The Bruno Axemen just missed becoming national champions by the length of a horsehair, but they have more than earned an unofficial title as the Cardiac Kids of the Canadian broomball circuit.
The Axemen lost a 2-1 overtime heartbreaker to the Ottawa Nationals in the final game of the Canadian senior men's national broomball championships. The senior Nationals took place April 13-17 in Blainville, Que. Ten teams from across the country took part.
The gold medal final was Bruno's fourth overtime game in the tournament, and it was their one and only loss, giving them the A-side silver medal.
They finished the tournament with a perfect 5-0 record in round robin play, and a 6-1 record overall.
Unfortunately, that loss came in the biggest game of all. Ottawa scored on the power play to dash Bruno's hopes at a fourth national title. The Axemen won the gold medal in 2004, 2006 and 2007.
"You always hope you can win it all, but still, it was a really good tournament," Axemen coach Ray Bender said. "Our guys played really well."
The Axemen opened play April 13 with a 7-0 thrashing of New Brunswick's Les Etoiles de la Cote Est (The Stars of the East Coast), and followed that up with a 6-1 beating of the host Blainville Frost.
Then came a string of heartstopping overtime thrillers that easily made the Axemen the most exciting team to watch at the tournament.
First up was a 5-4 win over the Calgary Deez Nutz on April 14, in which Jeff Basset scored with 2:17 remaining to tie the game and force the extra frame. He then set up Shane Hoppe two and a half minutes into overtime for the Bruno victory.
Later that day, the Axemen found themselves in tough against the OC Sphinx, who tied Bruno at 3-3 with just over a minute to play in the game. Once again, it was Basset coming up big in overtime, scoring on a feed from Ryan Bender to give Bruno a thrilling 4-3 overtime win.
That streak continued the next day (April 15), when Jayce Muir scored with 2:53 remaining in OT to give the Axemen a hard fought 2-1 win over the same Ottawa Nationals team they would meet in the gold medal final - the same team that would finally end Bruno's overtime hot streak.
The Axemen advanced to the gold medal game with a 3-0 win over the Blainville Frost, while the Nationals earned their chance for a rematch with Bruno via a 4-2 win over Palmerston, Ont.
Bruno's Jeff Basset was named the tournament's most valuable player, scoring six goals and four assists for 10 points in seven games. Ryan Bender led all Axemen - and all tournament players - with 11 points, scoring five goals and adding six assists.
Coach Bender noted that either player could have taken the MVP nod. Each team voted on their own choice for MVP, with the final selection taken from there.
"It was a toss-up, really" (between Jeff and Ryan), Bender said. "Ryan led the tournament in scoring, but Jeff had two overtime goals, plus he set up another. So that was really big. He deserved to be recognized."
Both Basset and Bender were named first-team all-stars.
Other strong contributors to the Axemen cause were Grant Stahl and Lyle Weiman who had seven points each. Stahl scored six goals and Weiman five.
Blake Huber played all seven games in net for Bruno, posting two shutouts and a 1.57 goals against average.
Bender noted that the Axemen played very strong defence throughout the week, going mainly with a two-man forecheck and keeping their centres back in defensive support.
"We never gave up many hard shots," he said. "It was just a good team effort overall."
