craigdailypress.com

The Craig Red Dogs were knocked from the playoffs Friday night, losing to the Bruins, 3-1, in Steamboat Springs.

"We were in it the whole time," Craig winger Greg Neal said. "When they scored that third goal, it was a backbreaker."

The No. 5 seed Red Dogs (6-9-2) had split the two-game regular season with the top-seeded Bruins (11-6) but couldn't catch any breaks in the postseason.

The Bruins carried a 1-0 lead into the second frame, doubling it midway through the period.

Neal scored with a second remaining before the intermission, pulling Craig within one.

But, the one-goal lead would prove to be all the Bruins needed.

A score with less than two minutes to play pushed the Bruins into the league championship game.

"That was it," Neal said. "We couldn't recover."

The loss ended the Red Dogs' season, and gone until October are the childhood dreams zooming down the ice lighting the blue lamp behind the opposition's net.

"It's a bummer," Neal said. "We played our best hockey the second half of the season."

Despite the nearly six-month layoff, Neal said the team is excited about an ever-increasing skill level and quality of teams entering the league.

"We are going to do some offseason training," he said. "It's going to be a very rigorous schedule (in the 2009-10 season). We are going to do a lot of running, weightlifting and a lot of bike riding. The league keeps getting stronger, and we need to stay right there with it."