"This is the end/Beautiful friend/This is the end/My only friend, the end/Of our elaborate plans, the end."
OK, it's safe to say Jim Morrison and I are talking about entirely different things here. But it fits.
The Estevan Bruins had elaborate plans. There were high expectations. There were hopes that this might finally be the year the team would treat their fans to a deep playoff run.
They all came crashing down on March 16 in the first round of the playoffs.
A season that began with a 10-2 defeat in Melville ended with a five-game series loss in Yorkton.
Although the Bruins played a bit better down the stretch and into the playoffs, giving fans a glimmer of hope that they might play to their potential at the right time, it didn't get them far.
Sure, they won their first game outside the survivor series since 2007 (what an incredible mark of futility, by the way) - but that's not enough.
With the team the Bruins had on paper to begin the season, with several 1993-born forwards poised to break out and a strong defence corps, I felt the south final was a realistic target, and I wasn't alone in that.
Yes, a pair of significant season-long injuries didn't help. Even though the team found a very capable replacement in Curtis Martinu, the loss of Steven Glass seemed to take its toll on morale.
Glass is a popular player in the dressing room and he had been expected to take a step forward in his development after a strong rookie season.
The bigger loss was left winger Calder Neufeld, who went down after six games with a high ankle sprain and only returned to play a regular shift in February.
After losing Dylan Smith to the Eastern Junior Hockey League, having Neufeld lost to injury was a major blow.
Neufeld had 34 goals and 67 points last year and the Bruins would struggle to score all year long without him.
Still, there were other factors. Coaching was certainly one, and with Keith Cassidy's contract up - there is a mutual option for a third year - the biggest decision for the team's executive will be whether to keep him or move on.
There has never been much continuity behind the bench, and letting Cassidy go after two years would only add to that, but there is a strong urge to turn the team around.
Another reason for the Bruins' struggles was that most of the '93s expected to improve and become core contributors actually regressed.
Taylor Reich went from 32 points as a rookie to 11 this year. Matt Brykaliuk went from 20 points to 18. Austin Yano went from a dazzling 27-point rookie season to a woeful start and a December trade to Kindersley.
Suddenly a team that looked to be going into the high end of the cycle might not be headed in that direction at all.
With the likes of Neufeld, Dylan Smith and Cole Olson graduating, the Bruins are looking very thin up front next year.
Then again, maybe the players who didn't take that next step this season will thrive next year. You just never know in junior hockey.
Contact Josh Lewis at 634-2654 or [email protected]. This winter is starting to become that guy who gets way too drunk and won't leave your house at 4 a.m. Party's over, winter. Go home.
