But I know nothing about death metal, so I’ll spare you my ill-informed lame references. But like metal doesn’t sugarcoat hard living, it is also pretty tough to sugarcoat these games.
On Saturday the Bearcats played in Drayton Valley against the Oilers. Not those Oilers.
Duncan McLeod was between the pipes for Jasper and importantly had a solid start, foiling an Oiler end-to-end rush in the early going. Defenseman Magnus Stenlund put Jasper out front five minutes in, converting a feed from fellow blueliner Matthew Park in the slot.
The other defensive pair of Drew Tank and Tyler Carlton wasn’t a scoring threat, but it was in mid-season form, calmly clearing the puck from the Bearcats’ own zone.
As the first period wound down, Cooper Hilworth made no mistake burying a Rhys Malcolm pass in the slot to give Jasper a two nothing jump after 20 minutes.
Drayton Valley tied the score in the opening five minutes of the second as Jasper started getting sloppy in its own end. Malcolm regained Jasper’s lead with six minutes to play in the second, wristing in a pass from Elvis Gorontzy-Slack, and then Gorontzy-Slack would get one of his own five minutes later when Malcolm returned the favour. Four to two Jasper after two periods, but the shots were pretty much level at this point, with McLeod standing tall, covering up for a number of Jasper defensive zone breakdowns.
Jasper and Drayton Valley traded goals early in the third, the Bearcats’ goal coming off the stick of Troy Jackson, who was dominating the front of the net on a powerplay and deflected a Park point blast. Showing impressive patience with the puck on Jasper’s next man advantage, Eric MacMahon peeled off the half wall into the slot and calmly fired the puck top shelf. Nine minutes to play and Jasper had a three-goal lead.
This game was in the bag—until their defensive zone shenanigans got the better of them. The Oilers would take full advantage of Jasper’s give-aways and failures to clear the puck, scoring three goals in six minutes.
Jasper had no answer. The game ended in a 6–6 tie, but it should have been much different.
On Sunday, the bus travelled to Calmar where Jasper faced the league-leading Devon Drillers. The Bearcats were never in this game, being out-skated, outworked, out-chanced and outscored by the hard driving Drillers.
Jasper’s best stretch was in the middle frame, with MacMahon and Jax Kading standing out when Jasper had the puck; Malcolm and Jackson kept up Jasper’s physical end of the play.
Trenton Rea and Joel Peleshaty made some noise in the third. With Jasper’s second goaltender in the press box, sidelined with an injury, McLeod played a rare second game in a row, and was not to be faulted for the outcome.
In three periods, Jasper was outshot 34 to 26 and outscored 10 to 3. Many of Devon’s chances came from defensive zone turnovers by the Bearcats. Park, Malcolm and Gorontzy-Slack would score for the Bearcats, but this game was never in doubt for the undefeated Drillers.
Jasper is on the bus again next weekend for a tour through Slave Lake and Edson. The Bearcats have fared well against both of these teams in the season so far, so with a week to reflect on last weekend’s weaknesses, we should see a bit of roll to add to the rock in their game.
You can read about it here.
John Wilmshurst Special to the Fitzhugh
