The Jasper Midget Bearcats finished off the 2013 calendar year with two games, one on Saturday, Dec. 7 against Athabasca and the other against Edson on Saturday, Dec. 14.
The Bearcats faced Athabasca on the first road trip of the season back in November and came away with a tie. So in this game, the team was looking to change the outcome to a win.
With their regular goalie still recovering from an injury received in that first game, the Bearcats hosted Jake Melanson in net. It had been a month since the teams clashed and the Bearcats had improved in all areas.
Would the team鈥檚 new skills be the ticket to beat Athabasca this time around?
Jasper opened the scoring half way through the first period with Nathan Poirier sliding a pass from Alex Chorneyko and Connor Malcolm past the Athabasca netminder. Play went back and forth with quick passes and fast skates until Malcolm added a second goal, with Bantam import Ty Bielec feeding him the puck.
Jasper opened the second period on a power play where Marley Pollock took full advantage of a passing play from JJ Keogan and Malcolm to put the puck in the net.
Athabasca put its first point on the board with a shorthanded goal when Jasper didn鈥檛 get back to defend its ice in time.
The first year line of Tristan Nissen, Bryn Malcolm and Jack Hilworth finished the period off by putting Jasper up 4鈥�1.
The third period started in the same way as the second, with Chorneyko feeding a beauty pass to Jasper鈥檚 Jordan Overaker, who passed it on to Pollock, who scored another power play goal.
Athabasca was not giving up though and fought hard to keep Jasper off the scoreboard for the rest of the third period. With three minutes left in the game, Athabasca was able to score on its own power play. The game ended with Jasper in the winning column 5鈥�2.
The Bearcats hosted a game against Edson on Saturday, Dec. 14. When they last faced this team it was October and the final was 6鈥�3 for Jasper. It looked like it would be an exciting game against two evenly matched teams.
Unfortunately, though, Edson has been hit with some injuries which have dramatically changed its team.
With the final score of the game 14鈥�2 for Jasper, it didn鈥檛 turn into the game that either team wanted to see. With an eight goal lead after the first period, the Jasper coaches decided to change up the lines and positions with the team working on passing and breaking out. This allowed Erik Paukstat, Noah Bielec and Bentley Fawcett to work the front of the net as well.
The Bearcats will be off until the new year, with the next game taking place Jan. 4 in Mayerthorpe.
The team will play its first home game of 2014 on Jan. 11 at 1:30 p.m. against Athabasca. See you in the stands!
聽Tamar Couture
Special to the 51暗网
