It was a wild finish to the game - and the season - for the Battleford Beaver Blues on Friday night.
Down 5-2 in the third period of game four of the championship series, the Beaver Blues roared back to win 6-5 over the Spiritwood Timberwolves and claim a second straight Saskatchewan Prairie Hockey League title.
The end of the game was particularly wild. Right as the clock struck zero, some Spiritwood players stormed onto the ice and a full-on bench-clearing brawl resulted, with both teams dropping the gloves and engaging in fisticuffs.
Finally, the fights were broken up and the Spiritwood players sulked off the ice in a huff, with most of them not even bothering to shake the hands of the Battleford players - although a couple of Spiritwood players did stay behind to congratulate the Beaver Blues after an exciting series of senior hockey.
It was left to the Beaver Blues to raise the trophy in front of what was left of a soldout Battleford Arena crowd Friday. Despite a so-so regular season the veteran Beaver Blues caught their stride when they had to and prevailed in the playoffs again.
Spiritwood had come on strong in the game, taking a 1-0 lead on a goal from Kyle Brataschuk before Battleford's Devin Esquirol tied it up.
Spiritwood did take a 2-1 lead heading to the intermission on a goal by Tyler Kuzma.
In the second, a 5-on-3 power play resulted in a 3-1 lead as Ryan Turgeon fired one in past Mitch Hawtin.
But Battleford closed it to 3-2 on a goal by Roddy Hoffman, and that was how it looked at the end of two.
In the third Spiritwood scored twice and seemed to have the game well in control with a 5-2 lead on goal by Brataschuk and Quentin Tipewan. But the Beaver Blues came back.
With 10 minutes left, Jordan Keller started the comeback at 5-3, and then Martin Smith got the home team within one at 5-4.
Then Brent Salzl tied the game with assists to Smith and Scott Maunula. With less than a minute remaining and a 4-on-4 situation, Salzl sent the game-winner into the Timberwolves' net with Smith assisting, giving the Beaver Blues the 6-5 win and the title.
Team captain Todd Heck accepted the championship trophy from league president Chris Browne. Brent Salzl was named playoff MVP.
Heck pointed to the experience on the team as a factor in the critical third period.
"We've got enough experience on the team," said Heck. "We knew we could come back and win it, we just had to take one shift at a time, one goal at a time, and we got that third one to close within two, and that's the worst lead to have in hockey, a two-goal lead."
As for the end of the game, Heck acknowledged there had been a lot of turmoil between the two teams."That makes for a good rivalry, but you know what, things were chippy along the way."
"I think we wanted to keep the peace and yet send a message," said Heck. "You know, stuff happens."
