The Broncos got a hat trick from Tristen Elder Thursday night but it wasn't enough as they were edged 4-3 by Nipawin.

The Hawks swept their quarter final series in four straight games which was a hard pill to swallow for Assistant Coach Brayden Klimosko and the veterans of their group.

"It's tough in there at this time of year for sure. You've just got to thank those 20 year-olds that have really turned the year around from last year to this year. They did so much for us, it's tough for sure, it wasn't easy in there seeing guys that have grinded it out for quite a few years."

Their season was quite the turnaround however, they improved from 11th overall in Darcy Haugan's first season to fifth this year.

Klimosko added they were fed some tough lessons by a veteran Hawks club.

"There is times we were good in spurts, for ten minutes here and then ten minutes there and we just lost our heads in some critical moments. Penalties, whatever else but that's the learning par that Darcy and I can't teach everyday."

Eric Bolden, Daven Smith, Tanner Thompson and Keegan Kjaargard scored for Nipawin.

Garrett Mason made 42 stops in the loss. Kristian Stead was remarkable in the series, the SJHL MVP allowed just six goals on 127 shots including 29/32 in the clinching win.

In the final game, the Hawks were 1/10 on the power-play, Humboldt 1/6. Overall in the series, Nipawin was 4/29, the Broncos 4/18.

Nipawin is back in the league semi-finals for the third straight season, the prior two years they fell to Melfort, this time around it's Flin Flon. In the other semi-final Estevan will meet the Battlefords Stars. The Bruins beat Yorkton 5-3 in game five Friday night. Flin Flon edged Notre Dame to move on, also Friday.

You can hear Klimosko's final post-game interview of the year below.