Lesleigh Campbell | Special to the 51暗网
Dark and early on Saturday morning, the Bearcats loaded their gear and themselves onto a bus headed for Riviere Qui Barre. I was one of the lucky ones who got to ride along with them, and for most of the ride, you could have heard a pin drop.
Being bumped up a tier after dominating all four of their previous games, meant that Saturday was their first contact game ever. The Bearcats entered 鈥渋nto the unknown鈥� with what I would call nervous excitement.
The CR Knights came out in full armor as the two teams battled through the first period of this game. Still in the learning process of how to hit properly meant, however, that the Bearcats took some penalties early on. Ten minutes into the game, the Knights got a power play goal, followed by another soon after, leaving Jasper down by two nearing the end of the period. Right around that time, Dustin Derksen found a weak spot in the Knights鈥� armor and got Jasper on the board, heading into the first intermission down 2-1.
With the fastest Zamboni in the west done cleaning the ice in record time, the game was back on with little chance for players to rest. A couple of big hits started out the second, but it wasn鈥檛 until about seven minutes into the period when Morgan Thomas found his stride scoring back-to-back goals. A few minutes later, Carson Miller threw a pass to Dustin Derksen who found the back of the net, adding to the remarkable comeback by Jasper. The CR Knights wouldn鈥檛 give up that easily though, adding one more before the second intermission, going into the third period 4-3.
The third period was full of action, but with the defense working hard and both goalies playing like brick walls for the remainder of the game, the score didn鈥檛 change. The Jasper Bearcats got to ride back home with a huge 4-3 victory under their belts and at least one hockey mom breathing a little easier.
With Saturday鈥檚 win still fresh in their minds, Jasper welcomed Hinton into their home on Sunday. This game was a barn burner to say the least. Seven minutes into the game, the Bearcats had already scored three goals, which were then answered by two Hinton goals before the end of the period.
The second period began with Drew Kovacs finding the back of Hinton鈥檚 net, followed by Morgan Thomas netting his hat-trick goal. Jackson Irwin then set Thomas up for one more, only for Hinton to squeak another one past Brady Campbell. Kovacs then finished off his own hat-trick with some help from Dustin Derksen, and Hinton responded with two more goals. Jasper was up 7-5 going into the second intermission.
Two minutes into the third period, Irwin netted a sweet pass from Kovacs and the Bearcats were looking confident. They kept their 8-5 lead right up until the six-minute mark, when Hinton made it 8-6. Soon after that, desperate to stay in it, Hinton pulled their goalie to no avail. However, they did get one more with 0.01 left on the clock, but it wasn鈥檛 enough. It was an 8-7 victory for the聽
Jasper U15 Bearcats, keeping their record undefeated in the preseason, after six games. This team is now officially bumped up to tier 3.
