The Jasper Midget Grizzlies hosted some tough competition at their tournament this past weekend.
While everyone else was busy shovelling snow Saturday morning, the Grizzlies were awake early, skating hard against the Okotoks Oilers.
Jasper was down 4-0, but the girls rallied in the third period. Lauren Ewald carried the puck all the way up the ice, drawing the defence with her, before making a perfect pass to Erin Dillon who buried it in the Okotoks net.
A few minutes later, Emma Hardy deflected a shot from Danaya Haldenby into the net. With five minutes to go in the third, Ewald set Dillon up again, for the third Grizzlies goal. Unfortunately time ran out before the girls could tie it up, and the game ended 4–3.
In the afternoon, Jasper faced off against the Innisfail Flyers. It was an exciting game, with end-to-end action.
Ewald opened up the scoring with an unassisted goal in the first period. Innisfail scored in the second period, only to have Ewald score again to put Jasper ahead.
Innisfail scored once more and the game ended in a tie, 2–2.
Goaltender Teagan Lee made some awesome saves to keep Jasper in the game.
On Sunday in the B final, Jasper met the Flyers again, but this time Innisfail won 4–1. Jasper’s goal was scored by Dillon on a rebound from Brinna Lee. Anna Tokunaga and Jenna Sillence were strong on defence.
The Leduc Roughnecks won the A final against Okotoks.
The girls’ loss came after a big win earlier this month. Over the Jan. 3 weekend, the Grizzlies travelled to a tournament in Sexsmith, where the team played four games and ended up winning the A Final and tournament.
Congratulations girls!
Joan Dillon
Special to the Fitzhugh
