Despite losing three games to one in a best-of-five championship series, the Central Alberta Amazons have declared the 2012-2013 hockey season a success.
"I couldn't be more proud of these girls," head coach Doug Demott said.
"We had a small core but the team was mostly a bunch of girls who hadn't played together before who jelled throughout the year and came together when it was important - in the playoffs. We came up just a couple goals short, that's all."
The Amazons earned a spot in the Alberta Junior Female Hockey League (AJFHL) championships after they defeated the Calgary Warriors and the Lethbridge Eagles in the first two rounds of the playoffs. After losing the first two games of the provincial finals in Fort Saskatchewan on March 23 and March 24, the Amazons hosted the Fort Saskatchewan Fury at home at the Penhold Regional Multiplex.
The Amazons made a series of it after they forced a fourth game with a come-from-behind win in the dying minutes of Game 3 on Saturday evening. The Fury had a 4-3 lead late in the third period until Cassidy Holt tied it up for the Amazons with exactly two minutes left on the clock. Exactly 10 seconds later, Brooke Van Wolde sealed a 5-4 victory for the Amazons with her second goal of the evening.
The win provided the local hockey team with a huge boost of confidence headed into Game 4 the following afternoon, but the Amazons were held scoreless on Sunday and the Fort Saskatchewan Fury were declared AJFHL champions after winning the fourth game in the series 2 - 0.
Demott said Sunday's loss was a little hard to swallow, especially for Amazons playing their last season with the team hoping to end their junior hockey career with a championship. But the team accomplished much and proved they could compete with the best, he said.
"In all, I think we were there with them and we proved we were the best team coming out of the south. It could have went either way with a few lucky bounces, I think."
For Amazons team captain Brianna Merkley, the end of her final season with the local junior hockey team was bittersweet.
"I was disappointed, like anyone else would be," she said. "But we've come a long way. We won the south, I think that's something to be proud of, and it was close."
Merkley described the championship series as intense.
"I felt like I was going to throw up half the time. It was really stressful but it was really exciting though."
The season overall, she rated as awesome.
"It was a great way to end the season and my (junior) hockey career."
