MUSKIESJJDICKIE get the hop off the draw over Winterhawks Jason Hutchinson during game seven action of the WOAA Senior Men's Northern Division championship final in Port Elgin on Tuesday night. Photo/MIKE MALONEY For 78 minutes and 58 seconds on Tuesday night, they had the chance to be giant killers - the Shelburne Muskies, a bunch of gritty come-frombehind underdogs who refused to roll over and play dead.

They were a team that even down three games to none to the number one team in the league, rebounded to win three straight and force a seventh and deciding game in their best of seven WOAA Northern Division championship.

But time ran out for the Muskies after 18:58 of the first overtime period when the Winterhawks cashed in their lone powerplay opportunity of the overtime to defeat the Muskies by a score of 3-2 and take the series four games to three

The rebound had started the weekend in before in Shelburne where the Muskies had handed Saugeen a humiliating 6-0 defeat, setting the stage for game five in Port Elgin on Friday.

Tied 2-2 at the end of the second on goals from Warren Sly and Matt Lougheed the Fish looked to have knocked the wind out of the Saugeen sails when Derek Smith popped a pair to make it 4-2 with 12:02 left on the clock. Spurred on by the capacity crowd of over 1,200, the Winterhawks took full advantage of a pair of Muskie penalties for two powerplay markers to even the score at 4-4.

Digging deep, Shelburne again stepped up their attack and were rewarded when Kevin Tuckey slapped home a beauty with 6:52 remaining to play then hung on to hand the Winterhawks their first loss at home this season by a final score of 5-4.

Playing back in Shelburne on Sunday afternoon, Saugeen again had a chance to finish things off.

Up 2-0 late in the second, Lougheed finally cracked the seal on the net of Winterhawks goalie Nick Goetz to finally put Shelburne on the scoreboard heading into the third.

From there on it was all Shelburne as the Fish cranked up the Muskie machine.

With Rob Senay again riding the hot hand in goal for Shelburne, Chris Greer, Zac Duerden and Brad Horan all got in on the scoring action with Lougheed picking up his second goal of the night to make it 5-2 and set up a winner-take-all game seven.

And it was those same Muskies that made the trek west through sleet and blowing snow to Port Elgin on Tuesday night to settle the score one last time.

Horan seemed to have the hot stick early for Shelburne, tagging powerplay markers in the first and second to give them a 2-0 lead early in the second.

Down but not out, Bill Monkman kept the 'Hawks from melting down between periods, scoring a powerplay marker with 2:15 remaining in the second.

The overtime stage would be set when, with 6:03 left in regulation time, Curtis Johnston scored a wrap-around goal to tie the score at 2-2.

Even starting overtime shorthanded, Shelburne pressed the attack time and time again, out shooting the Winterhawks 17-6 in OT but just couldn't catch a break.

Then with 1:28 left on the clock, Bill Boyes drew a questionable hooking penalty which gave Saugeen the best opportunity of the night, one they were quick to capitalize on as Ryan Dugeon blasted a slapshot through traffic from the blueline to score the game winner 26 seconds later.

For all the Muskies, it was a tough way to end a great season but for Shelburne coach Joe Bakes, the loss was particularly hard. "It hurts, It truly does hurt being so close. To have the game end on a powerplay really hits home." Bakes has been nothing but an ardent supporter of the effort his team has put forth throughout the season and even through the emotion he had nothing but praise. "I am really proud of my guys, they never quit. They could have quit a long time ago, down in the series 3-0 and they prevailed. A lot of character, a lot of heart, a lot of soul in that room and it was there from day one."

Speaking on behalf of the players, captain Sean Connor was almost at a loss for words. "We played our hearts out and to loose like that on the penalty kill leaves you just speechless" he said adding " its not so bad losing on a decent goal but something like that just takes the life right out of you." Looking forward though Connor knows this is one of those character builders that helps make a great team in the future, " We have a lot of young guys on the team, you just have to learn from it and move on".