There’s a lot to be said for being a hockey parent. You spend a lot of time travelling to, and sitting in, small-town rinks around Alberta. But there are few things better than watching your kid play sports, and you get to hang out with the coolest parents in town.
Last weekend the Jasper Bantam Bearcats played a trio of games here in town, and I got to spend some quality time in the stands and the time-keeper’s box with some of this town’s finest transportation experts, whether it be by horse, train or truck.
On Friday, the dark horse Edson Warriors returned to town, champing-at-the-bit for redemption from their near-upset of Jasper two weeks ago. But Jasper was quick out of the gate this time, mounting a three-goal lead before the first period was out, and a five-goal lead after two.
While Jasper’s thoroughbred goal scorers were back at it, the story of the game was Bearcats’ goaltender, Duncan McLeod who ponied up, facing 22 tough shots as the Warriors brought their A-game to Jasper.
McLeod all but shut the door, letting in just one goal that came mid-way through the first, and then proceeded to shut the gate on Edson for the remaining 50 minutes.
For their part, Jasper logged eight goals: a powerplay marker from Elvis Goronsky-Slack, five in a row from Cooper Hilworth, including a “Gary” goal, burying a puck bounced off the end boards and a nice deflection off an Eric MacMahon point shot, and singletons from Hunter Zenner and Rhys Malcolm late in the game.
The final tally was Jasper 8, Edson 1.
Saturday afternoon, the Whitecourt Wolverines chugged into Jasper for a two-game weekend series.
This Wolverines team is small in number and stature, but, like the little engine that could, engineered a one goal-lead in the first period on the strength of a couple of loose pucks in front of Bearcats’ goaltender Severin Golla. But then, like McLeod the game before, Golla would shut the door for two periods, while Jasper’s goal-scoring engine got going.
Elvis tied it for the Bearcats 12 minutes into the second period, winning a puck battle in front of the net and flipping it in over the outstretched blocker. It was tied at two after 40 minutes, but then early in the third period, Joel Peleshaty made no mistake, shooting on a two-on-one giving Jasper a lead it would not relinquish.
Malcolm scored Jasper’s fourth, poking in another loose puck in the blue ice, and fifth snapping a screen shot under the bar from the top of the circle.
With a few Bearcats out due to illness, forward Trenton Rea was asked to fill in on the blueline and did a stellar job at the back of the train, learning how nice it is to have the game unfold in front of you instead of at your back.
The final score on Saturday was Jasper 5, Whitecourt 2.
In Sunday’s rematch, the Wolverines had that look of a compact car driver with nothing but a Peterbilt logo in their rearview mirror. Jasper let its big-rig offense warm up for eight minutes and then put the petal to the metal, with Jax Kading finding the back of the net for the game’s first goal.
Malcolm would give Jasper a two-goal cushion, tapping in another perfect pass from Goronsky-Slack with only four seconds left in the opening frame.
In the second, Jasper put it in gear and cruised, scoring three unanswered goals ahead of backstop McLeod playing his second start in net in three games.
Zenner started the Bearcats off with a powerplay goal that deflected off a skate and into the net. Then Goronsky-Slack scored from an improbable angle at the side of the net and Hilworth got his first goal of the game, making no mistake all alone with the puck in the blue ice. At the end of two periods, it was Jasper 5, Whitecourt 0.
Jasper would score four more insurance markers in the third as Goronsky-Slack, Malcolm and Hilworth (2) found pay dirt.
At his end of the ice, McLeod kept the manifest clean for another shutout on the season, as Jasper would walk away with 9–0 win.
This Saturday, Jasper takes on Morinville at 3:30 in the afternoon. See you in the stands.
John Wilmshurst Special to the Fitzhugh
