According to national park wildlife experts, your garden variety Jasper bear (Caesar knows them as Ursus americanus) has been in hibernation for weeks now that the temperatures have plunged and snow blankets the ground. But there are Bears in Jasper that only come out once Jack Frost calls.

While these winter Bears have much in common with their summer-active cousins (they are unpredictable when challenged and draw a crowd when they come out to play), the Atom bruins that hit the ice last weekend could have used a bit more of their namesakes’ wild spirit.  

Indeed, there should have been a warden or two in the Jasper Arena on Saturday, because not only were there three periods of Bears behaving poorly, but there were about 15 Huskies from Whitecourt off-leash and running wild all over these young Jasper residents.

A few cracker shells to get the Bears moving would have also been welcome, for at the end of this Bear jam, it was the Huskies going home with an 8-3 win over the hometown ursids.

The Husky mauling started early and was unremitting. Five of the eight eventual Whitecourt markers went in during the first frame as Bear netminder Duncan McLeod struggled to corral the barrage of rubber bullets fired his way. Jasper managed to score once in the opening period, from the paws of Hyunki Kim, who is turning into a reliable offensive predator this season.

The only other redeeming feature of the first 20 minutes for the Jasper team was the play of first time hockey player Adrian Nayak who, despite being very new to the strange, icy habitat crossed by blue and red lines, never let the grin leave his face.  

During the first intermission, coach Steve Malcolm reminded his players who’s who in the zoo, and the Bears seemed to respond. This did not keep the Huskies from scoring twice more before the period was over, but their pace was slowing from the opening frame. This was in part due to Jasper defenceman Tyler Carlton who showed some fang in the middle 20 as did forward Olivia Fonger with some strong work along the boards.

Talen Moorhouse led his team with two blocked shots, demonstrating the benefits of not only good defensive zone positional play, but also sturdy shin pads.  

For 19 minutes, 59.2 seconds of the third period, the Bears held the Huskies off the scoreboard while netting two themselves, both from second year centre Rhys Malcolm. But with 0.8 seconds left on the clock, the second Jasper netminder, Severin Golla, who had been gobbling up the Huskies biscuits for the better part of 30 minutes, let one sneak under his pads right at the final buzzer to bring the final score up to the reported 8-3 mark.  

There are at least 17 sub-species of black bear in North America and it sure looked like every one of those was represented on the ice on Saturday. By the time the four-legged variety is back on Jasper’s magnificent trails and hillsides this spring, coach Malcolm is hoping to mould his Bears into one unit: Ursus americanus harmonicus.

Next weekend the Atom Bears take a break, but their Novice younger brothers and sisters will be prowling to the ice in their annual Jasper tournament.

We’ll see you there with binoculars, field guide and pith helmet.