Southern Stampede coach Stephen Reid is still a proud and pleased man.
He saw no reason to be too despondent after seeing his side beaten by the Botany Swarm in the national ice hockey league final in Auckland on Saturday night.
The Swarm dominated the final period to claim the title with a 5-3 win at the Paradice Arena.
For Reid and the Queenstown-based Stampede, it was a disappointing end to a Cinderella season but the loss could not detract from the satisfaction gained from going from the wooden spoon to the final.
"Human nature, you want to win of course," Reid told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
"But we've had time for a little bit of reflection and we're ecstatic we've come as far as we have.
"We just need to turn around next year and prove we're a play-off team again."
In a physical and tight first period, Stampede stars Simon Glass and Brett Speirs both spent time in the penalty bin.
The Swam scored on the power play but otherwise found it extremely difficult to get past classy Southern goaltender Aston Brookes.
Adnan Mlivic levelled the scores for the Stampede with a goal 2min before the end of the first period.
Estonian import Alex Polozov missed an open goal for the Swarm in a scoreless second period, with Brookes again in superb form.
Glass struck the first blow in a wild final period when his early goal gave the Stampede a 2-1 lead.
But the Swarm fired back with two quick goals, to Polozov and KC Ball, and then jumped out to 4-2 with a Brian Mosely goal.
Speirs cut the lead to make it 4-3 with 6min left, before Polozov found the net to give the Swarm the title.
"It was anyone's game going into the third period, so it was nice and intense," Reid said.
"We broke the deadlock first but unfortunately, they got a couple of lucky bounces and capitalised on them.
"They made the most of their opportunities. We had a couple that went begging. But that's just hockey."
Glass was named Stampede MVP, while the team's internal award was presented to Speirs.
