Jesters Rebound against Abilene to get First Tournament Win
West Texas Shootout Hockey Invitational Tournament Game 5: San Angelo Jesters vs Abilene Bombers
By Benjamin Martin
San Angelo TX — Mason Martin sat on the home bench, watching his team take to the rink. The San Angelo Jesters climbed over the boards draped in their blue jerseys, their skates clanking heavily as they hurdled the thick wall into the hockey rink. Mason stared at his blank blue jersey, it was the spare that the team captain kept in his bag. Below the bench lay his goalie equipment bag, filled to the brim with his used goalie pads and helmet that were still sweaty from the first game of the day. Starting the day as the goalie for the San Angelo Jesters had turned sour for Mason as the first game had come to a close. Nick Garcia, the starting Jesters goalie, was out with a knee injury — and Mason had taken his spot between the pipes as the backup. The promising start in game 1 that followed unfortunately ended with as an overtime loss.
The defending champion San Angelo Jesters were 3 games into the annual tournament, and they were still looking for their first win on the rink. Following the dramatic opening loss to their cross-town rival Wolfpack, the first action for the team captain to take was to make a change. “I know its not what you wanted,” Stephen Butler’s low voice gave a tone of empathy to the novice goalie, “But were going to put Ryan in goal from now on.” Mason nodded silently — drops of sweat falling from his brown hair to the ground past his glasses streaked with perspiration. The tenure as the starting goalie for the San Angelo Jesters had lasted just 35 minutes for the 22-year-old Accounting & Finance major at ASU.
The 5th game of the 2019 West Texas Shootout had begun, and the now former goalie sat quietly on the bench, waiting for his shift as a second line skater to begin.
The Abilene Bombers made the first mistake, bungling a line change and getting a whistle for too many men on the rink at the 12-minute mark of the first half. 30 seconds later Nathan Baty took a pass from Mike Matinchek and started the scoring for the home team with a power play goal. The Jesters had taken the lead over the Bombers in the opening minutes, and it was at this point that young Mason Martin took his place on the rink.
With 2:59 left in the first half, the skater with the spare jersey skated into the offensive zone and took up position on the back side of the goalie. The Jesters had the puck and were on the move. Stoney skated the puck in and passed to Mike Matinchek. As the defense adjusted towards the puck, Mike saw a single skater uncovered.
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The pass came quickly across the center of the rink. Mason’s eyes widened, his grip tightened on his stick. With one smooth motion he deflected the puck into the Bombers goal past the goalie in the green jersey.
The score was 2–0 Jesters, and the has-been goalie had put the puck into the net for the score.
The setup worked so well that exactly 70 seconds later it happened again. The Jesters were threatening. It was Stoney again with the puck, his lanky arms whipped a pass back to Stephen Butler who surveyed the defense. Once again, the short kid with the glasses had backed in behind the defense. The puck flew onto Mason’s stick and was deflected into the back of the net. The score was now 3–0 Jesters, and the defunct goalie was one goal short of a hat trick.
Stoney fed Stephen Butler for the next Jester’s goal at the 1:45 mark of the first half. The scoring was capped off in the second half at the 14-minute mark when Stephen Butler, the tall dark captain of the San Angelo Jesters, single-handedly hit a one timer off the puck drop to make the score 5–0. The goal happened so fast that Stephen didn’t even realize that he had forgotten his helmet on the bench at the time.
Mickey Provost was called for a 2-minute roughing penalty at the 11-minute mark of the second half, but even a power play couldn’t spur the young Abilene squad to score on the more experienced Jester’s defense. There were more chances for Mason to get the hat trick during his second game as a skater, but adjustments were made by the Abilene defense, and the goalie began to take notice when Mason planted himself next to the red posts of the goal.
Redemption was sweet for the goalie in exile, and the joy of the defending tournament champions finally finding the win column was even sweeter. The old-schoolers had found their way back into the win column, and the fifth game of the tournament ended with the final score: San Angelo Jesters 5 — Abilene Bombers 0.🏒
Benjamin Martin is the Director of San Angelo Hockey club as well as an amateur journalist, professional hockey fan, and sub-par defender who is a complete liability in the rink.
During these turbulent times the recap of the 2019 West Texas Shootout hockey tournament will be republished on a daily basis to bring a little hockey excitement back into our lives as we wait for life to start again.
