by John Wilmshurst | special to the Fitzhugh
Last weekend as Jasper’s Dark Sky festival was getting underway, our Bantam Bearcat stars launched what will become a familiar trek to Edmonton to begin their fall and winter hockey campaign. Not the final frontier, but an unexplored constellation of teams in the city’s non-checking league.
The first two weekends of the season will establish where they fit in Edmonton’s hockey universe. And game one against the Northwest Zone Mavericks was the first moon shot and our icetronauts were buzzing in the opening minutes. First year Bantams Lucas Oeggerli, Baden Koss and Sebastian Golla picked right up where they left off in PeeWee, pressuring in the O-zone and cycling the puck. Meanwhile veteran Bantam blueliners Josh Howes and Aidan Deagle were keeping airspace clear for netminder Kelan Polard. With nine minutes to play in the first, Deagle got over-enthusiastic, landing in the sin bin for tripping. The Mavericks took advantage to go up 1-0, followed by two more quick ones before the opening period expired. Three nothing after one for NWZ.
Polard stood on his head to give his team a chance to get back in the game early in the second, including shutting down a couple of breakaways. And the Bearcats were on fire. Owen Kearnan put a slapper on net and Liam Crozier almost buried one from the slot. Jasper were orbiting but couldn’t land. And again, in the second half of the frame, the Mavericks found their range, converting three more times to go up 6-0 after two.
The game was out of reach going into the third, and the Mavericks even extended their lead. But Koss was able to bury twice for the Bearcats, once tipping in a shot launched by Jacob Bartziokas at the point and the next, poking in the puck on a breakaway. The final was 8-2 for the Mavericks, but this score did not entirely reflect the balance of play on the ice.
On Sunday, Jasper faced the team that is likely the class of Tier 4 in the Edmonton League; the Northwest Zone Junior Oil Kings. Big, fast, and solid on the puck, the Jasper space cadets were in tough. But again, in the early going, the Bearcats impressed. Golla stole the puck and got some shots off while Dana Angebrandt on defense, who really had a solid weekend performance, was stopping the Oil Kings in the neutral zone. But the OKs were just too much in the end, and in the waning minutes of the opening period were able to score five quick goals that sent Jasper spinning, out of control through space. Houston, we have a problem.
Things were a bit better in the second with the Bearcats only allowing four goals. But the OKs were clearly in command. Again, with the game out of reach, Jasper put up a fight in the third with one disallowed goal and lots of great offensive efforts, that all came to naught. The Oil Kings scored twice more for an even 10 goals, eclipsing the scoreless Bearcats.
But don’t despair. This is tiering, where the league often pits mismatched teams against one another to test mettle. The scene in the dressing room from both kids and coaches was positive. These are the first games of the season for our largely rookie squad in a brand-new league. They will improve as they always do. This weekend, while you are staring at the night sky, they will be back in E-town to wrap up tiering. And you can read about it here.
