The Calgary Flames, like any NHL organization, relish the opportunity to evaluate their prospects in pressure-packed moments. Read More
After returning to help the Medicine Hat Tigers hoist the WHL’s championship trophy, Flames draftee Andrew Basha is off to the Memorial Cup
After returning to help the Medicine Hat Tigers hoist the WHL’s championship trophy, Flames draftee Andrew Basha is off to the Memorial Cup
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The Calgary Flames, like any NHL organization, relish the opportunity to evaluate their prospects in pressure-packed moments.
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However, in the case of Andrew Basha, who just won a Western Hockey League title with the Medicine Hat Tigers and is headed this week to the Memorial Cup, they might have learned more when it seemed like his next big game was months and months away.
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This speedy left winger had ankle surgery in January.
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Nobody expected that he’d suit up again this season.
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Nobody else, that is.
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“Basha, he said from the day he was going to get operated on that he was going to come back,” Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins told media in Medicine Hat during the WHL final. “I agreed with him, just so he wouldn’t keep talking. But I didn’t think there was any chance he’d be back. Like, none.
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“And he kept saying it and every day he went working. The Flames, I know how impressed they were with how hard he tried and what he did. It was pretty impressive that he was able to make it back.”
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It was equally impressive that, after a lengthy layoff, he made such an immediate impact.
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The 19-year-old Basha returned for Game 1 of the WHL final and promptly scored on his first shift. Two of Calgary’s development coaches, Martin Gelinas and Darren Rommerdahl, were in attendance at Co-op Place in ‘The Hat’ for that memorable marker.
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The Flames’ future speedster totalled two goals and three assists in five games as the Tigers rolled over the Spokane Chiefs. He was one of only three players to hit the scoresheet on every night of the championship series.
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As Basha, in an interview with the WHL, beamed after leaving his fingerprints on the Ed Chynoweth Cup: “That’s the stuff you dream of when you’re growing up, is lifting important trophies like that.”
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That’s what fuelled him, no doubt, as he recovered and then rehabbed after surgery. He made quite an impression on the staff at the Saddledome with his determination and drive during that process.
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There is optimism the Flames amateur scouts — helmed by Tod Button — absolutely aced their assignment at the 2024 NHL Draft. Led by first-round picks Zayne Parekh and Matvei Gridin, the first seven skaters they selected all averaged upwards of a point per game this season in either the major-junior or collegiate ranks.