Chokers.
That is the label that has hung around the San Jose Sharks for the past decade; a team that could always be counted on to perform in the regular season but folded like a deck of cards in the playoffs. Not only has this label been affixed to the team itself but to its two biggest stars, the two players who have been there for every year, every failure: Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau.
Now, with the Sharks having finally reached the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in team history, it's time to ask: Is the choker label finally off? And was it ever deserved in the first place?