“Preparation is the hard part, fighting is the fun part.”

That quote is from boxing great Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero. About a month ago I was in Tahoe and met Guerrero a few times while he was training for his big fight Saturday night against Selcuk Aydin at HP Pavilion in San Jose.

It was very interesting and cool to watch the focus as Guerrero went through his training exercises. In boxing, it’s all about focus because if you lose it for just a few seconds in a fight there is a good chance you will be getting knocked out.

After 7 weeks training in the altitude of Tahoe where his daily regimen was eat, sleep and train (no TV at his compound) Guerrero is ready to take on the undefeated Aydin with the winner possibly getting a shot at Floyd Mayweather once he has completed his time in jail.

Good luck to ‘The Ghost” who is great guy, and make sure to head to HP Pavilion to watch the local Guerrero or catch the fight on Showtime this Saturday night.

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If you walk around San Francisco you’ll see babies, young little babies, especially boys, wearing the orange and black colors of the SF Giants. These little kids don’t know baseball from badminton but the likelihood they will be lifelong Giants fans is pretty good, especially when they look back and see all the wonderful cute baby pictures.

And so it is….

August 31, 1966: I was born. September 1, 1966: I already hated and cheered against the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. My dad didn’t like either of those teams, and thus, neither did I.

And so it was…

From 1976 to 1979, the Montreal Canadians won four Stanley Cups bolstered by the goaltending of Ken Dryden, key forwards in Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Bob Gainey, Jacques Lemaire and stellar defenseman Serge Savard and of course Larry Robinson.

Because of Larry Robinson, I cried annually when his team won the Stanley Cup. And then a freak meeting…

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It’s been a light week, so Friday Baker’s Dozen is a special edition of the Friday Baker’s Half-Dozen.

1. The NHL season is officially over from an on-ice standpoint but now we have the NHL Awards, Draft and then free agent frenzy. Lots to still talk about though and the draft could be very interesting.
   #NashNews?


2. Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was the right choice for MVP. He carried the team when Sidney Crosby was hurt and his team made the playoffs. Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos, as great as his season was, didn’t get his team into the playoffs, which has to be a factor in the criteria.
   #MalkinWonThePrestigiousLindsayAwardToo


3. Big night for Sweden with Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist getting the Vezina and Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson getting the Norris. Pretty good week for Karlsson, who is 22 and signed a seven-year, $45 million contract on Tuesday. I guess Ottawa isn’t going after Nashville's Ryan Suter!
   #Moneyball

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Time for my weekly Baker's Dozen.

1. Brad Stuart is a tough, hard-nosed defenseman that has won a Stanley Cup. The Sharks have exclusive rights to negotiate with him until July 1 and he would be a great addition to the team if he is signed. I think Doug Wilson’s take on Stuart sums up why it’s a good move: “Brad is a player we are very familiar with – a physical, team-first defenseman who is tough to play against, which is exactly the kind of mentality we want our team to possess.”
   #ToughToPlayAgainst


2. Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche might have said it best on his Twitter account after the Kings won the Cup: @Matt9Duchene “29 very jealous teams right now. Hoping one day it will be our turn. Congrats to the LA Kings on their 1st ever Stanley Cup."
   #HeyMatt_GetInLine_SharksAreNext


3. The three big story lines for the summer considering player movement are Rick Nash, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Lots of teams would be interested in those players but the question is where will they end up?
   #AtWhatCost?

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Time for my weekly Baker's Dozen.

1. Winning the Cup has never been easier because the salary cap has created parity and any team making the playoffs has a chance to win the Cup. Winning the Cup has never been harder because so many teams have a viable, legitimate chance. It’s great for hockey and makes the playoffs unpredictable from year to year.
   #NHLPlayoffs_TheBEST


2. Who to cheer for? I think it would be great for hockey in California, the Pacific Division, the Western Conference and pacific standard time zone teams if the Kings win despite the fact they are huge rivals to the Sharks. The only team I would actually like to see win the Cup other than the Sharks is Ottawa because it’s my hometown. Otherwise it’s addition by subtraction or for some other hockey related reason. Plus, I know all the broadcasters for the Kings and they are great guys and I would be thrilled for them.
   #Miller #Nickson #Fox #Evans


