There were a lot of unusual happenings during the first Jasper Atom Bears game of 2014 last Sunday.
The Bears came out flying against the Whitecourt Wolverines, dominating the first period in stark contrast to the team鈥檚 2013 suite of games, in which the Bears could be counted on for slow starts.
Then, three of Bears鈥� gentle stars, Sebastian Golla, Camas D鈥橝ntonio and Owen Kearnan, caught the attention of the referees and spent time in the sin bin for their indiscretions.
The third oddity of the game was the addition of goals from players who have been on a bit of a drought as of late.
And finally, the team caught the passing bug, perhaps thanks to its participation in a holiday mini hockey camp that emphasized stick handling and sharing the puck.
Could this happen to be the result of New Year鈥檚 resolutions? I鈥檓 not sure, but outside of the penalties, I hope that the team鈥檚 resolutions last longer than mine have.
Jasper was able to kill its first penalty of 2014, with D鈥橝ntonio sitting off鈥攊n a previously undiscovered part of the rink鈥攆or tripping six minutes into the game.
Dylan Dekker was Jasper鈥檚 first goal scorer in the New Year, with a beautiful shot that eluded the otherwise sharp Whitecourt netminder just over 10 minutes into the game. Dekker was flying on Sunday, creating all kinds of chances for himself and his linemates, Lucas Oeggerli and Baden Koss.
Then Owen Kearnan wired a shot along the ice from the left circle that found both the five-hole and the back of the net for his first goal of the season.
A couple of minutes later, Sebastian Golla put the Bears up by three on a breakaway that also went five-hole. But then, as the period was coming to a close, Golla landed in the penalty box for his career first on-ice infraction: interference. Happy birthday, Seba.
Golla made up for his teammates misbehaviour in the second period by dishing the puck to Dana Angebrandt at the Bears鈥� blue line, springing her for a breakaway where she hammered the puck past the Wolverine backstop for Jasper鈥檚 fourth goal.
Whitecourt solved Bears鈥� netminder Kelan Polard for the first time in the game 25 seconds later, to close the gap to three, but not half a minute later, Jacob Bartziokas flicked the goal monkey off of his back, picking up a pass from Kearnan and blasting it home.
Polard preserved Jasper鈥檚 four goal lead with a beautiful glove save with three minutes left to play, but with the clock winding down, Whitecourt crawled back to within three, planting a loose rebound behind the Jasper keeper. After 40, the score was 5鈥�2 for Jasper.
In the third, Jasper was lighting up the passing game, featuring sharp D to D exchanges, cycling in the offensive zone and timely dishes to the front of the net. It鈥檚 nice to see solid passing at this level, but the Whitecourt goalie was up to the challenge and no goals resulted from this play.
Whitecourt was only able to slip the puck between the marsh pegs and past Polard once in the third, preserving Jasper鈥檚 victory at 5鈥�3.
The first game of 2014 left very hopeful signs for the rest of the season and for coach John Polard. The game ended with Golla once again in the penalty box, but this time serving for the Bears鈥� defensive coach, who put too many kids on the ice and shall remain nameless.
聽John Wilmshurst
Special to the 51暗网
