Last Saturday the Jasper Atom Bears did something that no other team in their league had been able to accomplish this season – they beat the Mayerthorpe Vipers. 

The Vipers, first in the league after the regular season and runners up in the Provincials, were the clear favorites to dominate league playoffs. But they were in tough against this scrappy Bears team. The final was a two-game, home and home series with the title going to the side with the most goals. Even tougher for the boys from Jasper, there were no ice-times at our rink this weekend, so our “home” game was played in Hinton. Familiar, but not home, turf. 

The Bears stood very tall on Saturday and soundly trashed Mayerthorpe 9-6 on the strength of four goals from Cooper Hilworth, and singletons from Brendan Auger, Rhys Malcolm, Matthew Park, Drew Tank and Tegan Barker. This set the stage for an exciting Sunday finale where, to come home with the hardware, Jasper only had to finish within two goals of this powerful Mayerthorpe squad. 

Sunday’s game took place in Sangudo, the town named for the patron saint of high expectations*, and also not exactly home turf for the Vipers. Yet it has been their tin can this whole season while their new barn is being built in Mayerthorpe. 

Jasper was looking strong from the opening puck drop after Malcolm planted a feed from Hilworth just 45 seconds in for a 1-0 lead. The Bears tactic of pressing Mayerthorpe and preventing their big guns from getting rolling was working, and it was not until 15 seconds after Jasper was up 2-0 on a Barker goal 11 minutes in, that the Vipers got their first taste. The first period ended 2-1 Bears.

Early in the second period Mayerthorpe got into penalty trouble in what was a generally chippy affair, but managed to tie it at two with a short-handed marker less than two minutes in. But then it was all goaltending as both the Viper netminder and Severin Golla, Jasper’s full time backstop, kept the biscuit out of the basket for 10 back and forth minutes. Barker ended the drought at 7:45 with a nice pass from Hilworth to send Jasper up once more. Then with a Bear in the box for tripping, the game’s momentum shifted and in the space of that power play and the subsequent five minutes, Mayerthorpe scored four unanswered goals to lead by three. The score was 6-3 after two.

In the third period the desperation was evident on both teams’ faces with a parade of kids to the penalty box and lots of nervous play. Amidst all of that, Hilworth scored two more goals for the Bears, but the Vipers answered both and after three, the score was 8-5. The teams were all tied up in their two game series, 14-14. To overtime they went. 

Netminder Golla held Mayerthorpe scoreless for the first 10 minutes of overtime, but Jasper could not score, so the players lined up for a second extra frame. Then, right off the opening faceoff the Vipers sprung the left winger who feathered through the Jasper defence and slid the winner past Golla before the fans could get settled back into their seats. What Jasper had achieved the day before by defeating the undefeated, they could not repeat on Sunday, and Mayerthorpe returned home league champs. 

The season is now over for the Atom “B” Bears. They battled hard in this final against a tough opponent, and they, and Coach Chuck Barker, have much to be proud of. From what I’ve seen, this team made up of largely first year players, next year’s Atoms hold much promise. I’m looking forward to it already. 

*I made that up. I have no idea where the name for Sangudo came from, and, if you look on the town website, neither do they.