The Pond's horrible ice and Teemu Selanne's illegal stick helped the Sharks avoid being down a man in overtime against the Ducks last night. Selanne was called for unsportsmanlike conduct at the beginning of overtime, negating a Craig Rivet penalty that was carrying over from the end of regulation, and San Jose went on to win the shootout for a 3-2 victory. The Sharks came back to even the score after being down by 2 goals in the first period, and both teams helped their playoff positioning against the Dallas Stars.

The expansion of hockey outside of the snow belt has often meant late- season and playoff games are played on ice that in other circumstances would be better off scooped up, drizzled with syrup, and handed to small children. Anaheim's ice last night was terrible, and it marred what otherwise was a tightly played, playoff-intense game between two excellent teams. The ice did help out the Sharks, however, when both Selanne (now using a legal stick) and Andy McDonald flubbed their shootout attempts, making Jonathan Cheechoo's and Ryan Clowe's shootout goals standup.

Um, remember what we were saying about Jonathan Cheechoo not scoring goals? Just forget we wrote that, ummkay? Cheech recorded his 3rd hat trick of the season in last Sunday's 6-2 thumping of the likable, but hapless, L.A. Kings, bringing his season goal total to 35. He's scored 12 goals in his last 10 games (adding 5 assists).