I went all-in on the Sharks this year in my playoff pool. I had the first pick and I chose the Stroker Ace himself, Joe Thornton. It was time to bury the hatchet with my contempt for old Jumbo Joe, one that I had let simmer beneath my more pragmatic self. I had to get over the illogical reasons I had for never trusting the guy to perform and get 'the job done'.
I was played.
Not by Joe, he is who he is. He is was what I thought he was. He is everything his reputation says he is-reputation that is almost cemented for the legacy of his career. Joe Thornton is a career playoff under-performing choke artist, and I hate him for that.
This isn't about seeing my playoff pool hopes dashed to the ground, no it's about hope and the feeling you get when you believe that something just can't be as bad as it is. But that's Joe, when the playoffs roll around he's bad. Real bad and it doesn't matter who he has with him either.
The mother of all stats, plus/minus, shows the best reason why I feel this way-Joe Thornton is a -25 in career post season games. Okay so that's really not an fair indictment but what is fair in the way Joe constantly disappoints? Imagine if I were a Sharks fan!
While the scoring stats may say he's all right with 100 points in 131 career playoff games how many deep runs has he made? Only 3 times has he made it past 11 games played in the post season in 14 years of post season play. He's not the only member on those teams but he's the most important and carries the most pressure and every year when things get tough he chokes. A full on Heimlich type that usually ends up with him being revived in the locker room where he looks dazed and confused at yet another playoff exit.
Last night after the Shark were the third team ever to blow a 3-0 series lead he slid into his post game role, the won he was apparently born to play, with ease. It was like Ed O'neil and Al Bundy- he'll never have another role. He's typecast and soon the thought that crosses all great cupless hockey players will come to him, 'when do I go to a place that can win me the cup?'. Joe there might be no other role for you, I want to be sorry to say that but I'm not.
Joe's different thant Ray Bourque or Jarom Iginla, two players who had to make that very decision to move on from the only teams they knew. He is the guy who is supposed to carry the load for his team. He's a large number one centre who averages almost a point per game in the regular season for his career and kept the Sharks near the top of the class in the West for a long time.
He's not a winger like Iginla who needed a centre to get him the puck nor his he a defenceman like Bourque who needed more up front. He's a guy who is supposed to be great in both ends of the ice and that's why he's labelled by some and now hated by me. He is those things except when the games get tight and tough.
I had hoped that this cast around him might make Joe a different player this post-season. I had hoped that he would have learned to adapt his game finally. I had hoped the probability that luck might be on his side would finally happen. I was wrong to hope and now I hate Joe Thornton. I hate him for all the things he wants us to believe he is and I hate him because he never seems to have a stigma attached to him. Nice guy or not, he's a career playoff looooooooser.
I'm sick of losing, being associated with losers in my pools, and in my fandom. Once again this year I bet many Sharks fans are thinking that about Joe Thornton, when is he going to get sick of losing in the post season? For old Chokin' Joe I doubt anything changes, what part of his career says there's any chance of that happening?
I was fooled, duped, faked out, misled, and much more and I give up trying to find the good in him as an NHL player. I hate you Joe Thornton.