Whenever a team from 鈥榯he City鈥� (a.k.a. Edmonton) come to town, there is always a bit of apprehension from our small-town hockey teams. City teams typically ice teams with players of equal abilities. This it very different from Jasper teams where variety is the norm. So, when a city team comes to town, you can expect an onslaught from a team thick with talent from the first to third line on forward and defense. On Jan. 7, the Stony Plain Predators made the trek west on Highway 16 to take on our own PeeWee Bears in a much-anticipated matchup between one-room-school-house Jasper and Stony Plain polytechnic.
Like every opening five minutes of a PeeWee game, the kids are still finding their legs. During these early minutes, defensive play is important and tends to dominate. This was evident just a few minutes into the first period. With the Predators threatening, blueliner Owen Kearnan came up with a huge goal line defensive play to prevent a sure goal for Stony Plain, and preserving the scoreless tie. But then right on cue at the 15-minute mark Jasper rang the bell. Lucas Oeggerli controlled the puck behind the Predators鈥� net, fed Baden Koss in the slot and he hammered the puck into a yawning cage. With the ice broken, the Bears relaxed and you could see them taking over the game. Particularly when Jasper goaltender, Donovan Fawcett, foiled a Stony Plain breakaway with a deft poke-check, Jasper鈥檚 confidence swelled.
In the second, the Predators got into some early trouble, but despite multiple wrap-around attempts by Tanner Carlton, the Bears were unable to make Stony Plain pay on the power play. The fans didn鈥檛 have to wait long though. Jasper pulled ahead by a deuce with a bar down marker from Liam Crozier, converting a perfect pass from linemate Dylan Skinner. To make it interesting, and taking advantage of a bad Jasper change, Stony Plain rushed in three-on-one and converted, drawing back to within one goal at the close of the second period.
The third was a nail-biter. Jasper鈥檚 thick but uneven offense kept Stony Plain well hemmed in their own zone. And with Janelle Tank, Dexter Fawcett and the Jacobs (Bartziokas and Bouchard) battling on the blue-line, the Predators struggled to get shots on Donovan. Even when they did, Don鈥檚 glove was flawless. Nevertheless, the third was tense, particularly with Jasper getting into some penalty trouble. But with a Bear in the box, Sebastian Golla did his homework short-handed, wiring a perfect wrist-shot top shelf from the left circle giving Jasper a commanding three to one lead. Dylan Dekker put to bed any hope for a Predators鈥� extra-curricular with two minutes to play, burying his own rebound and putting Jasper up by three.
Our one-room-school-house Jasper kids schooled the city kids with a 4-1 victory showing once again the qualities of a diverse lineup. Indeed, this was one of the most complete games our PeeWees have played to date. With things on the upswing, our kids get next weekend off, resuming play the weekend of January 21st with a road trip through Devon and Stony Plain. You can read about it here.
John Wilmshurst
Special to the 51暗网
