Every hockey game has a hero.
Sometimes it’s the goaltender with that spectacular glove save. Sometimes it’s the kid who scores one goal in a 10–1 blowout. Sometimes it’s the player who scores the last second goal to tie or win.
This is the beauty of team sports. There is always a hero and it can be anyone on the team.
One thing is for sure, though, every kid that hits the ice wants to be that hero.
Last Saturday, the Jasper Bears welcomed the second place PeeWee team from Wabasca to the Jasper Arena for a thriller of a game with plenty of heroics.
The first heroes of this game were the goaltenders. Jasper took fewer than 20 shots on the game, but they were quality shots, many of which came on powerplays.
A strong passing team, the Bears moved the puck well for most of their man advantage opportunities, but a strong goaltending performance by the Wabasca netminder held Jasper to just one powerplay goal. This was Lucas Oeggerli’s one-timer that tied the game at two, 90 seconds before the end of the first period.
At the other end of the ice, Bears’ goaltender Kelan Polard faced 41 shots and was Jasper’s first hero. He was steady in net and came up with huge saves off of Wabasca’s heavy shooters in all three periods. He played a heck of a game, and showed that he can play under pressure.
The second group of heroes was Jasper’s defense. Starting with Aidan Deagle, who had a standout game, and including Jacob Bartziokas who broke up too many scoring opportunities to count; Justin McIsaac who was a rock at the offensive blueline and Josh Howes who was a buzz saw in the defensive zone, captaining Jasper’s breakout and stealing the puck from much bigger Wabasca opponents.
Jasper gave up five goals in 60 minutes of play, but without the heroics of the Bears’ back line, there could have been many more, given the scoring talent in the Wabasca lineup.
Jasper managed four goals in the contest, two off the stick of Matteo Tassoni, whose sweet hands guarantee points every game, the aforementioned one-timer from Oeggerli and a post-and-in beauty from winger Dana Angebrandt that capped Jasper’s scoring eight minutes into the third period.
While Angebrandt’s goal tied the game at four, Wabasca would score again with five minutes remaining. Jasper would press.
With 15 would-be heroes on the Bears bench, the last minute heroics were up for grabs, and the desire to be the hero was palpable. However, that particular honour would remain unfilled for the Bears and Wabasca’s fifth goal would stand as the game winner.
Although there were no last-minute heroics, Jasper’s kids played a gritty game against a tough, well matched opponent. Indeed, the 5–4 final score in favour of Wabasca will stand as a sidebar bit of statistical trivia to an otherwise memorable hockey game.
And, I have to give credit to Wabasca. They play an aggressive game and are the only team in the league to have beaten our Bears at all, let alone twice.
The Bears take a break now for the holidays, resuming play here in Jasper on Jan. 9th at 2 p.m. versus Athabasca.
See you in the stands.
Bingo winners!
Congratulations to Kate Dekker, Bella Kovacs and Anika Oeggerli, the winners of the Bears Blackout Bingo challenge that appeared in last week’s 51°µÍø. The trio shared the $50 prize. Thanks to all who participated.
John Wilmshurst
Special to the 51°µÍø
