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Sharks Diary
1999 - Chapter 17 with Vincent Damphousse
March 31 - San Jose
"It is good to finally be 'home'. Well, at least to be at my new home, San Jose. I was traded at the deadline to San Jose from the Canadiens. It was pretty hectic. I joined the Sharks in the middle of a pretty important road trip. I was happy to get off to a good start in Toronto and then we had another strong game in Ottawa. The trip finished up with a loss in Edmonton.
We arrived in San Jose Sunday evening and I checked into a hotel in Los Gatos. I'll be staying there the rest of the season most likely. It is good to have some time to settle in and get my things organized. A lot of my teammates live in the Los Gatos area and I had a chance to go to dinner with a couple of the guys. They showed me around a little. Seems very nice.
In Montreal hockey is in the front of almost everyone's mind. I would be recognized where ever I went. But that is not a bad thing. I understand what it's like to be a fan. But here there are a lot of other things on people's minds. So far only one lady at the coffee shop has recognized me. But we certainly have our fans. In a way this might be a good change for me. It's a chance for a quieter life. In Montreal there is a lot of pressure. Here we can make our own pressure.
The guys on the team have been good to me. I have played with Bob Rouse in Toronto and Joe Murphy in Edmonton. In hockey most dressing rooms are the same pretty much. The guys enjoy playing and get along well. I have played in the Eastern Conference for quite some time now, so I was not that familiar with a lot of the Sharks' players. There seems to be a good mix on this team; young guys & veterans. There are a lot of guys who have won cups or gone deep into the playoffs. Some of the young guys have really impressed me. Marco Sturm, Jeff Friesen, Patrick Marleau, Alex Korolyuk all have a ton of talent and will be very good players in the NHL.
In general I like our team. We're tough, got good speed and excellent goaltending. There are some good signs as we head toward the playoffs. I'm looking forward to it."
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