TAMPA, Fla. -- If there's one thing to take from media day at the Stanley Cup Final, it's this: Andrew Shaw plays video games exactly the way you'd expect Andrew Shaw to play video games.
On the ice, he's a pain in the ass for the other team. Behind the controller, he's a pain in the ass for his friends. Shaw, to hear him and linemate Andrew Desjardins say it, dominates the Blackhawks' ongoing Mario Kart tournament to a significant degree. Desjardins said something to the effect of, "everyone else is playing for second," and Shaw backed that up.
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The last installment came on Monday night at the team hotel, when Patrick Sharp managed to beat out Shaw. Revenge was swift and merciless.
“I went four wins or five wins to the one loss, so it shows that I’m on top," Shaw said.
Sharp, on the other hand, earned some supplemental discipline for the way he reacted; he had to sit out a few games. Shaw got him.
“Sharpie couldn’t handle it. Things got out of hand," Shaw said.
"He's the one that if he beats you, he makes sure everyone in the room knows. I make sure I focus on the next race and take it to him and give it right back to him.”
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Brandon Saad didn't witness any of The Incident first hand -- he opted to catch up on rest -- and said Shaw wasn't at the level he (or Desjardins) suggested, but allowed for one thing.
"He can definitely manhandle Sharpie, so it’s fun to see (Sharp) get rattled," Saad said. (Sharp, for the record, had already completed his media obligation before Sporting News could reach him for comment.)
It'd be stupid to read much more into this, but Shaw said that the tournament has its merits.
“Deep down, you know you want to win no matter what you’re playing," Shaw said. "As a team, we get pretty competitive. I think it’s healthy for a team to be like that. It’s making yourself push your teammates to better themselves, as well."
Shaw, for the record, plays as Yoshi, which makes sense. If we had to guess, Sharp (based on Monday's events) sounds like Wario, Jonathan Toews is Mario, Patrick Kane is Luigi and Teuvo Teravainen is Toad. That's all unconfirmed, though.
They'll all try to launch some red shells at the Lightning on Wednesday night.