Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
The San Jose Sharks don’t sell Tomas Hertl jerseys in their team store right now. We have a feeling that they will be the time the team plays their next home game. Hertl scored four goals as the Sharks stomped the New York Rangers on October 9. While the hat trick was impressive in its own right, it was the fourth marker that will have the city buzzing for the foreseeable future.
He picked up the puck and with a few extra feet of space, Hertl dropped it between his legs, hooked the stick around his left skate and shot with the blade between his feet. Words don’t do the goal justice and it was an electric finish for a night that the teenager will never forget.
Less than a week into his professional hockey career, Hertl has already heard his name chanted by the Shark Tank on several occasions. Yet when the crowd erupted with less than six minutes to go while chanting his name, there was a special buzz in the air.
Four goals? That’s just downright epic. Four goals is Sergei Fedorov territory. While the season is young, to see a youthful guy step in and dominate like this is special and rare. Steven Stamkos didn’t do this. Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin did, and if Hertl continues to play like he is then he’ll be the shoo-in for the Calder Trophy and could finish among the league leaders in points.
Is this the coming out party for the next great Sharks super star? It very well could be. While this kind of pace might be a pipe dream, so was the idea of Hertl putting up numbers like this so early. Anything is possible, so why not believe?
This was a special performance by a special young man, and it’s clear that San Jose has a special player in Hertl.