Lesleigh Campbell | Special to the Fitzhugh
The U15 Jasper Bearcats faced off against the Hinton OK Tire on home ice this past Saturday.
With goaltender Brady Campbell out with a knee injury, Bearcats' defenseman Casey Peel came to the rescue. Showing up at Campbell's house the day before the game to pick up all of his goalie gear, Peel headed up to Pyramid Lake with teammates Jackson Irwin and Drew Kovacs to make some practice saves.
Both teams came out in the first period firing on all cylinders. But it wasn't until the four-minute mark that Hinton finally got the first goal of the game, banking in a rebound after a great save by Peel. With one minute left in the period, Carson Campbell passed the puck to Morgan Thomas who took it all the way to the back of Hinton's net, with the tying goal.
The second period looked promising for Jasper when Irwin passed the puck up to Kovacs who scored goal number two. At the other end of the rink, Peel was a brick wall, proving that his practice at the lake the day before was paying off. The next big play was when Campbell passed the puck across the ice to Kovacs who fired it past Hinton's goalie. Realizing that the puck never actually crossed the goal line, Campbell reached his stick behind the goalie and tapped it in. Whew, up 3-1 now, the Bearcats thought they could relax a little. But not so fast, as Hinton found a way to tie it back up again before the end of the period.
Going into the third tied 3-3, this was anyone's game. But Hinton intended to claim it by scoring two quick goals within the first two minutes. A few minutes later, Irwin found Kovacs to close the gap, and keep Jasper in it. Only to be answered by one last goal from Hinton, to seal the deal and end this game 6-4. The boys gave Peel a well deserved pat on the back at the end of the game for doing an outstanding job.
The Jasper Bearcats will have one last chance at redemption against Hinton this Sunday at 2 p.m., here on home ice once again. It will be their last regular season game of the year.