3. NHLcom staff, NHL.com International staff and NHL.com Hockey Analysts made their predictions on who wins the Stanley Cup. A total of 23 individuals made their picks. 12 picked the Devils and 11 picked LA. Now that just shows you how close these teams are and everyone agreed that it would likely be a long series that goes 6 or 7 games.
   #Parity


4. When it comes to Nicklas Lidstrom hockey fans know about the 7 Norris trophies, 4 Stanley Cups and other stats. You can see more of his amazing stats by clicking on this link. Here are some other stats you might not know about:
   
   
   • He was +40 or higher 4 times in his career (+43 in 93/94 and +40 in 02/03, 06/07, 07/08)
   • In 4 games at the Cow Palace he had 1G, 1A, 2PTS, +1 and had 9 shots
   • In 33 games at HP Pavilion he had 7G, 22A, 29PTS, +5 and had 75 shots
   • The only building other than HP Pavilion (not including Joe Louis) where he had more points is the United Center in Chicago where he had 41 points. (He had 5PTS in 11 games at Chicago Stadium.)
   • Including neutral site arenas he has played in 56 different arenas
   • In 937 wins he had 205G, 647A, 852PTS, +768 and took 2,272 shots
   • Took 3,875 shots in his career
   • Played 80 or more games in 14 seasons
   #Incredible

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Time for my weekly Baker's Dozen.

1. Obviously I wish the Sharks were playing right now – it’s weird watching the Western Conference Finals instead of being involved in them the last two years. I still watch the games because there is nothing like playoff hockey.
   #LayItOnTheLine


2. Congrats to Michal Handzus who scored the winner for Slovakia to beat Canada in the quarterfinals at the World Championships. I am thinking if Vlasic was playing Zues doesn’t score that goal.
   #SourGrapes


3. I think it was back in early January when I told Ruzzie that LA scared me because they were hanging around 7th to 10th spot in the West and at the same time were 30th in the NHL is goals scored. That’s 30th as in dead last, behind Columbus, the Islanders and others teams that had less points. They were doing it with team defense and great goalteng and conventional wisdom said if they started to score they would be a tough team down the stretch. All that said, I never imagined they would go on the run they are currently on in the playoffs. They have a record of 11-1, haven’t lost on the road and all against the top 3 seeds in the Western Conference.
   #Wow_Didn’tSeeThisHappening


4. Scoring goals is tough come playoff time. Here are the total goals and goals per game from the Conference Semi-finals.
   
   

   Teams	Games	Total Goals	Goals Per Game
   WSH vs NYR	7	28	4.00
   NJD vs PHI	5	29	5.80
   NSH vs PHX	5	21	4.20
   STL vs LAK	4	21	5.25

   
   #DefenseWinsChampionships


5. John Tortorella, "I'm being sincere, too. I'm not gonna give you much information. Some of you guys sit here and tell me I'm curt or whatever. I'm not gonna have a staring contest. If you don't ask me questions, I'll just leave. So that's the way it is. I'm sorry, I'm not a guy that wants to converse about everything during the playoffs. I'm not."
   #HonestAnalysisGoesWithTheTerritory

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Time for my weekly Baker's Dozen.

1. It doesn’t matter what round it happens, there is always an empty feeling when the season ends. All the great hockey and pressure of the stretch run in the regular season and the playoffs makes for an amazing roller coaster ride. Hockey is an emotional sport, and while a deserving St. Louis Blues team bumped the Sharks, the ride was still awesome.
   #LongLiveSharksHockey


2. It’s been 19 years since a team from Canada won the Stanley Cup, the Montreal Canadians being the last team to do so back in 1993. With the Canucks and Senators losing in the first round there are no teams from Canada in the 2nd round this year. I don’t have the answer why, but it does beg the question…
   #What’sUp…Eh!!!


3. Coyotes vs. Predators: The good news, one of these teams will be headed to the Conference Finals. Bad news, a great story and season will end in the 2nd round. In a battle of amazing goalies, the Predators are healthier and their power play is better. Those two factors will be the difference.
   #PredatorsIn6


4. Blues vs. Kings: Stifling. Suffocating. No time. No space. This series has the potential to be the lowest scoring seven-game series in NHL history. If you like hard-nosed, gritty, disciplined hockey with great goaltending, that’s what you are about to get.
   #KingsIn7

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Time for my weekly Baker's Dozen.

