While it may sound like a cliche, it really was the case for the Langley Eagles.
“They gave every ounce they had, I can honestly say that,” said coach Kevin Qualtrough.
“I give the guys a ton of credit; they just did not quit.”
The team was in Fort Nelson last week for the B.C. tier 4 peewee provincial hockey championships.
And unfortunately for the Langley squad, they opened and closed with a pair of one-goal losses to the Hazelton Bulldogs.
In the gold-medal game on Wednesday, the Bulldogs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before Trevor Punia got the Eagles on the board with a short-handed tally.
Langley pushed for the equalizer, including a glorious scoring chance with 20 seconds remaining, but could not convert.
Qualtrough said the final was “a good hard-working game” from both teams.
Fatigue played a factor for both teams, as they only had two forward lines and the gold medal game was their sixth game in four days.
In Langley’s other games, they lost 6-5 to Hazelton in the opener, defeated Kelowna 5-3, beat Chetwynd 8-1, doubled up Whitehorse 4-2 and then scored a 7-1 victory over Fort Nelson.
Punia led Langley with six goals and 10 points in the six games over the tournament while Clayton Schroeder led the team in assists with five and also finished second in points with eight.
Nicholas Thiessen also had four goals and one assist for the Eagles.
For the season, Langley finished with a record of 56-20-9.
The team consists of: Matthew Garbutt, Mackenzie Smith, Mackenzie Brown, Nicholas Grant, Peyton Grim, Tommy Krowiak, Dylan McBride, Jett Odowichuk, Kyle Olsen, Trevor Punia, Jackson Qualtrough, Troy Robertson, Brayden Rupert, Clayton Schroeder, Nicholas Thiesen, and Tristan Van Niekerk.
Coaches are Kevin Qualtrough and Dwayne Grant, Sharlene Brown is manager and Mike Garbutt and Mary Anne Garbutt are the team's Hockey Canada's Safety program officers.