It took less than 24 hours for the Elora Mohawks to feel both the joy of winning and the despair of losing in the OLA Junior 'B' finals.
The Tribe rallied from a 0-2 series deficit to the Halton Hills Bulldogs, winning Games 3 and 4 of the series last week before dropping an 8-3 decision in the fifth and deciding game Saturday night.
Elora came up with their most dominant effort of the playoffs in Game 3, handing the Bulldogs a 7-1 loss in Georgetown. After an early Brady Heseltine goal that set the tone, Elora rolled to a 5-0 lead at the first intermission that stunned both the Bulldogs and their fans into near silence.
Nic Grasby finally snapped Ricky McGarr's shutout bid with four seconds left in the second period, bouncing a shot past the Tribe's goalie with an extra attacker on the floor.
That proved to be the lone mistake Elora would make on the night. Jordan Godin and Heseltine tacked on third period goals to salt the win away. McGarr stopped 41 of 42 shots while Ryan Kelly had 31 saves on 37 shots in 50 minutes of work. Kyle Dobbie, Godin (2), Kyle Goss and Heseltine (3) accounted for Elora's goals in the win.
Game 4 got off to a terrible start for the Tribe, as Halton's first two shots eluded McGarr and the Bulldogs led 2-0 after 62 seconds of play. Elora settled down and methodically picked Halton apart for the rest of the period, building a 5-2 lead at the break.
The Bulldogs dug into that lead early in the second, as Ethan O'Connor and Michael MacDonald scored less than two minutes apart to make it a 5-4 game. Shane MacDonald snapped home a late goal for Elora to put the Tribe back in front by two heading into the third.
Elora enjoyed an 8-5 lead with 13 minutes to play thanks to goals from Matt Hummel and Mark Pfohl, but Halton drew to within a goal with eight minutes to play. Things became even more intense in the closing minute of the game, as Halton reeled off five shots in the last 34 seconds - but McGarr stopped all of them to preserve the Elora victory.
Heseltine (2), Godin, MacDonald (2), Dan Keane, Hummel and Pfohl scored for the Mohawks, while McGarr made 43 saves on 50 shots to earn the win. Kelly made 41 saves on 49 shots in the loss.
For all the intensity that Elora showed in tying the series, none of that came to the surface in Game 5. Halton got an early goal - O'Connor squeaked one past McGarr 1:49 into the game - and the Bulldogs were never seriously threatened from there.
They built a 2-0 lead after one period and then saw that advantage balloon to 7-0 at the end of 40 minutes. As solid as Elora's defence and goaltending had been in the previous two games, it broke completely in Game 5. McGarr surrendered seven goals in just over 34 minutes of play and 24 shots faced, but without the Tribe's offence to offset those goals Elora dug too deep a hole to climb out of.
MacDonald, Goss and Godin scored goals in the third to break up Kelly's shutout, but it was far too late to save Elora's season.
Following the game, Mohawks head coach Dean George said the beginning of the end came at the offensive end of the floor when the Mohawks couldn't cash in on any of their early good looks against Kelly.
"We got lots of good shots against him early, but when we couldn't sink one his confidence grew and it was tough the rest of the way," he said. "We battled back, but in the end we just didn't have enough left."
While Elora was able to get a few limited good looks up close against Kelly early in the game, their offence failed to penetrate on Halton's defence - something it did at will in the previous two games. George knew it, and gave credit to the Bulldogs for denying the Mohawks quality chances.
"They've got a good defence over there, and it didn't help that we were holding our sticks a little too tight," he said. "We got away from what had made us successful, and it cost us."
A lack of urgency showed up for Elora in Game 5, and George knew it the second he saw it. But as painful a loss as it was, he felt the seeds of defeat were planted in the first two games of the series.
"I'd be lying if I said I was happy with the effort we had, but the bottom line is you can't play poorly in a short series," he said. "You can't take nights off, and we lost the first two games when they were ones I thought we could've won. Beating a good team like Halton three straight games is tough enough, and we just fell short."
Halton Hills advances to the Founders Cup tournament, where they join the host Mimico Mountaineers in competing for the national Junior 'B' championship.