BONNYVILLE – On Friday night at the RJ Lalonde arena, the crowd went wild when the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs scored the first goal of the evening with less than five minutes remaining in the second period.
Pontiacs' forward Alex Power was the first to score, starting the momentum for the home team in their playoff game against the Whitecourt Wolverines.
The Pontiacs would score four more times in the third period creating a substantial lead. Although a late rebound from the Wolverines following a powerplay goal almost saw the away team comeback to tie the game.
With a final goal on the Wolverines empty net, the Pontiacs won 5-3 in the fifth game in the first playoff round.
Playing game six against the Wolverines at the Scott Safety Centre Arena on Sunday, the Pontiancs came up short 4-1 ending their playoff run. The Bonnyville team won two out of four games in the first series of the 2021-22 season playoffs.
Pontiacs recognized for individual successes
The lead up to playoffs marked success for Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs both on and off the ice.
At the beginning of March, Pontiacs' player Alex Power was recognized by the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) for his performance both academically and in the game of hockey.
Power was selected along with just 16 other players from across the league to be a part of the 2022 Inter Pipeline AJHL All-Academic Team, this comes with a $1,500 scholarship.
One player per AJHL team is awarded the scholarship and is based on “proven qualities in the areas of leadership, sportsmanship, dedication and citizenship,” according to a media release by the AJHL.
Prior to that, three other Pontiacs had been nominated for AJHL awards.
Some of the annual awards include Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Outstanding Defenceman, Top Goaltender and Coach of the year.
Pontiacs up for nominations this season are Kash Rasmussen for Most Valuable Player, A.J. Macaulay for Outstanding Defenceman and Austin Saint for Most Dedicated Player.
Coaches and general managers for the AJHL selected a pair of finalists from each division through two phases of voting, according to the Alberta hockey league.
The award winners will be determined through a final stage of voting.
Moving on to post-secondary and NCAA hockey
Calgary-native Alex Danis was the first of three to announce his post-secondary commitment to play for a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) school.
Next year, the Pontiac player will head south of the border to Hamiliton College to join the Continentals hockey team.
“I’m excited to be going to such a prestigious college like Hamilton College and hopefully succeed academically, as well as being able to play high-level hockey – it’s going to be exciting for the next four years,” said Danis in a statement.
The Continentals play in the New England Small College Athletic Conference located in Clinton, New York.
Danis will join Pontiac alumni Sean Thomson and Scott Mckenzie with the Continentals.
Just one day later, on Feb. 24, Pontiacs’ rookie forward Matteo Giampa announced his commitment to NCAA Division I Canisius College Golden Griffins in Buffalo, New York.
“It feels great,” Giampa said following the commitment. “I’m just excited for the opportunity and honoured that they would consider me as one of those top players. I’m just excited and ready to get things going. I want to thank the Bonnyville Pontiacs for helping me get to this point.”
The following day, Trey Funk had similar news to share. Funk also accepted a commitment to play with Canisius College Golden Griffins alongside Giampa.
“Last year I didn’t really expect to get to the point where I am now, but it’s very exciting. Especially having another guy coming with me, it makes it extra special. I’m excited to move up,” said Funk on regarding the commitment.
Funk is the 105th Pontiac player committed to play college hockey since the 2013/14 season and is the 10th player to receive an NCAA commitment on this year’s roster alone.
"Trey Funk is one of those rare players that came to our organization looking for an opportunity and nothing else,” said Head Coach and General Manager Rick Swan.
“He wants nothing more than to earn his way every day and is an individual that takes full advantage of every resource that we provide our players to get better each and every single day. Trey works his tail off at everything and soaks up direction and coaching which is why it's easy to see that he does things right both on and off the ice all the time.”