1. What a first week it has been in the playoffs. Here are what people are saying about the emotion, passion, overtime games, upsets, crossing the line, fights, suspensions and basically everything that has made the first round of playoffs more interesting than you could ever imagine.
   #EdgeOfYourSeatHockey_IsNow_FellOffMySeatHockey


2. Nick Kypreos (on Twitter at @RealKyper) might have summed things up best: "#Flyers #Penguins #Sens #Rangers etc. Why is it so hard for some to understand consequences or not..players will do #anythingittakestowin ?"
   #AnythingItTakesToWin


3. I have always believed that while the power play is very important, come playoff time it’s not as important as the penalty kill. You can win a series without tremendous PP but it’s really difficult to win a series if the PK is struggling. You have to score more goals, and if affects the confidence of players to play on the edge if they are scared to take a penalty. Sharks need to give up zero power play goals against in the next 3 games.
   #NothingWorseThanTheSkateOfShame

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Time for my weekly Baker's Dozen.

1. Marty Havlat did in his first playoff game for the Sharks what only two players have done in Sharks history; score an overtime goal in a game that went beyond the first overtime. Game one against the Blues was only the sixth game in Sharks playoff history that went to double overtime or beyond. It was the fourth double overtime game while the Sharks have lost a triple overtime and a quadruple overtime game in their playoff history.
   
   Havlat joins Patrick Rissmiller who scored in double OT in game 1 against Nashville on April 11, 2007 and Ray Whitney who scored in double OT in game 7 against Calgary on May 19, 1995 as the only Sharks players to score in double OT.
   #HavlatTime


2. The Sharks as a franchise are 9-4 when winning the first game of a playoff series and 4-10 when losing the first game of the series. Like scoring the first goal in a game, winning that first game is very important.
   #PlantTheSeedOfDoubt


3. If winning the first game is so important, why do I often say the series doesn’t start until after the 1st game? Because that is when one team is desperate, angry, and will do anything to not go down 2-0 in the series. Games 2,3 and 4 are often the nastiest and meanest games in a series. Game 1 usually has a feeling out process and by the time you get to game five discipline becomes a huge deterrent for players to do something foolish on the ice.
   #LosingTeamStewsFor2Days


4. If the first two days of the playoffs are any indication we are going to enjoy a wild ride. There have been seven games and four of them have gone to ovetime.
   #SleepDeprivationTimeOfYear

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Time for my weekly Baker’s Dozen.

1. We got a taste of playoff hockey last night in LA and it’s only going to get better. Both teams really laid it on the line taking hits to make plays, blocking shots, getting punished in front of the net and doing whatever it takes to help your team win. We saw great moves, spectacular passes, great saves, phenomenal shots that led to goals and players showcasing the speed of the game with their tremendous skating.
   #HockeyIsTheUltimateTeamSport


2. Love the idea of all 30 teams playing on the last day of the regular season. Because one team from each conference has to play against the other, why not have the previous two teams in the Stanley Cup play instead of the NY Islander at Columbus (who decided on that game by the way?). Wouldn’t Vancouver at Boston be a great way to finish up the regular season and kick off the playoffs?
   #TeeUpTheRoadToTheCup


3. Last night in LA, for the first time in Sharks history two players, Clowe and Thornton, got Gordie Howe hat tricks in the same game. Jumbo had1 fight, 1 goal and 1 assist while Clowe had 2 fights, 1 goal and 1 assist.
   
   This is a good time to celebrate the great Gordie Howe. Here are some of his amazing accomplishments.
   • Played 25 years, 1767 games for the Detroit Red Wings.
   • Played 6 years in the WHA and then 1 season, at the age of 52, with Hartford in the NHL.
   • Won 6 Hart Trophies as League MVP and 6 Art Ross for leading the league in scoring.
   • Was as tough as they came. Gordie was a ferocious competitor and would get players back (often with his elbow) that went along with his amazing skill and hockey sense.
   • Total professional career: 32 years, 2186 games, 975 goals, 2358 points, 2085 penalty minutes.
   #ForeverKnownAsMrHockey


4. #PlayoffHockeyIsTheBest_NuffSaid


5. Dan Boyle after the win in LA. “That was a crazy game, man. Down three-one we battled back. They got another one, we took the lead. It was a pretty entertaining game for the fans and it was a hard fought win. We showed a lot of character.”
   #HonestAnalysisGoesWithTheTerritory

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