from Ray Ratto of CSNBayArea,

It does no good to tell Joe Pavelski that the better team won the Stanley Cup. It also does no good to tell him that the San Jose Sharks had a deep and valiant run toward that end.

All there is right now is the bilious taste of going so far and getting nothing but a handshake line from joyous opponents and red-rimmed eyes. The Pittsburgh Penguins are the well-deserving winners, and the San Jose Sharks’ dream has been approached but not achieved.

“I think right now,” the Sharks’ captain said in a funeral dressing room when asked if he would remember the good times or the gut-wrenching ones, “you probably remember the bad stuff first.”

That is the way of the athlete. Condolences are empty, commiserations are weak, handshakes feel like punches and pats on the back like daggers in the spine.

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Below, watch some of the San Jose Sharks post-game...