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Don Cherry's new tactic has lead to a two game undefeated streak

A lot of experts have thought that this years lineup of San Jose Sharks would take them to their first playoff in LML history. But so far it has looked as the same way as last year. The team plays well and mostly wins the shots but loses the games. A bif hole in the defence has played a major part and a lot of fans have opened critizised the 4 millions dollars spent on Allison where they also had to give up strong defender and fan favourite Al Iafrate. Jason Allison answered all his critics tonight by being the man behind Sharks victory over the Hawks. 1 goal and two assist came to his credit and finally he looked as the franchise player so many wants him to be. Together with Andrei Kovalenko he destroyed the Hawks plans of getting out of their slump.

Jason Allison now leads the team in points but hasn't really paid off those 4 million dollars the Sharks payed for him.
The game started well for the Hawks by an early goal of Krivokrasov, probably the hottest player in the Hawks tonight. It all looked as the Sharks would go for a major defeat as the Chicago team outshot them in the first period. But suddenly mr Allison turned things around for the Sharks with an equalizer in the 11th minute of the second period assisted by Nazarov and Salei. Just a minute later Derek Plante scored and suddenly Sharks had the lead by 2-1. The crowd went wild and the Hawks put a hard pressure on Byron Dafoe in front of the Sharks crease. But the period ended 2-1 to the Sharks and the homefans smelled the Sharks chances of winning this game.

Ruslan Salei scored his first point in the Sharks jersey tonight.

Everybody thought that the Hawks would continue their pressure on Dafoe in the third period but instead it was the Sharks who turned the game around and wanted to secure their lead by two more goals. Sergei Krivokrasov was the unlucky man in the Blackhawks as he boarded Sharks defender Boris Mironov and had to step into the penalty box for two minutes. Andrei Kovalenko scored during his penalty assisted by Allison and Friesen. Kovalenko scored his second and Sharks fourth goal at the end of the period once again assisted by Allison. This became the final result at it seems as Don Cherry's new tactic with a stronger defence has payed dividence. The team is now running around with 7 d-men dressed. Tony Granato has a more defensive role in the team and he has shown that he's capable of doing what's required from him. "- In the first 15 games I wasn't given too much icetime so if Don Cherry wants me to play more defensive I'll do that if I get the chance", Granato said.

Tony Granato the former goalscorer has been given a more defensive role lately and so far handled it well.

Sharks affiliate team: Las Vegas Thunder
The Las Vegas Thunder has been dominating the farmleague so far this season. With the league's strongest goalkeeping and defence they have been providing their forwards with golden opportunities. Tie Domi who's mostly known for his aggressive attitudes has managed to score 23 points in 26 games and leads the team in points. Alexei Yegorev who played all his games for the Sharks last season leads the goalscoring in Thunder with Joe Dziedzic, both with 12 goals. But the key to success for Thunder is the defense. Chris LiPuma, Corey Foster and Fredrik Oduya has been dominating the ice and have been helping their excellent goalies J-F Labbe or Rick Shumlistra to keep their saving percentages at top level. When Sharks acquired Byron Dafoe there was no room for J-F Labbe in the pro's and that has been very helpful for Las Vegas. GM Oskar Forssell has a great material to work with, but so far he's done a great job and rumour says that some of the pro-teams in LML are interested of his services.

Joe Dziedzic and Alexei Yegorev are enjoying their days in Las Vegas. GM Victor Fradera of the Sharks says that he's keeping an eye on the farmleague and he's ready to promote one or two players in the future.

TRADERUMOURS!
The Sharks have suffered by a struggling defence all season long and it's a wellknown fact that GM Fradera has been searching around the league for a partner to Boris Mironov. "-I tried to listen to Boris when he said that he wished to play with his brother Dmitri in the Sharks so we had tough negotiations with the Devils of acquiring Dmitri but we couldn't reach an agreement at that time", said Fradera. A lot of other teams have been involved in negotiations lately but nothing is confirmed. Coached Don Cherry hoped that Sharks trades would resulted quicker and always left a space in his lineups. But his patience ran out and lately he made a new solution with 7 d-men dressed for every game. This seems to have paid off and Sharks find themselves undefeated after that descision. "-Even if it looks a little better right now we're still searching for a strong defender", Fradera said and left the pressconference.