The Northern Cougars lost only two games in the second half of the regular season in the B.C. Female triple-A midget league.
But last weekend they found out the regular season doesn't matter, and they lost two-straight games at the hands of the visiting Thompson-Okanagan Rockets.
And they were games that counted the most.
The Rockets shut out the Cougars 4-0 Sunday at Kin 1 to win their second-round best-of-three playoff series 2-1. Saturday, with the Cougars holding a 1-0 series lead, the Rockets edged the Cats 3-2 to even the series 1-1.
The Rockets advance to the B.C. championship final next weekend against the Fraser Valley Phantom, while the Northern Cougars' season is over.
"From a coaching standpoint, it was an interesting two games," said Cougars head coach Mario Desjardins. "With the way we played all year, unfortunately we lost two-straight games and you can't take anything away from Kelowna. They have seven or eight '96s [17 and 18-year-olds] in their last year and you could really tell. They played desperate and hard.
"We have a young team and [this loss] will build character to bring it to the next level. We're looking forward to next year. It's a great group of girls."
Sunday, the Rockets scored twice in the first period on power play goals from Danielle Butler and Squwey Gottfriedsen. Butler tallied her second of the game on a wrist shot from the top of the slot to beat Cougars netminder Kelsey Roberts.
They added an empty-netter with 3.2 seconds left in the game.
The Cats had three power-play opportunities but didn't score with man-advantage. They outshot the Rockets 20-16. The count could've been higher if not for the Rockets solid shot-blocking.
"They [the Rockets] were getting in our shooting lanes and we had 25 or 26 shots easily if those pucks got through, but that's the playoffs," said Desjardins.
Saturday afternoon at Kin 1, the Rockets scored once in each period to take a 3-0 lead and held for the win on as the Cougars scored twice in the final frame.
Courtney Morice, Squwey Gottfriedsen, and Ali Roine scored for the Rockets.
Taylor Beck narrowed the Rockets' lead to 3-1 when she scored on a goal-mouth scramble.
With Cougars goalie Amy Quiring pulled in the final two-and-a-half minutes in favour of an extra attacker, Beck scored her second of the game from the centre of the slot with 26.5 seconds left.
With time ticking down, the Cats couldn't score the equalizer to send the game into overtime.
The Cougars outshot the Rockets 32-18.
The Rockets also stymied the Northern Cougars' offence all weekend, including the team's top-scorers Madison Fjellstrom, Sage Desjardins, Ava Keis and Tessa Hare.
"They expect a lot out of themselves and they put a lot of pressure on themselves," said coach Desjardins. "Our top scorers didn't have puck luck and it's disapointing to lose in a playoff run. We have had a great season and second place in the league is a huge accomplishment."
The Northern Cougars lose only one player to graduation - Hare - a forward who hails from Williams Lake. She's off to play CIS Canada West women's hockey next season with the U of Alberta Pandas.
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The Fraser Valley Phantom defeated the West Coast Avalanche 5-1 Sunday to win the other league semifinal series 2-1.
The Northern Cougars will await word to see if any of them are invited to B.C. Hockey's Female U18 camp in late April.
The four-day camp in Salmon Arm will feature the top-80 players born in 1997 and 1998 as they try-out for Team B.C. That squad will compete at the National Women's U18 Championship in the fall.
Open tryouts for the team 2014-15 season are in August.
