As of Monday, Jasper was third in league standings with 25 points (leader at 30) with 3 games in hand

The Jasper U15 Bearcats won two out of three home games this past weekend, showing that even with a short bench they can out-skate bigger, brawnier opponents.

And while their 12-4 Sunday loss to the notoriously-penalized Westlock Warriors was a small set back for the three-game home stand, the loss of star player Max Lescard in the first period of Saturday’s game will be a bigger blow to the ‘Cats’ stellar season.

On the play, after dumping the puck into the Warriors’ zone, Lescard was crunched with a vicious body check that… to Jasper fans’ observation, anyway, was a fraction late.

“It’s unfortunate Max has to take that kind of punishment from a kid probably twice his size,” Bearcats coach Alex Derksen said. “That kid probably had 20 pounds on me.”

After the hit, Lescard went immediately to the bench, and then to the dressing room, and then to the Jasper Seton Hospital, where doctors gave he and his mom the bad news that his collarbone was broken for the second time in as many seasons. It’s expected he’ll be out for the remainder of this year. Derksen, along with the rest of the team, the home crowd and the local media, were fairly devastated.

“He’s a highly skilled player who does so much offensively but also defensively,” Derksen said. “The way he skates, back-checks and breaks up plays, he’s really going to be missed.”

Responding to their teammate going down, the Bearcats came out hard in the game’s second and third period, tying up the contest after being down 3-1. First, 12-year-old sniper Arlo Kennedy (who plays underage) got his first of two goals on a sweet dish from behind the net from power forward and league leader in points (76) Dustin Derksen. Not long after, Derksen popped home a juicy rebound himself, after Cache Leblanc got a quality shot on net. Both were powerplay markers, scored late in the period.

Four of the ‘Cats’ five goals came on the powerplay—something that the coaches were pleased the team capitalized on, considering Westlock is by far the most penalized team in the league. In 20 games the Warriors have racked up more than 450 penalty minutes (Jasper had 188 as of presstime). On Saturday, the Warriors added to their tally with another 24 PIMs (Jasper had 10). As local broadcaster Paco Artiaga suggested many times during his livestream of the action, the local officiating squad was working hard.

Coach Derksen said the Bearcats rely on their skill and speed and therefore can sometimes play tentatively going up against bigger, rougher opponents.

“Especially if they’re tired after playing a lot of games in a row, some of our guys do play a bit scared against teams that are only focused on body checking,” he said.

But going into the third period the Bearcats’ focus was grinding out a win for their fallen teammate—rough play or not.

“After he got hurt they were pretty amped up,” Derksen said. “They really wanted to win that game for Max.”

And they did, with Carson Miller shoving home a rebound to take the lead and then less than two minutes later setting up Arlo Kennedy to go top-shelf from the circle, another powerplay marker.

Although Westlock came back with a goal to make it close, the Bearcats shored up their defence thanks in large part to Austin Schmidt’s two-way play, Bodie Hofhuis’ heavy minutes on D, and the solid play of Luka Kahlina in net—his lighting-quick reflexes helped him made 37 saves in the Saturday contest, backstopping his team to a 5-4 victory.

Derksen shouted-out the Bearcats’ defence. After Lescard went out with his injury, the coaches had to shuffle their skaters around; the defence was down to three skaters. 

“Lincoln [Radloff] and Cache [Leblanc] have only been playing organized hockey for the last two seasons, so what they’re contributing is awesome,” Derksen said.

The Bearcats look to continue the momentum on the road. They’ve got two rematches against the heavy-hitting Westlock Warriors next weekend and then follow that up the next Saturday/Sunday in Bon Accord.  

Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com