting game to watch; there were massive lulls at times, but then there was hoards of action. That all culminated into a fierce overtime session. Both goaltenders played spectacular tonight and should be proud of their performance.

Blue Jackets goalie Steve Mason is the real deal. I saw no evidence of a sophomore slump. Columbus finally has a franchise goalie for Rick Nash and company, and that fanbase deserves it. The arena wasn’t completely full, but those fans are very dedicated to the team.

Things got started eight minutes in when Joe Thornton netted his fourth goal of the year, by banking the puck off Mason. Just prior to the play, Thornton somehow avoided a goalie interference call. He was pushed slightly by a Jacket player causing Joe to tumble over Mason. Thornton even exaggerated it a little bit. Surprising to see that not called.

Brad Staubitz tries to gain control of the puck (From SJSHARKS.com)

Columbus’ first goal, just a minute after Thornton’s, proved that the Sharks still have work to do on defense. Douglas Murray kept himself out of the play leaving Jason Chimera wide open for a tip in. At least this gives coach Todd McClellan to work with so the team doesn’t get complacent.

Dany Heatley and Jacket Rick Nash scored their 10th goals of the year in the second period to keep things knotted up.

This game sure was the opposite of the Carolina game. All of those non-scorers with goals against the Canes was unusual and now it was the stars who scored the goals. Once again, getting contribution from everywhere is huge. I remember last year, scoring was all up to the top two lines. Don’t have to worry about that anymore (for now).

The overtime, like I said, was an clinic by the goaltenders. There needs to be some serious ice on groins after tonight. Ouch. I don’t think men were ever meant to be that flexible.

Going into the shootout, I wasn’t feeling very good about the Sharks’ chances, but they proved me wrong. Dan Boyle put a wicked move on Mason and placed it top-shelf. Nabby got things done on the other side stopping all three Jacket shooters.

The Sharks are now 2-1 in shootouts; I’d like to know when the last time we were over .500 in shootouts was. Seems like…well…never.

Jared Boll

This guy was being a real thorn in the Sharks’ side. First, he forces Kent Huskins to fight with him; he puts Kent into the boards, then punches him, then finally drops his gloves. Kent had no choice but to drop them. That really irked me.

Luckily, Brad Staubitz took notice and instigated a fight with Boll. Payback’s a–well you know. Bitz handled him fairly easily although he took a few punches during the middle of the fight.

Perhaps the best moment involving Boll, was in Benn Ferriero hit him into the Jacket bench. Hilarious. This small, tiny player Ferriero runs right into Boll, who goes flying into his own bench. Epic win.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 22  CBJ 35

Rob Blake was injured during a Jacket power play. He stayed on the ice, but couldn’t do much. It was more like a 5 on 3, and the Jackets did end up scoring. He only ended up with 11 minutes of ice time. He did not play in the third period or overtime. Let’s hope he’s all right.

The Sharks take on Detroit tomorrow night. Since McClellan went with Nabby tonight, let’s see if he’ll call on Thomas Greiss tomorrow. That decision is going to be crucial.

–Ray

Mick looked up and Mike turned his head at the sound of the freezer door knob being turned and the door pushed in. The sudden release of air made a whoosh as it rushed to escape announcing visitors. Beth and Selene silently walked in… Beth carried a tray with a carafe of blood on it and two zombie glasses; Selene’s hands held a set of clothes.

Beth glided past Mick to the small table that was next to the far wall past the freezer, stopping on her way by to give him a tender kiss. She set the tray down and joined Mike and Selene who had stopped to stand next to the doctor who was currently gazing through the frosted glass.

After a few moments Selene turned and hung the clothes on the hook next to the door. She snickered softly as she noticed the room no longer held a urinal. Mick looked at her, questioningly, one eyebrow arching up.

Selene shook her head in response, smiling. “Nothing, Mick.” She replied softly.

Beth glided back over to her husband, placed her hands on his shoulders and started rubbing them. He bent his head back into her chest in response, now purring. Beth leaned down and gave him another kiss, smiling. “You like this, huh?”

“Uh huh.” Came his contented reply.

Selene had wandered back to stand next to Mike. Asking softly, “Has there been any change?”

Mike reached up and rubbed his hands across his face. “No. Nothing. Her body is completely healed; she should be awake by now.” He stomped over to the table in frustration, picked up the glass rather forcefully, filled it with blood and took a long drink. As he looked back towards the freezer, Beth could have sworn that there were unshed tears in his eyes.

Beth looked at Selene, her face laced with worry, noting that Selene’s face mirrored her own. She leaned down to place one last tender kiss on Mick’s lips, motioned silently to Selene, who headed towards the door and followed Beth out.

Mick sighed, stood and went to the table to get his drink which he picked up after pouring a healthy amount and headed back to his seat. He turned it so that the back faced towards the freezer, giving him something to lean against.

“Hey, man. She’ll wake up.” Mick said, not quite sure who he was trying to reassure, Mike or himself.

“Yeah. I know. Just wish it was sooner rather than later.” Mike had taken his spot next to the freezer again. He stared at Aoife, willing her to awaken.

Little did both men know that at that very moment Aoife was rocketing towards consciousness. Her body was hungry and it was responding to the smell of the blood in the air. Suddenly her eyes snapped open. She lied still as a statue, trying to get her bearings. She smiled for a second but it quickly turned to almost a look of terror as she realized the both Mick and Mike were in the room and she could tell that they had been for some time. Fuck! I do NOT want to have to go through the god damn fledgling bloodlust again! She thought as a severe case of blood lust hit her.

She kicked the latch on the freezer, sitting up in time with the lid opening. She chuckled as she saw the shocked looks on the two male vampire’s faces. “Nice to see you, boys.”

Neither made any effort to move, both dumbfounded.

Aoife was getting desperate. “Hey!”

“Aoife?” Mick finally managed to squeak out.

“Last time I checked I was.” She wrapped her arms around her legs, trying to stay calm. “Can one you please get me a glass of blood? I’m dying here.”

“Yeah sure.” Mike stood so fast that the chair he was sitting in slid across the room and into the wall. He quickly poured a glass and handed it to Aoife.

