Minnesota native Mitch Fritz scored the game-winning goal and chipped in an assists to lead the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs to a victory on his 20 th birthday last night.
Minnesota native Mitch Fritz scored the game-winning goal and chipped in an assists to lead the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs to a victory on his 20th birthday last night.
Fritz's goal 4:40 into the second period was the difference-maker in a slim 2-1 win over the Whitecourt Wolverines.
"I just had to keep moving my feet tonight. We had the cycle working really well. It was good," said Fritz. "The boys came out strong. It is the beginning of a long stretch we have over the next two weeks here, so it was a big two points."
Penalties were the difference in this one, as both teams struggled to stay out of the box.
After controlling the majority of the play for the first half of the opening period the momentum shifted when Bonnyville's Ryan Black was sent off for tripping.
While Whitecourt didn't convert on the powerplay, they took control of the game and pinned Bonnyville in their own zone for minutes at a time.
At 13:16, after a mad scramble in front of the Bonnyville net, Ben Fonteyne was able to riffle home a loose puck to give the visitors the first goal of the game.
The lead didn't last too long, as several Whitecourt penalties gave Bonnyville the opportunity they needed to even the score.
Three seconds after the Pontiacs Ryan Piche and Wolverines Taden Rattie were sent off with coincidental minors, Whitecourt's Fonteyne took an interference call.
It took just over a minute for the league's best powerplay to click, as Fritz, Bobby McMann and Steenn Pasichnuk drove up the middle of the offensive zone. Fritz fired a shot on net and McMann banged the rebound past Whitecourt tender Tanner McCorriston. The goal at 16:43 of the first period evened the score at one goal apiece.
"(That goal) definitely brought us up. They got the first goal and it kind of got us down, but Bobby tucked one by and got our spirits right back up," said Pontiac Michael Iovanna.
The second period saw the Pontiacs continue to carry the momentum. Minutes into the frame Fritz picked the puck up in the corner, walked out from behind the net and wrapped it past McCorriston.
The wrap-around marker was Fritz's fifth goal of the season, matching his total from all of last season.
Four minutes later the Pontiacs were continuing to press in the Whitecourt zone. Forward Dillan McCombie had the puck on a string, weaving in and out of Whitecourt players until he made his way to the net and riffled it top shelf. The goal was immediately disallowed as the referee ruled a Bonnyville player was in the crease.
"It is a little frustrating," said McCombie, on the no-goal call. "We just got to put our nose back down to the grindstone and just keep on keepin' on."
Bonnyville threw the body around in the third period, giving Whitecourt little space with the puck. The Pontiacs used a physical, defensive style of play to hold on to the slim one-goal lead and claim a victory.
"It is great. In order to earn two points in this league you have to play hard and at times when we played hard we dominated those guys. Aside from a couple of shifts here, we played a pretty complete game," said Bonnyville head coach and GM Rick Swan.
Bonnyville's homestand will continue on Oct. 15 when they host Sherwood Park and Oct. 18 when Camrose comes to town.
"At home is were we have to win because it is not very friendly going into away barns," said Swan. "We have to make sure that we establish our homestand here, be difficult and try to obtain the points at home. That is what we are trying to accomplish here."
