The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) based in San Jose, California. The San Jose Sharks compete in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference along with Calgary Flames, Anaheim Ducks, Vegas Golden Knights, Arizona Coyotes, Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, and Los Angeles Kings. The San Jose Sharks have had long standing rivalries with the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks, both starting in the early 1990s, and have developed a rivalry in most recent years with the Vegas Golden Knights which started in 2017 when the Knights were established and joined the same division.
The Sap Center in San Jose is the home for the San Jose Sharks, which opened in 1993. Prior to that they played at the Cow Palace for two years from when they were established in 1991. The SAP Center was originally called the San Jose Arena, and is now affectionately nicknamed the Shark Tank for being the home of the Sharks. The SAP Center has a capacity of 17,562 for its ice hockey games, and is also home to AHL’s San Jose Barracuda. The arena has held many sporting events over the years including, but not limited to, the United States Figure Skating Championships in 1996, UFC 139 in 2011, and the Kellogg’s Tour of Gymnastics Champions in 2016. Concert goers can also catch performances from the likes of Alejandro Sanz, J Balvin, and Luke Combs.