The Jasper Atom Bears left their fans cheering for more last weekend, after playing a pair of home games against their regional rivals, Hinton and Edson.
Both matches were complete team efforts, which has become the hallmark of this group, with strong offensive and defensive performances both days. Players are skating hard, cycling the puck, making quick changes and playing smart hockey. But one stat stands out for me. Of the 11 goals scored by Jasper over the weekend, there were nine goal scorers. This is an outstanding record that I would argue means more than what appears in the win column.
On Saturday, the Hinton Nuggets—led by their dominating captain—rolled into town to take on a full roster of Jasper Bears, sporting 17 skaters and first-year goalie, Donovan Fawcett between the pipes. As the game progressed, it became clear that this was going to be a showdown between this Hinton sniper with a nose for the net, and Jasper’s mobile goalie with his own competitive tendencies.
Hinton struck first, three and a half minutes in, when their captain put the puck in on Fawcett’s blocker side. But then Jasper, anchored by a very focussed Fawcett, played shut-down hockey for 20 minutes with the defensive corps—Jacob Bartziokas, Owen Kearnan, Michael Hyashi, Tanner Carlton and Dexter Fawcett—swarming every Hinton offensive drive. At the same time, the Jasper offense kicked in, potting four goals off the sticks of Apollo Hardman, Dylan Dekker, Hyashi and Sebastian Golla, before Hinton could beat Fawcett for a second time.
Hinton’s second line scored on a breakaway three minutes into the second period, but Josh Lee would get that back for the Bears a few minutes later to reclaim Jasper’s three goal lead.
Lucas Oeggerli would take a perfect pass from blueliner Bartziokas with eight minutes to play in the second and bury it top cheese to extend the gap by four. But then Hinton’s top skater got his team back within three on another breakaway in the dying seconds of the period.
The score was 6–3 for Jasper after 40 minutes of play.
In the third, the Hinton goalie played shutout hockey, but the Bears could not contain the Nuggets’ captain, who scored three more times, including two in the final 70 seconds to earn his team a buzzer beating tie.
On Sunday, Edson’s second team slid into town for another 1 p.m. showdown. This was yet again a great outing for the Bears, with full team play, an outstanding tyro goaltending performance from Dekker and a strong showing from the rookie line of Nash Hilworth, Ty Crozier and Fawcett.
They didn’t get on the scoresheet, but Crozier displayed confidence moving the puck through the neutral zone and Hilworth was strong on the forecheck, keeping Edson’s d-men on their toes.
It was Ty’s big brother, Liam Crozier who got the first goal, just over a minute into the game, taking a feed from Hardman and burying it under the pads of Edson’s netminder.
Bartziokas got Jasper’s second about a minute later when he and fellow blueliner Carleton teamed up on a rush to give Jasper a two goal cushion after 20 minutes.
Oeggerli put Jasper up by three fifteen minutes into the second with a skilled goal that finished an efficient cycle involving defensemen Dexter Fawcett and Kearnan.
In the final five minutes of the second period, Jasper and Edson traded goals as Baden Koss buried a feed from Golla, while Edson slid one under Dekker’s pads to break up his shutout bid.
Jasper held a 4–1 lead after 40 minutes.
In the third period, the teams again traded goals. Golla sent the water bottle flying with a top shelf blast, after an Oeggerli pass.
But Edson rounded out the contest, beating Dekker for only a second time with seven seconds on the clock.
The final score was Jasper 5, Edson 2, sealing Jasper’s third season victory. Next weekend, Jasper will host tourists from Swan Hills on Saturday at 2 p.m., and then league leading, 5–0, Fox Creek at 1:30 on Sunday.
See you at the rink.
John Wilmshurst
Special to the Fitzhugh