She snatched it out of his hands and downed it in one gulp, handing it back to him immediately. “What?” Mike asked.

“Refill it. I’m going to fucking kill Vlad myself. God damn fledgling blood lust.” Mike refilled the glass and handed it back to her.

Mick’s eyebrows furrowed in concern at the mention of Vlad’s name. “So he did have something to do with it.”

Aoife twisted in the freezer to face her turn. “Yes.” He could plainly see the pain in her eyes. He just wasn’t sure if it was from the blood lust or what she had went through.

“Fledgling blood lust?” Mike asked, concern filling his voice. “And you know this how?”

Aoife glanced sideways at Mike. “Oh come on, you don’t remember what the blood lust felt like right after you were turned?”

Mike refilled the glass for the third time. “I try not to.” He said as he handed her the glass.

After she had drained the glass again, she set the glass down in the freezer and wrapped both her arms around her legs, trying to shield her naked body from two sets of eyes.

“Aoife, what’s wrong?” Mick asked, noting the frustration rolling off his sire.

“Oh gee, I don’t know. Could it be that I’m sitting in this freezer NAKED while two male vampires are in the room.” She snapped back. Wonderful. Newbie temper tantrums. I do not have time for this.

Mike couldn’t help it, he started laughing, hard. Aoife turned her head and glared at him. “What the hell is so fucking funny?!” Aoife screamed.

“Aoife McClellan, fledgling. Oh this is just priceless.” Mike snarked back.

Aoife started to vault out of the freezer to come after Mike but stopped halfway out remembering that she still had no clothes on. Instead she pointed towards the door, “OUT!!!” She yelled, furious.

Mike stood his ground, just on principle. “Not until I check you out.” He stated. Mick, being more in tune with Aoife than Mike was at that particular moment, stood and headed towards the door.

“Mike, come on. Let her get cleaned up and dressed. You can check her out after.” Mick turned the handle on the freezer door, pulled it open and stepped out.

Aoife picked up the glass and held it up in preparation to throw it. She growled and said through teeth that were held tightly together. “Out. Mike. Now.”

Seeing the look on her face, Mike decided that he had pushed her enough for now. “Yeah, yeah.” he said as he headed out the door. It slammed shut as soon as he was over the threshold.

“Seriously, Mike. Did you have to do that?” Mick asked exasperation plainly evident in his voice as the two men headed down the stairs to the living room.

Mick headed to the couch where Beth sat and laid down, his head in her lap. “And yes before anyone asks, she’s awake.”

In response the shower could be heard coming on.

“So how is she?” Beth asked. She’d taken to brushing her fingers through the front of Mick’s hair absentmindedly.

“Currently? She’s pissed. She seems to have a case of fledglingitis.” Mike responded, snickering to himself for his cleverness.

“Fledglingitis? What the hell is that?” Selene looked at Mike, incredulous.

“The inflammation of a fledgling. Wow, never heard of that one before, Mike.” Beth responded, a sarcastic tone filling her voice.

“Well, yeah. Just made it up.”

“That’s just stupid, Mike.” Selene sat in Kraven’s lap, glaring at Mike, her arms crossed over her chest.

Mike shrugged his shoulders in response. He sat down at the kitchen table, reaching around to turn his laptop on.

The shower turned off. Kusabana glanced up from her book, a faint and sad smile gracing her lips. The empath in her could feel the struggle in her dear friend.

Aoife stepped out of the shower, pulled a towel off the rack and wrapped her hair up. She then picked up a second one from the chair and dried her body off, noting how extra sensitive her skin was. Crap. I hope this doesn’t last long. I loathed going through it the first time. Padding to the bathroom counter, she picked up the hair dryer, turned it on and defogged the mirror. She turned the dryer back off and set it back down on the counter. Aoife then reached up and snaked the turban off her head letting her raven hair cascade down her back. Leaning on both arms to get closer to the mirror she took a good look at her reflection. She frowned at herself, not liking what she saw. Her eyes were still tinged yellow, her skin was paler than she would have liked and there were dark circles under her eyes.

She huffed in frustration, pushed off the counter and headed back into the freezer room, running her fingers through her hair as she did to remove any rats.

Once inside she picked up the clean set of clothes that she had noticed hanging on the hook near the door on the way out to the shower. Tears started threatening to fall when she picked them up. It was one of her favorite sets of yoga pants, tank top and hoodie. There was even a bra and matching thong. The outfit came from her home in the hills. Home. The only place she really wanted to be right then, but Aoife knew that her family was waiting downstairs for some sort of explanation. She let the tears fall unbidden not sure how much was truly an emotional release and how much was because of her current state.

Pulling the clothes on, she headed out of the freezer room and into the master bedroom. She noticed the set of stairs in the far corner. She stood for a moment contemplating and then glided over to them and then slowly climbed up them.

The stairs opened up to the very roof of the building. She walked out and stood near the edge looking out towards the ocean.

Aoife sighed and smiled slightly at the long missed tickle in her head.

Aoife?

Do you want to talk? Aoife smiled again at the question.

When did you become me?

Mick laughed. I haven’t. Just anxious I guess.

Okay. Came his soft reply. Aoife held her arms across her shoulders, staring out into the night, knowing what she needed to do, wanting to tell them yet dreading the conversation at the same time.

“Okay, I know that look St. John.” Mick looked up at Beth.

“What look?” He raised one eyebrow.

“The ‘I’m having a private conversation with Aoife’ look.” Beth responded.

”Ah. Didn’t know I had a look for that.”

“Well you do. You always look like you’re off in space somewhere.”

“Well good to know . . . I guess.” The comment earned him a cuff across the head.

“So what did she say?” Selene asked, barely containing her excitement.

”She said that she’d be down in a little while. She needs to gather her thoughts.” Mick answered.

“She’s had three years to do that.” Mike groused softly. Selene shot him a look.

While the conversation had gone on, Kusabana had quietly set her book down in the library and headed up the stairs. She followed Aoife’s scent and found her still standing on the ledge.

“Hello, Kusabana.” Aoife said without turning around.

“Hello young one.” Kusabana floated up and stood next to the younger vampire. “You seem troubled.”

“More like scared out of my mind.”

“Why?”

