(By Jillian Austin, The Brandon Sun) -- Breathing a collective sigh of relief, organizers and volunteers of the MasterCard Memorial Cup can now look back on what was an exciting time in Brandon's history.

For 11 days, Brandon was in the national spotlight, and the organizers are praising the community for making the junior hockey championship such a success.

"We're ecstatic. We set a really high bar for ourselves and I think we got over it," said Jeff Cristall, chair of the host committee.

"We had a great group of volunteers, supporters, fans and sponsors. It's worked as well as we ever could have hoped."

Cristall described the 11-day tournament as a "whirlwind."

"I can't believe we're done," he said yesterday.

Every seat was filled at all eight games at Westman Place. Thousands took in the free Molson Hockey House and the Memorial Cup Village at the Keystone Centre.

"Our goal was to make it the best Memorial Cup experience ever, and happily, we heard lots of people say that it was. We're thrilled and I think we did what we set out to do," event manager Lois MacDonald said.

The host committee is not finished yet. They still have to sit down and figure out the final numbers.

"We're pretty close to our budgets," Cristall said. "The financials are pretty close to where we expected."

By Monday afternoon, the teardown at the Keystone Centre was just about complete.

"I just love Brandon and I always have," MacDonald said. "I think everyone -- the citizens and the fans -- just showed what a great city we really are."

The event has left Brandon with more than $10 million in upgrades to the Keystone Centre, and a lot of community pride.

"I think this community needs to have a big come-together, volunteer-style event periodically," Cristall said. "This filled that void for now."

Cristall said he hopes this experience just builds the city's confidence to bid on another premier event and "take our turn in the spotlight again."

Volunteer appreciation night happens Wednesday night at Houstons from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

"I just want to thank all of the volunteers. What an amazing group of people," Cristall said. "I made a lot of new friends ... I'm phenomenally impressed with the spirit and integrity of the people here ... We pulled off something really spectacular."