Photo: TeamNiemiClowe/Flickr

Every team, every game even, has a hero. Heck, every sport has a hero. In hockey, however, there’s usually more than one hero per team. Some, such as Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Washington’s Alexander (Alex) Ovechkin and Boston’s Tim Thomas to name a few, are always near the top of newspaper headlines, appearing in All Star games and Olympic events and often times appearing at the NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas as a finalist for at least a few awards. Other players, meanwhile, quietly go about their business of trying to win games for their team without much fanfare. For this, I believe these players deserve some recognition of their own. Given that I’ve decided to start a new feature, debuting every Tuesday morning, featuring a different “unsung hero”. This week’s nod goes to the San Jose Sharks’ Joe Pavelski.

In San Jose, the names you usually hear the most are Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Dan Boyle and Logan Couture but the right winger, Pavelski, literally proved to be a rock in the Sharks lineup last season. Appearing in all 82 regular season games, Pavelski was 4th in team scoring with 61 points, tied for first in goals scored (31), third in power play scoring (eight goals) and led the Sharks with a plus-18 rating.

Pavelski also had numerous great plays, even some highlight-reel goals, for the Sharks last season. The team was kind enough to put together an article, giving all of Pavelski’s highlights from last season, which can be viewed right here.

Pretty amazing stuff, huh?

Pavelski’s pretty amazing off the ice as well. He, along with teammates Couture, Jamie McGinn and Ryane Clowe, visited and brought a team-autographed jersey to paralyzed Minnesota high school hockey player Jack Jablonski in January when the Sharks played the Minnesota Wild.

Shows how caring most hockey players are.

As you can see, Pavelski is a hero both on and off the ice. For that, I salute him. If you have an “unsung hero” you would like to nominate for future consideration please feel free to send me a tweet, @TBLightning491, or contact me via e-mail at lburg2009@aol.com.