David Miller | Special to the 51暗网
The Jasper Atom Bears had their final series of their provincial playdown this past weekend, with a lot on the line.聽
Jasper faced off against Barrhead, and if Jasper won by ten or more goals, they would punch their ticket to the provincial championship tournament, where they could be one of the only teams in Jasper history to win a provincial championship. If they didn鈥檛 win by ten, they would have to travel to Barrhead to play a second game, and to be honest, who wants to go to Barrhead?聽
The Bears were behind the eight-ball a bit, knowing that they were missing one of their top snipers in Ethan Gibbons, who is currently enjoying the beaches of Florida. (Hope you鈥檙e wearing sunscreen buddy!)聽
The game started off at a slow pace, as both teams were feeling each other out, but about six minutes in Myles Misskey fed a beauty pass over to Matthew Derksen, who is playing his first game back after drinking a record 36 virgin Pina Coladas while he was on his two-week vacation in Mexico. Dustin Derksen also scored two goals in the first, and after 20 minutes, it was 3-0 for the good guys.
Watching the Bears in the second period was comparable to watching 鈥極ld Faithful鈥� in Yellowstone National Park, because the Bears exploded like the geyser and scored nine goals in the frame.
Something in that period clicked for Max Lescard, as he was passing the puck for the first time in a long time, and ended up with two amazing assists and a highlight-of-the-night candidate goal, as he scored on a between the legs shot. It was amazing.
While having a 12-goal lead the Bears did take their pedal off the metal for a couple of shifts, and Barrhead made them pay, scoring two quick goals on the only chances they had, and after 40 minutes Jasper was clinging on to their ten-goal lead.
The score of the game in the Bears鈥� eyes going into the third period was 0-0, as they knew if they lost the third period they would have to make a day trip to Barrhead.
In the final frame, the Bears came out hungry and motivated, because none of them wanted to make that ten-hour round-trip journey and play a second game. The Bears ended up getting four more, and both Jasper goalies pitched a shutout. The final score was 16-2 for Jasper.
Jasper has a lot of important hockey left ahead of them, including a playoff series next weekend against the child of Edson and Hinton - Mayerthorpe.聽聽
