Shark Fans: Undercover

Chuqui and Laurie have long had season tickets to the San Jose Sharks, and they're generally on top of what's going on at the Shark Tank. So imagine their surprise when Evengi Nabokov didn't show for the game on Monday night, and nobody would say why.

But that didn't stop our pals. Further investigation ensues:

So I went and did some checking. You don't spend a decade sitting next to the tunnel without getting to know people, and they're used to my raw (and rather blatant) curiousity, and mostly, amused.

Anonymous source #1: It's pretty ugly, but I can't talk about it right now.

Anonymous source #2 (actually, Bob, the lead usher): yeah, he's going to have the flu for the next couple of games (one needs to realize that every injury in the universe is the flu with Bob... grin)

Anonymous source #3: I don't have a clue, but he's down in the weight room lifting right now....

Now, there was a second rumor wandering down around section 127, too -- that the Sharks got stuck in customs for 8 hours leaving Montreal, because a player "got caught with something".

Alas, no definitive answers there. So then we turn to the Mercury News:

After the victory Monday, Coach Ron Wilson said that Nabokov had "tweaked his groin the other night" and that the Sharks wanted to be cautious because of the groin problems Nabokov and Toskala endured earlier this season.

Nabokov, though, offered a somewhat different version.

"You ask them and they will answer to you," Nabokov said when asked about his injury status.

Did he pull his groin in Montreal or Ottawa?

"I don't have any comment on that one," Nabokov said. "I don't want to start anything, so just go ask the coaches all that."

He paused, then said: "I feel fine."

So, in summary:

We can almost hear the theme to Jaws starting to play...

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tags: nhl, hockey, san+jose+sharks, evengi+nabokov, goalie, injury, ron+wilson