A couple weeks ago the San Jose Sharks and San Jose Earthquakes had a little mixed sport shootout between defensemen Jason Demers of the Sharks and goalkeeper John Busch of the Quakes at HP Pavilion. Busch came out as they eventual winner, but they decided it wasn't enough to prove who was top dog in the Silicon Valley. They came up with ‘the longball' competition, and proved (if anything) that kicking a soccer ball into a hockey goal is much more difficult than one would think.
Both players set up on a mat on the edge of the ice, taking shots on goal with a long distance free kick. Both were trying to show a bit of panache while taking their initial shots, but quickly found that it was much less cut and dry then line it up, rear back, and fire away. An air filled ball glides a bit differently on an ice rink than a soccer pitch, and you have to adjust for it.
As in the shootout, there really wasn't a discernable favorite, but it was Demers who eventually took the cake on his fourth attempt on goal. Busch isn't exactly a scorer seeing he spends all his time in goal for the Quakes, but Demers showed some nice footwork to take down his competitor, tying up their little tournament at one event apiece. The absolute best part was listening to Demers Canadian ‘eh' in every sentence he spoke, incredibly amusing.
EARTHQUAKE VS SHARK: Longball (via sanjoseearthquakes)