Last Saturday, the Midget Bearcats played host to Whitecourt for the first game of the playoffs. The arena was back in action with fresh paint, clean plexi glass and keen hockey players ready to put skates to the ice. When the ice dust had settled and three periods were over, Jasper had won the game by nine points, just one point shy of being able to stay home, watch the men鈥檚 gold medal game and go back to bed.
The Bearcats had to make a trip to Whitecourt on the Sunday to win another game to reach the second round. The boys did just that in spectacular fashion with a 7鈥�0 final.
Round two started Sunday, March 2 against Athabasca. The last time these two teams played it was January; the Bearcats won 8鈥�0. It looked like it might be another easy ride to the final round.
At 19:38 Athabasca struck first. With Chase Thompson caught covering the left post, the visitors slid it by on the open side. It took the Bearcats 10 minutes and a lot of shots and speed before Tristan Nissen brought the puck up from the blue line and slid it across the ice to find Bryn Malcolm, who let it fly over the goalie鈥檚 pad and into the back of the net. At that moment, a great sigh of relief was exhaled by local fans: it was a tie game.
But, perhaps that was a sigh too soon released, because less than two minutes later, the northern visitors were again up by one. Athabasca had come to make a game of it, and the home team had to rethink its previous assumption.
The Bearcats came out blazing for the second period. With swift feet, sure hands and the ability to leap past tall players, Jack Hilworth with his trusty wing men Malcolm and Nissen found the soft spot and sizzled the puck past the goal line; not once but twice.
Then, with a player from Athabasca visiting our time keepers, Alex Chorneyko, J.J. Keogan and Marley Pollock deked and dodged past the defence to score on the power play.
The Bearcats junior line didn鈥檛 want to be left out of the picture either so, after Bentley Fawcett and Ty Bielec fought their way out of the neutral zone, Eric Paukstat made his teammates鈥� passes count.
All this hard work might lead you to believe that Athabasca had thrown in the white towel. But, the visitors were working just as hard and racked up three goals of their own.
With Chorneyko able to find space to skate in alone, the period ended with Jasper up by one goal: 6鈥�5.
When you鈥檙e playing two games, total points, for the privilege of moving to the next round, every point counts in a big way.
All the Bearcats had to do was keep skating hard, find the sweet spot on the stick and stay out of the penalty box. The players from Athabasca were probably saying the same thing to themselves as well.
On to the third period; the play slowed down a bit as both teams were feeling the effects of the previous periods鈥� speed and a few punishing blows from both sides.
Jordan Overaker hadn鈥檛 scored but his slap shot was putting a few bruises on the shins of the visitor鈥檚 defensive lines. Noah Bielec showed his speed when it came to racing Athabasca forwards for the loose pucks in the corners. It even resulted in another goal to help extend the lead.
Thompson found his equilibrium and made key saves to help toward a win. The team had keyed in on the fact that the goalie from Athabasca gave up a lot of rebounds. This knowledge allowed Pollock to scoop up a rebound and, with the scramble in front of the net, slide it past the goal line.
With the end in sight, Nissen scored another goal off a pass from Hilworth. But Athabasca would not let the home team rest on its laurels.
With a Bearcat in the penalty box and two minutes left in the game, Athabasca found a way to narrow the score to three goals. But that鈥檚 as close as they鈥檇 come.
Next Friday, March 7, the Bearcats will be visiting Athabasca for the second game of this series.
With only a three-goal cushion, the Bearcats will have to step up the defence and offence to keep the Athabasca team at bay.
Mayerthorpe, the winner of their series against Slave Lake, is waiting to take on the winner for the championship trophy.
聽Tamar Couture
Special to the 51暗网
