As the Landon players celebrated winning the Mid-Atlantic Prep Hockey League championship at one end of the rink, Calvert Hall seniors Ryan Dieter and Jack Finn showed the signs of pain at the other end as they stared at the ice.
It was hard to believe the Cardinals had lost for the third straight season in the MAPHL championship game.
And this one was the most difficult.
Landon won in overtime, 3-2, after Calvert Hall had rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period at the Gardens Ice House in Laurel as Ivan Yuryev and Dieter scored.
"We put forth a championship effort," Calvert Hall coach Ryan Woodward said. "I have coached high school hockey for a long time and the toughest team to beat is one with a lot of seniors. They don't want to see it end. They gritted it out."
Calvert Hall (14-6-4) played well in the 10-minute overtime and put five shots on goalie Jack Concannon.
Yet the key one came from Landon senior forward Tommy Crittenberger.
After getting a pass from Alex Norwinski, he beat senior goalie Mike Finn (38 saves) to the upper right corner from about 15 feet in the left faceoff circle with 1:27 remaining.
His second goal of the game sparked a wild celebration.
"They had the momentum," Landon coach Hans Farnstrom said of Calvert Hall. "But we told our kids, 'Don't panic. Play our game. Get the puck deep and good things will happen.' We worked our cycle pretty well, and Tommy had that open half net."
It didn't look as if the Bears, who outshot Calvert Hall, 40-26, would need overtime.
Landon (21-5-2) led, 2-0, in the middle of the second period.
Then the Cardinals rallied.
Yuryev, a speedy senior forward who had a hat trick in his team's 4-3 loss to Archbishop Spalding in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship Feb. 13, skated around defenseman Trevor Wolf and deked Concannon for an easy goal with 6:37 remaining.
With 1:23 remaining, Dieter, a forward, scored on a breakaway. Mitchell Bozhko was credited with the assist.
The Bears, however, would be the team that would celebrate last.
"It's a tough feeling for a lot of the seniors to have their careers end," said Woodward, whose team beat two-time defending MAPHL champion Gonzaga, 4-1, in the semifinals. "As much as each one of those losses stings, they really love playing for Calvert Hall."