The weather in San Jose is warm and beautiful most of the year, but inside the HP Pavilion at San Jose arena, things are ice chilling. The National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks play some of the best hockey in the league. The team is a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Although they have never seen Stanley Cup Championship action, the team is full of potential and has the ability to ultimately become a top team.

The San Jose Sharks began their inaugural season in September 1991. For the first two years, the Sharks were not very fearful and posted one of the worst records in the NHL. Even with Doug Wilson at the reins, the team couldn’t gain momentum until their third season in 1993 when they underwent one of the biggest turnarounds in NHL history and landed themselves in the playoffs. The team beat the favored Detroit Red Wings in a surprise upset during the first round of the playoffs but were taken down by the Toronto Maple Leafs. They made the playoffs again in 1994 but failed to even come close in 1995 and 1996 with poor performances resulting in poor placement. Many player trades and a new head coach was brought on board in 1996 as the franchise was looking to improve on the Sharks’ poor performance.

For the remainder of the 90s, the Sharks made the playoffs but fell short of playing in the Stanley Cup Finals in either the first or second round failing to achieve their goals. It wasn’t until the 2003-2004 season that San Jose got a sniff of the title game as they made it all the way to the conference finals for the first time. Unfortunately the team fell short to the Calgary Flames, which was a disappointing end to a great year in which they won the Pacific Division title and was seeded third in the league. One of the Sharks’ best seasons came during 2006-2007 when the team finished with its best record in franchise history, at the time, at 51-26-5. But they would beat their own record the very next season picking up their third division title and making it to the playoffs once again. They made it to the Western Conference Semifinals before losing to the Dallas Stars. Although Rob Wilson had been one of the Sharks’ best players for the better part of a decade, he was fired at the end of the 2007 season and the team added Todd McLellan to the team as the new head coach just months later. These adjustments proved to be smart for the franchise as the Sharks won the President’s Trophy with 117 points and 53 wins. Playoff trouble found them again despite the great regular season and the team fell in the first round of playoffs. 2009 looks to be solid and the San Jose Sharks are once again a top team leading up to the playoffs. If the team can just get past their playoff woes, then they might finally earn their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Championships.