Hockey is back in the Bay Area. The Sharks kicked off a journey of big dreams.

San Jose Bench lined up during the season opener against St. Louis Blues on Oct 10, 2024, at SAP Center in San Jose. (San Jose Media Relations)

By: Fernando Abarca

SAN JOSE, CA – One of the most anticipated nights in franchise history finally arrived, the 2024-25 campaign kicked off, and with that, the awakening of many dreams.

People showed up tonight after an almost sellout crowd of 17,435 people in attendance. It made a statement of what people wanted to see Thursday night, and that night was Macklin Celebrini who was selected 1st overall in the 2024 draft last summer.

The crowd made themselves be heard, and it was a revelation of what used to be in past years at Shark Tank, a place where several figures from the world of hockey filled the people of San Jose with happiness and nights of joy, something that seemed to have disappeared since 2019. The San Jose Sharks battled the St Louis Blues in overtime but lost the home opener 5-4.

The Sharks dominated for the most part of the game, scoring in the first and second periods. However, the Blues found ways to bounce back. Justin Faulk scored just seconds before to end the game and secure the first victory for the Sharks, but it had to be taken to overtime.

It was then that Brayden Schenn scored the fifth goal for the Blues and ended San Jose’s dreams of victory.

Despite this, we can rescue the wonderful first and second periods in which we can highlight the dream debut of Macklin Celebrini who, beyond his debut, scored his first point in his promising NHL career.

Macklin’s defiant action created a kind of aura for the Sharks, who, with great inspiration, scored a four-goal goal, encouraging the eagerness of the public, who felt the joy that had disappeared a long time ago.

Another important factor was the goaltending, adding 29 saves and taking the ovation and confidence of the team, even though in the third period the goals came for St Louis, Mackenzie Blackwood made a good performance.

Statistically speaking, the visiting team was expected to win, but the way the San Jose team would fight was not expected.

Now, the challenge for San Jose is to avoid in every possible way starting the season in the same way the team started the past seasons with losing records.

This Saturday, the action returns to San Jose, and together with them, the Sharks will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Night, in which there is much celebration and recognition of the Hispanic culture of the area. The Sharks will host Anaheim Saturday night at 7:00pm PT before embarking on a series of road games.