Craig Heisinger found a way to sum up the situation rather succinctly and appropriately.
"It's heartbreaking to lose, but I knew that it would be," the general manager of the Manitoba Moose was saying as the team held its exit meetings on Sunday at the MTS Centre. "It should be and if it wasn't, then it probably wasn't worth it."
It was mere days after the most successful season in the 13-year history of the Moose franchise, but instead of preparing for a seventh and deciding game in the Calder Cup final against the Hershey Bears, the team was picking up the pieces and reflecting on a glorious run.
"It was really exciting," said Heisinger. "We've never been this far down the road and that's the one thing that stood out for me, the passion in the community.
"We really made some in-roads about what a good product this is and that it's real and not second rate or second level."
Make no mistake, despite the empty feeling of being a finalist, finishing second is an important step in becoming a champion in the future.
"We're going to do what it takes to get back," said Heisinger. "It's hard to get there. It's not a six or an eight-team league. A lot of things have to go right and for the average person, I think it's hard to imagine how hard it is just to get to the final."
"Half the teams in the American League just field a team for prospects or whatever," said Moose centre Mark Cullen. "It's really encouraging and fun to be around an organization that wants to win so bad and will do what it takes."
Moose defenceman Nolan Baumgartner talked about the heartache but also sees the prospect of taking another run at a title next season.
"It was gut-wrenching. I wanted to throw up. I felt sick," said Baumgartner. "It still bothers me and it will be bugging everybody for a good month. It's hard to describe. But that's what sports is and that's why it makes you hungry to come back next year, train harder this summer and be that much better."
"I don't think the No. 1 goal for the ownership group is to just have a hockey team and make money," added Moose captain Mike Keane. "They want to go out and they want a championship. That's a great way to think and they aren't going to stop and be happy with what we did this year. They're going to go out and make sure we get back here."
A commitment to winning is nothing new for the Moose, who always strive to ice a team that is competitive.
Shortly after Game 6, Moose governor Mark Chipman addressed the team and talked about doing whatever it takes to get back to the final in 2009-10.
"It confirmed that we're going in the right direction here," Chipman told the Sun on Sunday. "We've been trying to do this every year. It is rewarding in many respects and you take some consolation in a lot of things that occurred but there's a real empty feeling right now. It's not even remotely satisfying. On the one hand, it's gratifying to get as far as we did, but it stings real bad to get as far as we did and not be able to bring a championship to this city.
"You feel like you let people down by not getting it done. It was fun, it was great but we didn't get it done. All that does is strengthen our resolve to get at it right away and build a plan for next year. Hopefully, we can build on what we did this year and close it out next year. I don't think we can be any clearer on what our intention is. This is what we're about. We do a lot of things well, in terms of our responsibility to the community, but at the end of the day, we're trying to win a championship. First and foremost."