“I have my family down there waiting for me to explain why I left like I did. I just don’t know if I have the strength in me to tell them.”

“Why?”

Aoife turned to look at the ancient vampire. “Because, I feel like a fledgling right now. I don’t know if I can keep it together for long enough to get it out.”

“And that’s the only reason?” Kusabana’s gaze was passive.

“No, you know it’s not. Kusabana, I hurt them all, badly. Very badly. I know that. But I did what I had to do to protect them all. I just don’t know if they will understand it.”

“Aoife, don’t underestimate them. Right now they have nothing to go on. Just speculation. Once you explain it, I’m sure they will understand and forgive you. Because isn’t that the main reason you’re balking?”

“What?” Aoife hated how the elder vampire could always see right through her.

“You don’t know if they will forgive you or not. Again, don’t underestimate them.” With that Kusabana turned and headed towards the stairs. “Don’t make them or yourself wait too much longer, Aoife.” She pulled the door open and went through.

Aoife sighed heavily, jumped off the ledge and followed Kusabana down the stairs.

She stopped at the top of the stairs, willing the butterflies that had formed in the pit of her stomach away with no avail. As she stepped from the landing to the first step she could feel seven sets of eyes on her. Not daring to look at them just yet, she held her gaze on the steps as she slowly descended them, mentally counting the number of steps to give her mind something to do other than think of possible ways the conversation could go a foothold.

Once down the stairs, she headed straight to the hidden fridge, pulled out a carafe, set in on the counter and pulled a zombie glass out of the cupboard. She filled the glass, picked it up and down it in one long gulp. She the glass down poured another and then placed the carafe back in the fridge. She stood facing the counter away from the living room until Beth asked, “Aoife? Is everything okay?”

Sighing, Aoife turned and padded into the living room. She took a spot on the far end of the couch nearest to the fireplace. “I’m not sure yet, Beth. Ask me that again in a while.” Aoife never raised her eyes from the glass.

Impatience had taken Mike over like the green eyed monster. He wanted to know why Aoife had abandoned them, no him the way she did. And he wanted to know now. “So out with it, Aoife. What the hell happened?” His voice held a hard edge to it, one that Aoife hadn’t heard in a very long time. One that told her how much he had been hurting.

She finally raised her head and looked at the assembled group of people. Aoife noted the look of hurt, disbelief and relief that was held in each and every one of their faces. It hurt her all the more knowing she was the reason that it was there. She fought desperately to control her emotions that thanks to her condition were barreling towards a train wreck with no signs of stopping. Vlad will pay with his life for the pain he has caused MY family.

“Well?” Mike said, controlled anger tingeing his voice.

Aed strolled in from the balcony, carrying his usual air of supremacy that absolutely drove Aoife crazy. “So Eva, care to share?”

The next thing Aed knew he was a foot off the floor against one of the columns with Aoife’s hand around his neck. He looked into her now pure white eyes not missing the turmoil that brewed there.

She squeezed his windpipe resulting in his chiseled features to grimace in pain as she hissed out at him, “Do. Not. Ever. Call. Me. That. Again.” To make her point abundantly clear she squeezed harder until she felt the windpipe crush. She pulled her hand away abruptly letting her sire fall unceremoniously to the floor.

Aed just sat on the floor where he landed, rubbing his neck. Kusabana floated to him and handed the old king a glass of blood to aid the healing. She chuckled softly. “She has warned you Aed.” All he could do is nod in response.

Aoife was now standing by the windows, looking out, her hold on her emotions and maybe even her sanity hanging by a thread. Mick had sat up when his sire had attacked hers and now quietly made his way to her side. “Aoife?” He asked, his voice almost a whisper.

She sighed and gave him a sideways glance. “No, Mick. I’m not fine. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way.”

Mike felt the anger that he had clung to for dear life quickly slipping from his grasp. What the hell did they do to her? He glided over and stood on the other side of Aoife. “What do you feel like?”

“That’s just it. I don’t fucking know. Not like a fledgling, more like . . .” She stopped trying to find the words to describe it. “More like a stranger in my own body.”

‘How can anyone feel like that?” Selene questioned, confusion gracing her beautiful face.

Aoife turned and gave Mick a half smile and glided back into the living room retaking her spot on the couch. She picked up the glass that she had set down on the coffee table when she went after Aed and finished it off. She just held it, looking off into space. Now she was getting frustrated that she couldn’t seem to put two coherent thoughts together.

“Aoife?” Beth asked as she reached out and touched her teacher on the arm.

“Yes, Beth.” Came Aoife’s soft reply.

“Ummm. Why did you attack Aed?”

Aoife fought the laugh that was trying to bubble its way out but finally gave up. It started as a giggle and quickly grew into a side splitting laugh.

Aed glared at his turn and stated rather gruffly, “It’s not funny, Aoife.”

It took her a minute or two, but Aoife finally managed to get herself under control. “I’ve warned him way too many times about calling me that.”

“What? Eva?” Beth queried.

“Yes, that.” Aoife sighed again; the laughter had seemed to help somehow. Well they say laughter is the best medicine for a reason.

“Why?”

“Eva is the Anglicanized form of my name, Beth. I was forced to be called that by the Brits as a young woman. Aoife is Gaelic and we were forbidden to speak Gaelic or to practice our faith. It was Catholic or nothing.”

You could almost see the light bulb go on above Beth’s head. “Ohhh. So Aed was disrespecting you when he called you Eva.”

“Exactly.”

Aed humphed. “I was not. I was trying to lighten the mood.”

Aoife turned her head towards the kitchen where Aed was leaning against the counter. “Uh huh. No you weren’t. You were trying to get a rise out of me.”

A knowing smirk flitted across the ancient vampire’s face. “It worked didn’t it?”

“Oh for the love of . . . “ Aoife rolled her eyes.

“Is he always like that?” Beth wondered out loud.

An emphatic “YES.” Came from Aoife, Mike, Selene, Kraven and Kusabana all at the same time. Aed’s smirk grew into a smile.

“Hey, what can I say, it’s a gift.”

“More like a curse.” Aoife shot back.

Aoife glanced over towards the windows overlooking the balcony and at Mike. He hadn’t moved since he’d gone over to her.

