Like a spring snowstorm, the Jasper Invitational Hockey Tournament blew through town last weekend and the Jasper PeeWee Bears partook.
Hosted annually by North SEERA (Southeast Edmonton Recreation Association) this is a fun event where the kids are encouraged to try some fancy moves, play an unfamiliar position and even play for the opposition, if called upon. In two days, the short-benched Bears played three games that were a fitting end to their win-some, lose-some hockey season.
Game 1 took place Friday evening against the Millwoods Griffins. With four players from an already small squad away for spring break, the Bears welcomed a few Millwoods skaters onto their bench. This worked for a while, with the crossover Millwoods kids showing some surprisingly motivated play. But it was the efforts of Jasper defenseman Eric MacMahon and forward Jax Kading always driving hard for the puck that allowed Jasper to stay in it for about 20 minutes.
Eventually, the Griffins鈥� offensive tsunami rolled over the tired Jasper skaters and Millwoods ran away with the game, finishing with a 10鈥�4 win after three periods.
In this tournament however, it is after the final buzzer that the fun really starts. Each team can send six players to participate in an All-Star-style shootout where (almost) anything goes.
And it was Jasper netminder, Duncan McLeod, who stole the show. Not only did he stand on his head to stymie the Griffin shooters, he even got the nod from the Bears鈥� coaches as a shooter. Exchanging his paddle for a shooter鈥檚 stick, McLeod deftly dodged his sprawling Millwoods counterpart who took herself out of the play, and attempted a between-the-legs wedge shot for the goal. He missed, but thrilled the crowd, immediately erasing any memories of the game鈥檚 final score.
Saturday morning鈥檚 Game 2 saw the Bears facing the North SEERA Predators.
With a full bench, the Bears would be strong competition for this Edmonton squad, but with only nine skaters plying the ice in front of McLeod, this game was another one-sided affair.
Jasper managed three goals, two from Rhys Malcolm, who made good on Trenton Rea鈥檚 heads-up play-making, and one from Troy Jackson, who buried a pass from Cooper Hilworth who dug out the puck from behind the Predators鈥� net.
The Bears鈥� 3 did not match North SEERA鈥檚 11 markers on about one million shots.
The shootout was equally fun this time, with part-time Bears鈥� goaltender Severin Golla finding paydirt with a low hard shot after a slow wend to the net. Then it was Olivia Fonger attempting to muscle the puck through the Predators netminder. But again, the goalies stole the show, not only stopping most shooters, but showing some razzle-dazzle, and touching sportsmanship, when shooting on each other.
Game 3 was on Saturday evening. Jasper played against the Sherwood Park Outlaws. Now down to eight skaters, the Bears nevertheless saved their thrills for this last game of the season.
Jasper started the scoring two minutes in, with Hilworth taking it end-to-end. Sherwood Park equalized a minute later, starting the see-saw that lasted the entire game.
Both teams took, then lost, the lead a handful of times during the match, and neither held more than a two goal lead.
Hilworth got two more for the Bears, one off of a beautiful stretch pass from veteran Drew Tank, who had another solid game. Kading netted a pair, including a shorthanded marker, and Malcolm scored on a well-played two-on-one break away with Hilworth.
The Outlaws ended up on top, scoring their seventh goal with less than a minute to play, but the outcome on the scoreboard was an afterthought to the Herculean effort that these nine Jasper players put in on their final game of the season.
That wraps up the very fun PeeWee hockey season.
If Jasper can muster enough Bantam age players, then five of these athletes will move up next year while the remaining eight will be joined by a new crop of Atom graduates that will join the PeeWee ranks next season.
I hope to see you in the stands.
John Wilmshurst
Special to the 51暗网
