Players say they have routines, but not superstitions
SAN JOSE >> The first rule about having superstitions is to not to refer to them as being superstitions.
They’re called routines, in case you were curious.
“Superstition has this stigma about it,” Sharks winger Evander Kane said. “Superstitions are fine. Everybody has them, whether they admit it or not.”
The Sharks have won six straight going into Tuesday’s home game against the Edmonton Oilers. They’ve completely turned around their season in that time, going from a team that was at the bottom of the Western Conference standings to one that has rejoined the pack in the bunched up Pacific Division.
There’s a few reasons why the Sharks have enjoyed more success: Tighter defense at times. Increased scoring. Good special teams. Timely saves.
But believing in superstition to switch up the mojo isn’t one of them, they say. Like most other professional athletes, their routines, especially on game days, are ingrained.
“I think everybody has their routine already. Maybe they switched something up, but I don’t notice it too much,” Sharks winger Patrick Marleau said. “I just try to keep doing the same thing, be consistent all year long.
“But I’m sure there’s guys that once a win streak starts, they went to a certain place after. Or pregame, they just keep going back. I think that stuff does happen.”
Doing something out of the ordinary to spark a turnaround hasn’t been out of the question in the past for the Sharks.
As a guest on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast earlier this year, former Sharks forward T.J. Galiardi said that when the team was on a losing streak during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, he jokingly taped pre-wrap around his head before a game. He later went into the trainer’s room and saw Joe Thornton, who noticed some loose strands of Galiardi’s hair sticking out.
Thornton then, according to Galiardi, snipped off a good chunk of the protruding locks.
The Sharks won that night, and kept winning. Suddenly, a new tradition of cutting off a little bit of hair from an unfortunate player’s head -- usually Galiardi’s -- was born. It reached a point that after a playoff win over the Los Angeles Kings in 2013, Thornton, according to Galiardi, snipped off a bit of hair from owner Hasso Plattner’s head.