Roenick rides to the rescue

By Ann Killion
Mercury News Sports Columnist

Article Launched: 04/22/2008 10:05:19 PM PDT


Can a building vibrate off its foundation? Shake loose from its moorings from pure excitement?

HP Pavilion nearly did Tuesday night. The big aluminum shed was hosting the first Game 7 in its history, the biggest moment in sports. The building was quaking with the jangling of thousands of nerve endings. And, ultimately, rocking in an explosion of joy, with the fuse lit by none other than veteran Jeremy Roenick.

In the decisive game of this first-round playoff series, the Sharks beat Calgary 5-3.

On the greatest moment hockey can offer, Roenick stamped his signature.

Signed last September, Roenick was immune to the Sharks' passive playoff past. He hadn't experienced it, didn't much care about it. He wasn't around for the disappointments and failures, the unmet expectations.

Roenick didn't bring any ghosts or fears into Game 7. Instead, he brought knowledge. He had the most experience of any Shark on the ice in these epic and decisive games, with five Game 7s under his belt.

Before Tuesday, Roenick said that seventh games are the moments that create hockey superstars. They are also the moments that reaffirm a superstar's greatness - and that's exactly what Roenick did Tuesday night.

He scored the tying goal. He scored another goal. He assisted on still two more goals. This 38-year-old put the Sharks on his aching back and carried them to the promised land. Well, at least to a second-round matchup with Dallas.

Roenick's name is now legend in San Jose. He joins the big names in Sharks playoff lore: Jamie Baker, Ray Whitney, Owen Nolan.

Tuesday saw the sixth Game 7 in Sharks playoff history. The first came 14 years ago, when Baker scored the winning goal in Detroit for one of the biggest upsets in hockey history. Two years later, Whitney won Game 7 in Calgary in double-overtime. And in 2000, Nolan delivered a victory in St. Louis.

Whitney is still scoring goals and playing well in Carolina. We know about Nolan - he was on the ice for Calgary on Tuesday and, for a time, looked like he'd have another big goal to add to his résumé.

Baker was in the building, too, calling the game on radio, offering up his Game 7 mojo. The Sharks players had combined for only 22 Game 7s in their collective history (in contrast to 62 on the Flames roster). A lot of Sharks were experiencing the ultimate pressure cooker for the first time.

"You don't want to be tense," Baker said. "You want to be intense."

The Sharks failed that lesson in the first period. They started off intense, exactly what was missing from their Game 6 defeat. And after about 11 minutes, Joe Thornton scored on a power play to send the building into a wild celebration.

But the lead vanished two minutes later when Jarome Iginla scored for Calgary. For the remainder of the first period the Sharks were a lot more tense than intense. When Nolan gave Calgary the lead in the second period, a sense of doom dropped over the building. And then Roenick came to the rescue.

Roenick had been a healthy scratch in Game 6; Coach Ron Wilson had wanted to make sure the oldest player on the team was well rested. Wilson's plan worked. Tuesday Roenick was everywhere on the ice.

In the second, he scored a goal originally attributed to Devin Setoguchi. But all Setoguchi did was wave his stick over Roenick's shot. Three minutes later there was no question who scored the goal that broke the game open. It was all Roenick. On a power play, he shot, swooped in to get his own deflection, flicked it past Mikka Kiprusoff and pandemonium ensued.

The sight of old man Roenick gliding in celebration on one skate, fists pumping, ignited the Sharks and the fans. When Joe Pavelski scored to make the score 4-2, Calgary coach Mike Keenan pulled Kiprusoff and put in veteran Curtis Joseph. But the feeding frenzy was already on. Roenick immediately set up Setoguchi for the Sharks fifth goal.

Roenick didn't share the Sharks playoff past, but he changed their playoff future. This battle with the Flames may be exactly the test the Sharks needed to harden them, define them and perhaps catapult them farther than they've ever gone.

What will we remember about this series?

The brutal, bloody hits on Patrick Marleau in Game 3. The last second goal by Joe Thornton in Game 4. The unexpected emergence of Ryane Clowe. The steady presence of Evgeni Nabokov. The end of series handshake.

And, most of all, the timeless sight of Jeremy Roenick, one skate raised, fists pumping, sending Calgary home and the Sharks straight ahead.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Ann Killion at akillion@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5805.