The Superbowl last Sunday was a classic match-up between the NFL’s best defense (Seattle) and its best offence (Denver). Football’s like that. The best teams excel at either getting touchdowns or preventing them.
Hockey’s less like that, and that’s what makes it exciting. You never really know what you’re going to get, as the great teams are capable of both.
Last weekend, as the Seahawks and the Broncos were preparing to take to the gridiron, the fourth place Jasper Atom Bears were taking to the ice in Edson to face the league’s second place Avalanche.
The Bears came on strong after the usual five minutes of tentative play by both teams.
Six minutes in, Bears’ netminder, Kelan Polard made an acrobatic save against the pressing Edson forwards, but Jasper couldn’t clear the rebound, and Edson converted.
Dylan Dekker equalized for Jasper 10 minutes later using his trademark top-shelf wrister off the rush. Polard followed this play up with another brilliant stop at the other end of the ice.
At the end of the first, the score was knotted at one. But, the period was the Polard show, as he stopped 19 of 20 tough shots by the Avalanche.
Edson regained its lead three minutes into the second period, capitalizing on another rebound, and then went up by two a few minutes later when they broke through the Bears’ defense and took a shot that eluded Polard.
But in the next shift, the Bears’ Lucas Prud’Homme skated the puck into the Edson zone and blasted a shot from the left faceoff circle that the Avalanche netminder never saw.
It looked as if the teams would enter the mid-game break separated by one, but with the Zamboni idling, ready to flood, Edson got its fourth of the game to recapture a two goal lead.
It can be deadly for a team to give up a goal just before the intermission.
But the Bears, led by Baden Koss, came out flying to finish the period. Although he didn’t convert, Koss’ great work around the net at both ends got his team going. He took a great shot that the Edson netminder had to be sharp to save, and then Koss laid himself out in his own crease to stop a sure goal by the Avalanche.
A few minutes later, a mistake by the Edson defense sprung Sebastian Golla and he buried the puck and put the Bears within one.
Edson pressed, but with Polard playing shut-down hockey between the pipes, the Avalanche was unable to extend its lead.
After forty minutes, the score was 4–3 Edson, with Polard already facing 35 shots.
Forty seconds into the third, Dekker scored his second of the game, unassisted, knotting these two teams at four.
Minutes later, Dekker looked like he was going to secure the hat trick, jumping off the bench and rushing the Edson net, but his shot bounced off the goalie’s pads. Fortunately, a stretching Sebastian Golla was there to pick up the rebound, which he fired into a gaping cage, giving Jasper their first lead of the afternoon.
Nail biting time, and Edson was pressing.
A loose puck, a goal-mouth scramble, a sprawling Polard and Edson was able to equalize, but less than a minute later, Dekker again broke free of the Edson defense and this time he made no mistake.
Jasper regained the lead.
With Jasper one goal up, and nine minutes to play, Edson bore down.
But Polard was not going to let them beat him again and even with an 80-second man advantage on a pulled goalie, Edson could not draw even.
Edson is a team not accustomed to losing, but lose they did against this exciting Atom Bears squad. Six to five Jasper for the victory.
After stopping 45 shots, there’s no question that Polard’s outstanding netminding stole this one for Jasper.
In this super game, like in New Jersey, the strong defense outshone a storied offence.
Next weekend the Bears have three games, two on the road and one at home on Sunday if our rink is ready. Jasper’s defense is ready. Come see what the offence can do.
John Wilmshurst
Special to the Fitzhugh
