There isn't one member of the Battlefords North Stars who wanted their season to end in Flin Flon.
They threw everything but the kitchen sink at the net during the third period, but nothing stopped the Flin Flon Bombers from wrapping up the Bauer Conference survivor series at the Whitney Forum.
After starting off the series with a 6-2 win at home, the North Stars dropped three straight, including both Flin Flon games.
As a result the North Stars are done just four games into the post-season - a frustrating finish for a squad that had played La Ronge in the conference finals a year earlier.
Coach Ken Pearson could not point to a lack of effort in the game. The North Stars swarmed the Flin Flon net in the third period and outshot the Bombers 21-9 in the frame. Unfortunately, they ended up outscored 2-1 in the period.
Somewhat fittingly, the series-winning goal came from the stick of the Bombers' Ashton Bernard, the villain of the series as far as the North Stars were concerned.
Bernard's antics had been a long-running sideshow of the series. He had gotten the gate late in game one after getting into it with Tony Oak of the North Stars, and then in game three he was at it again by getting into a scrap with Mitch Galbraith that saw him get ejected again, this time for checking to the head of Galbraith.
In game four, though, Bernard's goal from James McNulty and Cameron Blair broke a 2-2 tie and sent the Whitney Forum crowd into frenzy. It was his first goal in a Bomber uniform.
There was one final controversy as the game ended. The North Stars ended up pulling goaltender Kyle Birch in the final two minutes for one final push at the tying goal, and they appeared to have scored with eight seconds remaining on the clock.
However, the goal did not count. The referees had blown the whistle for an offside call - a call that will likely haunt the North Stars for the off-season.
The entire game proved to be competitive from the get-go, with the North Stars showing much more fire than in their 7-2 loss to the Bombers Monday night. They outshot the Bombers 17-15 in the first period.
Flin Flon opened the scoring at the 4:11 mark, as Corey Tyrell scored his third of the playoffs from Jesse Mychan and Brett Penner. That would be the only goal of the first period.
The North Stars tied it up in the second with a much-needed Cole Gibson unassisted marker at 9:26 of the period. That was the only goal of the second period, with shots on goal also favoring the North Stars 15-12.
Then came the fateful third period, and Tyrell scored his second of the game from Deven Stillar and Penner to give Flin Flon a 2-1 advantage.
Undaunted, the North Stars tied it again at 2-2 on Blake Tatchell's third goal of the playoffs from Colin Phaneuf.
That set the stage for Bernard's series winner at 9:31. From then on it was amazing goaltending from P.J. Musico again that frustrated the North Stars. Musico, who shutout the North Stars in game two, faced 53 shots on the night and stopped 51 of them.
The Achilles' heel for the North Stars was the powerplay, as they went 0/4. In particular, a man-advantage on a Tyler Mah holding penalty to begin the second period went for naught.
One could also say the Battlefords' downfall was also their inability to put the puck in the net. In the final three games the North Stars scored a total of four goals on Musico, who recovered nicely from his six-goal game one meltdown.
Kyle Birch was solid in net for the North Stars in game four, stopping 33 of 36 shots, and was named the game's third star. Tyrell's two-goal night earned him the star of the game honors, with Musico named second star.
The North Stars are left to ponder what might have been after a season that didn't live up to many fans' expectations after the strong performance the team had a year earlier.
The Bombers, meanwhile, will get a playoff rematch with the champion La Ronge Ice Wolves in the next round. La Ronge was the team that upset the Bombers in the playoffs last year en route to the league title.
The other first-round survivor series in the SJHL involves Estevan and Melville, with the Bruins forcing a series-deciding game five after a 3-2 win over the Millionaires in Melville Tuesday.
