There will be no hibernation for these bears.

The Jasper Peewee Bears are division champions.

Jasper dominated play for 60 minutes against a strong Drayton Valley team, posting a convincing 6-0 shutout to clinch their division. After the final buzzer, the team piled on goaltender Chase Thompson, who combined with Noah Bielec for the shutout.

Strong positional play, accurate passing and fearless drives to the net clinched the victory for Jasper, who will now travel to Spirit River for the championship tournament.

Bently Fawcett opened the scoring on a nice set up from Brandon Lawson in front of the net. Jack Hillworth made it 2-0 less than a minute later off of a one-timer from Tristan Nissen, who was setting up goals all afternoon.

The offensive onslaught continued in the second period, as Bryn Malcolm made it 3-0 after breaking free of the Drayton Valley defence.

Jack Delorme’s blast from the point found the back of the net through traffic to widen the lead in the second.

Drayton Valley responded with pressure in the second, but the Bears were not to be deterred. Neve Hunter slid one past the Drayton Valley tender after being left alone in front of the net thanks to a great feed by Hillworth, and Liam Urie finished the scoring in the third from the goal mouth off of a feed from Malcolm.

Having tied Drayton Valley 2-2 previously, the players were on edge before the puck drop, as they understood the gravity of the game.

“I was so nervous. I had to go for a bike ride before the game to calm down,” Nissen said. “We tried hard to defend the lead.”

“I was nervous until the final 45 seconds,” said Brandon Lawson.

Coaches Steve Malcolm and Joe Urie were extremely proud of the team. Malcolm preached team play as the key to success, and the players bought into the strategy.

“This is a smart bunch. They’re doing things beyond their years,” said assistant coach Joe Urie. “Every few years a group of players comes through. This is one of those groups of players.”

“This isn’t a hard group to motivate. The whole year the focus has been on playing together,” Malcolm said.