BY HANNAH PURKEY

In print | Published February 26, 2009

With the much-awaited return of injured players and the flu no longer ravaging the locker room, San Jose Sharks coach Todd McLellan returned to a more familiar lineup for Saturday’s win against the Atlanta Thrashers. The returning players included Jeremy Roenick and Jody Shelley, re-establishing the Sharks’ hard-hitting fourth line of Shelley, Roenick and Claude Lemieux. Although fourth lines often receive the least playing time and are usually occupied by lesser-known NHL players, the Sharks’ fourth line is packed with some of the most notorious names in hockey. These three are always an exciting line to watch because they play some of the most aggressive hockey in the Western Conference and are the go-to guys when big fights or big hits are needed to change the tempo of the game. They accomplish all this with an average age of 38.3 years, making them the oldest forward line for the Sharks, if not the league. Youth may be a highly prized commodity in the NHL, but these guys are not afraid to make light of their old age compared to players like Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who, in his third season with the Sharks, is still only 21. “We’re definitely the oldest line in the NHL,” Roenick said in an interview for the Associated Press. “We’ve got 115 years of experience, so we must be doing something right.” The line’s reunion this past weekend offers an opportunity to pay respect to our elders and take a closer look at this line and how it inspires fear in every opponent it faces off against.

Jeremy Roenick (Center)
At 38 years old, Roenick has the experience of a veteran but still skates like he’s ten years younger. He was drafted in the first round to Chicago in 1988, according to the Sharks web site, which means he has actually been playing professional hockey for longer than I have been alive. After eight seasons with the Blackhawks and several more with the Coyotes and Flyers, Roenick came to the Sharks as a free agent in 2007. Although he’s had his fair share of controversies in his past, including accusing fans during the lockout of being jealous and telling them they could “kiss [his] ass,” Roenick has been a solid player on and off the ice since joining the Sharks organization. “He’s our Energizer bunny; he’s ready to go every shift,” McLellan said of Roenick after the Atlanta game. “That will rub off on other players.” Unfortunately, Roenick has been missing from the lineup for the past 28 games after arthroscopic surgery to correct torn cartilage in his shoulder benched him for ten weeks. But it will take more than a little shoulder surgery to keep him off the ice. “I’ve seen some guys with the same injury this year out for four months,” Roenick said after his first game back. “It’s good to see the old guys can come back as fast or even quicker.”

Claude Lemieux (Right Wing)
A late addition to the team this season, Claude Lemieux, 43, is in the midst of a comeback to the NHL. Originally drafted in 1983 to Montreal, Lemieux had a long career playing for the Canadians, Devils, Avalanche and Stars, winning an astounding four Stanley Cups. He is still only one of eight players to win Stanley Cups with three different teams, including back-to-backs in ’95 and ’96 with New Jersey and Colorado, respectively. Technically, Lemieux retired after the ’03 season with Dallas, but last year he expressed hopes of returning to professional hockey. He spent the beginning of the season playing with the Sharks affiliate in China and then returned to the states to play with the AHL Worchester Sharks. A 43-year-old, four-time Stanley Cup champion on a cramped minor league bus is a rare sight, especially if he is not a coach. It takes a lot of drive to return to the minors on the off chance of a second try at the NHL, and he deserves credit for even taking the chance.

Although recently we have seen a relatively tame Lemieux, before his “retirement,” he had quite the reputation as a dirty player. An ESPN poll of the “Top Ten Most Hated NHL Players of All Time” ranked Lemieux at number one. He earned this title through actions like biting another player’s finger during a playoff scuffle, about which the player, Jim Peplinski, later commented, “I didn’t know they allowed cannibalism in the NHL,” and for a violent check against Kris Draper in another playoff game that left Draper needing reconstructive facial surgery. Although I do not support the dirty tactics Lemieux previously partook in, he is a great playoff player who knows how to win Stanley cups. Hopefully that experience will help guide San Jose to its first Cup.

Jody Shelley (Left Wing)
At 33, Shelley is the youngster on this line, but he is the team’s number one enforcer. Known for getting into fights, Shelley’s role on the team is to keep the other team honest, throwing down the gloves when an opponent steps out of line against one of his teammates. Although signed by the Flames as a free agent in 1998, he played his first NHL game with the Blue Jackets in 2000, continuing with them for six seasons before being traded to the Sharks in 2008. I was originally skeptical of Shelley, since he was taking the place of infamous Sharks enforcer Scotty Parker. Scotty won my eternal affection when, on multiple occasions, he attempted to climb over the glass of the penalty box to continue fighting with a player in the opposing box, apparently unaware of the five officials he would have had to mangle to do so. But Shelley has proven to be an able fighter, as well as a contributor on the ice and even on the scoreboard. Even if he is a notorious fighter, he still shows the class of someone who knows when to stop. Announcers in the Thrashers game applauded him for immediately ceasing the fight when Atlanta’s Vladik fell down on one knee, respecting the unwritten rule that protects players from being pummeled when down on the ice. The experience and skill demonstrated by these players will make the Shark’s fourth line one of the most fun to watch as the season winds down and the playoffs near.

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