Many of you who have been following the season of the Jasper PeeWee Bears will recognize the challenges this team has faced. Coaches Chuck Barker and Steve Malcolm built the Bears on a powder keg; assembling a talented and emotional group of skaters who were playing in a division where only one other team offered any real competition. At several points in the season, the keg threatened to explode, and when the lid finally blew off several weeks ago during their home tournament, it left the Bears shy some key elements for the playoffs. In their final two games, the squad that remained rallied in a gritty performance that restored the pride that they built through their many regular season accomplishments.
Game one in this two game, total goals series, took place in Mayerthorpe on March 10 against the second place Mustangs. Jasper went down 2–0 in the first period on the strength of a Mustang power-play goal at the 11 minute mark and a full strength goal with four minutes to play in the frame. Early in the second, with a Mayerthorpe skater in the box, Bears’ Magnus Stenlund got Jasper to within one with a stinger from the slot. Then power forward Hyunki Kim tied it for the Bears, burying a perfect feed from Elvis Gorontzy-Slack, but Mayerthorpe came storming back with two more goals before the period ended.
Jasper clawed back to within one early in the third when Cooper Hilworth took a pass from Rhys Malcolm, powered to the crease and slid the puck past a defenceless Mustangs goaltender. But that was as close as Jasper would get. Two quick goals from Mayerthorpe halfway through the period put the Mustangs up by three, and Hilworth’s last minute marker on a pass from Kim kept the final score close. The game ended 6–4 Mayerthorpe, but the Bears and their fans celebrated as if they had won for competing against an able opponent with a depleted offensive corps.
Last Sunday at home, these two squads met again for the second and final game of the playoff series. The first period was a goaltender’s battle, with Bears’ netminder, Severin Golla working the leather to keep the puck out of the net. Despite opening the scoring on a goal from Gorontzy-Slack, the Bears were down 2–1 going into the first intermission, with a bevy of posts and near misses from the Jasper snipers. In the second, Kim tied it three minutes in, taking a feed off the rush from Brendan Auger and roofing the puck at the crease. A beautiful goal, but Mayerthorpe would counter with four unanswered markers in the middle frame that included three goals off of three shots in about a two minute stretch half way through the period. At the end of the second, despite outshooting the Mustangs 24–20, the Bears were down 6–2.
When the teams skated onto the ice for the third period, you could see that the Bears were playing for pride. They gave up one more goal, but got one back with Auger finishing, as he does so well, from Hunter Zenner and Stenlund. The Bears played with class this period, knowing that the chances they could score the six goals needed to tie the series were slim. The whole squad, including Drew Tank, Adrian Nayak and Matthew Park, who worked hard but were held off the scoresheet, left it all on the ice. The game ended 7–3, with Mayerthorpe taking home the playoff cup.
That wraps the season for the PeeWee Bears. Next year will bring a whole new mix of players as some second- year Atoms move up and our second year PeeWees move on. Thanks to coaches Barker and Malcolm for their tremendous efforts this season, and we’ll see you next fall.
