It is always a thrilling experience for a player to score their first goal, but it was even more special for Vesce to score the goal close to home. “It’s pretty nice. It’s nice my parents were here, they’ve been with me the whole way, from when I was a little kid so it was nice for them to be in a place where they could see my first goal,” Vesce said. 
 
The goal came at the 16:24 mark of the second period with the score tied at 1-1. After San Jose cleared the puck deep into the Islanders zone, Sharks center Joe Thornton took the puck away from Islanders defenseman Radek Martinek and passed the puck off of Martin Biron in the Isles’ net, and the deflection found Vesce’s stick who was able to get it past Biron for the goal. Vesce gave much of the credit to his all-star teammate. “Jumbo pretty much did everything, fore checked the defenseman, knocked him down, saw the puck and threw it out front and kind of just found myself, me and the goalie, tried to fake and make the five-hole and it went in” he said.
 
Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said that with the Sharks dressing seven defenseman for the game, they would have to jumble the forward lines a bit, giving Vesce the opportunity to play on the same line with Thornton. “He went out and got his opportunity, had a good shift and got another shift with him and as a coach I felt more comfortable with him than anybody else in that line and it paid off. We expected a little offense from him and we finally got it. He took advantage of playing with the big boys,” said McLellan. “One of the things we like about him is he’s very reliable defensively, he understands where to go and the other two (forwards) can go to work down low and he takes care of them up above. It’s a good combination.”
 
Vesce grew up a Rangers fan, with John Vanbiesbrouck and Alexei Kovalev as his favorite players, often playing as Vanbiesbrouck during street hockey. While Vesce always believed as a kid that the NHL was within reach, it wasn’t an easy journey for Vesce. He played his college hockey for Cornell, with his best year coming in his junior year in 2002-03, scoring 19 goals and 26 assists. But he went un-drafted and bounced between Europe and the minor leagues in the Ottawa Senators system. He signed with the Sharks in the summer of 2008, playing in 10 games over the second half of the season. For Vesce, going around the leagues is just part of being a hockey player. 
 
“It’s just the job, on a one-way contract. You just try and be ready when you get the call and if you go back down you just try and perform the best you can to get back up,” he said. “Obviously I’d like to stay here, but it’s just one game, a long way to go, I have to prove to the coaching staff that I belong here so I’m going to continue to work towards that.”
 
McLellan said that for Vesce, and all the youngsters on the roster, their play will decide whether they play up in San Jose or in the minor league system. “He’ll decide that, not us, as will all the young players. We’ve had more recalls than we probably need at this point and whoever plays; plays. And if you’re not contributing there’s a lot of ice time in Worcester for you,” he said.
 
Vesce did all he could in the Sharks next game two days later against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Vesce scored his second career goal on the ice of his childhood team 3:46 into the third period of a 7-3 win. The winger from Llyod Harbor is playing some of his best hockey close to home and trying to make a name for himself in Northern California.