With seven games gone in the regular season, the Jasper Wolves face their South Division rival Edson Ice on Friday night. Boasting three wins and four losses on the young season, Jasper could even their record and assume sole possession of second place in the division with a win over the Ice. In other action scheduled for tomorrow evening, the Hinton Heat, also 3-4 on the year, go head to head with the undefeated Drayton Valley Wildcats.

The Wolves had mixed results on the road last weekend, falling to an 8-7 defeat at the hands of the Westlock Wolf Pack on Saturday (November 12) before winning 6-4 against the Lamont Bruins the next evening. It was the Bruins’ first loss of the 2005 campaign.

Edson comes into Friday’s action with a 2-4 record on the year and the Wolves are hoping for a large crowd at the Activity Centre, said Larry Labbe, the team’s marketing director.

The puck was never even dropped at Jasper’s home game that had been scheduled for November 5. The visiting Fox Creek Bandits were unable to get enough players to make the trip and the league office ruled the game a forfeit in the Wolves favour rather than  rescheduling the game, according to Labbe. Fans with season’s tickets will receive a game in lieu of that game, most likely a playoff tilt, he said.

Jasper has tallied 32 goals so far this season, which turns into an average of slightly more than five per game. A respectable number, but one which lags far behind the Slave Lake Winter Hawks. The undefeated offensive juggernaut from the north is scoring an average of 13 goals per game.

It promises to be a very busy weekend for Jasper minor hockey as well. The Jasper Atom Bears’ home tournament runs all day Saturday and Sunday. The Bears play Red Deer at the ungodly hour of seven a.m. Saturday morning and then face off against St Albert at two p.m.

Sunday sees the placement games running from nine until one in the afternoon. Teams from Edson, Fort Saskatchewan, Calmar and Devon are also participating.

The Midget Bearcats take the ice on Saturday evening for a game against Plamondon. Puck drop is scheduled for six p.m. Jasper leads the 13-team Sturgeon-Pembina Hockey Midget A League with a 5-1-1 record but Plamondon are not far behind on the table with five wins and two losses to their name.

Finally, the PeeWee Bears round out the weekend’s on-ice action, matching up against Edson on Sunday afternoon at 3:45.