I love sport clich茅s. One game at a time. Love it. Putting on a clinic. Love it. The best offence is a good defence. Love it.
But this past weekend in Mayerthorpe this last one came true for the Jasper PeeWee Bears in two very exciting games against the hometown Mustangs. Jasper’s defence was responsible for six of eight goals scored for the boys from Jasper, played some shutdown hockey and gave 110 per cent.
The Bears gripped their sticks pretty tight as game one began on Saturday. Mayerthorpe is their toughest competition in the league, and at home their vocal supporters really ramp up the energy in the building. Although Jasper got an early break with a Mustangs penalty just five minutes in, Mayerthorpe had more chances than the Bears and netminder Severin Golla had to come up big, robbing the Mustangs of a sure goal.
But on the power play themselves a few minutes later, the Mustangs solved Golla and took a one goal lead. As has been their habit of late, the Bears came roaring back two minutes later as Noah Kwasny buried a short-handed marker, silencing the Mayerthorpe fans. The Mustangs took the lead back again with eight minutes to play in the first as a bouncer from the slot eluded Golla, but with eight seconds to go in the frame, defenceman Brenden Auger wristed in the tying goal. 2–2 after one.
Early in the second, Jasper took the lead for the first time on the day as centre Cooper Hilworth fed Kwasny for his second on the day. Not much else happened to fill the scoresheet in the second, but the Jasper defense, including Tegan Barker and Magnus Stenlund, were standouts while forwards Hunter Zenner and Adrian Nayak were effective grinding along the boards. With a one goal lead going into the third, the Bears simply had to play a solid road-game.
Keeping it simple, the Bears kept the Mustangs to the outside and their noses clean. With five minutes to go in the frame, Auger put the biscuit in the basket for his second of the game, and that’s how it would end.
Four goals for Jasper for the victory, and all four from blue-liners.
On Sunday, the tables were turned with the Bears looking more confident than the hometown ‘stangs. Defender Barker got Jasper on the board first with a high wrister from the left face-off circle four minutes in.
Elvis Gorontzy-Slack had a chance to put Jasper up by two on a penalty shot after being hauled down on a break-away, but the Mustangs net-minder read his move like a book. With four minutes left in the first, Mayerthorpe finally got on the board as one of their big forwards walked in from the blueline and put one high past Golla. The first period ended, tied 1–1.
The second period was all Mayerthorpe as the usual malaise that sets in on day two of a road trip gripped the Bears. By the time both teams headed to the dressing-room for the second intermission, the Mustangs lead 5–1.
Down by four going into the third in a hostile building, who would have blamed the Bears if they would have folded the tent and mailed in the last period? It had that feel early on, but then Drew Tank was the hero for Jasper, making no mistake with the Mustang goalie out of position, lifting one high from the slot.
Then it was Auger’s turn again, knocking in a loose puck out front and with seven minutes to play Hyunki Kim, just back from an injury, narrowed the Mustang lead to one by burying a behind-the-net pass from Hilworth. Netminder Kwasny kept the Bears in it during the dying minutes of play, stopping every chance the Mustangs mustered, including a breakaway, but the Bears could not find the equalizer. The game ended 5–4 Mayerthorpe, for Jasper’s first league loss of the season. A character loss; the boys can hold their heads high. They’ve clinched the league regular season with one game to spare. The Bears are in action again next Saturday in Hinton. One game at a time.
