While the principles of community building, leadership and life-long friendships are all part of what minor hockey really is, bucolic accounts of harmonious camaraderie and fairly contested close matches are not always part of the story. Last weekend the Jasper PeeWee Bears rolled into Edson, feeding the Mighty Macs their lunch; winning 13-0, much to the frustration of the Edson players, coaches and spectators.
The deluge started early with Tegan Barker beautifully feeding Matthew Park not yet three minutes into the game. Park made no mistake and it was 1-0 Bears. Barker was dominant in this period, participating in some sweet play-making that kept the overmatched Edson skaters well away from the puck. He made it 2-0 then 3-0 midway through the period in two stand-apart singular efforts that were followed by markers from Adrian Nayak on a feed from Brendan Auger, Elvis Gorontzy-Slack off a Nayak rebound and Rhys Malcolm from Cooper Hilworth. It was 6-0 Jasper after the first period, which was also the number of shots that Edson managed against goaltender Severin Golla in the opening 20 minutes.
The goal scoring pace slowed in the second, but Jasper still dominated the play. This period belonged to Hilworth, who had a hand in both goals in the frame, scoring one himself off a face-off and getting an assist, nicely setting up Noah Kwasny with six minutes remaining. The Edson goaltender continued to get a real workout and even Jasper’s Golla was forced to make one standout save, stopping a breakaway that ended with both the puck and his stick behind the net. The second period ended with Jasper up 8-0.
In the third period, the scoring picked up and so did the temperature. Malcolm placed a beauty behind the Mighty Mac’s keeper just over a minute in, and then Jasper’s second-half goalie, Isaah Kwasny made a solid stop on a penalty shot to keep Edson off the score sheet. With a nine goal lead, things started getting goofy and the game reached that point where Walt Disney leaves the building. Through the swirling dust kicked up by the players shuffling their feet in the penalty box, Noah Kwasny scored two more, and Malcolm and Nayak each got their second goals of the game, but the story was elsewhere and not the stuff of legends. In this charged environment, nobody expects the home team to smile gracefully as they get humiliated in their own barn.
And completely shutting down the talent on the Jasper Bears is also not a solution for the coaching staff. As I’ve written previously, Jasper is an A team that tiered B, playing against some teams that could have tiered C. On days like this, even victories can leave a bitter taste in your mouth more closely resembling the coffee than the commercial selling it.
Next Sunday at 3:30 p.m., the Bears take on Hinton in Jasper. So far, this has also been a lopsided rivalry in Jasper’s favour. Another challenge of a familiar, yet unfortunate kind for the first place Jasper Bears.
