In tournaments, it is customary to award a player who has shown particular tenacity during a game the Heart and Hustle medal.
Since players on both teams get this recognition, about half the time it is given to a player who has toiled in futility. But even if it seems as if there is no hope for victory, hard work can lead to success.
Last weekend the Jasper PeeWee Bears invited teams from Edmonton, Grande Prairie, and St. Albert (x2) to our freakishly warm town for a weekend of match ups where many kids out-hustled and out-hearted stronger opponents against whom they had no chance of defeating.
Jasper opened the tournament on Friday afternoon against the Grande Prairie Knights and set the stage in the very first period building a four to nothing lead including a Matteo Tassoni hat trick and a point shot from Jacob Bartziokas.
With a strong performance between the pipes by Kelan Polard, the game was already won for the Bears, as the Knights would only get three of those goals back by the final buzzer. Tassoni would nevertheless pot two more goals, while Dylan Dekker would add five of his own, taking advantage of the space in front of the net and linemate Sebastian Golla鈥檚 timely feeds for an 11鈥�3 final.
In that first game, winger Dana Angebrandt won player of the game honours. This was foreboding for a repeat strong performance on Saturday morning versus the St. Albert Warriors.
The Warriors are a very strong squad that manhandled most of their opponents in this tournament, with one notable exception. That exception was unfortunately not our Bears, as the Warriors cruised to an 8鈥�0 victory over our kids. But Angebrandt was not to be intimidated by the St. Albert defense and had Jasper鈥檚 best chances against the Warriors, showing some heroic grit in a losing effort. Polard too, having faced 52 shots, and keeping it close for most of the game, deserves praise.
In the loss to the Warriors, Golla earned player of the game honours, and on Saturday afternoon he would light it up again in the Bears鈥� third game, this time against the Confederation Grinders.
The Grinders would surprise a few opponents, giving some of their stronger city rivals headaches.
But against the Bears, they couldn鈥檛 find their scoring touch as Polard turned away all 18 shots, as they were dominated by Jasper鈥檚 defense.
Blueliner Aidan Deagle set up Jasper鈥檚 first goal, with a beautiful stretch pass to Tassoni, who danced in and buried top shelf. Josh Howes, Bartziokas and Justin McIsaac made it look easy keeping the Grinder forwards to the outside. Lucas Oeggerli would stuff in Jasper鈥檚 second, and assist on the Bears鈥� third and fourth both credited to Golla. The game ended 4鈥�0 for Jasper with Polard earning the player of the game trophy for his shutout performance.
On Sunday morning, the Bears鈥� played their fourth game of the weekend against the other team from St. Albert, the Blues.
Player of the game, Tassoni got the Bears started again with the first period鈥檚 lone goal.
But it was forwards Baden Koss, Owen Kearnan and Adrian Torres that had the Blues spinning.
They didn鈥檛 score, but they kept the Blues pinned in their own zone for entire shifts with high-energy, tough play along the boards and great puck movement.
In the second with the game tied at one, Tassoni gave Jasper another lead, followed by Camas D鈥橝ntonio who would give the Bears a two goal cushion.
Golla would add Jasper鈥檚 fourth goal, tipping in another Deagle point blast, but the Blues would counter, and make it close heading into the final 13 minutes of the game. Fortunately Polard kept his house clean and Golla鈥檚 empty netter sealed the deal at 5鈥�2.
The St. Albert Warriors would take the tournament鈥檚 gold medal by one point over Jasper followed by the Grand Prairie Knights. But it would be the Blues from St. Albert that would provide the tournament鈥檚 highlight, with a 4鈥�3 victory over the Warriors.
The Blues are tiered two leagues lower than the Warriors and so by all rights should have been crushed by them. But, instead they produced the kind of upset that demonstrates the payoff of heart and hustle.
Next game for the Bears is in two weeks, as they take on Wabasca in game two of that playoff series.
See you there.
John Wilmshurst Special to the 51暗网
