Sharks put in extra work during first NHL Global Series practice

BERLIN -- The practice stretched on and on. Past an hour, past an hour and a half.

The San Jose Sharks were going to use all of their allotted ice time at Wellblechpalast in Berlin.
"We had two days off," coach David Quinn said. "We weren't going to have the ice scraped], so that added another 15 [minutes] to it when they scraped the ice. The plan was for an hour and 15. It was our first full team practice. We hadn't had one yet."
Then he added, "I don't know, working hard for an hour and 15 minutes doesn't seem too long to me. Apparently in the hockey world it is. But that was just for today."
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Though Quinn isn't going to make a habit of extra-long practices for the Sharks, San Jose has a lot to learn from its new coach, especially with only four days until the season opener in the 2022 NHL Global Series against the Nashville Predators. The Sharks and Predators play back-to-back games Friday and Saturday at O2 Arena in Prague.
Before that, though, the Sharks will play Eisbaren Berlin of Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the top professional league in Germany, at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin on Tuesday (2 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSCA) in the NHL Global Series Challenge.
"We worked hard. Execution wasn't great," forward Logan Couture said. "Obviously it's been a few days since we skated, but I thought everyone worked extremely hard, worked through the jet lag a little bit. Practicing hard is never fun when you're going through it, but once you're done you feel good about yourself."

Quinn spent a lot of time Monday stopping the action and explaining things to players. And there's more he hasn't gotten a chance to work through that he'll need the players to understand before the season starts.
"There's a lot that we haven't touched on," Quinn said. "But at the end of the day if we play at the pace and the tempo we've been playing at with the mentality, that can cover a lot of mistakes and a lot of things structurally that you haven't had a chance to go over. That's all we've really focused on. We've been implementing structure and systems that we're going to need to be good at.
"There's only so much you can cover in eight days, especially when you've got two groups, and three groups for a few days, that you're going to be able to be efficient on. We feel good about where we're at."
Quinn was hired July 26 to replace Bob Boughner, who had been fired July 1. Coach and players still are getting to know each other, which has become especially difficult with a training camp that was shortened by the trip to the NHL Global Series.
"It's a lot to go over in a short camp," Couture said. "But that's the hand we're dealt when we come over to Europe like this.
"But I think we've done a good job. I think there's a lot more to learn system-wise. There's only so many hours in a day that you can get on the ice and go over things and I think the coaching staff has done a good job with the time that we've had so far. But it's going to take some time to go over everything and fine-tune it for sure."

Still, Quinn feels confident about what he sees on the ice.
"I just like our mentality and the way we've played, the way we've approached the game so far," he said.
For the game against Eisbaren Berlin, Quinn said he was planning to start goalie James Reimer, who would split the game with Kaapo Kahkonen. The lineup, he said, will look close to the one the Sharks will open the season with Friday.
"I like the way we've come to work every day," Quinn said. "The guys have been very attentive, they're coachable, they play with the right intentions."
Photo courtesy: @SanJoseSharks