John Wilmshurst |Special to the 51暗网
There is something special about the Jasper Bantam Bearcats.
Prior to the Christmas break, they suffered two consecutive losses, and given the layoff, you could forgive them for being down.
But in the first of two games last weekend, the Bearcats鈥� special teams stepped up, and with power forward Tanner Carlton back in the mix, the visiting Fort McMurray Oil Barons were in for some special treatment.
Carlton opened the scoring for Jasper, at the magical five-minute mark on a power play, burying a back-door feed from Sebastian Golla.
With three minutes to play in the period, Carlton blocked a point shot on a penalty kill, picked up a loose puck, walked in on a breakaway and finished on his backhand.
Twenty minutes later, late in the second period, Golla put the Bearcats up by three, again short-handed, but what was special in the intervening period was the play of Jasper鈥檚 PeeWee call-ups.
With the Crozier boys and Mac Carmichael still holidaying, coach Eric Bouchard asked two PeeWee Bears, Jackson Irwin and Calum Campbell to fill in for a game.
It is not easy to step up to contact hockey but both boys were outstanding.
They were in the mix offensively, skating hard on the backcheck and moved the puck around like veterans.
Against the grain of play, Fort Mac scored two-and-a-half minutes into the third period.
Carlton responded, poking in a centering pass from Owen Kearnan on Jasper鈥檚 fifth power play of the game.
With a four-goal lead mid-way through the third, Jasper鈥檚 defense went to work, stifling Fort Mac鈥檚 offense and stepping up on the rush. Close calls by blueliners Jacob Bartziokas and Dexter Fawcett almost allowed Jasper to pad their lead. Indeed, it was offensive defenseman Michael Hayashi who scored next for Jasper, again on a power play, calmly firing the puck low stick for Jasper鈥檚 fifth and final goal.
Final score, Jasper 5, Fort McMurray 1, with all of Jasper鈥檚 goals coming from special teams.
What was more special happened on Sunday when the Devon Barons came to town.
The last time these two teams met, the Barons eked out a 4 to 3 victory to start a Bearcats鈥� losing skid.
Jasper was up for some payback and this time showed up to play.
With Liam and Ty Crozier back and Mac Carmichael also in the lineup, there was some fresh energy on the ice.
But it was Hayashi who got 鈥渋t鈥� going, beating his Devon defensive counterparts at their blueline with a slick spin-o-rama move and beating their netminder low glove.
Two minutes later he finished passing combo from Golla and Kearnan for a tap on yet another power-play goal.
Devon scored their own special teams鈥� goal later in the frame, beating Jasper goaltender Donovan Fawcett on a two-on-one in a shorthanded burst.
But Carlton, riding the high from Saturday鈥檚 hat-trick, hammered in a slapper from the right circle to give the Bearcats a two-goal cushion heading into the first intermission.
Make that three, no, make that a four-goal lead midway through the second period as Kearnan scored decisively on a breakaway, and Hayashi completed his hat-trick, again on the power play.
Devon drew to within three goals with 19 seconds to play in the second period to make a game of it.
The third period belonged to Don between the pipes.
Devon was throwing up long-bombs for breakaways, but Donny stopped them all.
As if to show them how it was done, Golla scored on a breakaway with six minutes to play and then Carlton finished an end to end rush by Jacob Bartziokas in the final minute to slam the door on Devon.
Final score, Jasper 7, Devon 2.
A special weekend for Hayashi with four goals, Carlton with five and great performances from the call-ups, Irwin and Campbell.
Note to the holidaying Carltons; it was no coincidence that the Bearcats鈥� skidmarks stopped at your driveway.
Regardless the reason, the Bearcats are back on track.
This Saturday at 5 p.m. the Athabasca Bantams roll into town to give our kids their first look at this Tier 1 team.
And then on Sunday, the Bearcats faceoff against Calahoo Region (CR) who they have played twice with one win and one loss. Puck drops at 5:15 p.m. on Sunday.
Should be some special hockey.
