With the obvious exception of the eventual champion, no team really ends the season on an up note.

But this one stung quite a bit for the Park Wolfpack. Favored and fourth-seeded Park dropped a surprising 4-0 decision to visiting and fifth-seeded Three Rivers Thursday night in the Section 3AA boys' hockey quarterfinals to end the 2024-25 season.

This was the same Three Rivers team that Park dominated on Feb. 11 in an 8-4 victory.

But the Warriors completely turned that around at Cottage Grove Ice Arena and skated into the section semifinals. After a scoreless first period, Two Rivers took at 2-0 lead in the second. That’s where the game stood until the final minutes when the Warriors pushed across a pair of empty net goals.

“You put so much into every season and you work so hard and we know there’s never a promise as to what’s going to happen in the end and you end up in the playoffs and everybody is prepared and everybody is working hard and you’ve got to be ready to go and our guys gave it all they could just came across a good goalie and a good team and they played incredibly well,” said Park head coach Jeff Corkish. “I give them all the credit in the world, they shut us down and didn’t give us many opportunities when we did get our 25, 26 shots. They weren’t incredible shots; we had some chances and we just didn’t bury them and that’s just the way hockey game goes.

“Sometimes when you give up the first goal, it gives the other team a heck of a lot of momentum,” Corkish added. “The other thing is, they were so motivated when they came in today. They came out flying, looking to bang and crash and they were taking time and space away, they were working hard on the back check but they took everything away from us. There wasn’t any time to make plays. And we’re not an incredibly skilled team overall so when you play a team that works that hard and takes away all your time and space, it’s tough to create opportunities. Our guys tried; they had all the will in the world. They should be proud of themselves. They just came across a situation where the bounces didn’t go your way.”

Park trailed 2-0 with five minutes to play and the game was still within reach. But Two Rivers scored an empty net goal with 2:47 to play then added insult to injury with another empty net score with 1:23 remaining.

Park ends the season with a 14-11-1 record. Two Rivers skates on at 19-5-2 but will have a very tough draw in the next round. Two Rivers will meet top-seeded and fifth-ranked St. Thomas Academy March 2 at Braemar Arena in the semifinals. St. Thomas Academy (21-5) whacked Eagan 6-0 Thursday to advance. On the other side of the bracket, second-seeded and No. 7 Cretin-Derham Hall skated past Apple Valley/Burnsville 7-2 and third-seeded Rosemount took out Eastview 6-3.

Park finished 7-8-1 in the Suburban East Conference, in fifth place. Park’s two seasons under head coach Jeff Corkish have been remarkable similar in 15-11 and 14-11-1.

The Wolfpack outshot the Warriors by two Thursday, 26-24, but quality shots were few and far between Thursday for the hosts.

It was a hard loss for Park’s nine seniors to swallow in particular. Moving on for the Wolfpack will be leading scorer Owen Corkish (27 goals, 35 assists), forwards Max Kaplan (12 goals, 26 assists), Michael DeStasio (2 goals, 10 assists), Gavin Moss (19 goals, 26 assists), Drew Schumacher (9 goals, 14 assists), Garrett Rich, defenders Caden Schwartz (8 goals, 24 assists), Eli Daly and goalie Aidan Miller (6-6, 302 saves in 347 shots on goal, an .870 save rate).

“They worked very hard, and they worked very hard for a lot of years,” Corkish said of Park’s seniors. “I’ve had the opportunity to be with these guys since they were four years old. So, it's not easy to watch them cry and upset because it's over but those tears come because you love the game. Those tears come because they’re going to miss their buddies, doing this with them. It all comes to an end for people and everybody. Not many people get to end it the way they want to.”