Hockey fans from across the province were treated to a high-intensity, offensive-filled game, during the Edmonton Oilers’ Billy Moores Cup, July 8.
The annual inter-squad game drew a sold-out crowd to the Jasper Arena, which hadn’t seen this level of hockey since the last time the team’s prospects were in town in 2014.
Mixing things up, fans got to see a little bit of everything: 30 minutes of five-on-five, 15 minutes of 4-on-4 and 10 minutes of 3-on-3, followed by a shootout.
After 55 minutes of play team Messier walked away with a 6-2 victory.
“Obviously it wasn’t our best game, we lost 6-2 out there, but its good to get your feet wet,” said Drake Caggiula, after the game.
“It’s the middle of summer and guys aren’t really in game shape, but it’s fun to get out there and have some competition and get into that game groove.”
Team Gretzky opened up the scoring three and half minutes into game thanks to a nice feed from Jaedon Descheneau to setup Caggiula who was in front to pot the game’s first goal.
Team Messier responded with a snip from Scott Allen through traffic to tie it up 1-1 after 30-minutes of play.
After a quick intermission, team Messier took the lead early in the second period and never looked back after a magnificent cross-zone pass from Mark Auk to Aapeli Räsänen for a one-timer to make it 2-1.
Two minutes later Josh Melnick tipped the puck into the net after Jason Fram directed a shot towards him to give his team a 3-1 lead.
And the scoring didn’t stop there.
Team Messier added a fourth goal at the 12-minute mark to take a 4-1 lead.
Team Gretzky was able to get one back before the end of the second period thanks to a one-timer from Shane Hanna, but team Messier responded minutes later to finish the period 5-2.
Moving into the third period there were a lot more chances thanks to the 3-on-3 format, but it was team Messier who added another goal to end the game 6-2.
In the end, Melnick netted two goals and 26-year-old Allen added two more to lead the way for Team Messier. Melnick had a good a chance to earn a hat trick, but missed a penalty shot late in the game.
Räsänen and Desharnais rounded out the scoring for the winners.
Despite the definitive result the game then went to a shootout.
Team Gretzky managed to score two goals on three shots to win the shootout.
Prior to the opening faceoff Doug McPhee, a local organizer, took time to honour, John Hilwork and Brian Young, two local hockey players from Jasper who made it to the NHL.
Hilwork played for the Detroit Red Wings from 1978 to 1980 and Young played for the Chicago Black Hawks from 1979-1981. Both of their jersey’s now hang in the arena.
Paul Clarke
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