William Eklund breaks down the right side of the ice. He spins around a defender to the left before shifting the puck back to his forehand. There isn’t much room to maneuver, but he jams the puck through the pads of Anaheim Ducks goaltender Gage Alexander. A second later, his hands are up in the air as captain Nick Cicek skates towards him with open arms and fans rise to their feet. The Sharks win 3-2 in overtime as future NHL hopefuls pour off the bench to celebrate.
You couldn’t have drawn up a more storybook ending for the first hockey game at Tech CU Arena, the brand new home of the San Jose Barracuda.
While the NHL club will still call SAP Center at San Jose home, the world got an exciting inside glimpse at the future of the Barracuda. Many of the skaters on the Sharks roster have laced up their skates for the Barracuda or will do so in the coming season, with the Rookie Faceoff serving as a prime way for them to begin building chemistry and get used to their new facilities.
While not in their new threads – unveiled last Wednesday – the Sharks rookies donned teal helmets and pants for their three home games, providing a unique look that combines the new with the old.
Tweet from @sjbarracuda: Cheech with the ���C���!?! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/I6E8fXMOcc
Day One
San Jose’s first game saw them taste victory, but the journey to get there wasn’t so smooth. Thomas Bordeleau opened the scoring for the Sharks when he wired a wrist shot past the Ducks goaltender courtesy of a cross-ice pass from William Eklund in the neutral zone. Anaheim rebounded after the first period tally and outscored the Sharks 2-0 in the second period off early goals from Noah Warren and Nathan Gaucher.
The Sharks rallied in the third period and overtime thanks to a pair of goals powered by the Eklund-Bordeleau connection, first tying the game early in the final frame thanks to a short side shot from below the faceoff dot by William Eklund on the power play and finally winning the game in overtime thanks to some jaw-dropping edge work by the Swede.
Tweet from @CurtisPashelka: Eklund with the spinorama to end it OT pic.twitter.com/HTz6pbUDnK
Final score – SJS 3, ANA 2 OT
Day Two
Day two began with some fanfare, with Sharks legend Joe Thornton making an appearance on the ice at Tech CU.
Tweet from @SanJoseSharks: Hey Jumbo! 👋 pic.twitter.com/O0zzpmfTOp
San Jose opened their second game of the Rookie Faceoff red hot. Back-to-back-to-back, the Sharks scored three goals courtesy of three separate players in a wild 13-minute stretch during the first period to jump to a 3-0 lead. Unlike the night before, the second period bore fruit for the Sharks as they extended the lead to 5-0 despite taking six penalties in the frame. Tristen Robins found the back of the net twice with a pair of well-placed shots, beating the goaltender from just beyond the blue paint on the first shot and popping the water bottle on the second.
Tweet from @SanJoseSharks: A BIG night from @tristenrobins1 🤩 pic.twitter.com/BUMEjkIFWf
Mason Beaupit stood tall in between the pipes, fending off 28 of the 29 shots he faced and helping the Sharks go 9-for-10 on the penalty kill, a mark no other team matched all tournament. Colorado’s lone goal of the night came on their third five-on-three opportunity.
Final score – SJS 5, COL 1
Day Three
The Sharks didn’t find their offensive rhythm from games one and two of the tournament, dropping their final contest by a score of 3-0. Goaltender Ben Gaudreau continued the Sharks streak of excellent play between the pipes, stopping 27 shots and helping the Sharks come away evenly during six separate penalty kills. Defenseman Artemi Kniazev led the Sharks with four shots on goal and saw plenty of ice time with Barracuda regulars Nick Cicek and Montana Onyebuchi out of the lineup.
Final score – SJS 0, LAK 3
The Sharks finished the tournament with a 2-1 record and let in the least number of goals among any of the participating teams. All three netminders for San Jose allowed two goals or fewer in their games, with Strauss Mann making a team-high 35 saves in his lone appearance and both Mann (.966) and Mason Beaupit (.946) ranking in the top five in save percentage among all goaltenders in the Rookie Faceoff. Three Sharks players were tied for third in the tournament in points.
Fans and opponents alike got a taste of the future of Sharks and Barracuda with the six-team rookie showcase. Up next, the Sharks play their first true home game of the 2022-23 season on Oct. 14 while the Barracuda begin play in the state-of-the-art Tech CU Arena beginning Oct. 22.
