In the final weekend of PeeWee hockey in 2016 your Jasper PeeWee Bears played host to the Fox Creek Bulldogs in a two-game home stand. If you recall, back in November, Jasper played two games in Fox Creek, skating away with a tie and a decisive, 10-3 victory. Coming off a one-and-one record last weekend, expectations were high for the Bears to add a couple more to the win column.聽
Dec. 17鈥檚 game was all about goaltending. Fox Creek ices a very stand-up netminder between the pipes with a decent glove hand, but a distinct lack of mobility. Jasper though has the athletic Donovan Fawcett in the cage with an outstanding glove and enough mobility to cover a lot of net with his small frame. Both these kids were staring down some potent shooters, and both came up big.
In the first period, Fawcett was huge. He turned away 11 shots and his glove was so strong, the Fox Creek coaches were telling their forwards to shoot blocker side. Jasper, who always takes a bit of time to boot up in a game, was struggling to get shots through at all. It wasn鈥檛 until the 13th minute the tenacious Lucas Oeggerli buried his own rebound to put Jasper on the board.
Jasper extended their lead in the second when Sebastian Golla walked in from the left circle and laid down a deke that put Jasper up by two. Fox Creek clawed back five minutes later when their top scorer finally solved Donovan. But this period was his, with another 10 stops in front of his defensive corps led by Jacob Bouchard and Fawcett鈥檚 brother Dexter who were both on their games.
In the third, Donovan continued his shutdown goaltending despite relentless pressure, and Golla fired an insurance goal from a distance, through traffic to seal the Bears鈥� victory at 3-1. One game, one Bears鈥� victory.
The following morning everyone knew would be a different kettle of fish. Fox Creek breeds competitive hockey players (and coaches) who, despite a short bench, play a strategic game of line and player matching even at this young age. True to form, and right off the opening faceoff barely 30 seconds in the Bulldogs were up by one. That early goal would round out the scoring for the first period as Fox Creek collapsed on its own netminder making shots and even passes difficult to get to the net. Jasper managed eight shots, but not one was a quality chance.
In the second the Bears got the ball rolling. Blueliner Owen Kearnan, who was moved to forward to cover some holiday absences, started things off, jamming home a sweet pass from Dylan Dekker. Then sniper Apollo Hardman gave Jasper a brief lead, burying a breakaway. Fox Creek equalized in the next shift and then they took a 3-2 lead 12 minutes in on yet another goal from their team-leading sniper. Kearnan equalized with six minutes to play in the second, skillfully tipping a Golla shot, but then the Bulldogs equalized yet again, 30 seconds later. But penalty trouble began to dog Fox Creek and Jasper picked up two power play goals to end the second, the second from power forward Dekker just back from his African safari. After two periods it was 5-4 Jasper.
In the third, Jasper was intent on keeping the sheet clean. Michael Hayashi, Janelle Tank and Jacob Bartziokas were on defense, while Bouchard held the Bulldogs to one goal and eight shots. That defensive effort would help Jasper keep their lead thanks to Hardman, working the puck with linemates Dylan Skinner and Henri LeClerc. Donovan, as usual, kept his end of the bargain up, and the Bears skated away with a 6-5 victory.
Two games, two entries in the win column. The Bears are now idle until Jan. 7 when they play Stony Plain here in Jasper. I鈥檒l see you in 2017 and in the stands.
John Wilmshurst special to the 51暗网
