New Year’s resolutions are a tricky beast. We make ‘em, we break ‘em, and we hope that over the passage of time, we improve either because of—or in spite of—the promises we make.
The Jasper Bantam Bearcats have struggled on the scoresheet as of late, despite plenty of talent on the ice. Going into last weekend, the Bearcats were hoping the calendar change would ring in better tidings during a two-game homestand against two of their league’s strongest teams.
Saturday, the Athabasca Winterhawks rolled into town, riding an almost 100-point goal differential and only one loss on the season so far. Jasper entered this game with a tie and a loss in their last two games. But they also had their regular goaltender, Severin Golla, back in the lineup after almost a month off due to injuries. Special thanks to Kelan Polard and Duncan McLeod who were called up from the PeeWee Bears to fill in for Golla, and did stalwart jobs against some stiff opposition.
For success against the Winterhawks, Jasper has needed to get a fast start and play a full 60 minutes of hockey. However, a bit of New Year’s rust was evident in the first period and Jasper was down by three after 20 minutes.
Jasper got into the game in the second with two goals by centre Brendan Auger and one by winger Hunter Zenner, but Athabasca was sharper with four goals of their own.
In the third, Jasper picked up one more goal off the stick of Cooper Hilworth, but this was not enough to defeat Athabasca who added three more of their own past Golla (on 41 shots) for a 10–4 result.
The Hinton Rockies travelled through the frigid cold to Jasper on Sunday afternoon, giving Jasper their second chance for their first victory in 2015.
There were a number of standouts for Jasper in this game.
Rhys Malcolm, who has been moved to defense to shore up the back line in Matthew Park’s absence, was aggressive with the headman pass and solid in breaking up offensive rushes. And Crimson Derbrowka, also back on D, was great getting the puck up to sniper Auger who tallied three markers on the day, including Jasper’s first two goals to give them an early lead.
Bennett Paltzat, who scored Jasper’s third goal, was also an outstanding presence in front of the Hinton net. Hinton put two of their own past Golla, but Jasper lead after 20 minutes, 3–2.
In the second period, Jasper put four more goals up on the board, including a highlight reel play by winger Walter Ostrander. Ostrander stole the puck from Hinton in the Jasper zone, accelerated through the Rockies defense for a 60-foot breakaway, finishing with a bullet over the glove hand of the defenseless Hinton netminder.
Auger, Paltzat and Hilworth were the other Jasper goalscorers in the second who continued to outpace Hinton at a rate of a goal a period. The score was 7–5 in favour of Jasper, after 40 minutes.
On Saturday, Jasper was really only in the game for one period against Athabasca. On Sunday, they put in a solid 40 minutes, certainly better than the day before, but Hinton was game for 60.
In the final period, Jasper could muster no offence but gave up two goals to the Rockies, who were able to tie the game with eight minutes to play.
Although Hinton has only one offensive weapon on their bench, Jasper was unable to contain him for the full game and paid the price in the end.
This was nonetheless a strong performance by the Bearcats, tying their local rivals in a 7–7 outcome. My guess is that they will improve to a full 60 minutes of play next week when they travel to Edson for a rare evening road game on Saturday night.
John Wilmshurst
Special to the Fitzhugh
