Can the JFI BoneStars beat the Brew Pub Barley Kings?
Finding out the answer to that question is the main reason this sports reporter decided to saunter down to the Jasper Hockey Arena at 10:30 p.m. on a Tuesday night in the middle of winter. Well that, and to jam to the sick beats that the 16-year-old timekeepers have been dropping between whistles lately. It’s lit!!!
Can the BStars take down the champs? It’s a fair query—the boys in green and white put together a solid second half of the season and when they field their A squad, they’ve got some of the best shooters, passers and kick-their-assers in the league. The Lego-torsoed Jeremy Journault can get the puck up ice and off his stick in a hurry; fellow sniper Troy Valcourt is shark-like in his ability to find soft spots to exploit; and Joey “Wheels” Hunter can toe-drag all the way from Hinton, where he currently lives. And don’t forget about 6-foot-4-and-a-half (on skates) goalie Cole Worsfold, who, if he’s not the best tendy in the league (sorry Vergie), then could very well be the best DJ in the JHL (sorry Frazzle). The point is, he stays up late, but knows how to get down.
Despite their mismatched records (the BStars went 16-13-1 this year while the Pub won a ridiculous 27 games with only two losses and one tie), as I chatted with the JHL’s #insider, Zamboni queen Karen Kovich, we both agreed that the BoneStars would stack up pretty well against the reining champs, especially if former Earls’ Royal Reid Jackson would distribute the biscuit, sky-scraping Warren Van Asten could stay out of the box and Greg “Merman” Mermingis could, for an entire shift, stay on his flippers.
Turns out, that is a lot to ask.
There was more stacked against the Bonestars on this late February night—well, less, actually. They had a short bench. Not that the Pub was flush with bodies, but let’s just say the Bones were missing some meat. Cliff Kennedy (and his killer ink) was hot-tubbing in Revelstoke; red-pantalooned Jeff Bangle was likely slinging pies at Northface Pizza; and both Trevor “T-Bone” Groth and his brother, Brian (“B-Bone”) were presumably rocking Brian’s new baby Colton to sleep. If that was indeed the case, the Groth bros should have brought the little gaffer to the rink. Based on what I watched, dad would have had no trouble coaxing little C-Bone into a deep slumber by plopping him between the forwards and the D. Jon Osborne, who was on the IR with a bruised paw, could have sung him—and the team—a sweet lullaby:
“Lullaby, and good night, Brian Young do not fight; Close your eyes, have a rest, you’ll always be second best. Shhhh….”
Look, if the BoneStars show a little passion, there’s no reason that they can’t line up against the Barley Kings in the A Final on March 18. They’ve got all the pieces to put together a good playoff run: speed, scoring, defence and depth. But do the believe it themselves or are they going (*yawn) nite-nite?
Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com
