Will Joe Pavelski play in Game 7? We asked his wife

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SAN JOSE – Sharks captain Joe Pavelski will be back on the ice for Game 7 of his face-to-face win against the Colorado Avalanche at Shark Tank in Game 7 of the NHL.

An authority thinks there is a good chance.

"I'm 75% sure that he will play," said his wife, Sarah Pavelski, Wednesday morning. "He hopes to do it, but wants to see the doctors once again this morning to be sure.

"Joe feels good."

The return of Pavelski could bring a huge emotional boost to the Sharks' first Stanley Cup quest, after his violent concussion two weeks ago, causing an unthinkable comeback in the seventh game of their victory in the playoffs against the Vegas Knights.

Shark captain Joe Pavelski, who suffered a concussion on April 23 when he fell on the ice, stands next to his 8-year-old son, Nathan, and his wife Sarah at the first communion of his son. son, Sunday, May 5th. (Courtesy of Sarah Pavelski)

As a hockey wife, Sarah Pavelski saw her husband suffer from injuries ranging from cracked ankles to tooth loss (he had a bullet in the face for the Sharks' first goal). But the fall he made that ultimately transformed the Sharks' hopes into playoffs became one of the defining moments of the team's 28 years.

So what about tonight? Pavelski and Sharks coach Ray Tufts have a close connection, his wife said, so "whatever the decision is made by the other, they trust that. If Joe thinks he can play, Ray trusts that.

The series being tied at 3 games, the Sharks must win tonight at the SAP Center in San Jose to qualify for the finals of the Western Conference.

Sarah Pavelski said her husband was back on the ice these last two weeks have been filled with frustration, but also special moments that have strengthened their ties with San Jose. The couple was inundated with vows. An ice cream shop located in the Willow Glen neighborhood, where Pavelski and his 8-year-old son Nathan are frequent customers, posted a sign in front of the sign saying, "Good recovery, Joe.

"We have been here for a very long time and you go into your everyday life. It becomes a routine like everyone else, "she said. "Live an experience like this where there is only one wave of support – these little things made us understand how deep our roots are."

The Pavelski were high school lovers in Waterloo, Iowa, and had been married for 10 years. She saw her husband injure himself countless times, broken fingers and teeth on his feet and ankles, but almost every time he got up or came back on the ice in the same game. (The tight pads make effective casts.)

Shark captain Joe Pavelski, his wife Sarah and their 8 year old son, Nathan, are sitting in the stands at a recent Warriors basketball game before his injury. (courtesy of Sarah Pavelski)

But the April 23rd injury that left a puddle of blood on the ice and Pavelski with a concussion and needing staples in the back of the neck was a surreal moment for Sarah Pavelski. Sitting with other wives of hockey players in Section 113, she had a clear vision of her husband's awkward fall after being cross-checked after a confrontation. The injury resulted in a controversial 5-minute major penalty for the Knights and allowed the Sharks to erase a 3-0 lead with four goals in just over 4 minutes.

At first, she thought he was hit in the mouth again, where a puck shifted from Pavelski's face to the Sharks' first goal in the opening game of the series. She thought "that he was still lying because it hurt so much," she said. "And then I realized that you know, he did not really move. At that moment everything was blurry.

Two of his closest friends, Tabea, Joe Thornton's wife, and Susan, Brent Burns' wife, "have plunged over the people sitting between us and have somehow grabbed and taken us to the living room ", did she say. Fortunately, Pavelski's eight-year-old son, Nathan, did not attend the game to witness the real horror, instead watching a friend's house. He immediately sent a message to his mother, who assured him that his father was "fine".

She is grateful because she knows that her husband's injury could have been much worse, she said. "He had no sensitivity to light or sound. Her headaches were not serious, no memory problems, "she said. "I know girls whose husbands have had such concussions, they do not remember the names of their children."

Sarah missed all the chaos in the stands as the team made her historic comeback, a powerful homage paid to her husband by her teammates, which she did not have a chance to see until the next day. It was the first time she saw the powerful image of her teammates escorting her out of the rink, Joe Thornton holding a napkin to Pavelski's bloody head.

"It was very emotional for me," she said.

SAN JOSE, CA – MAY 4: Joe Pavelski (8) of the San Jose Sharks salutes the crowd during a break during the Sharks' game against the Colorado Avalanche in the third period of Game 5 of Game 5. A playoff series of the second round of NHL hockey at the SAP Center in San Jose, California on Saturday, May 4, 2019. (Nhat V. Meyer / Bay Area newsgroup)

What she experienced in the stands, however, was the roaring Ovation that Joe received last week during his first public appearance since the injury, although it was a combination in three. coins, praised the fans in the fifth game against the Avalanche. The experience was overwhelming for both.

"It was the happiest that he has been since his injury," she said. "Just to see his face and his smile. You know, it was a long pair of weeks. "

On Sunday, he joined his wife and son in their local Catholic church to celebrate Nathan's first communion. Pavelski took the plane later in the day to travel to Denver with the sixth match team.

For weeks, it is expected to know if he will return to the ice – and when – and Sarah Pavelski is not worried.

"Everyone said how excited he was to get it back," she said, "and hopes he's playing." That would make a good story. "

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