Lesleigh Campbell | Special to the Fitzhugh
The U15 Jasper Bearcats hosted their annual home tournament this past weekend. The tournament consisted of six teams from all over Alberta, including the Grand Prairie Knights, the Peace River Stampeders, the KC Sabres, the Hinton OK Tire, the Seera Knights and, of course, the Jasper Bearcats.
The tournament was divided into two pools. The Bearcats were in a pool with the GP Knights and the KC Sabres, and they went on to win both of those games respectively. Hinton won both of their games on Saturday as well, which meant it was Jasper vs. Hinton for the “A” final game on Sunday. And that was the riveting game that I will go into detail about.
The wonderful aroma of Glenda’s filled the arena air as the bleachers started to fill up with excited fans, and the big golden trophy was displayed for the teams and their fans to see what they were playing for. Both teams skated onto the ice, knowing that only one team would go home with that trophy.
Morgan Thomas scored the first goal of this game, assisted by Carson Campbell. And before long, the Bearcats were up 3-0 after a goal by Jackson Irwin, and then a second for Thomas. But after being denied several times, Hinton was finally able to get one, and then another past Brady “Soupy” Campbell (Nicknamed by the legendary Ryan verge). It was around that point when this became a game of back and forth. Drew Kovacs scored Jasper’s fourth goal followed by Thomas getting his hat-trick goal. Less than 20 seconds later, Hinton made it 5-3, and then closed the gap even more by scoring one more right before the buzzer. The Bearcats headed into the first intermission up 5-4.
The battle continued into the second period when Thomas grabbed the loose puck in the neutral zone, blew past one defender and roofed a perfectly placed backhand over the Hinton goaltender. This was the only goal Jasper scored all period long. In fact, it was one of only two shots the Bearcats got on Hinton’s net in the second, and as the great Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take.” Lucky for Jasper, “Soupy” saved 12 of the 13 shots that Hinton sent his way this period, and Jasper held on to their lead. After 40, it was 6-5.
With their eyes on the prize, Hinton started the third period firing on all cylinders. First, they tied it up, and then soon after that they took the lead and added one more for insurance. But Jasper came back quickly with back-to-back goals by Kovacs, completing his hat-trick with some help from Campbell… So much for insurance. And then a few minutes later, Kovacs managed to get one more. With five minutes left in the game, the Jasper Bearcats were up 9-8. But 35 seconds later, Hinton tied it up again. The Bearcats fought hard to add another trophy to their cabinet, but alas Hinton finished them off by scoring the winning goal, right before the buzzer. Still, the Jasper Bearcats ought to be proud of themselves. With a short bench this year, they are truly giving it everything they’ve got.
Thank you to everyone who came out and supported or donated to your U15 Bearcats. Thank you to Ambur Doyle and Wendy Hall for doing all of the tournament organizing. Thank you to Alex Derksen, Royd Irwin, David Miller and Jim Campbell for being such amazing coaches. Thank you to Glen, Brad, Herb, Lex, Brian and any other referees who kept these players in line this weekend. Thank you to Glenda the Great and all of your talented staff. Thank you to all of the amazing arena and activity centre staff. And last but not least, thank you to all of the parents who volunteered over the course of the weekend. All of the above mentioned (including the players) should give yourselves a pat on the back for another successful and fun weekend at the Jasper Activity Centre and Arena.
