Legend has it Patrick Marleau needs only 40 seconds. Forty seconds to strip off all his gear and race to the cold tub for a quick dip in the icy water. All this, mind you, in between the second and third period.
“I could barely get my shoulder pads off and he was in the cold tub and back in time before the coach got in for his meeting,” said Ryane Clowe, a teammate of Marleau’s for eight seasons in San Jose.
The mid-game dash to the cold tub was amusing for Sharks teammates. They just couldn’t figure out how Marleau pulled it off — how he ripped off all that equipment in no time, slipped into the freezing H20, got dressed again and still made it back in time for the start of the third period.