At the very least, the Fergus Devils made the Erin Shamrocks sweat their first round series out to the end.
After falling behind 3-0 in their GBMO first-round playoff series, Fergus won three straight games to force a dramatic seventh game - which the Shamrocks bounced back to take by a convincing 6-1 score last weekend in Erin.
The Devils won Game 5 4-3 in overtime, their second straight overtime victory in the series. Fergus then took Game 6 by a 4-2 score last Friday night in Fergus, setting up the Game 7 showdown in Erin Saturday night - a showdown that the Shamrocks made sure had no drama to it whatsoever.
Game 5 saw the Shamrocks take a 2-1 lead after the first period, but the Devils rallied to tie the score at 3-3 following two periods of play. A scoreless third period was highlighted by a 5-on-3 Fergus powerplay and a late penalty to Erin's Tyler Hogan that gave the Devils a chance to win it in regulation. The Devils couldn't take advantage of either situation, letting the Shamrocks off the hook and forcing the game into overtime.
Erin had three break-away chances in the extra frame, and thought they had won the series on the first one when a Shamrocks player rang a shot off the crossbar behind Devils goalie Dave Bartolomucci. The officials didn't indicate a goal, and Fergus nearly caught Erin goalie Craig Byford out of his net for the winning goal.
Minutes later, Hogan got a pass at the Fergus blueline and got in behind the defence. He had Bartolomucci beaten but slid the puck wide of the goal - minutes later, Ethan Jobb flipped the puck past Byford from a tough angle for the winner just less than four minutes from the end of the overtime period.
Jesse Booker scored twice and Mitch Gelfand added one in the win, while assists went to Zack MacPherson, Rob Turner, Brock West, Reid Zorzi and Dylan Cunningham.
Game 6 was controlled by the Devils from start to finish despite the Shamrocks' outshooting them 43-36 for the game. Tied 1-1 after the first period, Fergus scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the second to take the lead for good. Erin netted a late powerplay goal in the second, but MacPherson scored into an empty net with 30 seconds left to seal the win.
Jobb, Booker and West added a goal each, while assists went to Zorzi (4), West and Booker. Bartolomucci picked up the win while Byford took the loss.
Unfortunately for the Devilis, their series rally was cut short by a Shamrocks squad determined not to be humiliated with a fourth straight loss. Erin scored the only goal of the first period, but then got two quick goals to open the second to take control of the game.
It wasn't until the third period when Jobb scored that Fergus showed any life at all. But his goal was answered by a Dan Cook goal to make it a 5-1 lead for the home side. Jon Bell added his second goal of the night to finish the scoring off.
Following the series, Fergus head coach Eddy Gaffney said the Devils simply ran out of gas and couldn't complete their comeback attempt.
"I don't think anybody expected us to come back and force a seventh game in this series," he said. "It was clear early in Game 7 that we were just out of gas. We hit the wall early in the first period and couldn't compete any more."
What looked like an easy sweep for the Shamrocks turned into a bitter fight between rivals, and Gaffney is proud of the way his team fought back and made the series a competitive one.
"I think we worked at coming together as a team early on, and we were still waiting for some bounces to go our way over the first three games," he said. "We got some great goaltending from Dave, and I think we were well prepared for Erin - it just took us too long to get into the series."
It was his team's poor defence that eventually did the Devils in, as Gaffney admitted that Fergus surrendered far too many odd-man chances to Erin to overcome in the long run. Since taking over the team from Ray Baumgaertner, Gaffney thinks he and co-coaches Shane Hill and Dennis Kirton faired well enough and believes they earned a shot to keep the reigns of the team for next season.
"I don't think anyone really expected us to do very well this season, but our goal remained being a top-four team," he said. "We came up just short of that, but with the guys we have coming back and a good group of young players in the Centre Wellington system, I think we can make a real run at the top next season."
One of the downfalls to the Devils' season was their lack of communication with the CWMH teams, and Gaffney said he was committed to improving that relationship next season. If they can add the pieces he believes are out there, Gaffney doesn't see any reason why Fergus can't bounce back in 2010-11.
"I think we can make a big push to get to the top next season - we just have to add the right pieces to this team," he said.
Erin advanced to play the Alliston Hornets in Round 2 of the GBMO playoffs. Alliston took Game 1 by a score of 3-1 Sunday night, while the Stayner Siskins lead the Penetang Kings 2-0 in the other semi-final series following wins of 2-1 and 3-2 in overtime.