The 2012 Victoria Shamrocks season will be remembered for furious comebacks, close calls and, ultimately, falling just short.
Not bad considering it was dubbed a re-tooling year for the Western Lacrosse Association club.
"It was never a dull moment," said Shamrocks general manager Chris Welch. "We came up just short."
The season came to a close Wednesday in a tight 8-7 road loss to the Coquitlam Adanacs, who claimed the best-of-seven playoff semifinal 4-2.
Daryl Veltman's goal, at 17: 16 of the third period, stood up as the winner, but it wasn't without a battle.
The Shamrocks called for an illegal stick on goaltender Nick Rose, which drew a minor shortly after he made a terrific stop on Corey Small, who had four goals in the game on 15 shots.
That occurred in the last minute of the third period, as did a Derek Lowe shot that rang off the post for the Shamrocks.
In the dying seconds Jeff Shattler's shot hit the butt end of Rose's goal stick or the series could have went to a third straight overtime outing - it was that close.
"Literally, the butt end of the goalie's stick," said Welch. "Somehow Rosie got the shaft of his stick on it. But full credit to Coquitlam. They played a great series.
"We were all over them, pressing hard in the end, but we just couldn't get it to drop," added Welch. "That's how it goes. I'd rather go down like that rather than being swept aside, almost effortlessly, like we did last year against Langley."
This series had it all, plenty of scoring, big-time saves, punishing checks and a lot of competitive fire.
"Every game in this series was a battle, a war, and that's what you want in lacrosse," said Welch. "This young team learned a lot this year and they'll be better for it. They'll come back wanting to go even further next year."
Welch expects most the team to stay intact and he wants his head coach, Bob Heyes, to return to the helm.
"You want to give your MVP to a player, but I would love to give the team MVP award to Bob Heyes," said Welch. "Nobody worked harder, put in more preparation and effort. He did an outstanding job and he's a class act. If he'll come back, I would love to have Hazer back as my coach."
Heyes said he'll take some time to think about it.
"It's a huge grind," said Heyes. "It's one thing if it's the only thing you do, but you have a job and a family and it takes its toll. I enjoyed it, though, and Jordan Sundher helped me immensely. It was the whole coaching staff, actually."
Still drained, Heyes will need some time to recover and so, too, will the players, many of whom took to Twitter immediately following the result.
Shamrocks goaltender Matt Flindell, injured in Game 3, stated: "Tough way to end a season, great fight by the boys! Couldn't feel more helpless than watching them go to battle from the stands #family."
"Tough way to end it but can't say enough about the boys in that room. Proud to be a Shamrock," added Mike Pires.
Rose himself was also as quick with his typing fingers as he was in flashing his pads through six games.
"What a series. If you're a fan of lacrosse, that series had everything. Grateful for the opportunity in front of us," he wrote on one tweet.
"Got nothin but love & respect for my boys on Vic. We are a better team for how hard U guys battled us. That's how lacrosse should be played," he added in another.
Rose, the league's top netminder and most valuable player, was a thorn in Victoria's side, making 267 total saves in the six-game, knock-'em-down, drag-'emout affair, for an average of 44.5 stops a game.
Small's 16 goals and 25 points and Shattler's seven tallies and 15 helpers sat behind just Coquitlam's Dane Dobbie, who had 19 goals and 10 assists for the playoff scoring lead. Lowe also had seven goals and 13 assists, having missed one of the six games for Victoria.
