#chernymack

Let's set the scene...

the sharks played their first game against the pens early on in the season and were shutout 3-0, allowing jarry to get his first of the season... we were also then on a 5 game losing streak and STILL searching for our first win of the season. so yeah, just an all around not great time of the season for us really 😐

fast forward to december going into the other game of our series with the pens and the sharks have a 15–14–3 record and 33 points, winning just about half our games. but we were still in a much better place than back in october at the start of the season.

toff opened the scoring, giving us a positive start, but it was pretty much downhill from then on for a while. crosby tied it 1-1 eight seconds later. then it was 2-1, then 3-1, then 4-1 at the end of the 2nd period.

Will's Injury

the game seemed like a bit of a lost cause at this point. i can even remember watching online with one of my friends also from the uk and she decided to head to bed because it was pretty late and the sharks were struggling so bad... 😭

we desperately needed something to happen as a turning point, then five minutes into the 3rd period, parker wotherspoon of the peguins checks will in the shoulder against the boards.

the hit itself was called clean, but it left will visibly hurt, with his right arm kept immobile as he quickly skated to the bench and headed straight to the locker room with the trainers. he instantly knew he'd been injured and that he needed to get checked out. 🏥

Mack fights Wotherspoon

as we can see here (and from the pens stream as well, which has some different angles) after seeing that will is slow to get up and that wotherspoon pushes eky as well, mack takes offense to that and goes after him one on one! 🥊

eky is quick to jump in and help him, especially as he'd also got pushed by wotherspoon, and together the two of them tackle wotherspoon down onto the ice. we can see mack actually throwing punches as he ends up on top of wotherspoon (with poor eky underneath him lol).

mack was holding wotherspoon's helmet down onto the ice, as seen much better in this fantastic fan angle. and seems to maybe get one final chirp in at 0:29 in this vid? 🗣

other sharks and pens begin to get involved then, but mack, eky and wotherspoon are really the only ones that ended up in a brawl. mack eventually has to be pulled away by a ref like a kitten getting scruffed.

The Comeback

mack got a 4 minute penalty and was sent to the box where he locked the hell in. wotherspoon got 2 mins. as it turns out, this was the exact reset the sharks needed to get back in the game. ✨

mantha scored on the subsequent powerplay, but then the sharks went on to score FIVE STRAIGHT GOALS with FIVE MINUTES left in the game. klingburg cut it to 5-2, then eky to 5-3, mack to make it 5-4, then toff again to tie it 5-5 with less than two minutes to go. klingburg then eventually scored from mack's assist in overtime to win the game 6-5!

it was the biggest regular season comeback in sharks franchise history and of course there were huge celebrations!! 🥳

Media Reaction

as expected, this win was everywhere!!! it was such a fun and momentous game. i think it's put simply best by this article lol:

this is what mack had to say about jumping in for will🩵:

"You hate to see one of your teammates go down," Celebrini told reporters after the game. "Anyone would have done that if it happened to any guy on our team. That's the kind of group we have and how close we are ... I don't think any of us like to see our teammates go down and take a hit like that. I think [Eklund] did a good job kind of jumping in there and I felt like I had to have his back."

will later revealed that:

"Of course, I went up to Mack and Eky and all the guys that jumped in there and said thanks for sticking up for me."

the media rightfully highlighted how mack probably shouldn't be throwing himself into fights with guys like wotherspoon as our 1C and the future of the sharks franchise. 🦈

When Will Smith — the other pillar of this franchise’s future and Celebrini’s winger — took a tough (but clean) hit from Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon with 16:35 to play in the third and the Sharks only down 4-1 (Pittsburgh would go up 5-1 on the subsequent power play), it was Celebrini who stepped in to defend his teammate. In a sane world, your 19-year-old franchise savior, the kid with the golden hands, does not fight. (It should be noted that the wunderkind did not, in fact, drop his gloves, though he got in a few padded hooks.) You don’t take the Ferrari off-roading. You don’t use a Stradivarius to hammer a nail. But when Smith went down hard, Celebrini didn’t look at the refs. He didn’t look at the bench, either. He looked for the fight.

mack just doesn't have to fight. the sharks have big guys like reavo and vinny on the team for this exact job. that's what they're literally there for. ‼️

if mack and eky hadn't jumped in immediately, there's no doubt someone would have gotten wotherspoon back for checking will hard with a hard check of their own, or even dropping the gloves at centre ice. reavo literally says he 'was just trying to go and murder somebody... catch somebody and send a message' after will's hit. it's his job!!

i think the morning tide podcast put it quite well:

"Macklin Celebrini watches…his…I mean, I don't know what their relationship is like outside the season but it seems like they're two very tight friends, he and Will Smith. He watches his good friend Will Smith go down with an injury after taking a big hit, which I did not think was a dirty hit or anything […] but you're going to stand up for your boy when he gets hit […] but whatever happened there, it clearly ticked off Macklin Celebrini and he just seemingly decided at that point, nope, I am going to lead my team back into this game and we're going to win."

the sharks head coach, warsofsky, simply added to all this romanticism when he said🩵:

"We’ll never - gonna give up and, um. You know, I think that comes with, you know obviously we have some success in - in the win column but now you’re starting to see guys care for one another and the - and the - the True Love that they have for - for your teammate. And that goes a long way."

