SAN JOSE, Calif. -- If Joel Ward needed any reminder of how close the San Jose Sharks came to winning the Stanley Cup, it was right there in front of him one night this summer in his hometown of Toronto.While Ward was out getting dinner with his girlfriend, he ran right into a Stanley Cup celebration party held by Pittsburgh defenseman Trevor Daley.I just happened to sneak a peek at a bar downtown and it was his, Ward said. I had to go chug a beer when I got home. Let it go. But understood. Hats off to them. They won.The Sharks opened training camp Friday, looking to put the disappointment of that Cup final loss to the Penguins in the past and gear up for another long season that they hope ends with a trophy celebration.Obviously with the way last season ended we should feel good about the journey and have a little bit of a bad taste in our mouth about losing in the final and come back re-energized and ready to make that journey again, coach Peter DeBoer said.The Sharks were without seven key players who are taking part in the World Cup in Toronto, including captain Joe Pavelski, alternates Joe Thornton and Logan Couture, key defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Brent Burns, and forwards Joonas Donskoi and Mikkel Boedker.Pavelski and Donskoi are expected to rejoin the Sharks soon with the United States and Finland having been eliminated from the tournament, while the others may not be back until early October with the tournament possibly ending as late as Oct. 1.They were supposed to be without an eighth player but forward Tomas Hertl pulled out because he was still recovering from a knee injury suffered in Game 2 of the final against the Penguins.Hertl said it was hard to miss the tournament but his priority is being healthy for the NHL season.I think I am ready to go, he said. Nothing the past two or three weeks bothers me. I can turn, I can hit, I can do whatever. I think its ready.The Sharks dont expect those absences to play a major role because the team is in the second year of DeBoers system and is only making tweaks instead of wholesale changes like last season.Also, most of the core is back with the only significant additions being Boedker and defenseman David Schlemko.Its a lot easier when you know what to expect and the way he likes to run practices and what he expects out of you day in and day out, defenseman Paul Martin said. Im sure hell throw a couple of new things in here to keep it fresh but for the most part it makes it easier having that familiarity.After a slow start to the season that had the Sharks near the bottom of the Western Conference in early January last season, the team hit its stride after that as the players learned DeBoers system and Couture returned from an injury.San Jose was one of the top teams in the league over the final three months and made the playoffs as the third-place team in the Pacific Division after missing the postseason for the first time since 2003 the previous season.The Sharks then knocked off their nemesis, the Los Angeles Kings, in the first round and won a seven-game series in the second round against Nashville before qualifying for the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history with a Game 6 win at home in the Western Conference final against St. Louis.The run ended when San Jose met up with a faster and deeper Pittsburgh team in the Stanley Cup Final and lost to the Penguins in six games.Youre still mad that you lost in the finals, but you know you get another chance at it next year, forward Patrick Marleau said. 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Most recently he was the schools assistant football coach. Air Max 270 Discount . Thousands of fans at Mosaic Stadium will be cozying up to each other in an effort to stay warm in chilly temperatures and block the Prairie wind that locals say can knock your socks off. NEW YORK -- By all appearances, Sunday nights SummerSlam card looks to be one of the years deepest -- on par with a Wrestlemania lineup -- and thats with good reason. WWE has turned the entire weekend in Brooklyn into something much larger than just its second-biggest pay-per-view of the year.Theres also NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II on Saturday, with the WWEs third brand returning to the scene of the triumph at the Barclays Center that cemented its status as far more than a developmental territory. Theres also Monday Night Raw, making it three nights of live shows in Brooklyn for the second straight year.But thats not even it.There are superstar appearances and outings throughout New York City and beyond. One of the biggest was Fridays WWE 2K17 Kickoff Event, in which 2K Sports introduced the brand new WWE video game that hits stores in October with a blowout party, replete with custom-made police cruisers, a giant Suplex City sign and food trucks inside of a theater.A number of WWE superstars took the opportunity to walk the red carpet at this event, providing the perfect chance to gauge their thoughts heading into SummerSlam and NXT TakeOver.WWE womens champion?Sasha Banks?stole the show in 2015s inaugural NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn event against?Bayley? --?in a match that was widely regarded as one of the best of the year in all of?professional wrestling.All I can say is it was goose bumps, said Banks. To me, Brooklyn last year felt like my WrestleMania. I felt like I really had to show the world what The Boss was about. I knew walking in as NXT Champion, my main goal was to steal the show and show them that NXT was better than SummerSlam. We did a hell of a job, and its so crazy that it has been a year, but people talk about that match with Bayley every single day. Every fan that I meet always talks about the match -- and thats a dream come true. Ive always wanted to have a match like that where people were like, Thats what womens wrestling is all about.It has been onward and upward from there for Banks, who captured her WWE title on July 25 in another well-received