John Wilmshurst - Special to the Fitzhugh
When Coach Pat McLeod invited me to take in some of the Grizzly Cup last weekend, the annual Jasper Grizzlies PeeWee tournament, I asked him what he thought the best games would be.
Full of confidence in his team and bench staff, Jason Munn and Jay McArthur, Coach McLeod said I should set aside time for Sunday’s A-final because that’s when Jasper would be playing.
And for good reason. The Grizzlies have had a great year, winning most of their games, some against some the two invited Grande Prairie teams.
The other invitees, Wetaskiwin, Fort Saskatchewan and Brooks seems like well matched opponents.
But the round-robin matchups were tough, so a couple of narrow losses and a tie landed the host team in Sunday’s C Final.
Undeterred, the Grizzlies played a spirited match.
With a short bench caused by illness (Georgia Bell out with a cold), injury (Paige Hugie nursing some wounds) and attrition (Murphy Davies moved east), eight skaters plus a goalie (Molly McGown who shares netminding duties with the injured Hugie) strapped on the blades against the Grande Prairie (B2) Knights for an 8 a.m. faceoff on Sunday morning.
Perhaps it was the early start, but the Grizzlies were slow to warm up.
Grande Prairie took the early advantage with a goal 14 minutes into the first period as their speedy forwards burned down the left side and blasted a shot past a sprawling McGown.
This was all for first period scoring but our Grizzlies were waking up and Grande Prairie would have been wise to heed the advice: don’t poke the bear.
The Grizzlies came out to play in the middle frame.
Jasper’s three defenders, the steady Lydia Storms, shifty Chloe Munn and Bella Kovacs with a solid two-way game, amped up their shut-down play, limiting the Knights to fewer than a handful of shots in the second period.
Meanwhile, the diminished ranks of Jasper’s forwards were lighting it up at the other end, peppering the Grande Prairie netminder with shots.
Sophie Bennett, a centre with a huge shot got things going seven minutes in, converting a pass from Sahara Harvey, her small but tenacious winger.
Tied at one, the Grizzlies were not finished, as Annika Oeggerli flexed her powerful arm muscles, popping the puck over the butterflying Knight netminder for Jasper’s second goal and first lead of the game.
Two to one Grizzlies after 40 minutes.
The third was more of the same. Kovacs’ ability to quickly feed the breakout pass to the waiting forwards trapped the Grande Prairie forecheckers deep and sprung the racing Jasper wingers for waves of offensive pressure.
Daisy McLeod was relentless on the Grande Prairie defenders, almost giving Jasper a two-goal lead early in the third with her stick in the blue ice.
But the whistle blew before the puck crossed the line, holding the score at 2 to 1.
That third goal did come though, as Harvey completed her two-point performance, firing the puck in from close range.
At the 12 minute mark, Izzy McArthur who had a ton of chances on an earlier power play, finally hit pay dirt, sliding the puck into the back of the net for the Grizzlies’ fourth goal.
With a commanding 4 to 1 lead, Storms’ and Munn’s shut-down defense and McGown’s athletic performance between the pipes really kicked in.
The Knights were starving for shots, let alone goals as time wound down.
Bennett put the icing on the C Final cake with a blast half way through the third period that would prove to be the game’s final goal; final score Jasper 5, Grande Prairie 1.
To accompany their C Final trophy, Izzy McArthur skated off with the games’ Heart and Hustle award and Chloe Munn was named game MVP.
Congratulations also to the Prairie Thunder from Brooks for taking home the B Final trophy and the Wetaskiwin Ice Queens for skating to an A Final victory and bragging rights to the Grizzly Cup.
Next up for the Jasper Grizzlies is Vancouver WickFest in a couple of weeks.
Good luck Grizzlies.
