Sharks’ Clowe owns up to ‘dumb play’

It made the highlight reels, but the officials on the ice never saw it.

Probably a good thing for San Jose forward Ryane Clowe, who was caught by the cameras playing a puck from the bench in the Sharks’ key Thursday night matchup against the Los Angeles Kings.

Initially, Clowe suggested he didn’t know what reporters were talking about when asked about the incident after the game. Friday, he came clean. “Obviously, as you can tell when I sat down on the bench, that was stupid, that was a dumb play,” Clowe said to the Mercury News. “It probably should have been a two-minute penalty and I was lucky it didn’t cost the team. It was definitely a brain cramp at the time. Don’t think it’ll ever happen again.”

Coach Todd Mclellan called it an “ill-advised move.”

If the referees had seen it, Clowe would have been penalized for interference. The Kings were already on the power play.

The Sharks ended up winning the game in a shootout.