Back on home ice Saturday, the Slave Lake Winterhawks got the job done, beating the Jasper Wolves 7 – 3 and taking a 3 – 2 series lead in the North Central Hockey League championship series.
“I was pretty much happy with the team effort,” says Winterhawks’ Coach Lorne Poitras. “They played a full 60 minutes.”
In a game with its share of rough stuff, the ‘Hawks were clearly the superior team, outshooting the Wolves two to one, and making more of their scoring chances, especially on the powerplay. Even so, it was a stronger and more confident Jasper team than fans saw in the first two games of the series. The difference is the Wolves know they can beat Slave Lake – at least in their own building they can. That’s where Game 6 will be held, on Saturday night. If the ‘Hawks don’t finish it off there, it’ll be back here on Sunday for all the marbles.
The line of Brian Bouchard, Jason Green and Kyle Hansen did most of the damage for the Winterhawks in Saturday’s win. Hansen scored twice and Green and Bouchard once. Curtis Poitras, Jesse Holloway and Joey Dunlop scored the others.
Slave Lake struck first when Bouchard deflected a Hansen point shot cleanly behind Jasper goalie Joe Bartziokas. That got the biggest crowd of the year worked up, but Jasper shut them up pretty fast by tying it up about 40 seconds later by banging a rebound past Calvin Beauchamp.
Hansen restored the one goal lead late in the period when he waltzed to the top of the circle and roofed a shot over the Jasper goalie’s shoulder.
The ‘Hawks got two more in the second and led 4 – 2 after 40 minutes.
Green made it 5 - 2 about seven minutes into the third when a broken play left him alone with the puck in front of the Jasper net. Bartziokas stopped his first shot, but the puck ended up sitting on the line and Green poked it in one-handed.

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