When you’re sitting on the bus, travelling the highways between Jasper and Whitecourt, followed by Whitecourt and Fort Saskatchewan, then back to Jasper, you have piles of time to reflect on hockey.
And it’s a good thing, because there was a lot to reflect upon following Jasper’s two road games last weekend.
Saturday against Whitecourt, the Bearcats were reflecting on the last time they played against the Wolverines, almost exactly a month ago when Jasper built a healthy 3–0 lead in the early going, before taking the foot off the gas pedal and finally sneaking away with a 6–4 victory after 60 minutes.
As if history was going to repeat itself, Jasper fought to another 3–0 lead after 20 minutes with two goals by hard working forward Hunter Zenner and a hash-marks slapper that seemed to go through the Whitecourt netminder by Elvis Gorontzy-Slack.
But this time Jasper did not let up. Goaltenders Duncan McLeod and Severin Golla kept a clean slate, as they shared duties between the pipes, while the Jasper forwards kept applying the pressure.
Rhys Malcolm and Eric MacMahon each scored in the second, while Zenner completed his hat trick in the third to give the Bearcats a six nothing victory.
McLeod hasn’t let in a goal in his last five periods of play.
The pace was dramatically different on Sunday against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers in Bruderheim (home of a famous meteorite strike in 1960!). The Rangers are a quick passing physical team that aggressively gain the zone and drive to the net. And while the Sunday games on weekend road trips can be sloppy, the Bearcats did not succumb, rising to the challenge against a team that didn’t give them piles of time with the puck.
Cooper Hilworth, who was uncharacteristically held off the scoresheet the day before, struck first and second. Both came in the first period, the second on a power play with a perfectly placed shot that the Fort Saskatchewan netminder never saw. Malcolm gave Jasper a 3–0 lead before the end of the first, driving through the slot and shooting high against the flow.
Golla was sharp in net, stymying the Ranger snipers who outshot the Bearcats, but could not score.
In the second period, the scoring pace for Jasper slowed as the Rangers pressed, testing Jasper’s netminder. A player short on this road trip, with Troy Jackson sidelined with the flu, Coach Gary Hilworth moved Drew Tank to forward and rolled a three man defensive rotation of Matthew Park, Magnus Stenlund and Tyler Carlton. They were simply outstanding, but tired under the pressure, and by the time the second period buzzer had sounded, Fort Saskatchewan had clawed back with four goals of their own.
Jasper scored twice in the second, Malcolm’s second, a sweet backhander top shelf after out-racing Fort Saskatchewan to a loose puck in the neutral zone, and a point shot from Park that deflected through the Rangers D before hitting the back of the net.
The score was 5–4 at the end of two periods.
Then came gut check time in the third. Jasper needed to reach deep and find the jam to keep ahead of the relentless Rangers. Hilworth regained Jasper’s two goal cushion six minutes into the third, and McLeod had clearly found his legs, making some key stops between the pipes. The Rangers clawed back to within one goal on a five on three power play, but Jasper, led by a very solid defensive showing by Park, held on for a 6–5 victory.
Without a doubt, this was the Bearcats’ most complete game of the season, giving them plenty to celebrate on the bus trip home.
The bantams board that bus again next weekend for a swing through Devon and Drayton Valley.
John Wilmshurst Special to the Fitzhugh
