The Kamloops Blazers fought until the very end, but it wasn’t quite enough to book a ticket to the WHL Championship Series.

The Seattle Thunderbirds knocked off Kamloops 3-2 at Sandman Centre Tuesday night to end Kamloops' season in front of 5,500 fans.

It was an ideal start for the home team, as Fraser Minten got Kamloops on the board first with his sixth of the playoffs just 8:34 into the game.

But Jared Davidson would strike on the powerplay seven minutes later and tie the game back up at one heading into the first intermission.

In the middle frame, Davidson gave Seattle its first lead of the game with his second of the game just over two minutes into the period.

Later on in the second, Henrik Rybinski doubled the Thunderbirds lead and put the Blazers in a tough spot heading into the final 20.

The score stayed 3-1 until the dying moments of the game when Dylan Garand vacated his net to give Kamloops an extra attacker.

Dylan Kuefler did manage to beat Thomas Milic in the Seattle net, but there were only 6.3 seconds to go, but it was simply too little, too late.

Once again it was the Thunderbirds’ top players who made the difference Tuesday night, as Lukas Svejkovsky had three assists and Rybinski had two points to go with Davidson’s multi-goal game.

Seattle moves on to face the high-powered Edmonton Oil Kings in the WHL Championship Series, while Kamloops will regroup and look forward to next season.

After winning the bid to host the 2023 Memorial Cup, the Blazers are guaranteed a spot in the tournament and that means another exciting season ahead for Kamloops fans.