Last Sunday, the Jasper Atom Bears and the Edson Avalanche completed their two-game, total-goal series with their second game in Jasper.
By most measures, the Avalanche outworked our Jasper kids. They skated hard for 60 minutes, their defense was solid and their forwards were really working the puck hard in Jasper’s zone.
For their part, the Bears played their game. With a full bench they cycled a deep forward corps with lots of scoring ability, a talented defense deft at pushing opponents to the outside, and outstanding goaltending.
No question, Jasper plays hard, but their game is to play smart, setting up the classic brawn versus brains matchup.
With a three goal edge going into the game Jasper was loose, perhaps a bit too loose, and in the opening period, netminder Donovan Fawcett had to come up big. But for Don, like his brother Dexter, who is a blueliner for the Bears, the spectacular save comes from great positioning and the hard-won skills he has displayed all season.
Dexter, and fellow defenders Jacob Bartziokas, Tanner Carlton, Dylan Skinner, Michael Hayashi and Owen Kearnan, were really the difference for the Bears on Sunday. Again, they played smart; rushing the puck like Hayashi and Carlton, staying home like Skinner and Dexter and looking up-ice for that lead pass like Bartziokas and Kearnan.
Every element of effective defense is covered, and every opposition struggles to solve it. Sunday was no exception.
With a full bench, coach Jim Koss was busy cycling forward lines. He kept the productive Sebastian Golla, Baden Koss, Dylan Dekker line together, but shifted other lines to keep pace with the hard-charging Avalanche.
But whatever the matchups, the Bears did not get away from their game. It’s inspiring to see how these kids look for each other on the ice.
Lucas Oeggerli and Apollo Hardman combined for some sweet shots on goal and Nash Hilworth and Ty Crozier pushed hard through the neutral zone, keeping the Avalanche to the outside in the defensive zone. Particularly impressive on Sunday was Adrian Hernandez who battled for 60 minutes and was Jasper’s most fearsome forechecker.
At the end of the day, smart play has to turn into goals or it’s all just words.
Golla started the Bears off putting words into action four minutes in, then his linemates continued the action, with Koss finishing 8 minutes later to get the Bears up by two after 20.
In the second period Edson closed the gap by one goal before Dekker regained Jasper’s two-goal lead, beautifully tipping in a Golla wrister 5-hole.
Hayashi tucked in a low blast, far post on a blueline rush to put Jasper up by three. But by the end of the second, Edson struck again to close the gap to two by the second period buzzer.
In the third period, Jasper buried the Avalanche with two more goals; a top shelf bottle popper from Golla and a Dekker cannon from the slot.
Although Edson would get one more, Donovan would shut the door and preserve Jasper’s three goal advantage to the final buzzer.
Playing smart worked once more for the Atom Bears, reflecting the hard work they’ve put into practices to date. And there is more smart—and hard—work ahead of them in the finals against Fox Creek.
The Bulldogs are a tough team with great goaltending and this will be a best out of three series beginning next weekend. Times and places to be announced. Congratulations Atom Bears. You join your PeeWee and Bantam colleagues in league finals and continue to make Jasper proud.
John Wilmshurst
Special to the Fitzhugh
