There is nothing better on a damp day in Jasper than soup and a sandwich for lunch.
I’m a big fan of smoked meat on whole wheat with a sharp mustard, tomato and pickled beets.
Add vegetable soup and life is good. We have some great sandwich joints here in town, and it is blindingly obvious to me that there is a strong bond between the sandwich and hockey. Last weekend, the Battle River Knights travelled to Jasper to take on our Midget Bearcats and the two games played were the sports fan’s equivalent of a Reuben on rye with a steaming bowl of miso.
Friday night’s game was the soup. The first couple of spoons full were good, but then it got cold quickly and was hard to finish. The Bearcats were dominant and won handily thanks to an outstanding effort in net by Jake Melanson and scoring touch up and down the Jasper lineup. But with a 10-1 outcome in a game against a road-weary Battle River team, there is not much to write about. A solid victory for the Bearcats, but a disappointing, thin broth of a hockey game.
Saturday afternoon’s rematch was more to sink your teeth into. Pastrami on French with a side pickle. The bread for the Jasper Bearcats is their defense. Captained by triple threat, Jack Hilworth, and with rock solid support from Matthew Park, Dimitri Buttazzoni and Ty Bangle, the Bearcats’ blueline is the staff of life for this team. The best ingredients the Bearcats can put together up front will not win games for them if their defensive rye is not on their game.
And Saturday they were on their game.
Jasper got on the board first, when Elvis Gorontzy-Slack buried a backdoor feed from Rhys Malcolm in tight. BattleRiver equalized a few minutes later when a stretch pass beat a Jasper line-change and goaltender Severin Golla, was no match for a top cheddar bullet on the breakaway. The Knights took the lead against the grain of play just before the buzzer, sneaking in a pinballing puck five-hole to take a one goal lead into the first intermission.
No sandwich is going to work without some sort of sauce. In the second period, Jasper got a little too sloppy and into some penalty trouble. And Battle River bit down. With Jasper short handed, a well-placed point shot found the back of the net five minutes into the period giving the Knights a 3-1 lead. Two goals down, the Jasper blueline bore down, Golla found his form and despite some ongoing Bearcat sins, Jasper’s penalty kill started working. Instead, with three minutes to play in the second, Jake Melanson who was filling in at forward on Saturday, swatted in a front of the net pass from Hilworth to draw the Bearcats to within one goal.
The middle frame came to an end with Battle River ahead 3-2, but Jasper was heating up. What’s between the bread counts. Nobody orders a rye sandwich with whatever in between. Tasty, fresh fixings, heaped on so that they cascade between your fingers with every bite is the mark of a great sandwich. In the third period, Battle River couldn’t stay out of the penalty box and Jasper’s forwards were feasting, wiping the mayo off their chin and going in for another bite. Without a standout performance by the Knights’ goaltender, who faced 48 shots, his team would have been toasted. Midway through the third, on the power play, Malcolm was able to equalize for the Bearcats again with a shot in tight. Tied at three, this game was going down to the wire and the play started to get a little crusty. Indeed, Jasper’s chances for a victory were looking dim with under a minute to play when they were penalized for too many men. But shorthanded, Hilworth won a race for a cleared puck and made a sweet pickle move to beat the Knight’s goalie with a rifled backhand.
When all that was left on the plate was crumbs, Jasper had won 4-3 and taken both games in the weekend series. The team will play a home and away game against Barrhead this weekend. Saturday’s game starts at 4:45 p.m. in Jasper. See you in the stands!
John Wilmshurst, special to the 51°µÍø
