Stars fall at tourney

Chemistry is a huge part of a successful hockey team.
And the Fort Frances Stars are the latest in a long line of squads to discover that overall team talent does not necessarily translate into wins.
The Stars, an affiliate team made up of some of the best players in the local Bantam house league, went winless at the Taggs Source for Sports Bantam ‘AA’ hockey tournament over the weekend at the Memorial Sports Centre.
Afterwards, head coach Milt Strachan conceded the lack of chemistry between his players was too much of an obstacle to overcome.
“It’s tough to throw a team together and compete at this level, but they did well,” he remarked.
“We ran into a little penalty trouble and we’ve got a lot of guys who aren’t used to playing with each other, but we’re happy with the way we played,” Strachan added.
The Stars went into the tournament having only practised together once as a team—a fact that was apparent on the ice as they looked disjointed at times in both the offensive and defensive zones.
“We only had one practice together so as far as putting lines together and forming any sort of strategy, you’re limited,” Strachan said.
“It was kind of mix-and-match all weekend,” he added. “We went with the soldiers we had and just hoped for the best.”
Not coincidentally, the one area in which the Stars enjoyed some success was between the pipes, where chemistry is a non-factor. Both Jamieson Shortreed and Devin Stromness shone fall weekend despite suffering some lopsided losses.
“Both goalies played very well,” Strachan said. “I don’t think they’re out of place at this level at all.”
Here’s a recap of the Stars’ action from the weekend:
< *c>Stars vs.
< *c>Westfort Maroons
The Stars fell behind 1-0 early in their ‘C’ division semi-final against the Westfort Maroons (Thunder Bay) on Saturday afternoon.
Goalie Jamieson Shortreed fumbled Danial Lauerson’s shot from the point, which allowed Taylor Santorelli a chance to poke in the rebound.
Matthew Kaarela drew the other assist.
The Maroons doubled their lead less than a minute later when Kayle Toombs circled behind the Stars’ net and hit teammate Austin Adduono with a pass.
Adduono—parked at the edge of Shortreed’s crease—made no mistake burying the one-timer to put the Maroons up 2-0.
Westfort then broke the game wide open with four goals in the second period.
Kevin Osborne made it 3-0 when he re-directed Kaarela’s point shot past a screened Shortreed.
Toombs was next to get in on the action, shovelling a loose puck into the yawning cage following a scramble in Shortreed’s crease.
Kylie Cornell and Zachery Borutski were credited with the assists.
Toombs scored his second of the game two-and-a-half minutes later, beating Shortreed with a wrist shot to the stick side following a face-off in the Stars’ end.
Michael Parry and Cornell assisted on the play.
The Maroons then capped the offensive onslaught with a spectacular goal from Parry. The speedy forward broke into the Stars’ zone, cut hard to the net, and wired a wrist shot into the top corner while being hooked from behind.
The third period was scoreless.
< *c>Stars vs.
< *c>Lake of
< *c>the Woods
Lake of the Woods (Baudette) scored four first-period goals en route to an easy 7-0 victory over the Stars in the opening round-robin game of the tournament.
Leading the charge for Baudette was Kyle Poolman, who netted a goal and two assists.
< *c>Stars vs.
< *c>Dryden Hornets
The Stars fell behind 3-0 through two periods of play against the Dryden Hornets in their second round-robin game.
Andrew Gobeil cut into the deficit, scoring on a pass from Chris Cousineau early in the third period, but it proved to be too little, too late as the Hornets skated to the 3-1 victory.
< *c>Stars vs.
< *c>North End Flames
The North End Flames (Thunder Bay) proved to be too hot for the Stars to handle in their round-robin finale as the visiting team scored early and often en route to the 7-0 victory.