The Eastman Selects were eliminated from the Manitoba "AAA" Midget Hockey League playoffs Tuesday night at MTS Iceplex.

Ben Coppinger scored 6:45 into the first period and Niklas Anderson stopped all 14 shots he faced as the defending champion Winnipeg Wild defeated Eastman 1-0 in the fifth and deciding game of their semifinal.

Selects goaltender Noah Morin made 29 saves in game five.

"We definitely struggled the first two periods, similar to last game," said Eastman head coach Dennis Senebald. "The Wild took it to us for sure. Our goalie really kept us in there. Noah played very well for us tonight. In the third period our guys woke up and I thought we really controlled the play. I think we outshot them pretty good in the third and just didn't get any breaks. We had a couple of bounces where the puck was lying behind the goalie and we just needed someone to smack it in. It was just one of those nights for us around the net. When you don't score a goal, you're going to be on the other end of it."

"Some people didn't even give us a chance at making playoffs this year and I'm really proud of the boys on their effort making it to the semi's," added Senebald. "Got past the Thrashers which is a really nice team to start it off and then to take the Wild to game five - I don't know when that's happened last that they went to game five."

The Selects season is far from over.

Eastman will host the Telus Cup Western Regional Championship from March 30th - April 2nd at the T.G. Smith Centre in Steinbach.

"We're going to take a week off," said Senebald. "We've got a lot of banged up hockey players. The boys have worked very hard the last few series here. We'll take a week off to let everybody mend up and then come back with some good practices and hopefully come out good in game one."

The Wild and Yellowhead Chiefs will meet in the Manitoba "AAA" Midget Hockey League final.

Game one goes Thursday at MTS Iceplex.