NEENAH -  After a rough six-game stretch that saw the Stars struggle to find consistency, Fox Cities looked to build off their 4-3 win in the regular season finale as tournament play was set to begin.

First item on the list was the Badgerland Conference tournament as the Stars kicked off the opening round game at home. After earning the No. 4 seed in the tournament, Fox Cities was granted a home game in the opening round where they welcomed No. 5 seed Appleton United.

After winning their previous meeting between the two teams 6-2, the Stars had every reason to be confident coming in. However, it was United who had upset on their mind only to see a strong third period from Fox Cities be their undoing as the Stars opened the conference tournament with a convincing 5-1 win.

“We were in a situation where we needed to be mentally tough,” Head Coach Chris Van Zeeland said on the win. “We were not able to remain tough the entire game. Fortunately, we recovered nicely to regain that confidence down the stretch to lift us to the victory.”

Fox Cities couldn’t have asked for a better start as they dictated the tempo early. With the opening couple of minutes passing by it was the Stars keeping the puck on the United side of the Ice. That hard work paid off as Jeremiah DeValk played the puck toward the center of the goal. Sophomore Ben Coons was there to follow it up put the Stars in front quickly 1-0. Fox Cities was not done as less than 20 seconds later it was another scrum in the front of goal. After Andrew Ohland played the puck toward goal, Trent Christoffel was there for the tap in to double the lead 2-0.

That score would hold up until the second period as Max Gutjahr and the Stars defense was on point early. Despite controlling the majority of the first period, Fox Cities failed to capitalize on a couple of their chances keeping United in the game. With five minutes gone past in the second period, Appleton United finally had their chance to crawl back into things. After Gutjahr made a couple of nice stops, he couldn’t make a third when Erik Horman found the net cutting things to 2-1. That score helps up as the final period of play was set to begin.

With United completely dictating the play in the second period, the Stars were looking to pick things up in the final period of play. They did just that as they began firing shots from all over the ice. Unfortunately, Gage Olson was strong as he kept things tight at 2-1.  Fox Cities finally saw their effort bring a reward as an even strength goal from Ben Bishop made things a 3-1 game with 10 minutes remaining.

The Stars, continued to dictate the tempo in the final period of play as they held a two-goal lead with five minutes to go. That is when a late period surge gave the Stars some separation. With the 12-minute mark now gone by, Fox Cities was granted a power play opportunity. It was Zach Bishop once again finding space in front of the net for his second of the game and 4-1 lead. Exactly a minute later is was Coons forcing a turnover on the United side of the ice as he finished it home unassisted for his second of the game to lift Fox Cities to the 5-1 win.