At the Atom level, hockey in Edson benefits from amazing parent participation, making not only for well organized tournaments, but also fun league games. There are four coaches on the bench, three parents in the time-keepers box and parents playing music during breaks in the action on the ice. Whoever this was on Saturday when the Jasper Atom Bears rolled into town for an afternoon league game, they had their finger on the pulse of the Billboard Hot 100, and the kids loved it. At times there was more movement on the ice before the puck dropped than afterwards. 

The home town Canadians got the party started less than two minutes into the game when the Canadians’ forward put a dyna-mite shot, top shelf over netminder Duncan McLeod. Not much he could do about that one, and given Edson’s penchant for floating a forward behind the Jasper defence, going for the stretch pass and springing the breakaway, McLeod, and second half goalie, Severin Golla had to make moves like Jagger to keep this one close. Sure enough, it was a breakaway that garnered Edson’s second goal, half way through the first, and Jasper found themselves in familiar territory; two goals down and not yet warmed up. But a few minutes later, Bears winger Abhigya Devkota found the net for the first time this season getting Jasper on the scoreboard. Then with two minutes left in the period, Jasper centre Drew Tank made an acrobatic play to slide the puck past the Canadian’s netminder, tying the game at two. He’s flexy and he knows it. It was 2-2 after one. 

The second period opened with Bear’s Rhys Malcolm banging in his own rebound giving Jasper their first lead of the afternoon. But Edson countered about a minute later tying the match at three where it remained until the mid-game flood and goalie change-over. During the break, the Bears coach, Steve Malcolm, got his own party rock album going, reminding the players of the importance of the backcheck when the opposition are looking for that long lead pass.

The Bears responded with season breakout efforts put in by Jax Kading, Sam Howe, Matthew Park and, following up on her successes at the girls PeeWee/Novice tournament last weekend, Olivia Fonger, who was dominating at times. Hyunki Kim, living his teenage dream got the Bears their second lead of the day, firing the puck through the Canadians’ defence and goalie.

Then Park, took a pass from Malcolm from the side of the net, and we found twine putting Jasper up 5-3 with two minutes to go in the second. With one second left in the middle frame, netminder Golla got caught rolling in the deep of his crease and let one squirt past him. It was 5-4 Jasper after two.

Edson knotted the score at five just seconds into the third with a bouncer from the point and then took the lead 10 seconds later on yet another breakaway that escaped the backcheckers. Edson went up by two half way through the period after some sustained pressure that trapped Jasper in their own end. This didn’t keep defenseman Hunter Zenner from dancing on the ice to Bruno Mars, and I guess either he was born that way or he knew something the rest of us didn’t.

As if it was written in the stars, power forward Kim hurled himself into the Edson zone with five minutes remaining and got Jasper back to within one and then with a minute and a half on the clock, Trenton Rea, who’s been coming on as of late, tied it up by sliding a pass from Malcolm past the Canadians’ backstop.

The game would end that way, tied at seven, a fitting ending to an exciting afternoon that was almost, for Jasper, the one that got away. 

Next weekend, the Bears face Fox Creek twice in Jasper; Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday morning at 8:45 a.m. in their first home games since early December. Come check these gym class heroes out.