They came painstakingly close to a three-peat but, in the end, it wasn't to be.
The Yorkton Bulldogs fell 9-6 on Sunday in the Prairie Gold Lacrosse League's Tier II Championship to the Saskatoon Steelers.
A victory would have meant a third-straight Tier II crown for the Bulldogs, who advanced to the final by beating the Regina Rifles in a thrilling overtime affair.
Despite the finals loss, Bulldogs Head Coach Joe Choptuik was pleased with his squad's effort - particularly in the 11-10 semifinals victory over Regina.
"The (Regina) game was excellent. It was a close game all the way through," he recalls.
As Choptuik details, the Steelers and Bulldogs were evenly matched in a final that could have gone either way.
The game went right down to the wire, the Head Coach explains.
"The final game was close right to the last two and a half minutes..." Choptuik says, "It ended up being 7-6... (with) two and a half minutes left and they scored, then we scored, then they scored two quick ones with about a minute left."
While the Bulldogs were relatively upbeat following the tournament's conclusion, the disappointment of coming so close does linger.
"We should have won, they felt disappointed that they should have won," Choptuik says.
Due to the nature of the lacrosse season, the Bulldogs players were forced to adapt and become a cohesive unit in a relatively short amount of time.
Fortunately, they put their best foot forward when it came time for Provincials.
"The year went pretty good. It's such a short season you hardly have time to get ready for anything," Choptuik states.
Due to the difficulty of recruiting players in this region, Choptuik expects roughly the same roster in 2011 as he had at his disposal this year.
"We will probably have most of them back next year except for the three that went over age."
Forced to play against cities with a much larger population (and lacrosse playing) base, a berth in the Tier II finals is an impressive accomplishment for the Yorkton Bulldogs.
"For us... not too many people play, so we kind of have our nine dedicated players and the other ones we have to force to come out and play," ?Choptuik laughs, "(In) the cities, they've got people (who) try out for those teams. We take what we get with the players we get and we do what we can do."
The Bulldogs Zack Soke took away Tier II Playoff MVP honours for his efforts in the second-place finish.
Soke was one of the top-scorers in the regular season for the 'Dogs.
