The Mission Stars bantam A1 hockey team emerged victorious at a tournament in Salmon Arm last week.
The team dominated the competition from Prince George, Ridge Meadows and Quesnel in round robin play, and kept their winning streak alive against Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy in the semifinals before defeating Terrace 6-2 in the gold medal game.
Dozens of WHL scouts attended the tournament, and certainly liked what they saw from the Stars’ offensive stars Nate Castonguay, Bronson Sharp, Jake Toor, Bailey Dhaliwal, Kurtis Bowerman, Michael Sande and Gage Goncalves who combined for 33 goals.
The effort of the hard-checking line of Kyle Klenk, Dayton Spink and Conner Jollymore kept the team in pursuit of a gold medal, and the team rose to the occasion after losing forward Brenden Bell to a knee injury. Amazing goaltending from Chad Cromar and Jackson Pekeski combined with strong defensive play from Dhaliwal, Sean Sidhu, Riley Lambert, Michael Nemeth and Owen Gossen completed the team effort.
The Stars resume league play this week and look forward to a successful season before hosting the Bantam A Tier 2 provincial championships in March.
Anyone interested in volunteering or being a sponsor for the provincial championships can contact Mission Minor Hockey.