A classic series ended in thrilling fashion on Friday night at the Sunshine Coast Arena.
The Midway Power/ Grasshopper Pub Hitmen hoisted the Men's A-division hockey title after a 2-1 shootout win in game four of their series with the Inlet Raiders.
All four games of the series, which pitted the top two regular season teams, were one-goal victories.
The first two periods of Friday's game were scoreless but were not without drama and excitement.
Both Hitmen goalie Keith McKenzie and Raiders' goalie Dan Hemstalk were rock solid, each making a number of huge saves.
The Raiders also had a goal disallowed late in the second period when the puck went in after the net was knocked off its posts.
Early in the third period, the Hitmen finally broke through as Trent Turner scored with assists going to Colin Large and Bic Byr.
About four minutes later, the Hitmen ran into penalty trouble, and the Raiders capitalized on a five-on-three-man advantage to tie the game 1-1.
Ian Bunbury fired a wicked shot that blew past McKenzie into the top corner of the net. Tom Poulton and Dwight Davison added the assists.
The remainder of the period was filled with dramatic moments as both teams pushed for the winning goal. When nothing was decided, the teams headed into a 10-minute overtime session.
Overtime was highlighted by McKenzie's diving stop with about five minutes to go. Still tied 1-1, the teams headed for the shootout.
Darren Kohuch scored for the Raiders, while Turner and Scott McLeod scored for the Hitmen. McLeod's goal proved to be the title-clinching goal.
"This is the greatest feeling. A couple of us have been playing in this league for nearly 20 years and have never come close. So to finally win it, this is as good as it gets for us," McKenzie said.
"You have to give full credit to the Inlet Raiders. They've been the most dominating team for so long. We just put it in our minds that it was now or never. They gave us a really good battle and we fought for everything."
McKenzie said from the start of the season, the Hitmen were on a mission to win the title.
"Right from our first game, we had a great group of guys and a great chemistry," he said. "We don't have one individual that took us there. We have 15 guys who played their guts out. It showed tonight and it showed all year long."
The Hitmen won game three of the series, played on March 31, by a score of 4-3.
In that contest, Steve Stevenson, Lance Durkin, Darren Pollock and Dan Fitchel scored for the Hitmen while Kohuch, Jarred Rutley and Graham Benjafield scored for the Raiders.
The final year-end awards have also been announced.
The Raiders picked up the regular season champion, best goalie in the regular season went to Hemstalk, leading scorer in the regular season went to Rutley, top playoff goalie was McKenzie, leading playoff scoring was Rutley and playoff MVP was McKenzie.
