AUBURN — The Twin City Thunder’s season came to an end Sunday with a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss to the Northern Cyclones.

The Thunder (26-22-2) finished with 54 points, tied with the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs (24-20-6) for eighth place in the USPHL’s National Collegiate Development Conference standings.

The Monarchs held the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Thunder — New Hampshire won four of the teams’ five meetings in the regular season — and therefore secured the eighth and final playoff spot.

Despite the disappointment of missing the playoffs, the Thunder feel that they left their mark as an expansion franchise in the United States Premier Hockey League’s Tier II junior hockey league.

“For the team, we kind of put them on the map, it’s the first year in the league,” Twin City Thunder captain Andrew Kurapov said. “No one quite knew what to expect going in, and even though we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, we showed we battled and showed we worked hard.”

Thunder coach Doug Friedman said the players worked hard to improve and grow together.

“We had a real good season,” Friedman said. “I am really pleased at the end of the day how the team performed and came together, and each individual player improved from the start of the year to now — on how they bought into the team concept and how they supported each other and how much fun we had.”

Twin City co-owner and general manager Ben Gray said that for being an expansion team and only having three or four players from last year’s Tier III Premier League team on this year’s Tier II team, the Thunder put together an impressive season.

“To build the roster from the ground up and have that kind of success, that’s the staff and the players doing a great job getting that far,” Gray said. “We might be the only team to take down the (first-place) Jersey Hitmen twice, that speaks volumes as well.

“Once again, we would like to be in the postseason, we finished 26-22-2, we had a good record, we had a solid power play and penalty kill percentage. There’s a lot of positives to take from year one to build for next season, but we can’t be satisfied finishing the way we did. We got to continue to improve, the goal is always to build the team to win the league, but at the same time it is to get guys to the next level.”

The Thunder beat 11 of the 12 teams on their schedule. The only team they didn’t defeat was the second-place Boston Jr. Bruins.

“I think we grew a lot from where started this season on a hot streak,” Thunder assistant captain and Lewiston native Jeromey Rancourt said. “I think the bond and being a new team to the league, I think we took a lot of teams by surprise. We turned a lot of heads. We started a team here where kids will end up playing and you know the exposure is just going to grow.

“This community is one of the best for hockey. The community loves hockey. It’s just a fun place to play. But the expectation was to make the playoffs and we fell short of that. We didn’t make it, (but) not because we didn’t try.”

Kurapov finished the season as team’s the leader in points, with 61 on 22 goals and 39 assists. He ranked fourth in the league in scoring.

Despite the offensive production, the 20-year-old is still looking for a place to play at the college level next season.

“I am still deciding on a college, with me being in my last year of juniors,” Kurapov said. “I haven’t decided yet, hopefully soon.”

Gray said others on the team should be making their commitments soon. Some players are finishing their college visits and getting paperwork squared away.

Rancourt, another player aging out, recently made a commitment to Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire. The Panthers won the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship to earn a birth into the NCAA Division III tournament this season.

Meanwhile, the Thunder have started building towards the 2020-21 season. They already announced their first tender, Matus Hadusovsky, in late January. They will hold their ID camp April 30-May 3 at Norway Savings Bank Arena, and the USPHL Spring Showcase is May 3-8 in Marlboro, Massachusetts.

The Thunder brass will be attending some USA Hockey national midget hockey tournaments in early April.

“Our staff will be out recruiting,” Gray said. “Our guys will be out at the Tier I 16U and 18U nationals (in Rochester, Michigan). They will be at the Tier II 16U (in Troy, Michigan) and 18U (in Irving, California) nationals. It’s never-ending.’

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