She shook her head, feeling the maelstrom of feelings that were filling his head. Taking a cleansing breath she said. “I’m not sure exactly where to begin.”

Mike whipped around and stalked back into the living room stopping in front of her, the anger and hurt fighting for dominance. “Gee, Aoife. I don’t maybe why the FUCK you left us to begin with?”

Aoife shot up from her position on the couch, shoving Mike back into the coffee table causing him to stumble and fall onto it. She glared at him and yelled back, “You think I WANTED to leave?! That I planned on just up and disappear on all of you?! Especially on such a special day?! GO TO HELL, MICHAEL!”

Not deterred, Mike stood up and planted himself so that there were two inches between them. “THEN WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!”

Aoife didn’t fight the tears that she had been holding back for three years as they started to fall. Softly she said, “It was either leave and never see you all again or watch all of you be killed.”

“What?!” Came from every person in the room.

To Mick it felt like all of the air in the room had been sucked out with that sentence. Aoife just stood, looking at the ground. “Aoife, please. What happened?”

Aoife lifted her face partway to look into Mick’s currently green tinged with brown eyes. The color they usually were when he was upset. She took a deep breath as she slowly sank down into the couch again. “Remember when I said that I had forgotten something in my room?”

“Yeah, of course. It was the last time we saw you until today.” Mick responded.

“Well I walked into an ambush.”

“An ambush? How? I had bodyguards positioned at all points of entry, Aoife.” Josef stated, his voice laced with anger that his people had failed him.

“They landed on the opposite side of the island, Josef. That’s how they got me out.”

Josef’s eyes flashed from their normal color to white and back again.

“So why kidnap you?” Kraven asked.

“To get me out of the picture. At the time I didn’t know who was behind it; I just knew that it seemed to be a personal vendetta against me. They knew that the only way to get me to cooperate was to make sure that I knew that if I didn’t all of your lives would be forfeit.”

Mick fought to keep the ever present rage in check. Beth felt him tense up and in response she pulled him into her embrace, hugging him tightly. She felt his body slowly unclench somewhat, signaling that the hug had had its desired effect. “Aoife, why didn’t you contact me telepathically? We could have rescued you.”

“I couldn’t. They had brought a psychic null with them. She did a real number on me too. Was sick for weeks.”

“What’s a psychic null?” Beth’s couldn’t help it. Her reporter instinct had kicked in.

Kusabana explained. “A psychic null is just what it sounds like Beth. The have the innate ability to block psychic abilities like telepathy.” She turned her head towards Aoife. “What did she look like?”

Aoife thought for a moment, “She was short, about 5′2” I’d say, short red hair that had blond highlights all over it. Her eyes were so brown that they almost looked black.”

Kusabana nodded. “Jade.”

“Huh?” Aoife answered back.

“Jade. She was one of Vlad’s favorite freshies. But she was past what he considered prime feeding material. Now I know why he kept her.”

“Wonderful. So I was forced to sit and listen to their offer.”

“Which was . . .” Mike was now leaning forward, his behind almost falling off the coffee table.

“Go with them and never have any contact with any of you ever again and . . .” Aoife let her voice trail off. How did she explain the next part?

The light bulb went off above Beth’s head again. “Wait! You were human when I saw you two days ago!”

“Yes I was.”

Beth’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “See, I told you I talked to her.” Beth glared at her husband who was now standing near the fireplace.

Aoife chuckled. “They didn’t believe you did they.”

“Nope.”

“You’ve come along way Beth.” Beth would have blushed if she could have.

“They turned you human?!” Mike asked, disbelief written all over his face.

“Yeah. That was the other part of the deal with the devil. I had to let them try an experimental drug on me that would if it worked make me permanently human at best, at worst kill me.”

“Again, why didn’t you figure out a way to let us know so we could help you?” Mick ground out, his voice a cross between a hiss and a growl. His arms were crossed over his chest in a defensive posture, his brow scrunched together.

Aoife stood again and started pacing behind the couch. She stopped and faced him. “Damn it Mick! I couldn’t reach you telepathically! Trust me on this. They had enough vampire mercenaries there to take all of you out! None of you would have made it through the day alive if I hadn’t agreed to they’re demands!” She angrily wiped away the tears flowing down her face before she continued. In a shaky voice she continued, “I promised to keep you all safe no matter the cost, even if the cost was never seeing any of you again. I wasn’t going to go back on that promise.” Aoife’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if you all had died.”

“We could have taken care of ourselves!” Mick almost roared back.

Aoife kept her voice low and even. “No, Mick. I had a split second to make the decision. The mercenaries were in place to take you all out if I hesitated. Trust me, I saw them. Just as you’ll have to trust me now to know that it was the only decision I could have made.”

The group sat in stunned silence for several minutes. Mick finally broke the silence. “When did the give you the compound?”

“Before I left. Threw me into convulsions, the pain was almost unbearable. Almost felt like someone was ripping me in half. Why?”

“Because for the whole time you were gone until last night, it felt like you were gone but yet you weren’t.” Mick just stared at his sire for a moment. “I felt it happen. The moment they killed you.”

Aoife smiled softly. “Well I never thought I’d hear you say that returning human was killing someone.”

Mick fought the smile that was threatening to break free, finally giving up and letting it. “Yeah well, Beth’s not the only one that’s come a long way.”

“So I see.” Mick glided the two paces and pulled his sire in for a long overdue hug.

Mick released Aoife after a minute as Beth caught his attention mouthing the word ‘dream’ to him. “Aoife, were you unable to do telepathy until yesterday?”

Aoife had moved to stand next to Mike. She was absentmindedly rubbing his shoulders. Mike was so caught up in the conversation that he failed to register what she was doing, he just started purring quietly. Aoife looked down, smiled and said nothing about her mate’s reaction. “Well, for the most part of the last three years yes. Like I said that psychic null did a real number on me.”

“What about several days ago?” Mick prodded.

“What about it?” Damn, they figured it out.

“I had a dream three days ago about a conversation that you and I had about how I would handle you being gone from my life.”

“Mick, we don’t dream.” Aoife reminded him.

“I know that. I hadn’t thought of that conversation for ever until that night. Why?” Mick implored.

