[Critch]

2039/40 Playoffs Round 2 - San Jose Sharks
It's only the third time we've met San Jose Sharks in the playoffs, mainly because they don't make it very often, this is only their second appearance in the last 7 years. They beat Anchorage 4-1 in 2032, and Anchorage won 4-3 in 2033 on their way to the Stanley Cup final. According to the Anchorage team page, San Jose are our main rivals, but they dont list us as a rival at all. We're not important enough for even San Jose to care about. It's a one-way rivalry, like Carolina and whoever they tag onto in real life NHL.

Last year we came up against Connor Bedard running out of time to win a Stanley Cup, we have something similar this year. Macklin Celebrini was a first round pick in 2024, fourth overall, he's been an all-star 9 times, he's won Olympic medals and awards, but he's 34 years old and never won a Stanley Cup. He's a budget Bedard. Hopefully we'll do better stopping Celebrini than we did stopping Bedard.

San Jose roster isn't the strongest, Celebrini and Jeremy Skolrood are 4.0, a handful of 3.5 star players. Nothing special. Former Husky reject Rick Claycomb is one of their stars. They're also a bit beaten up, they have a couple of players playing through injuries that should really have ended their season, including Skolrood and his torn elbow ligament.

We're going to win.

Game 1 - San Jose Sharks 0 Anchorage Huskies 7
Henry Mews is back from his shoulder injury and straight into the top pairing. It's a bit one-sided, San Jose only manage 10 shots in the whole game (3 in the first, 5 in the second, 2 in the third). Jeff Martin makes it 1-0 Anchorage in the first, David Prudek twice (0:34 and 15:09) and Mark Dollack (18:16) in the second, then Magnus Larssen (1:50), Anssi Ridanpaa (3:36 power play) and August Pettersson (13:24 shorthanded) in the third and it's a 7-0 walkover.

Game 2 - San Jose Sharks 1 Anchorage Huskies 4
It's not as easy as game one, but still one-sided, Anchorage outshoot them 38-23. Magnus Larsen makes in 1-0 Anchorage at 10:28 with an assist from Anssi Ridanpaa, but San Jose get back into this game, BJ Zentner with an unassisted goal to make it 1-1 at the end of the first period. In the second Reece Gault puts Anchorage 2-1 up, Larsen and Ridanpaa with the assists, they've been the stars of the playoffs for us. Into the third and it's not til late on that Anchorage make it safe. August Pettersson at 18:10 and a late empty net goal for Enzo Landrey and we've won both home games and go to San Jose with a 2-0 series lead.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 3 San Jose Sharks 1
A pair of power play goals in the first period and we're well on our way, Aleksandr Unichenko at 8:36 and David Prudek at 14:25 and it's 2-0 Anchorage at the end of the first. Former Huskies player Rick Claycomb (2033/34, 51 games, 10 goals) pulls one back for San Jose at 8:18 in the second period but that's the end of the scoring til Matt Leader gets a last second empty net goal and Anchorage are 3-0 up for the second series in a row.

Edit - Ooops! Timeline reboot! Originally Anchorage won this series in 6 games (which I originally posted), won the conference final and were in the Stanley Cup Final but the game crashed during saving and messed up the file. First time that's happened. The most recent backup was last day of April, so we're back here, 3-0 up against San Jose Sharks.

Wavey lines clear, we're back in the dim and distant past of April 30th 2040, with a sense of deja vu we're back playing game four against San Jose, having to knock them out the playoffs twice in the same season.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 4 San Jose Sharks 1
Sweep complete. Jordan Gavin sets Anchorage on their way, a goal at 1:09. San Jose get back into it and it's 1-1, but two late first period goals, Johan Dahlberg at 17:59 and Jordan Gavin at 19:56 and Anchorage are 3-1 up and the writing is on the wall. There's no more scoring until 17:38 of the third period, Jordan Gavin completes his hattrick and we're onto the Western Conference final for the 6th time in 8 seasons. It's been a while since we won one though.

It's Vancouver Canucks in the Conference Final, so that's a change, it was St Louis Blues in the original playthrough. Over in the East it'll be Hartford Whalers v Boston Bruins.