The Cold Lake Ice have a new name in the net for their final playoff series against the Wainwright Bisons. The first two games of the series came on Friday, Mar. 13 and Sunday, Mar. 15 and served as a debut for the team's newest member – goaltender Bolton Pouliot.
Pouliot comes to Ice with five years of playing in the Western Hockey League behind him. Signed by Cold Lake on Feb. 10, Pouliot is originally from Calgary and has spent time with the Red Deer Rebels, Kamloops Blazers and most recently, the Portland Winterhawks.
Unfortunately for the new Ice goalie, the team did not show up to the first game of the playoffs. Bisons' forward Brett Larson set the tone early on with a goal only 24 seconds into the game. Less that four minutes later, Tyler Fischer sneaked the puck past Pouliot bringing the score to 2-0. By the end of the period, the home team had furthered their lead to 4-0 thanks to two more goals from Larson in the last minute and a half of the first.
Cold Lake Head Coach Paul Desjardins admitted following the game that Wainwright caught them unprepared, but added that the blame lies on the team as a whole.
“It's hard to blame the goalie when the guys aren't backing him. We weren't ready, the first period we weren't ready at all.”
Heading into the second frame, the Ice started to get themselves together but it wasn't enough. At the 2:21 mark, Brant Saretsky fired the puck in to bring the Bison's lead to five. Just under seven minutes into the second, Ice forward Curtis Witney finally found the back of the net ending the possibility of a Wainwright shut-out. Eight minutes in, a two minute penalty to Cold Lake for too many men gave the Bisons the chance they needed to put the nail in the coffin. A power play goal from Ambrose Firkus at the 9:15 mark brought dominating Wainwright up 6-1.
The visiting Ice finally hit their stride in the third period but it was too little, too late. While they managed to hold any further Bison goals, a lone goal in the third from Mike Harbich wasn't enough to facilitate a Cold Lake comeback. The final score of the first game of the series was 6-2 for the Bisons. Despite the outcome of Game 1, Desjardins said fans can expect to see Pouliot in net for the remainder of the playoffs.
“We have one goalie that's struggling real bad...and then the other one got ran over in Killam and he was kind of concussed so we were in a bit of a pickle, so we brought (Pouliot) in. We'll let him get his legs under him, win or lose that's who we're going to go with.”
The Ice head coach noted that you can't blame the goalie when the team as a whole plays poorly.
“Our top lines didn't perform anywhere near what they should have,” said Desjardins. “We had a game plan and we didn't play our game plan. I think it boils down to that, not being ready at the drop of the puck.”
It looked like a completely different Cold Lake team showed up at Wainwright's arena for Game 2 of the series on Sunday, Mar. 15. It wasn't until over 17 minutes into the first period that the scoring finally got started. Ice forward Brett Bujold fired the puck past Bisons' net minder Spencer Cade to give the Ice a 1-0 lead.
Around two minutes into the second, Cold Lake's top line of Christian Nypower, Jamie Miller and Devon Hascarl kept the momentum going with a goal from Nypower. Seven minutes later Miller found the back of the net, furthering the visiting team's lead. With just six minutes left in the period, Easton Bodeaux set up Witney for a beauty goal bringing the score to 4-0. Before the second ended, the Bisons decided to make an attempt at a comeback with defence Josh Dudding getting the puck past Pouliot.
Heading into third frame 4-1, Bisons captain Spencer Gosselin closed up the gap with a goal three minutes into the period. With the possibility of a Wainwright win dwindling, the home team pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker. Cold Lake assistant captain Tanner Corbeil took advantage of the empty net, adding insult to injury and bringing the final score to 5-2. Shots in Game 2 were 36-34 for the Ice.
The Cold Lake Ice will be back at home in the Energy Centre for the next two games of the series against the Wainwright Bisons. Game 3 will take place on Friday, Mar. 20 with Game 4 the following night. Puck drop for both games is 8:30 p.m. Game 5 is back in Wainwright on Sunday, Mar. 22 at 6 p.m.
