Tournament season in Bashaw opened with the atom Stars taking a medal.
The Stars were the best of the rest in the event held at the Bashaw Arena Nov. 24 to 26 after everyone was outclassed by an academy team from Edmonton. Bashaw came away with the silver after losing to the St. Matthews Vipers in the final by a score of 12-1, with Rhett Sterner scoring the lone goal for the locals.
The weekend began with a tightly played game against Camrose on the Friday, with Bashaw coming out on top by a count of 4-3. Ty Heisler scored a pair with singles from Layton Pierson and Taylor Fankhanel to get the Stars the victory.
On the Saturday, Bashaw came out slow in their morning match against Canmore. The Stars held a slight one-goal advantage after the first 20 minutes, but poured it on for the next two periods to post a 13-2 win. Fankhanel lead the way with four goals. The rest of the scoring came via Heisler netting a hat trick, Pierson and Dominic Whynott each scoring twice while Ryland Masse and Sterner had the other markers.
That was followed later in the day by a 12-0 loss to St. Matthews.
Another close back and forth result helped close out the round robin for Bashaw on Sunday morning, edging a club from Red Deer 8-7. Pierson this time was the leading scoring, depositing four goals, while one each came off the sticks of Heisler, Fankhanel, Lincon Bjorge and Tanner Copland.
The Stars are back on the ice in tier 5A east division league play this coming weekend as they head to New Sarepta. The club will have a busy rest of the month, hosting New Sarepta Dec. 16, in Killam to face Battle River Dec. 17 and finally closes out the year in Vegreville Dec. 30.
Other action
The peewee Stars took to the ice in their home tournament on the weekend (story, results next week), but are doing well with the season finally underway last month. Bashaw sits second in the four-team tier 4 south division with a 3-1 record, falling Nov. 17 to top spot New Sarepta 17-2 then rebounding Nov. 18 to beat Millet 7-6.
Meanwhile, the bantam Stars will host teams this coming weekend at their tournament and hope to create some success following a challenging start to the season. The club, as of Nov. 30, had a record of 2-4 in tier 3 after falling 9-5 to Ponoka Nov. 18 then getting past Smoky Lake by a score of 5-4.