match, against?Charlotte?on Raw. There are a lot of expectations to live up to?entering Sundays return match, but Banks is looking forward to being out in front of the Brooklyn crowd again.Im going to keep on rolling, Banks said. For Sunday, I feel really confident. I feel like Brooklyn is almost my second home. Theres something about this atmosphere. In that arena, the fans there are so crazy. Theyll let you know if you did something wrong -- thats for sure -- but I cannot wait for this Sunday.Speaking of upward momentum,?A.J. Styles?has been on quite the tear himself since his WWE debut in January at the Royal Rumble. He has had strong showings against some of the biggest talents the company has?to offer, including?Roman Reigns in a pair of WWE championship bouts and several opposite one of this generations biggest stars,?John Cena.Sunday marks the likely culmination of his feud with Cena.I expect nothing but the best, Style said. I think [the match] is going to be one of the best of the night, and these guys better have their working boots on because I dont come out there to do half-par stuff, I get after it. I know John Cena is the same way. I predict a very memorable match. When it comes to John, theres not really a challenge. Its very easy to get in there and have a very entertaining match with someone like John Cena.Cena is one of the most polarizing personalities in wrestling today, and that affects how matches play out in the ring. For Styles, its about embracing the challenge of pushing the crowd in one direction or the other.Everybody either hates or loves John Cena, theres no medium, said Styles. I feel like that Ive accomplished something when I get people to cheer for John Cena. I feel like Ive done something.The SummerSlam card is a big deal for Styles for reasons beyond his own match with Cena. His running buddies in?The Club,?Luke Gallows?and?Karl Anderson, have a match against?The New Day?for the?WWE?tag-team championships, and another former compatriot in New Japan Pro Wrestlings Bullet Club,?Finn Bálor, is facing off with?Seth Rollins?to determine the first WWE?Universal?champion.ddddddddddddIts unbelievable, said Styles. Who knew that something like this would happen? Timings everything. When youve got guys that can get after it, youve got to find ways to get them on the show. Its a special moment for all four of us.Styles believes the future may hold some epic showdowns between some, or all, of the former Bullet Club members.Youre talking about four guys that love to get after it, said Styles, And its only a matter of time before you see two of those guys in the same ring against each other.For a four-time WWE world champion like?Sheamus, there have been some ups-and-downs over the past few years of his career. Since he lost that championship to Reigns in December 2015, his alliance?with the League of Nations and a few other missteps left him somewhat languishing and trying to find his place on the Raw roster.After two weeks of showdowns with Cesaro, Raw general manager Mick Foley was inspired to show more of the bruising style of matches that the pair tends to put on, and set into motion a best-of-seven series between them. The first match of that series takes place Sunday, during the SummerSlam Kickoff pre-show.In an era of wrestling in which matches are often criticized for their brevity, it has been a long time since two wrestlers were given the opportunity to have anywhere from four to seven matches to tell a story and create the kind of art that professional wrestling is all about.Well, I feel, from a company standpoint, like theres a lot of trust that goes into this, said Sheamus, Because to have seven matches, or at least a best-of-seven, which probably goes 4-0 to me, theres a lot of confidence bestowed on both of us. People know we can go. People know we hit hard. We bring a lot of realism to our matches.The series offers both Sheamus and Cesaro an opportunity to take chances, in an effort to truly define their characters for years to come.Its just going to be a situation where every week is going to be different, and every week is going to be great, Sheamus said. The creative juices are going to be flowing. I think, ultimately, everyone is going to have a great old time watching a Swiss man and an Irishman beat the hell out of each other.Shinsuke Nakamura has reached the pinnacle of wrestling outside of the WWE, but for the moment, hes still on his way up the ranks within the company. He has put on quite the show in high-profile NXT showdowns with Bálor, Sami Zayn and Austin Aries, to name a few, and now finds himself headlining NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II against Samoa Joe.The native of Japan brings a style and charisma unlike anything the WWE Universe has seen.I love to wrestle fast-paced, said Nakamura. [I did] TakeOver Dallas, now Takeover Brooklyn. Im very excited.Saturday will be the first time Samoa Joe and Nakamura will square off for a crowd of more than a few hundred people, and the anticipation for this showdown is high -- for both NXT fans and Nakamura himself.Only for small house shows -- never wrestled him one-on-one on TV, said Nakamura, on his history with Samoa Joe. We were always in different companies. I am very excited for this moment.Its only a matter of time before Nakamura finds himself on Raw or SmackDown, and his high-profile match with Samoa Joe could go a long way towards getting him there.For some talents who have reached the level of success Nakamura has in his wrestling career, a stint in NXT might be seen as something of an insult. In his case thats not untrue because for as much as the 36-year-old has learned in the ring, he has made tremendous strides in areas even he may not have anticipated after moving to the United States.Being [around] a lot of young kids, they make me younger, said Nakamura. I am older than everybody there. I like to hang out on these road trips. I am able to find out about young Americans wrestling culture, and thats interesting for me. ' ' '
