Wolves rack up tenth loss of season

While ticket sellers may have been leery to put the Jasper Wolves/Athabasca Aces game against the Grey Cup, the programming conflict had its advantages.

Using the Grey Cup as an excuse to stay home, many of the home team’s fans didn’t have to witness the 11-5 drubbing the Wolves received at the hands of the Aces.

It was the tenth loss of the season for the Wolves, who now haven’t won a regular season game since January 10, 2009.

Ouch.

Missed defensive assignments, penalty trouble and another third period collapse all played a role in this loss, as the team appeared exhausted against an intimidating Aces squad.

Even in a game where Athabasca’s coach was kicked out for arguing with officials, and the visiting goalie gave up a pathetic five goals on 14 shots, Jasper was still outmatched.

After trailing 3-0 through most of the opening frame and being outshot 21-6, Daylen Yurkiw put Jasper on the board with a powerplay goal. Forty seconds into the second period, Jamie Black put one past a stunned Athabasca goalie, and Jeremy Journault made a game of it when he slid home a rebound to tie the game 3-3 midway through the period, on the team’s 12th shot.

But less than a minute later, Athabasca restored their lead.

Then things got ugly.

After Athabasca forward Keegan Tenney ran goalie Cameron Vos, tempers boiled over. Ten skaters dropped the gloves, and an ugly display of fisticuffs was put on by both teams. As a result, Jake Derksen, Brandon Luong and Yurkiw received game misconducts. Three Athabasca players, including Tenney, were also tossed.

The battle buoyed the Wolves, who immediately scored two goals, including a great individual effort by Rob Olsen. But the loss of three key players proved to be too much, as Athabasca took over in the third period, scoring six unanswered goals, steamrolling the Wolves team, who appeared to run out of gas by the final frame following an emotional loss the night before to Edson.

The team’s next home game is on Dec. 12 versus Drayton Valley. The puck drops at 8:30 p.m.