For the first time in their 25-year history, the San Jose Sharks are going to the Stanley Cup Final. With a 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals, the Sharks won the Clarence Campbell Bowl as Western Conference champion.

For most players on the team, this is the first time they've ever reached this stage of the playoffs and the first time they'll receive postseason hardware. So, the big question on everyone's mind when the shiny silver bowl gets wheeled out to the ice with deputy commissioner Bill Daly: Would the captain touch the trophy?

Many hockey players, being the superstitious lot that they are, think it is bad luck to touch or lift another trophy before winning the Stanley Cup. Apparently Sharks captain Joe Pavelski buys into that because he didn't come anywhere close to touching the trophy.

Instead, Pavelski called his teammates over to the table where the trophy sat to pose for a group picture. When the pictures were done, they left the Campbell Bowl all by itself on the table.

For the record, many teams that have opted to touch the trophy have won the Stanley Cup. Many have not. Basically, there's no curse or bad luck that can be brought by doing either, but Pavelski wasn't about to take any chances. It took the Sharks 25 years to get here, after all.

For the Sharks, winning the Campbell Bowl should be viewed as a huge accomplishment. It's obviously not the trophy they're after, but they've finally advanced. There won't be questions about why the Sharks "just can't get it done in the playoffs" for at least a few years. Win the Cup and those questions go away for a lot longer.

Now they await the winner of Thursday night's Game 7 between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins. Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final will be Monday, when San Jose will play host to Tampa Bay or travel to Pittsburgh.

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The San Jose Sharks didn't touch the Clarence Campbell Bowl even though they'd never won it before. USATSI