Everyone makes mistakes. Last week for instance in an article about the Bantams in Whitecourt, I made erroneous reference to Edson, and I’ve gotten the odd score wrong.
My kids malign me for it, as they should, and I strive to improve my accuracy. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Fortunately, last weekend, the Jasper Bantam Bearcats made few such mistakes in Edson in their second match against the Warriors—a team they defeated 8–3 two weeks ago.
Jasper got into a bit of penalty trouble early, but beyond a resonating post, first-half goalie Severin Golla kept his net clean. Edson would rue this missed opportunity, though, when Cooper Hilworth made good on a Rhys Malcom pass to put Jasper on the scoreboard 10 minutes into the first.
Ninety seconds later, Hunter Zenner would make absolutely no mistake, dancing through the Warrior defense, breaking free and deaking out the Edson netminder to put Jasper up by two.
Eric MacMahon gave Jasper a three goal lead near the end of the period, with a teammate in the box, poking the puck away from the Edson defense, speeding the length of the ice and calculating perfectly for a top shelf zinger.
The second period was owned by the Jasper netminders, shared between Golla and Duncan McLeod who took over half way through the frame. Rhys Malcolm got Jasper’s fourth unanswered goal with a seeing-eye shot from the slot seven minutes in, only to have Edson score its first of the game 10 seconds later with a tipped puck that found its way past Golla, who had, to this point in the game, gobbled up everything in sight.
Troy Jackson made up for that faux pas a few minutes later, ripping a wrister top cheese.
With McLeod now between the pipes, Jasper got into more trouble, giving Edson a full two minutes of five on three. But, McLeod stood on his head and stymied the Edson shooters aided by the Bearcat’s effective penalty kill.
Back to full strength, Jasper capitalized again with Hilworth finishing off a beautiful tic-tac-toe play with linemates Elvis Gorontzy-Slack and Malcolm.
After 40 minutes, it was Jasper 6, Edson 1.
The third period belonged to Edson, as Jasper’s parade to the sin-bin kept the Bearcats’ lines scrambled, allowing a lot of rubber on McLeod. Edson would elude Jasper’s McLeod twice in the final frame, while Jasper failed to add to its own lead, content to walk off with a 6 to 3 victory after 60 minutes of play.
Not flawless, but nevertheless a fine effort from our Jasper Bantams.
Make no mistake, this Jasper team is a dominant force in its league. This weekend, amidst the Barley Queen tournament action, the Bearcats will play two games against Slave Lake at 7:15 p.m. Nov. 7 and 1 p.m. Nov. 8 here in Jasper.
Hope to see you in the stands.
John Wilmshurst special to the fitzhugh
