Kingsford’s Nick Murvich, center, battles for a rebound between Marquette goaltender Dylan Sibilsky, left, and Redmen skater Tanner Phillips in an MHSAA Division 2 pre-regional game Tuesday in Iron Mountain. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Adam Niemi)

“The hard part is, tomorrow after school, they’re not going to go to the rink.” — Doug Garrow, head coach, Marquette hockey

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IRON MOUNTAIN — Even after all the euphoria of a dramatic overtime playoff win, Kingsford head coach Dennis Murvich fought back tears at his locker after addressing his team.

It’s been that kind of season for the Flivvers.

“It’s been an emotional year. We felt from Christmas on that we’ve had two souls watching over us,” Murvich said, wiping his eyes. “Gave us a heart attack tonight — good stuff.”

The souls he referred to are the two Kingsford High School students killed in a Dec. 30 auto accident, Taylor Bosley and Jolene Treml. Bosley was dating Murvich’s son Nick at the time of the accident. Bosley and Treml were on their way to see Kingsford play against Sault Ste. Marie when the accident occurred.

In Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime win against Marquette in an MHSAA Division 2 preregional, the toll of the tragedy and battling through the ups and downs since then had come to a head.

Down 3-2 late in regulation, Kingsford tied the score and after more than six minutes of the initial eight-minute overtime period, the Flivvers scored the winning goal.

Kingsford (17-7-1) got to OT with a goal by defenseman Sawyer Perpich with 1:14 left in the third. Pete Ropiak found Perpich in open ice at the top of the circle before Perpich skated in and sniped a shot over the shoulder of Marquette goaltender Dylan Sibilsky.

Daunte Fortner’s goal with 1:54 remaining in OT gave the Flivvers their third win against Marquette this season.

Ropiak’s forechecking created a loose puck that Nick Murvich jumped on and immediately found Fortner speeding along the left wing at the top of the circle. Fortner took the pass and kept his stick at the ready until Sibilsky dropped down. When he did, Fortner snapped a shot that beat Sibilsky glove-side, sending the Kingsford bench into a frenzied on-ice celebration.

The Flivvers play at Escanaba on Thursday in the preregional final.

The finality of elimination for the Marquette icers will set in quickly with his players, as it does ever year, head coach Doug Garrow said.

“The hard part is, tomorrow after school, they’re not going to go to the rink,” Garrow said. “That’s going to be the hard part because they’ve been doing it for four months. It’s hard on the coaching staff because you’re used to coming to the rink and now there’s a void there.”

Garrow said the three losses this season against Kingsford all fall under one of the team’s main problems this season — a struggle winning close games.

“Kingsford beat us three times this year, all by one goal,” Garrow said. “That was our Achilles heel all year is we had a hard time really all year long winning one-goal hockey games. That’s the difference in a season. You have to win those games.”

Marquette struck first in the opening period with a power-play goal by Hunter Doucette. Kingsford answered with a pair of goals in a high-intensity first period.

The Redmen struck with unanswered goals by Gaetanno Cammarata and Tanner Phillips in the second period to take a 3-2 lead after two periods.

“I honestly don’t believe we’ve beaten Marquette three times in 20 years. Ever. I think we’re like 3-60 against them all time,” Murvich said.

Ten minutes after the game’s end, Garrow weaved through four of his emotional players in the corridor outside the locker room. They were among 10 Redmen seniors whose hockey careers came to an abrupt end.

“That last goal — we tried to make a play and sometimes when you make a play it doesn’t happen for you,” Garrow said. “They intercepted a pass and it was a good effort on their part and when Daunte has it in the slot like that, he’s pretty dangerous. Good on them.”

Murvich said Fortner was Kingsford’s best player in overtime.

“He’s our best scorer. You’ve got to get the puck in that guy’s hands in overtime,” Coach Murvich said.

“He waited the goalie out. He went down, he waited, picked his spot and buried it. Great play all around.”

Marquette had the Flivvers on the ropes, still holding the 3-2 lead and on a power play with about five minutes remaining in regulation.

After the Redmen had scored the first goal in the opening period on a power play, Garrow took a timeout during that late third-period man-advantage to give his top power-play line some time to rest and remain on the ice.

“We had a power play and there was 1:29 left (in it) and I wanted to keep them out there. If we could get a goal there and go up 4-2, I thought we had a pretty good chance of winning the game,” the Marquette coach said. “In reality when you look at it, we kept the puck in their end for the whole two-minute power-play. We had a lot of chances.

“Their goalie came up with some nice saves. We did all we could do. It’s not like our power play didn’t work for us.

“It is what it is. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some. Unfortunately there’s only three teams in the state that get to win their last game of the year. Hopefully Kingsford’s one of them. It’d be nice to see them represent the (Upper Peninsula) and bring a title back to the U.P.”

Sibilsky stopped 28 shots for Marquette in his final game, while Evan Hedtke had 24 saves for Kingsford.