Lucas Habib | Special to the 51暗网
It鈥檚 been a high-stakes sports week for Canada. Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov faced down tennis legends at the Australian Open, the Oilers climbed out of their slump, the men鈥檚 national soccer team continued their quest to qualify for the 2022 World Cup and the Jasper Bears hosted the top team in NA Interlock U11 Tier 3.
Calahoo/Riviere Qui Barre, also known as CR, travelled from northwest of Edmonton to the Rockies for their only two games against the Bears this season. The Bears found themselves mired in the middle of the standings, needing to climb up the ladder as the playoffs approach. However, coaches Reg Currie, Trevor Groth, Dave Hofhuis and goalie coach Paco Artiaga were forced to juggle their lineup again as players floated in and out of COVID protocols.
This back-to-back series had it all. In the first game, the Bears started strong but couldn鈥檛 get anything by CR goalie Nathan Tremblay. CR opened the scoring on a power play, slipping a screened floater into the Bears鈥� net, and the Bears were held scoreless through the first period thanks to nice goaltending and five shots off posts. That unfulfilled start seemed to sap the Bears鈥� energy as they came out for the second, yet highlight-reel plays were still on the table. Notably, during a two-man advantage and making full use of the extra space on the ice, Arlo Kennedy skated behind the net and pulled off the legendary Michigan lacrosse-style goal, possibly for the first time in the history of the U11 Bears. He may have even surprised himself a bit.
Other key highlights included Kennedy鈥檚 gorgeous pass to Elliot Vassallo who connected but barely missed the net. Jack Currie鈥檚 expert stickhandling and relentless digging generated chances. Rock-solid defender Jesse Groth courageously blocked a few shots and Ash Habib shot off the bench to make a great defensive play on a 2-on-0 to keep the Bears in it. Shortly after, fleet-footed Arie Hofhuis snuck past the D at the blue line and then cut in to score high glove side and knot the game again.
But despite the best intentions of the Bears, they were once again chasing the game after getting bogged down in their own end and giving up multiple goals to CR鈥檚 strongest player, Jaxon Lal.
The Bears kept their heads up and added a few goals of their own; Antony Gagne had a strong individual shorthanded effort to kill the clock, dance around the CR defence, and then pick the corner, followed by the rarely-executed 鈥渟tick launch鈥� celly. At the final buzzer though, the Bears looked up at the scoreboard to see a 14-8 loss. But they had to shake that off and get ready for the second game of the series that evening.
When 6 p.m. rolled around, CR came out again with a quick start, but Matteo Artiaga made a clever move in front of the CR net to play the defender鈥檚 stick instead of the puck, forcing an own-goal. Goalie Carter Schmidt had probably his best game of the season so far; he鈥檚 clearly been working on his kick saves and flashed his blades again and again to deny the CR onslaught. Badly outshot in the first, the Bears seemed to finally come out of hibernation for the second period. They looked like a different team from the first; sharpened instincts, improved defense, and hustling hard. The coaches had clearly got some important words into the players鈥� heads between the silly jokes in the locker room. As they started to apply the pressure, CR panicked and hauled down Kalahari Harvey on a clean break, resulting in a penalty shot taken by Antony Gagne that ricocheted off the crossbar.
The Bears finally took the lead for the first time early in the third, and then defender James Handerek poked it out of his zone and went coast to coast to seal the win with the insurance goal at 17:51, eliciting a huge roar from the crowd. CR pulled their goalie for the extra attacker but couldn鈥檛 capitalize as defenders Clark White and Kellan Smallshaw and the rest of the Bears locked it down. Coach Currie remarked after the 7-5 victory: 鈥淲e played a complete 60 minutes. The team has a lot to be proud of, and we鈥檒l carry this energy to our next games as we wind down the season.鈥� The Bears鈥� next games are on Feb. 12 at the Jasper Arena. Hope to see you there.
