What a season.

The Austin Bruins may have lost the Robertson Cup Finals Saturday to Fairbanks, but there’s no denying this was a great season for the Bruins in many ways.

Though the Bruins lost, Austin made it to its first Robertson Cup finals in its four-year franchise history. There was plenty of playoff excitement along the way. Of the 14 postseason games the Bruins played in, five of them went to overtime and 12 were decided by two goals or less.

The Bruins won its second straight NAHL Central Division title with a 40-19-1 record in the regular season.

Forward Guillaume Leclerc, a UMass-Lowell commit, was selected to the NAHL All-Rookie First Team.

Jay Dickman became Austin’s all-time leading scorer. Dickman, a Bemidji State commit, and Austin goalie Nick Lehr, a Minnesota commit, each made the All-Central Division team.

Former Bruin defenseman Christian Folin signed with the Minnesota Wild and came through with an assist and a plus three rating in his NHL debut April 10, a 4-2 Wild win against the St. Louis Blues.

But for all the success in the rink, the Bruins were again a force off the ice. The team raised more than $25,000 for breast cancer research at The Hormel Institute through the third Paint the Rink Pink game in February. The team later raised $8,000 in April to help Zach Kraft, a former member of the Aberdeen, S.D., Wings and Wisconsin Wilderness, fight stage IV brain cancer.

In all, it was a great season for the Bruins even before the team’s exciting playoff run. We thank owner Craig Patrick, coach Chris Tok and the entire team for another great season, and for all the team does off the ice.

We can’t wait for next season.