The season has ended for the boys of winter.
The Humboldt Broncos closed the season last weekend after falling to the Yorkton Terriers in Games 5 and 6 of the SJHL final series.
Head Coach Dean Brockman said the defeat was disheartening for the team.
"The mood is obviously fairly sober," he said from his office Monday afternoon. "It's a defeat that's probably going to hurt for quite some time."
The Broncos went into Saturday's game with an advantage, playing on home ice at the Elgar Petersen Arena against the Terriers in Game 5 of the SJHL playoffs.
Humboldt took the lead with Matt Audette scoring the first goal of the game 13:23 into the first. The Broncos held on to the one-point advantage heading into the second but the Terriers' Tyler Giebel tied things up at 2-2 at the end of the second.
The board remained unchanged in the third, forcing the game into overtime.
The Broncos and Terriers were well matched as shots were even at 50-50.
Dawson MacAuley made 49 saves in the win and Matt Hrynkiw stopped 48 shots.
The Terriers and Broncos battled it out in the first overtime but failed to hit the net on either side of the ice, forcing the game into a second OT.
The second period challenged the boys to dig deep and fight fatigue after playing for more than three hours. Both sides of the ice saw shots on net, but none made it past goalies Dawson MacAuley or Matt Hrynkiw.
With the noise of more than 1,600 fans, the game continued, going into triple overtime.
The Terriers' Jeremy Johnson scored the winning goal 1:10 into the third overtime, taking Game 5 and giving Yorkton the 3-2 lead in the Canalta Cup Final.
"Anyone could have won the game going into triple overtime," said Brockman. "We knew it was going to be a bad goal, not one of those classic goals, and (Yorkton) got the bad goal to win."
Less than 24 hours after the defeat, the Broncos hit the road, ready to play the Terriers in Game 6 at the Farrell Agencies Arena in Yorkton.
With a one-game advantage over the Broncos, the Yorkton Terriers nearly filled the rink with 2,147 fans in attendance.
The first period was a challenge for the Humboldt Broncos as the Terriers gained a 3-0 lead and out-shot the Broncos 13-8 .
The Broncos regrouped in the second and made a comeback with captain Neil Landry putting in the team's first goal, assisted by David Strumborg and Logan Sproule during a power play. Matt Audette followed with a second goal, ending the second period 3-2 for the Terriers.
The Broncos built upon the momentum and put in a third goal late in the third.
It looked like overtime again as the teams went head to head to battle out the 3-3 score, but the Terriers captain Devon McMullen put in the winning goal with only 28 seconds left in the game. The Terriers won the game 4-3, securing the playoff victory and Canalta Cup for the first time since 2005/06.
"We fell behind early and fought our way back and showed a lot of character," Brockman said of Sunday night's game. "They scored with 28 seconds left and when you end the season like that, it's pretty difficult."
The SJHL Playoffs MVP was shared between Terrier goalie Dawson MacAuley and defenceman Brady Norrish.
The Terriers advance to the Western Canada Cup in Nanaimo, B.C. The five-team tournament will begin on April 27 with MJHL, AJHL and BCHL champs. The top two teams will advance to the RBC Cup in Summerside, P.E.I.
