There will be no local hockey clubs playing for provincial championships this season.
All three of Bashaw Star’s teams competing for the right to represent Zone 7 didn’t make it past the opening round of the playdowns that began back at the end of January.
The bantam Stars had the best opportunity, but narrowly missed out moving onto the second round of provincial play.
The club managed to earn a 6-5 win on home ice Jan. 30 against Hughenden, but lost the return match on Feb. 6 by a score of 4-2 thereby losing the two-game total goal series by a single goal.
“It was heartbreaking. It always hurts to lose a game when you are going into the third period with the lead,” said coach Roy Carlson about the Feb. 6 game. “Overall, it was a fast-paced game and the kids battled hard for most of it.”
Carlson added the team’s short bench is probably costing them, especially late in games, more victories than the club would like to see.
As for the rest of the Bashaw clubs, the peewee Stars were also bounced early from provincials to the much stronger New Sarepta club. The Stars fell 9-3 at home on Jan. 25 and then lost 12-4 on the road four nights later.
Meanwhile, the atom Stars became the first local club to exit the playdowns as they fell 7-0 on Jan. 22 in Viking, followed by a 6-2 loss on home ice on Jan. 24.
League play
With less than two weeks left in the season, Bashaw clubs for the most part are in a good position for the looming Northern Alberta Interlock/1660 league playoffs.
The atom Stars, with a record of 11-1-1 in the tier 5A south division of the eastern conference, is the best record out of all 20 teams in the tier and the only team with double digits in victories. The team played one game on the weekend (result unavailable at press time) and will finish off the regular season with a home date versus Ponoka Feb. 24 (12:30 p.m.) and in Bruderheim on Feb. 25.
The bantams have three games left and are presently in fifth in the eight-team tier three division with a record of 4-8-2, pending the results being posted of the club’s three games last weekend (results were unavailable at press time). The team will face off at home Feb. 16 (7 p.m.) versus Sturgeon and Feb. 17 (5 p.m.) against Smoky Lake before closing games out in Ponoka on Feb. 24.
For the peewees, they sit in fourth in the tier four south division at 4-7-1 with also three games left after playing a pair of games on the weekend (results unavailable at press time). The club will be home to Battle River Feb. 17 (2:45 p.m.) followed by games on Feb. 24 (home to New Sarepta) and Feb. 25 in Riviere Qui Barre.