John Wilmshurst | Special to the Fitzhugh
Last week Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg visited Jasper on her “Fridays for Future” tour.
If I could have met her, my first question would have been if she played hockey.
Off to a strong, pre-season start, the Jasper Bantam Bearcats have landed in the league’s top tier.
In regular season play however, our kids typically start cold only trending warmer only as the playoffs approach.
Thus, in the early going, they could use some determined Scandinavian talent.
But, alas, I never had my chance to recruit Greta as she had moved on to Vancouver to keep up her momentum on climate change action.
Last weekend, in their first regular season road game, our Bantam Bearcats had neither Swedish nor finish as they tried to maintain their own momentum against a luke-warm Edson Sabres team.
Jasper looked decent in the opening frame, managing the ice well and establishing the physical game.
Edson were getting some shots through, but Bearcats’ netminder and ideas-guy, Donovan Fawcett was both on his glove game and keeping things tidy at ice level.
The Jasper forwards were also getting chances at the other end against what looked to be a vulnerable Edson goalie, but were unable to capitalize.
Although the Bearcats were unable to take advantage of the only powerplay of the frame, they were in the game and gathering steam.
That was, however, until with just 20 seconds to play in the first period, Edson popped the puck over Don at the side of the net to take a one goal lead into the break.
Still no need to panic.
Panic set in about three minutes into the second period as the climate dramatically shifted. Edson scored two quick goals, both on turnovers resulting from Jasper’s inability to break out of their own zone.
At the other end of the ice, Jasper’s scoring chances were drying up just as the temperature on the ice was heating up.
Things were getting rough, and it didn’t help when a quick whistle negated a goal by Jasper’s Owen Kearnan half-way through the period.
Jasper protested, but to no avail and the score remained three to nothing Edson.
Edson padded their lead with six minutes to play in the second, setting up a screen of the faceoff and lifting the puck, high blocker, past Don.
A late period powerplay goal for the Bearcats was a sign of a thaw.
Hard work in the corner by Kearnan liberated the puck to Tanner Carlton at the top of the right circle, and he pounded it on net.
Sebastian Golla corralled the puck with his skate, kicked it to his stick and buried.
But that was all Jasper could muster in 40 minutes of play, freezing the scoreboard at Edson 4, Jasper 1.
In the third period, Jasper’s rookies showed up to play.
Wingers Kalan Sawchuk and Rowan Koss had their best 20 minutes of the 2019–20 campaign, and Mac Carmichael seemed to have recovered from injuries sustained the previous weekend.
Sawchuk’s hard work on the boards kept the puck moving north-south, and Koss had three solid shots on net.
Signs of a movement.
But ongoing troubles with their breakout, and a dearth of net pressure froze Jasper’s comeback.
Edson sealed the deal late in the third with their fifth goal of the game.
When the final buzzer sounded, Jasper had only one goal to counter Edson’s five, falling to their first defeat of the regular season.
Jasper will need to increase the temperature of its play a couple of degrees to transition to success this season, with or without a Viking saviour.
No doubt, coach Eric Bouchard is already planning practices to address the issues that were emitted in Edson last Saturday.
If they listen to the coaches, this team has a viable, if uncertain future… their full schedule is not yet out.
But we’ll let you know as soon as it is, and I’m looking forward to seeing you in the stands.
SCOREBOARD
Jasper Atom Bears 6 vs Mayerthorpe 16
D Derksen 3 points, C Miller 3 points, E Gibbons 3 points
Jasper Peewee Bears 2 vs Leduc 6
Callum Campbell 2 points
Jasper Peewee Bears 6 vs New Sarepta 2
Carson Campbell and Drew Kovacs, 3 points each
Jasper Bantam Bearcats 1 vs Edson 5
Sebastian Golla 1 goal
