For local hockey fans, we are getting to the interesting part of the minor hockey season. With 18 games under their belt in a 19 game season, the Jasper Bantam Bearcats played their final regular season game against the visiting Whitecourt Wolverines last Saturday.
With the playoffs looming, the Bearcats were looking for a strong performance to finish the season.
Forty seconds into the opening period, the forward line, centred by Cooper Hilworth with Brendan Auger and talented PeeWee callup Eric MacMahon, set the game’s tone, clearing the puck into the Whitecourt corner, crashing the corner to dig the puck out and drawing a penalty in the process.
This simple play, focussed on getting the puck deep and passing it out front represents a sea of change for the Bearcats.
They have made their bread and butter all season on the one or two man rush with the big shot or fancy move for the goal. This trend towards team play and hard work has been evident in recent games, and although it achieved little other than a six-person parade to the penalty box in the first period, it was the key to the Bearcats’ game and will set a solid stage for the upcoming playoff campaign.
It took until five minutes into the middle frame for the goal-fest that was to be the second period to begin. Indeed it was MacMahon finishing a tic-tac-toe play from Auger and Hilworth that did the job, giving Jasper an ephemeral one goal lead.
Whitecourt equalized two minutes later with a powerplay marker that eluded netminder Severin Golla who couldn’t track down a tipped point shot.
Hilworth regained Jasper’s lead just seconds later, however, stuffing in a rebound off of an Auger blast from the right circle. Blueliner Kolby Kongsrud extended Jasper’s lead to two with a beautiful backhander, finishing a solid defensive rush.
Whitecourt was to get one back when a rising slapper beat Golla for the second time, but Kongsrud and Auger would combine for two quick goals just a minute apart to put Jasper up by three at 5–2.
Before the period would end, Jasper would get two more; one from Auger earning him a hat-trick for the period, and one from Hilworth who was earlier in the period frustrated by some solid saves by Whitecourt’s goaltender.
I could end my story there, as in the third period Golla shut the Wolverines out and Jasper got four more goals off of the sticks of Walter Ostrander, Auger and Rhys Malcolm (2). But this solid scoring performance came off of the impressive team play that this group is starting to display. Not only did the Hilworth line go out of its way to find each other along the boards, but Malcolm’s line, with Ostrander and Bennett Paltzat, was also impressively moving the puck around.
Indeed, every Bearcat skater made it to the scoresheet with either a goal or an assist and Golla’s two shutout periods couldn’t have happened without the defensive leadership of Crimson Derbowka, Hunter Zenner, Drew Tank and Nathan Howes.
The Bearcats end the season fifth of nine teams with an 8–9–2 record, 20 points behind the undefeated, league leading Mayerthorpe Mustangs. I have mentioned in the past that this is a sorely unbalanced league, so to make it possible for some competitive playoff games, the league has decided to split the playoffs into two divisions, where only the top four teams compete for the banner.
Jasper, as the best of the rest, will play the victor of the bottom two teams in early March, and if successful, play for the consolation final against the victor of the sixth and seventh place team showdown. It should be interesting.
I’ll be looking for you in the stands.
John Wilmshurst
Special to the Fitzhugh
