It's never easy to assess where things went wrong in the wake of elimination, especially in junior hockey where a team is saying goodbye to graduating players and leaving the community they have come to know as home over the last few months.
The Estevan Bruins' playoff loss at the hands of the Weyburn Red Wings was not shocking.
But it's still tough for the team to digest, especially with the long-standing feud between the teams and the hype this series received.
That the Wings swept their Highway 39 rivals is a surprise, particularly after the Bruins darn near stole the opener in Weyburn on March 2.
Weyburn blogger Jason Knox said it best - the Red Wings' late comeback in that game was a turning point in the series that you could sense immediately.
A veteran team may have been able to overcome that mental blow.
But the Bruins, as you have heard all season, are a young club and every young club, regardless of skill, must learn how to win. This is part of that process.
The Bruins' showing in Game 2 at home was not exactly the stuff of legends. That 小蓝视频 said, Wings goalie Mitch Kilgore was excellent - not for the last time in the series - and held the Black and Gold off the scoresheet.
Estevan got off to a textbook start in Game 3, only to have it unravel quickly as the Wings rolled to their only lopsided win of the series.
Even as that game got away from the Bruins, you had to admire the play of 20-year-old Matt Dochylo, lacing them up for the first time since the team's playoff opener against Notre Dame.
If the Bruins had 20 guys with Dochylo's fire and sheer will that night, we wouldn't be talking about a sweep. And that goes for Game 4 as well.
Kilgore was made for the playoffs and he was a large factor in the series 小蓝视频 over after four games. Still, the Red Wings got timely goals from a few sources and their defencemen did a good job of helping out their goaltender.
That was especially true on the penalty kill, where the Bruins' top-ranked power play was limited to just one goal on 22 chances.
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On another note, I was sorry to hear last week that Elecs football head coach Marco Ricci is leaving Estevan to open a new Boston Pizza franchise in White City.
Although I only had the pleasure of dealing with Marco for the last year, no one has a bad word to say about him, and that extends beyond the football community.
That clich茅 gets tossed around a lot, but in this case it is the truth.
Throughout the whirlwind of the Kraft Celebration Tour last summer, and then the Elecs' season in the fall, I called on Marco for his thoughts more times than I can remember, and I can't remember one time when he didn't get back to me before my deadline.
In an age where everyone is busy from morning through night, that is a very rare thing. Trust me on that one. It can be the most frustrating part of the job at times, but I never had that problem with Marco.
I'm sure I speak for everyone when I wish him luck with his new adventure and thank him for his contributions to Estevan, including what he has done for the sport of football in this city.
Josh Lewis can be reached by phone at 634-2654, by e-mail at [email protected], on Twitter at twitter.com/joshlewis306 or on his Bruins blog at estevanmercury.ca/bruinsbanter. So, Estevan, does the Saskatoon Sinkhole one-up Souris Avenue?
