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The San Jose Sharks have apologized after an apparent offensive message seeming to praise Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was displayed on the arena’s scoreboard during the team’s Hispanic heritage celebration on Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Video shared with CNN showed the scoreboard displaying: “SJ SHARKS FANS LOVE ICE !! GET ‘EM BOYZ !” Some fans at SAP Center in San Jose, California, can be heard booing in response. Sharks fan Jessica Clark told CNN she and her group were “appalled” by the message. “They’re my favorite team — I even have tattoos — but this was something...

The cat slipped onto the ice Friday before the Sharks won a big playoff gameThe San Jose Sharks got an unexpected visit Friday. Before the NHL team beat the Nashville Predators 5-2 at the SAP Center, a black cat crept out of the player bench area and scurried onto the ice. As the Sharks warmed up for the first game of their best-of-seven playoff series, fans watched the small feline making a beeline for an oversized, fiberglass shark head, only to escape under the seats at "the Shark Tank," as the arena is known. The venue’s staff was able...

SAN JOSE -- The Sharks are not backing down from their plan to recruit "ice girls" to help clean the playing surface during each game despite a backlash from a segment of their fan base. "Fans take pride in the Sharks not objectifying women. Please keep the Tank a family environment," SharksFanTX wrote on Twitter. Another ended her Twitter complaint with an "#icegirlsareadealbreaker" hashtag, vowing to cancel season tickets if the team sticks with its plan. And with little publicity, a "Say NO to Sharks Ice Girls" page on Facebook, as well as a similar petition at change.org, attracted more...

Todd McLellan stopped short of labeling the Sharks' regular season a disappointment. "We got where we wanted to go," the coach said Saturday night after the Sharks were eliminated by the St. Louis Blues in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series. "We wanted to get into the tournament." But whenever a franchise loses its standing as one of the NHL elite, it's a disappointment. So now what? The angriest segment of the fan base has been calling for a roster makeover for weeks, and the volume will only increase after a five-game playoff stay that was the shortest in...