Aoife stopped rubbing Mike’s shoulders, causing him to snap his head to look at her, realization written on his face. He reached up and took one of her hands in his. Relief washed over her. She had a lot of fences to mend with him, but if this was any indication at least he would listen to her. “You’ve got to understand, my every move for three years has been monitored. My cell records dumped, my phone tapped, bugs in my apartment, my laptop hacked into on a regular basis. I just couldn’t take the chance contacting you. But three days ago the pain you were in, it was so very strong, it managed to get through to me. I couldn’t call you, so I did the only thing that I could do. I pulled the memory up for you, hoping that it would give you some comfort.”

“More like scared the shit out of me.”

“I’m sorry, Mick. That was never my intention.”

“I know, Aoife. Who knew three days later that you’d be here?” Beth had gone to Mick when he mentioned the dream and was now standing in front of him, his arms wrapped around her waist, hers setting on top of his. He leaned in and placed a quick peck on her cheek.

“Yeah, who knew?” Aoife said dryly.

“So what happened last evening? Who attacked you? Why did they want you dead all of a sudden?” Josef launched the questions at Aoife in quick succession.

“You mean after Beth talked to me?” Josef nodded. All eyes were on Aoife anxiously awaiting her answer.

Aoife laughed nervously. “I don’t know why Vlad wanted me dead all of a sudden. You’ll have to fill me in on what you all have been doing.”

“How do you know that Vlad . . . “Aoife held her hand up to stop Mick’s question.

“Let me explain, Mick.” She took a deep breath. “After I left Pershing Square I headed home. I just couldn’t bear to be in the apartment right then so I decided to go to the beach. I stayed there until it was almost dark. Funny thing is I felt them even before I saw them.”

“So who were they?” Selene asked.

“Davis and his roving morons.” Both Selene and Kraven gave a little snicker at Aoife’s description.

“You knew them?”

“Yes, Mick. They worked for Vlad. Davis falls into the ‘why the hell would you turn this monster’ category. He was a serial killer before he was turned. He was Vlad’s turn, I think.” She looked over at Kusabana and Aed for confirmation.

Aed nodded his head in affirmation. “Yep. I could have killed Vlad when he did it too. Davis had been a constant irritation from day one. Definitely not sorry to see him gone.”

“Anyway, they attacked me, hell you all saw what they did to me. I was ready to die, as long as it meant you all could live, then some part of me registered what Davis was saying about all of you.”

Mick’s eyebrow arched up in the unspoken question.

“He said that once I was dead that they were going to kill all of you . . . on Vlad’s orders.” Aoife took another big breath. “I guess I never was really human after all. That when it came right down to it when my body was almost dead, the virus woke up. I remember a burning sensation radiating out from my heart. Then the rage hit. I couldn’t control it and I didn’t try too. I think the only thing I didn’t do to them was bite them. The thought of their blood in my system even repulsed me in that state.” She paused for another moment or two and then continued. “Once they were dead I managed to get some kind of control over myself and made it here.”

Mike had been silently watching Aoife the whole time. He could tell the toll that telling the story was taking on her both emotionally and physically. She was beginning to have a hard time standing upright. He watched as she padded the few steps to the sofa and flopped down on it.

“Aoife, you okay?” Beth asked.

“Just exhausted, Beth.”

“So where do we go from here?” Selene wondered. Her face held the look of concern. She too couldn’t help but notice how tired her friend looked.

Mike stood, leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of Aoife’s head. “Everyone goes to bed, that’s what.” The faint hint of a smile graced his lips as he watched Aoife fight a gallant battle against the exhaustion overwhelming her.

“But we need to figure out what our next move is.” Beth responded. She was still in a state of shock at how weak Aoife seemed. She’d never seen her this way.

“Patience, young one. We have time.” Kusabana answered softly.

“But . . .” Mick cut Beth off with a kiss. She took the hint and didn’t finish the sentence.

Aoife lifted head with some effort and looked at Beth. “Kusabana’s right. We have time to plan this right. Vlad thinks I’m dead and he knows that it would take time to take all of you out.”

“And he knows this how, exactly?” Aed asked, dryly.

“Because Davis took pictures of me and sent them to Vlad right before I attacked him.” Aoife replied. She lifted her head up to look into Mikes’ eyes. “Mike, please. Take me home.”

“Your wish, your highness is my command.” Mike held out his hand to her, which she took and pulled Aoife up to a standing position. As he led her to the front door he said over his shoulder, “Bed all of you. Doctor’s orders.” He shut the door behind them, wrapped his arm around Aoife’s waist as he led her to the elevator. He pushed the button, the door opened and he helped her into the elevator. The door shut with a cheerful ding causing Aoife to cringe. “Still overly sensitive huh?”

“Yeah. It’s getting better though.” Aoife placed her head on Mike’s shoulder. “Mike?”

The elevator dinged announcing that they had reached they’re destination.

“Yep.” He bent down and swooped Aoife up into his arms.

“I really am sorry.” Tears started to flow down her face. Mike reached up and wiped them away with his thumb.

“I know you are.” He reached down and opened the door to the car and set her in the seat. He did her seatbelt, shut the door and walked to the driver’s side. He opened his door, climbed in, shut the door, put the key in the ignition and started the car.

“Mike?” Aoife whispered.

Mike looked over at the love of his life. “Shhhhh. We’ll talk after you’ve rested.” He could tell she was losing the battle with sleep. Her head kept nodding up and down.

“I meant what I said, before.”

“Meant what? That you’re sorry? I know that.”

“No, that I love you.” The words were slightly slurred since she was three quarters asleep, but Mike didn’t miss them.

“I love you too.” He whispered back. He wasn’t sure if she had heard him since she looked like she had fallen asleep but it had almost looked like she had smiled at his words.

Mike drove in silence through the twilight towards Aoife’s house in the Hollywood Hills, his hand resting on her thigh, wondering what the next day would bring.

Quite the meh performance by the Sharks in their 2-1 shootout victory over the Los Angeles Kings. As exciting as the shootout was, the regulation was that much more boring.

The Kings dominated the first period and it was looking as if the Sharks were hungover from that long road trip and multiple days off. Everyone was out of sink, nobody was giving high-quality effort, and play was ugly. Well, Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov pulled up his pants and fastened his belt, and played really well. He is the sole reason the Sharks won this game.

