by John Wilmshurst | special to the 51暗网
Last weekend, before the Jasper Bantam Bearcats faced-off against the SouthWest Zone Oil Kings, I caught my little buddy Ash and his Initiation Bearcubs playing their hearts out in their home tournament.
This is skill, teamwork and passion of another scale, and was very different hockey than when the Bantams took the ice. It reminded me how far the Bantams have come, but also how much success, failure, fun and hard work remain part of the game.
With most of our second year Bantams still away in la belle province, coach Jim Koss called up three PeeWee skaters and goaltender Donovan, who returns to the Fawcett family this week, after I loaned him to the Hilworth鈥檚 last week.
Tanner Carlton and Dexter Fawcett played up front, centered by Bantam Lucas Oeggerli, and Michael Hayashi played D with Aidan Deagle. I continue to be impressed at how well these kids play when plunged in this tougher game.
Jasper came out flying in the first period and were rewarded with an unusual early goal. Jacob Bartziokas fed the puck from the point down low to Owen Kearnan who relayed it to Sebastian Golla for a one-time slapper that found the back of the net. One nothing Jasper only two minutes into the game. But while the offensive chances kept coming, the Bearcats couldn鈥檛 hit the net again in the first against a strong Oil Kings defense.
Then late in the opening frame, Southwest found their range, scoring twice; once on a short-handed giveaway and again, with under a minute to play, to give the visitors a one goal lead after 20 minutes.
The second period started out a bit rag-tag for both teams. Penalties crept into the play and it wasn鈥檛 until the 11th minute, with an Oil King in the box for tripping, that Baden Koss was able to tie it up. Koss collected the puck at his blue line, charged down the ice and buried.
But seconds later, Southwest reclaimed their one goal lead, and then extended it to two a few minutes later. Spurred on by this two-goal deficit, Jasper got rolling led by Carlton whose relentless neutral zone play led to a late-period, partial break that he came very close to converting. Four-two Oil Kings after 20 minutes.
With less than a minute expired in the third, Kearnan lofted a puck towards the Oil Kings鈥� net that deflected over the Southwest goalie, propelling his team back to within one. Donovan, in the Bearcats鈥� net, had long figured out the pace of the heavier Bantam shots and was absolutely stoning the Oil Kings鈥� best shooters. That is, until Jasper got into penalty trouble again, and Southwest were able to exploit the man advantage and got back up by two with six-and-a-half minutes to play in the game.
Desperation now crept into Jasper鈥檚 game. The defensive pairings of Deagle and Hayashi, Bartziokas and Josh Howes were instrumental in keeping the puck buried in the Oil Kings鈥� zone and stopping rushes.
Three minutes to play, Howes picked up the puck in his own zone, spotted Golla alone at the offensive blue line, saucered a tape-to-tape stretch pass, sending Golla in to score low stick side and draw Jasper back to within one. Heads up passing! With about a minute to play, Coach Koss pulled Donovan from the net and the Bearcats ramped up the pressure with six skaters. Lots of pressure, but without results leaving only 4.9 seconds on the clock with a faceoff to the right of the Oil Kings鈥� goalie.
Baden Koss won the faceoff to Golla who fired a wild slapper towards the net. The puck banked off Kearnan and Oeggerli buried it as the buzzer was sounding.
The goal stood, knotting the final score at five apiece; a hard earned, but well-deserved point for the Bearcats. What a finish!
The Bantams return to Edmonton this weekend for their final regular season games. Seventh in a 10-team division, they are hoping to improve their ranking before playoffs begin next week. You can read about it here.
