The effort and spirit were there, but they just weren't enough to land the Pontiacs a win.
On Saturday, Feb. 3, the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs left the ice of the R.J. Lalonde Arena once again disappointed with the outcome.
The loss against the Lloydminster Bobcats wasn't from a lack of heart, but a lack of sticking to the plan, said head coach Rick Swan.
“I thought that 38 shots was good enough to win. I thought their goalie was sensational... I think frustrating, more than anything, is we play hard enough, there's no question about our work ethic. The frustrating part of it, is it's already February, we can start to say our youth allows us to make those key mistakes that other teams capitalize on.”
A prime example, Swan pointed out, was the first period short-handed goal by the Bobcats.
“We tried to beat a guy one-on-one on the blue line on a powerplay situation and they stripped us of the puck and they got a short-handed goal.”
Olson Werenka put the Pontiacs on the scoreboard with a goal in the second, but the 1-1 tie would be broken in the third by yet another opportunity in the Bobcats' favour.
“We don't get stick-on-puck, we get puck-focused and a defenceman comes in and gets an easy shot from the top of the circle. We know better, and we practiced that,” expressed Swan.
The third and final goal of the game was an empty-netter with less than a minute left in the frame.
Pontiac captain Charlie Gawlicki agreed with Swan that what the team lacked on the ice was discipline.
“It's frustrating. We're a team that works hard every single game. For us now, we just have to work smart. It's the little plays that we should be doing routinely that we're not. It's not something we can dwell on,” he said.
This was the team's second loss of the week after a tough away game against the Fort McMurray Oil Barons on Thursday, Feb. 1. The team fell 8-2.
The Pontiacs are up against the Whitecourt Wolverines at the R.J. Lalonde Arena on Friday.
