Tonight is game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals and the San Jose Sharks have their backs against the wall. I'm not necessarily a Sharks 'fan' because I'm a bit old school about which cities actually deserve to have an NHL franchise and San Jose is too new money for my taste. I'm 90% sure that most of the city wasn't aware the Sharks were even a team before the Finals, but they are here, and they are the only thing standing in the way of Sidney Crosby winning another Cup.

I despise the Penguins. Partly because they're divisional rivals with the Rangers, but mostly because I hate that whiny bitch Crosby and his 2-bit, overrated, lackey Chris Kunitz. Pittsburgh does an excellent job marketing themselves as the least likeable team in the NHL, though they do have some competition from the Bruins. I can't put my finger on the exact reason for this, but I think it's a special blend of 20% them always making the playoffs combined with 80% Sidney Crosby & co. Crosby is unquestionably nasty at what he does, but he is still universally hated virtually everywhere in the world outside of Pittsburgh because he is a crybaby punk with a pube beard. The kind of twerp that that shamelessly dives, instigates a fight but doesn't finish, and who constantly whines to officials. Combine him with cheap shot artist Kunitz, who has made a living feeding off Crosby's scraps, and you have a dynamic duo of douche bags - insufferable enough to make even the biggest hockey purest root for a buddy pass over the middle.

That said, the Penguins are good, very good. They fast, deep, experienced, and hot. Besides the usual suspects like Crosby and Malkin, players like Nick Bonino and Carl Hagelin have stepped up and had terrific playoffs while Phil Kessel leads Pittsburgh in points this postseason. Keeper Matt Murray, who turned 22 about 2 weeks ago, has looked unbeatable since getting his bearings on playoff hockey against the Rangers in the first round. Pittsburgh finished up their regular season on fire - winning 14 out of 16, but I still had hopes that they would tire out and their unproven rookie goalie would be shell shocked by the pressures of playoff hockey but I was wrong. After making mince meat of the Rangers in 5 games to open their postseason, they disarmed the President's Trophy winning Washington Capitals, and then gutted out a 3 games to 2 deficit to send the pesky Lightning to early tee times. Still I held out hope that whoever came out of the West would end their run. The Sharks and Blues are big, deep, and talented. The right recipe for hoisting the cup, and what I thought would be a match up nightmare for whoever came out of the East. But now on the eve of Game5, and Pittsburgh holding a commanding 3-1 lead, it looks like I may have been mistaken.

If Pittsburgh wins tonight I will ask myself why I even bothered watching hockey this season at all. With the benefit of hindsight, was it all worth it? Should I have just avoided this emotional roller coaster all together rather than feel the pain of watching Crosby kiss the cup? If the hockey gods care at all about my mental well being they must make a few pucks bounce in the Sharks' direction tonight. This series isn't over, San Jose needs to take this one game at a time, but they must play more inspired hockey. Towards the end of the Western Conference Finals you could see the Sharks outworking the Blues. They were beating them to pucks, stopping St. Louis in the neutral zone, and possessing the puck in the offensive zone so effectively that it looked like they were on the power play. The Finals have been a different story. In game 4 the roles were reversed. San Jose looked tired and unable to keep up with the outside speed of Pittsburgh. The high power Shark offense, which features 4 of the top 5 point scorers this postseason, have been held in check, scoring just 7 goals thru 4 games. Tonight wont be easy for the Sharks - the game is in Pittsburgh and the Penguins can smell the champagne and sense the Cup's presence in the building - but if the Sharks can get back to basics and use their physicality and relentless fore check create opportunities, they have a great shot to send this series back to San Jose.