They say you need to have a goalie who can keep you in it and steal one; Nabby stole this one. His positioning was solid and although his rebound control was a bit off, he directed the rebounds toward the half-boards.

Patrick Marleau scored the only goal for San Jose in the second, after Alexander Frolov put the Kings on the board. Patty’s goal looked Dany Heatley-esque with the windup and ensuing slapshot. Something Heater taught Patty? Maybe.

I’m really disappointed Logan Couture didn’t play much tonight. He received eight shifts for a whopping 6:42 of ice time. I realize it’s close game and he’s a rookie, but this was a situation where a young guy can prove himself. I want to see what this kid can do.

Ryane Clowe was crap. In regulation. Let me clarify that first. I’ve never seen so many fanned shots with no one around in my life. Something is wrong with Clowey’s head. Coach Todd McClellan put him on the top line; I assume it was to help his offense playing with Joe Thornton. Needless to say it didn’t work at all. This guy needs to be healthy scratched or put down on the fourth line.

OK, now, Clowey scored the game-winner in the shootout. A beautiful move to beat Jonathan Quick. I hope that was what he needed to get out of this funk he’s in. Just knowing he put it in the net can pay huge dividends for his mentality. Let’s see how he responds.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 21  LA 12

There were just four penalties in the game — all in the first period. Two against each team.

LA blocked 28 shots and Jody Shelley won a faceoff. Oh boy. Hello apocalypse.

Next game is Friday versus the Avalanche.

–Ray

Quite the fast performance by the Sharks in their 4-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers. The Sharks just looked quick and agile all over the ice, and Atlanta just couldn’t keep up — despite what the score indicates.

The first period was the opposite of what fans are used to as San Jose scored the first two goals. It was the second time all year the Sharks scored first — not a very good stat at all, huh? Not to mention the first goal was scored only 45 seconds into the game.

After criticizing Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley last game for having a grand total of 0 shots on goal combined, look who gets those first two goals: Thornton and Heatley. For the record they finished with eight total shots (four each).

Patrick Marleau tallied his eighth goal of the year just 55 seconds into the second period and should have had another soon after that. Patty broke away from Atlanta defenders and got pushed into goalie Johan Hedburg. The whistles blew but the replay clearly showed the puck in the net. The referees reviewed and somehow suffered temporary blindness; they called it no-goal. Analyst Drew Remenda was livid, which was amazing to hear because that’s what fans were saying.

The review booth in Toronto passed along that it the goal was called off because the whistle blew before the puck went it. This time it was temporary deafness that officials suffered from. The broadcasters played back the goal real-time with sound, and low-and-behold the whistle was WAY after the puck went in.

I describe this play in detail because right after that, Atlanta scored. The momentum of the entire game changed from a potential blowout into a squeaker.

Patty did get his revenge with his second goal of the night, but things didn’t feel the same.

Dany Heatley works the defense to fire a shot. (From SJSHARKS.com)

Atlanta put forth a lot of effort into making the score 4-3 but Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov was up to the challenge. The Thrashers racked up 27 shots to the Sharks’ 24.

The Sharks are such a different team shot-wise this year. Remember last year when they put up 40 shots a game, every game? Seems like decades ago. I think the Sharks were trying to be too much like Detroit, and since that’s where coach Todd McClellan came from, the Sharks became Detroit #2.

San Jose is still trying to find their own distinct identity, so that might be a valid reason for their inconsistency so far, but like I’ve said before — no excuses.

Train Wreck

I think this is the third game in a row that I’ve seen two Sharks collide in the neutral zone. They’ve done it at least once a game it seems. What in the blue hell is that all about? I didn’t realize eyes are such a hinderance. Keep your head up or next time you’ll end up like R. J. Umberger in the 2006 playoffs. (If you haven’t seen that hit, take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Gvfr9GUC0)

Ryan Vesce

He earned an assist tonight bringing his scoring streak to four games. Hes always taking shots, finding open spots on the ice. He’s a pleasure to watch. I do not think his scoring is because of being on the top line. He works his own magic.

Other Notes

Hit-o-meter: SJ 13  ATL 8

Brad Staubitz and Eric Boulton received fighting majors in the first. Not much to report on it, though. By the time the cameras got to them, they were on the ground. I really think Todd needs to choose between Jody Shelley and Brad Staubitz. I think another speedy offensive guy could plug in for one of those two tough guys. We don’t need both. Bring up Logan Couture; he’s been on a tear in Worcester.

Next game is tonight against Philadelphia. We’ll see if Todd starts Thomas Greiss in goal because of the back-to-back games.

–Ray

Quite the puzzling performance by the Sharks in their 5-2 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning. I can’t really articulate what happened. The Sharks seemed to try but nothing ever came to fruition.

For the first two periods, the Sharks were giving an acceptable amount of effort, but they couldn’t put it in the net. Very frustrating for fans and the players, I’m sure.

Things started off 30 seconds in when the Lightning scored from a weakside play. Dan Boyle was the culprit this time by not covering his man.

The Sharks got a power play opportunity shortly after and I absolutely loved the lineup. Heatley-Vesce-Clowe. What a great line along with Boyle and Vlasic on the man advantage. To have a selfish (in a good way) shooter and two guys who go for rebounds was an excellent idea from head coach Todd McClellan. He ended up keeping Clowe and Vesce together for the rest of the game, rotating the third forward. I hope that keeps up.

San Jose was down 0-2 after the first after sustaining a nice forecheck throughout.

Brad Staubitz tried starting a fight when the second period started, but the Lightning showed could patience to not join Bitz in a dance.

Jason Demers and Todd Fedoruk battle for the puck (From SJSHARKS.com)

The Sharks finally got on the board with Ryan Vesce. He started the play with a steal in Tampa’s zone, had a breakaway but was blocked by goalie Mike Smith. The Sharks kept it in with some D-to-D passing, shot it into a crowd, and Ryan was there. I tell you what, (wo)man. This kid is the epitome of scrappy and never-say-die. I’m going to look into cloning and see if I can’t field a team of 18 Ryan Vesce’s.

