Lesleigh Campbell | Special to the Fitzhugh
This past Saturday, the Jasper U15 Bearcats hosted the Barrhead Bruins for their first regular season game of 2021. And, of course, after going undefeated all pre-season, the Bearcats were eager to extend their winning streak by one more.
Less than a minute into the first period, Barrhead found the back of Jasper’s net – maybe this wasn’t going to go the way we hoped. But Jasper came back right away when Jackson Irwin sent a nice pass to Drew Kovacs who weaved through a few Bruins, then rifled the puck past their goalie. After battling back and forth for the rest of the period, the Bruins eventually broke the tie, and the Bearcats headed into the first intermission trailing 2-1.
Almost identical to the first period, Barrhead scored right out of the gate, and Kovacs answered with Jasper’s second goal of the game. The Bruins then added an insurance goal, leaving the Bearcats trailing 4-2. It was a tight contest for the rest of the period, especially when the Bearcats’ Carson Campbell deked out some Bruins before tucking the puck in on a wrap around. Now only behind by one goal again, Jasper was still in it. The Bruins then added one more before the end of the second period giving them a 5-3 lead heading into the third.
The third period is where, let’s just say, the game grew legs and ran away. The lone bright spot being when Kovacs netted his third goal of the game, completing his hat-trick. Barrhead successfully ended Jasper’s streak by winning 10-4, but like the old saying goes, “You can’t win ‘em all.”
