I say this frequently to young people starting out in sports journalism: cover a league long enough, and you come to cheer not for any specific team, but for the players and people involved with those teams whom you encounter along the way. And that remains true today.

Take the newly-crowned, first-time-ever Western Conference-champion San Jose Sharks as an example. How can you not be happy for GM Doug Wilson, one of the game’s classiest executives and a pretty solid defenseman in his own right? Wilson is a genuine ambassador for the game and someone who’s done incredible work growing the sport on the West Coast. He’s persevered through disappointment after disappointment, and although he’s made his share of mistakes like any longtime executive, you have to admire the way he’s stayed steadfast to his goal.

How can you not smile thinking what it would mean for players like Joe Thornton and Brent Burns to hoist a Stanley Cup above their heads? At a time when the NHL has a dearth of bona fide characters, Burns and Thornton are like manna from heaven: whether it’s Burns giving P.K. Subban a run as the NHL's modern-day Classy Freddie Blassie; whether it’s their beards, which noted hockey fan Vladimir Putin has vowed to annex if they grow too close to Russian Crimea; or whether it’s their delightful demeanors, the duo always give fans the sense hockey is a joyful game. Not every player – not most players – in this league are able to project that joy, which is so valuable to attracting new generations of kids to the sport.

And what type of ghoul would you have to be to not be elated for James Reimer right now? This is a player who, even in a league that has hundreds of role models, stands out as one of the most fundamentally decent human beings who receives an NHL check. In his time playing under the magnifying glass in Toronto, Reimer served the community around him as well as any Leafs player and was unfailingly pleasant in his dealings with the media despite the numerous letdowns he experienced on the ice. He doesn’t have a major role with the Sharks at the moment, but he did make notable contributions in the regular season after being traded, and he’s along for a ride he may never take again. Admission to that ride couldn’t go to a better person.

How can you not be happy for long-toiling Sharks cornerstones Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski and Marc Edouard Vlasic, all of whom aren’t appreciated as much as they ought to be thanks to San Jose’s lack of post-season advancement? Each has shone in his own way in these playoffs, and their appearance in the Final should put to rest, once and forever, any suggestion they’re somehow lesser players because of the franchise's past failures.

And it's not just San Jose's on-ice employees or upper management you're happy for on a day like today. Why wouldn’t you be happy for a guy like Scott Emmert, the Sharks’ vice-president of media relations? There’s a reason why the Sharks have won numerous Dick Dillman Awards, which annually recognize the league’s best PR departments: Emmert always goes above and beyond in his efforts to work with media and get stories on his team in front of readers’ eyes. That willingness to work together sometimes can change in certain teams, depending on their level of on-ice success and their overall status in the league. But it has never changed in San Jose, and that’s a huge credit to Emmert, one of many who work outside the spotlight to enhance the entertainment experience of fans and improve the imprint of the sport in California.

Last but not least, how can you not find it within yourself to be just a little bit happy for those Sharks fans themselves? The people of San Jose have filled the SAP Center year after year, through thick and through thin, and never have known how it felt to make it this close to a Stanley Cup parade. If you can put aside your provincial tendencies and put yourself in the shoes of those folks, you can’t help but wish them well.

There’s nothing wrong with being a diehard fan of any NHL team you want to be. But once that team has died hard, there are still plenty of reasons to cheer, still a slew of inspirational stories among the remaining active teams in a championship hunt.

As consolation prizes go, you could do far worse than basking in their glow.

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