Unfortunately, Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov decided to misplay the puck, and d-man Jason Demers got tangled up with Ryan Malone, leaving Steven Stamkos with a wide open shot, which he scored. I think Nabby could have taken a much better angle on it.

That goal was the turning point as the Sharks came out in the third with a “whatever” attitude. Nabby seemed to echo that sentiment x1000 when he let in a wrister from the blue line. Sure, it was slightly deflected, but he had plenty of time to adjust. This was worse game of the season. He just seemed lost.

One thing I really want to point out was an embarrassing play by Joe Thornton. Coming out of the zone, in the third period, he nonshalantly handled the puck, glided into the neutral zone, and a Lightning player easily stole it. What a joke. I don’t ever want to see that from any NHL player. No matter what the score. As an alternate captain, you are bound to give your best and set a great example. Not that crap.

The Sharks showed up again with about seven minutes left when Boyle netted a power play goal. Too little, too late, of course.

Thornton and Heatley

0 combined shots

Other Notes

Hit-o-Meter: SJ 17  TB 16

Scott Nichol and Manny Malhotra switched lines. I completely disagree with this. Nichol has played excellent on the third line with Ortmeyer and Ferriero. I don’t know if it was the lack of ice time or if the move got to him, but I saw nothing out of him. Shame. He’s been so good, so far.

I can’t wait until Joe Pavelski and Torrey Mitchell are back. I can’t friggin’ wait.

Atlanta Thrashers are next on Saturday, October 24.

–Ray

Quite the about-time performance for the Sharks in their 7-3 win against the New York Rangers. The game marked the second time the Sharks have won two games in a row, and the third time they have scored 4+ goals in a row. With the win, the Rangers seven-game win streak came to an end.

Once again the Sharks started out slow and dug themselves an 0-2 hole. At that point the best player for San Jose was — gasp — Manny Malhotra! He looked like a hockey player tonight and actually showed speed and intelligence.

It was a night for the hard workers, though, and deservedly so. Brad Staubitz got on the board first with a Joe-Pavelski-like wrister past Ranger goalie Stephen Valiquette.

Not to be outdone by a tough guy, Dany Heatley showcased some eye-foot coordination kicking the puck to himself while skating between to Ranger defenseman. He finished it off with a backhand to the top corner.

From then on, it was what I’ve been waiting to see — hard work and net presence. The Sharks finally learned that easy goals come when you stand in front of the opposing goalie. Jed Ortmeyer got a rebound goal when Kent Huskins wristed the puck to the net.

Devin Setoguchi scored when he and Joe Thornton camped out in front of the net, while Patrick Marleau shot the puck at them. Seto pocketed the rebound underneath the crossbar.

Joe Thornton flies over a Ranger defenseman (From SJSHARKS.com)

Seto wasn’t done though. He and Marleau continued some really nice chemistry when Marleau streaked down the left side and passed to Seto in the right slot. Easy pickings for Seto.

And my boy Ryan Vesce scored in his second game up with San Jose. This kid is awesome. Heatley was on a breakaway, shot it, a juicy rebound found its way to Vesce’s stick for an easy goal. I told you. Sharks players: pay attention to Vesce. He goes to the net and gets goals; simple as that. Keep doing what he’s doing.

Marleau got on the board near the end. Jason Demers fed him a nice pass, and with Ryane Clowe in front of the net, the puck went in. I sincerely hope coach Todd McClellan drives this point home because it works.

Now we get to see if the Sharks can reach three wins in a row. One doesn’t mean anything, two is a trend and three is a hot streak.

Power Play

Sharks extended their multi-power-play goal streak as they once again scored two on the man advantage.

MVL

Most Valuable Line was the fourth line. They sparked the goals and sparked the entire team. Ortmeyer, Nichol, Vesce, Staubitz, Shelley and Malhotra did their job. We need the secondary scoring badly.

Other Notes

Hit-o-meter: SJ 33  NYR 22 (Ortmeyer and Vesce led the team with 5 and 4 hits respectively.)

The Sharks travel to Tampa Bay next, and if there was any time to begin a win streak, now is the time. After Tampa is Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Colorado. We shall see, but until I see consistency, I won’t believe.

–Ray

Feeding. Something that we all do, human and vampire alike. Who knew that teaching someone something so basic could be so difficult?

I guess that I should back up and explain. I have a new fledgling in my house. Well not mine, my turns. Anyway, since he’s so new to being the kind of vampire that I am, I decided to teach them both what it was to be my particular kind of vampire. Mind you, Mick has been one for 55+ years now; well a vampire anyway, new to my kind. So he obviously wasn’t starting from scratch. Beth, on the other hand, is another story completely. She is truly a fledgling.

And with being a fledgling comes lots and lots and lots of learning. It is truly starting your life over. All the rules that applied before? Yeah, they go out the door the minute you take your first drop of vampire blood into your mouth.

Mick has been doing an admirable job with teaching Beth the basics, I will be the first to admit that. But there has been one subject that he has staunchly refused to broach. The subject of feeding fresh.

Yes, yes I know that I no longer do and neither does he. And if Beth chooses not to . . . well that has to be her decision; not his and not mine.

Believe me I tried to discuss it with him . . . several times. I swear sometimes Mick isn’t a vampire, he’s a brick wall. So, I did what I thought was best. I called my connection that I use for getting freshies for my annual ceilli, without telling Mick of course.

So I wasn’t surprised when Mick came storming into my study the day the male freshies arrived. He came in, eyes blazing, his anger palpable.

“Aoife. Why are there male freshies in the freshie wing?”

I looked up from my research, trying to keep my face calm looking. “It’s time Beth learned to feed from humans, Mick.” I continued to stare at him passively, knowing the barrage that was coming. I could feel his anger start to boil.

“What?!” Mick started pacing near the fireplace in the opposite end of the study. He turned to me, his eyes flowing from they’re normal hazel to pale white. “Why? She’s fine. She doesn’t need to know how to do that.”

I stood and walked over to him, purposely standing in his path, forcing him to stop in front of me. “Yes, she does. Mick feeding fresh or not has to be her choice, not yours. And the only way she can truly decide for herself is if she does it.”

Mick turned to stare into the fire. “She does. From me when we make love.”

