Sharks following Pavelski’s lead
First-year captain gives team goals and much more
The decision to affix the C on Joe Pavelski’s jersey was an easy one.
It was more than a dozen years ago and drew little notice outside the junior hockey world, unlike when Pavelski was tapped as captain of the San Jose Sharks before this season. But junior coach P.K. O’Handley used pretty much the same verbiage Sharks players and management have tossed around to describe what made Pavelski captain material.
“He’s a leader,” O’Handley, longtime coach and general manger of the Waterloo (Iowa) Black Hawks, told USA TODAY Sports. “He wasn’t only our best player and an incredible athlete, but he grasped everything and did things the right way, even when he was 18 years old.”
Pavelski led the United States Hockey League franchise to the championship in 2004 as its captain. The success continued at Wisconsin, where he helped the Badgers win an NCAA title in 2006. Now he makes his first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final as the Sharks play the Pittsburgh Penguins in pursuit of their first Cup.
Pavelski, 31, has been described as a lead-by-example type of captain, so he’s not the kind of player who gets fiery and makes guarantees. When you’re leading the playoffs in goals as Pavelski is (13 entering Game 1 on Monday at Consol Energy Center), your style works.
First-year Sharks coach Peter DeBoer tapped Pavelski as captain in October. (San Jose’s captaincy sat vacant under former coach Todd McLellan last season, a campaign that ended without a playoff berth.) The Sharks’ two previous captains, Patrick Marleau (2004-09) and Joe Thornton (2010-14), remain cogs for the team.
Pavelski credited Marleau and Thornton with a smooth ascension to the captaincy, the first by a U.S.-born player in team history.
“I think the biggest thing I took out of it was be yourself and try not to stray too far away from that,” Pavelski said. “I relied on (Marleau and Thornton), and they were a tremendous help. We need each other. When things aren’t going well, you can’t have guys go their own way.”
Thornton said he was upset for a day or two after McLellan decided to take away his captaincy following the 2013-14 season, which concluded with San Jose coughing up a 3-0 series lead to the rival Los Angeles Kings.
“You get over things quick,” Thornton said. “You’ve got to. If you know me, it wasn’t really a big deal.”
Thornton’s review of Pavelski’s first season as captain?
“He’s vocal in the room, and he’s been incredible this year,” Thornton said.
Sharks forward Logan Couture, who led the playoffs with 24 points through the first three rounds, added that Pavelski had been more prone to share his thoughts with the team as the season progressed.
“He’s maybe a little more vocal now,” Couture said. “You watch the guy in practice and see what a good player he is and how hard he works, so you want to do it your- self. He’s pushed other players to follow his lead.”
O’Handley, Pavelski’s junior coach, did recall one particular time Pavelski was the most vocal. It was minutes before the third period of Game 4 of the Clark Cup, a championship Waterloo had never secured.
“There were some special things said in that speech,” O’Handley recalled. “The players, the coaches were all impressed. He’s played on other teams since leaving here, but the stories are the same. I know they sound too good to be true.”