Bruins season comes to an end in the Robertson Cup Finals
Published 10:36 pm Saturday, May 16, 2015
![Austin's Jade Miller breaks free in the second period against the Minnesota Wilderness in game two of the Robertson Cup championship series Saturday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com](https://www.austindailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2015/05/0518.Bruins10.jpg)
Austin’s Jade Miller breaks free in the second period against the Minnesota Wilderness in game two of the Robertson Cup championship series Saturday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Austin Bruins couldn’t keep their season alive as they lost 4-0 to the Minnesota Wilderness in game two of the Robertson Cup Finals in Riverside Arena Saturday.
The Bruins finished the finals with just one goal in nearly ten periods of hockey.
“They did a real good job of keeping us into the perimeter and keeping us out of the paint,” Austin head coach Chris Tok said. “We get a lot of our goals creating second and third scoring opportunities and they did a real good job of defending their house.”
Austin controlled the pace for the first period and a half of the game, but the Wilderness took control when they scored two goals in a two-minute stretch in the second period.
![Austin's Zach Kennedy brings the puck into the Wilderness zone during the second period of game two in the Robertson Cup championship series Saturday night in Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com](https://www.austindailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2015/05/0518.Bruins12-449x244.jpg)
Austin’s Zach Kennedy brings the puck into the Wilderness zone during the second period of game two in the Robertson Cup championship series Saturday night in Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
“Giving up that goal was big,” Tok said. “You could just kind of see the deflation in the guys and it led to that second one. There wasn’t a lot of life and a lot of energy after last night, that’s for sure.”
It was the second straight year the Bruins had to settle for second place in the Robertson Cup Finals. The team came to Austin five years ago and it has made big strides. Hosting the Robertson Cup was probably the biggest weekend in Bruins’ franchise history but Austin forward Alex Pettersson said, it’s tough to think positively after two straight losses.
“Maybe in a couple of days or a week, but right now it feels bad,” Pettersson said.
Both teams were able to play with pretty good speed considering they were coming off a five and half hour marathon Friday night. Pettersson certainly wasn’t going to blame the loss on being tired.
“I think we had a lot of energy,” he said. “If felt way better than I thought I was going to.”
Still, Pettersson said the loss was a sting that cut deep.
“This is my family and we did everything we could. Sometimes it’s not enough,” he said.
The Bruins came a long way this season with a young roster full of rookies and Tok said maybe someday they will realize what they accomplished this season.
“They’ll realize the things we did, but right now, especially for the five guys we had last year, we’re not thinking about the things we accomplished, we’re thinking about the things we didn’t accomplish ,” Tok said. “We were pretty damn good, but for whatever reason we couldn’t get over the hump.”
SCORING SUMMARY
Wilderness 0 2 2 — 4
Bruins 0 0 0 — 0
First period
No scoring
Second period
(M) Ian Mansfield (Niklas Lehtimak) 15:52
(M) Brett Heikkila (Darian Romanko) 17:59
Third period
(M) Heikkila 16:24
(M) Niklas Lehtimaki (empty net) 18:16
Shots: Austin — 26; Wilderness — 24
Power plays: Austin — 0-for-1; Wilderness — 0-for-0