I crossed my arms across my chest. “Not the same thing and you know it.”

Mick turned abruptly and stalked to the couch, throwing himself down onto it. “I won’t allow it.”

Now my anger was rising. “YOU won’t allow it?! Mick, how many times have you gotten a fledgling through the early stages?”

“Never.” His eyes held a steely glint, challenging me.

“So your expertise on this comes from where exactly?” I stood in front of him, glaring. My worst fears realized. He was going to fight me on it tooth and claw.

“Aoife, in this day and age she doesn’t have to.” Came his weak answer.

I decided to try another tactic. “Mick, how many times have you needed to feed off someone just in order to stay alive?”

“Just the one time.” He hesitated, his mind wandering back. “From her.”

“I’ve had to over the centuries so many times that I’ve lost count. And in every one of those cases, I didn’t want to kill the donor. I just wanted to live.”

“Soooo.” I could see the wheels turning in his head.

“I certainly didn’t want it to hurt them anymore than it had to. So in order to do that I needed to know how to do it right.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t see how Beth would ever get into that kind of situation.” Mick was now staring off into space, not looking at me.

“Mick, be serious. She’s a danger magnet. What you do for a living is far from the safest choice in the world; or mine for that matter and she’s involved in both. At some point there is a very real possibility that she will need to.”

“I find that hard to believe.” He said, looking me straight in the eye.

I threw my hands up, turned and headed back to my desk and leaned on it. “You truly think that? Come on Mick, there is no way you are that naive.”

I decided that if he wouldn’t tell me one way why he was so against Beth learning how to feed properly, then I would try another way. I gently probed his mind. I didn’t have to get very far in to discover his reasons. On the top of the list, yeah you guessed it, Coraline.

A small smile crept onto my passive face. He looked at me, dread filling his handsome features. “Mick. How did Coraline teach you to feed?”

I saw the fear, pain and loathing creep into his eyes. He started to look around the room, anywhere but at me. “She didn’t. When I was with her, especially at first all I fed from where unwilling innocents.”

“So when did you learn?” I sighed inwardly thinking yet again how Coraline should have never turned anyone. Being a sire is a huge responsibility and she didn’t have the patience, understanding or know how. She was just too much of a twisted individual. I found myself yet again in awe of the young vampire in front of me, who in spite of everything, had managed to make it through in one piece. I would have to have a talk with Josef at some point, how much he had taught Mick.

“Josef taught me the first time that I left Coraline and stayed at his place. He just about ripped my head off the first time I fed off of one of his freshies and almost killed her.” My mind wandered back to a party at Josef’s right about the time there was the big push in the human world regarding free range and bred chickens. He had said something to the effect, “There is no way I’m letting free range onto my menu. God, you don’t know where they’ve been or what they’ve been eating.” To which I reminded him that they were ALL free range until they signed with him. He looked at me totally aghast. “I DO NOT drink straight from the street . . . ever.” So yeah, I just bet he did just about rip Mick’s head off, literally.

I chuckled softly at the memory. “I just bet he did.” I stood thinking for a moment and then decided to sit next to him on the couch before I asked the next question. “Mick, did it make sense to you why he taught you how to do that?”

“Well, yeah. Of course it did. Bagged wasn’t really an option then.”

“And at some point it may not be again. She has got to know how.”

Mick shook his head. “No.” He said softly.

“Why do you feel that feeding from a freshie is cheating, Mick?”

His eyes widened in surprise. “I never said that.”

“Not in words, you haven’t. But in actions, yes you have.” I sat waiting for the tirade that I knew was coming.

Mick stood and glided to the window to look out. “I don’t know, Aoife.” He stated softly. “I know it’s not, I mean, we don’t have emotional attachments to our food . . . but.”

“But what, dear heart?” I prodded gently.

He turned to look at me, tears glistening in his eyes. “It’s not me that her fangs will be in, damn it. It’ll be some unknown male. . . and the look on his face will be one of pure bliss and he’ll probably cum.” His voice was laced with pain.

“Coraline fed and fucked freshies in front of you, didn’t she.” It wasn’t a question. Seamus had once told me that she had done it in front of him. He had tried to stop her once and she staked him every time after that so she could torture him and have her fun at the same time.

Again came the saucer eyes. “How. . . how did you know about that?”

I smiled a half smile. “Seamus told me about it one time. He tried to stop her once. She staked him and fucked three then while he watched unable to move.”

Mick smiled grimly. “She had a definite pattern, didn’t she?”

“Yes, yes she did.” I walked over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder. “Mick, Beth is not Coraline. She’s already told me that she wants nothing to do with feeding fresh and I told her the same thing that I’ve told you. She has to know how, just in case.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He turned to watch the rain that was now falling run down the picture window.

Patting him once on the shoulder before I pulled my hand away, I said “Mick, why don’t you go talk to Beth about it. She needs to understand your feelings.”

“I don’t want to dredge up the past.”

“But if you don’t it will still continue to rule your present.” I watched him intently for a few minutes.

“Mick, I’m not doing this to hurt you. I’m doing it to make sure she’s fully ready to move around in our world.”

He turned and I pulled him in for a hug.

“Yeah, I know that too, Aoife. I just don’t know if I can handle it.” He pulled out of the hug and headed towards the door.

I stood holding one arm. “It’s only one week Mick. It will be over quickly. Look I’ll even teach her. You don’t even have to go into the freshie wing.”

“No, it’s my responsibility.” He reached down and turned the knob, opening the door. He turned and looked back at me one last time. “Does she really need to do this?”

“Yes, Mick she does.”

He took a deep steadying breath, nodded once and headed out the door.

One week later, Beth is an expert at feeding fresh. The freshies are gone and she’s back to drinking bottled. And Mick, he made it through without any major meltdowns. Oh there were a few minor ones, but all in all he didn’t do bad at all. And Beth, well there were a few missteps but no fatalities and she has stated unequivocally that she prefers feeding from a glass or syringe, much to Mick’s relief.

For me, I’m just glad it’s over. I never told him but that part of being a sire has always been my least favorite part. Teaching someone the nuances of pleasure is without a doubt a bitch and one that honestly I hope I never, ever have to do again.