Hockey Calgary says it had no choice but to take an unconventional way to end a tournament hockey game on the weekend but WinSport, the organization that owns the rink, said it was never asked for more time to play.

The issue began on Saturday, when the Calgary Royals were playing against the Calgary Buffalo Wranglers in a quarter-final game.

The AA Bantam tournament match went to a shootout and, after that, no clear winner emerged.

Referees ended up summoning both coaches to centre ice where they told them that the long-running game would be decided by a coin toss.

Hockey Calgary says the decision was made because the time on the rink had elapsed and WinSport wouldn’t allow the teams to play until the match had a clear result.

The coin was tossed and the Royals lost to the Wranglers after that team called ‘heads’ and the coin landed on ‘tails’.

Royals coach Jarvis Bender said he was told in advance about the possibility of the match being determined at the toss of a coin, but players and spectators were left in the dark.

“No one wants to see season end that way,” he said on Monday. “We started in September, and we kind of built up to this weekend all season. It’s a real tough way to end the year, not based on what the players have done, but what the coin reads.”

He said that 10 minutes of overtime play is usually permitted before a shootout begins, but that didn’t happen in Saturday’s game, possibly due to a scheduling conflict.

There was no time to appeal the decision since the Wranglers went on to compete in the next round of the playoffs on Sunday.

WinSport, in a statement released on Monday evening, said that it was never asked by Hockey Calgary for extra time.

"At no point was WinSport requested to extend the time for the Royals/Wranglers game. We share the same disappointment that a team's season was determined by a coin toss, however, WinSport has no responsibility or authority for establishing or enforcing the rules and format of these games.”

Hockey Calgary still says that those are the rules that are in place, but it is the first time a game has ever been decided this way.

It will be working with associations to try and avoid this sort of issue in the future, but Hockey Calgary says it all stems from a major ice shortage in the city.

The organization says it is a regular struggle to accommodate its 14,000 members.