The Aftermath

it was announced on dec 15th that will was placed on injured reserve. obviously we were all bummed that we probably wouldn't see much of will for a while, especially not will and mack together. but then BAM!! will and mack go on a date together go shopping, visit a coffee shop together, and take a photo with a fan in los gatos on dec 16th.

as we can see, will's arm was in a sling at this point (for his assumed shoulder injury), which was likely just precautionary because we never saw him wear it beyond this day. the funny thing was that this was the first time the media became aware of this too and they started reporting about will's sling using these fan photos as injury update evidence 😭earlier or later on in the day, will is also spotted at the sharks family skate! but he wasn't skating.

dec 19th will attends the sharks home game with landon marleau (patty's son) and san jose barracuda's ethan cardwell! we could see that he's sans sling and moving well, even signing things and using both his arms, which were positive signs :) even if he was giving dead wife energy in the box.

dec 31st - will was again sighted at the sharks' home game with kurashev, who got injured in the same pens game as him. by jan 2nd, both will and kurshev were eager to return to play, i think it was especially evident that will was bored of IR when he briefly opened a cameo account, fulfilled about six requests, and then immediately got overwhelmed with the amount of interest and abandoned it! jan 6th, will is spotted at another game with the rest of the injured sharks.🦈

jan 7th's sharks game in la was the dads/mentors trip, so while we got mack and rick content, we missed out on them interacting with will and bill like last year :(

will and mack were also supposed to record with the empty netters guys during their trip down to la, but obviously as will didn't travel with the team, this didn't end up happening. apparently it's still in the works (this was on their ig story), but the empty netters boys want it to be in person, so we'll have to wait... 🎬

then, on jan 9th, war was finally over!!!!! will was back on the ice practicing in a non-contact jersey and stuck to mack like magnets :) more vids here. and jan 10 he was out of the non-contact jersey!!

here's mack peeking in on will's practice👀. this is what mack had to say about will's return!:

“I think he’s just happy he’s almost back,” Celebrini said. “I think he’s feeling pretty good and obviously strong. He’s just excited to be on the ice again, skating with the guys, practicing with us. He’ll be back soon.” “I think Kurashev is pretty close as well. We’ve missed those guys,” Celebrini said. “They’re two of our top offensive guys, skill guys. It just helps having them in the lineup.”

will returned on jan 17th against the red wings and his and mack's warm up routine was back in full force! will also played on mack's top line straight away :) and the commentators loved to remind us of how will's injury was the 'galvanising moment' of the pens game, and maybe the sharks' entire season.

will stayed in the lineup, but was cautious of his shoulder. he took a hard hit jan 23rd against the rangers and skated off the ice, but remained in the game. by jan 31st, will had 4 goals and 9 points and basically 'picked up right where he left off'. as late as april 11th, will is seen wearing a shoulder support for games, so is obviously still wary of or managing his injury.

What about the Sharks?

soooo, that's what was going on with will off of the ice, but who was busy fulfilling will's role as mack's right wing? after all, mack not only lost one of his top line wingers, but TWO, during the pens game, with kurashev also on IR.

the sharks recalled igor chernyshov (lw) and ethan cardwell (rw), but mack's line combinations ranged massively as the sharks tried to adapt to will's absence. the intial replacement line seemed to be Chernyshov-Celebrini-Graf. but this gradually shifted into eky getting some top line minutes throughout january with Eklund-Celebrini-Chernyshov!

when will returned, interestingly cherny was bumped down to the third line with eky as the line became Regenda-Celebrini-Smith. however, in the 3rd period of the game it became Graf-Celebrini-Smith - the grillmack line that became a poplular option for the rest of the season 🥰

the sleepover line also made a reappearance - Smith-Celebrini-Toffoli - and when sherwood got traded to the sharks, he also briefly played on mack's line Sherwood-Celebrini-Smith. around march time we finally got to see the Chernyshov-Celebrini-Smith combo a lot of ppl had been wanting to see, because mack seemed to play well with both of them seperately. this starting line stayed together mostly until the end of the season! (great line resource here if you're interested :)

let's talk about mack and cherny... cherny played in his first ever nhl games on mack's line and made an instant impact, with two assists. mack had a lot of praise for him!!🤩:

“It’s gonna take some time,” Celebrini said. “Like anything, but it’s been great. I mean, we connected more yesterday. The more you play with someone, the easier it is to play off of them.” Chernyshov has shown his size, speed, and desire to get to the front of the net. All three attributes excite the San Jose Sharks’ top center and how good they could be. “He can skate like the wind. He’s obviously a big body and can shoot the puck hard, so he’s been great,” Celebrini said. “I love playing with him, just his size and the way he uses [that and] his speed, he’s always pushing defense back.”

it was instantly clear that mack enjoyed playing with him, and with mack heaping praise onto cherny about their connection and jumping into his arms when they score goals together, their chemistry was apparent, even according to warso.

Macklin Celebrini may have lost Will Smith on his wing, but Chernyshov’s chemistry with the Sharks Olympian has been otherworldly.

indeed, sharks writers were already fantasising about a Chernyshov-Celebrini-Smith top line when will was still injured!

with mack constantly managing to mention how cherny is 'so big' and 'so fast' and 'such a big body', and cherny talking about how much mack helped him settle in to the nhl and fighting on mack's behalf, it's no wonder that the fandom was drawn to the idea of chernymack as a pairing. and it's no surprise we saw a surge in another mack pairing in will's absence imo. of course this led to some wonderful jealous will narratives lol. but again, a lot of ppl were just as excited for 'chillmack' to see their chemistry all together! 🧪

and it was worth the wait!! together they produced some really exciting, dominating hockey. they're also cute together. some great analysis of how their play styles fit together in this article :)

i suppose this is my long-winded way of saying that will's injury in the pens game is what eventually led to the sharks discovering what is one of their most productive lines, so it wasn't all for nothing :')