It was so worth the trip.

The Steinbach Regional Secondary School's hockey team is back home after a junket to California.

The Sabres, who played in the Chicago Thanksgiving Classic Hockey Tournament in November of 2015, made it all the way to the finals of the 8th annual J Serra Thanksgiving Invitational in Anaheim.

"It was a great experience," said SRSS head coach Lawney Penner. "It's always a blast getting to know the boys away from the rink whether it's going to an amusement park or a Jets game. Just hanging out with the guys for a week was a blast."

It was a hectic schedule for the Sabres who played six hockey games last week but the coaching staff, players and parents still found plenty of time to take in a number of activities away from the rink.

"For every player and every coach it was probably something different," replied coach Penner when asked what the best memories of the trip were. "Some of the highlights were the actual hockey tournament and doing way better than expected. Going to Knott's Berry Farm, going to the Jets-Ducks game, going to the ocean and Huntington Beach would probably be three or four of the highlights."

And then there was a visit from former Winnipeg Jets forward Teemu Selanne who is one of the newest inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

"Probably meant more to the coaches than the players because he's more our generation," Penner said. "It was amazing. He's such a great guy, such a classy guy. We actually saw his son's team in the round robin and we played them again in the finals. Teemu spent a whole period talking with our parents and handed out gifts. He's such a classy guy."

The SRSS recorded three wins and a tie in the round robin.

Steinbach Regional defeated the Vincent Massey Vikings of Brandon 5-2; beat AHSHA (Arizona State Team) 4-1; played to a 4-4 tie with Santa Margarita Catholic High School and downed Orange Lutheran Varsity 6-2.

The Sabres edged the Vincent Massey Trojans of Winnipeg 4-3 in the semifinals and then dropped a 6-2 decision to Santa Margarita Catholic High School in the championship game.

"We beat some really good teams on the way to the finals, both in the round robin and Vincent Massey in the semifinals," said Penner. "In the finals we went up against a very strong team. We had one guy with a broken arm, one out with a bad knee, some guys had flu like symptoms, so we didn't have a whole lot in the tank but I was very proud of the boys. They battled right to the end and gave it their all. We lost to a very good team."

Ethan Plett and Tyler Bueckert did the goal scoring for the SRSS in the final.

Plett finished the tournament with 11 goals and four assists, Bueckert had five goals and six assists while Eric Adams had four goals and three helpers.