Injuries have plagued the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs over the first half of the 2013-14 season, resulting in the team struggling to stay a float in the AJHL's strong North Division.
After 39 games the team sits seventh with a 15-20-4 record - a record which is “not even close” to what head coach and GM Rick Swan had hoped for at the beginning of the season.
“I think we were tremendously optimistic at the beginning of the year. We thought we would have been sitting among the top teams in the league,” said Swan. “Injuries were one thing we have had to deal with throughout the entire season. Normally you get 80 to 100 man games lost in a total season with injuries and you know that is a rough year. We have had over that already in 2013.”
As of Dec. 20 the team had lost roughly 130 man games to injuries and suspensions over the course of the first 38 games. Most of the players that have sat out large chunks of time were key players.
The team's second leading scorer Jackson Dudley has missed eight games, captain Locke Muller has sat out seven, Brady Bakke has missed 10 games and Max Gottlieb was out for nine. Defenseman Dan Wedman missed the team's first 14 games, while Dallas Mortensen has sat out the last 22 games with a concussion. The injury list goes on an on for the Pontiacs, who went into the Christmas break with five regulars on the shelf with injuries.
Only Redford Swan and Spencer Foo had played in all of the team's first 39 games.
“Our goal right now is to make sure we get consistently better every day, we get healthy and the third thing would be to make the playoffs,” said Swan, who hopes the 12-day Christmas break will allow the team to get healthy.
The long string of injuries opened up key playing time for several rookies on the Bonnyville roster, which has lead to the team's inconsistent play throughout the first half.
Ryan Black, Braiden Doucette, Josh Erickson, Mitch Fritz, Max Gottlieb, Kyler Hehn, Michael Iovanna, Shelby Kostyshen, Bobby McMann, Wyatt Noskey, Steen Pasichnuk and Mark Zvonkovic are all AJHL rookies who have seen increased playing time due to injuries this season.
“We have some young guys here who are making some young guy mistakes in our league,” said Swan. “We know that short term it hurts us a little bit because it is a big jump to our level. But we also know that it is going to benefit us long term.”
To date, the Pontiacs season has been up and down, with the team hovering around the .500 mark throughout the first 39 games. Bonnyville went 4-4 to start the year in September, followed that up with a 5-6-1 October, went 4-6-2 in November and are struggling of late, posting a 1-5-1 December.
Although the Pontiacs lost 24 games in the 2013 half of the season, the team was able to keep a lot of the games close and entertaining. The team played in 15 one-goal games going 7-8 and were shutout only once, a 5-0 loss on Dec. 14 in Fort McMurray.
The trouble with the Pontiacs was when they struggled; they really struggled, as 11 of their losses were by three or more goals.
One of the downfalls of the Pontiacs over the last few months has been slow start to games. Since the start of November, the team has been outscored 24-10 in the first period. Bonnyville has allowed 23 goals in the first five minutes of a period, including 11 goals in the first two minutes.
“It is incredibly frustrating for a coaching staff and it is frankly a little bit of an embarrassment to the hard work that the organization has put into these players, as well as the fans that are coming out to see their team try and compete and work hard,” said Swan after the team's 5-1 loss to Fort McMurray on Nov. 15, a game in which the Pontiacs gave up a goal just 24 seconds in.
Bonnyville has also struggled with blowing leads. At the beginning of November the team lost three straight games, despite leading by several goals.
“Does it sting a little bit? Yes. But it seems with most hockey teams and most young players they have to get through that process of learning,” said Pontiacs associate coach Larry Draper, after a 5-4 shootout loss to Calgary on Nov. 3. “You know if they keep bumping their shin, after a while they'll get tired of doing that. We think that it is definitely going to improve.”
One bright spot on the Pontiacs has been the play of 19-year-old forward Spencer Foo, who has 21 goals and 15 assists for 36 points in 38 games.
Foo was on fire in late October, scoring nine goals and 12 points in six games from Oct. 13 to Oct. 31.
Newcomer Ryan Black has also been a pleasant surprise, working his way on to the team in training camp and logging a ton of key minutes throughout the season. Black has eight goals and seven assists in 37 games for the Pontiacs.
The team will look to use the 12-day Christmas break to get healthy, as Bakke, Cunningham, Dudley, Fritz and Mortensen have all been out with injuries.
Bonnyville has 19 games remaining on the schedule with 14 of those games against divisional opponents. The Pontiacs sit two points back of sixth-place Grande Prairie and are only eight points back of the third-place Lloydminster Bobcats.
Bonnyville will begin the 2014 portion of the schedule with back-to-back home games against Drayton Valley and Sherwood Park on Jan. 3 and 4th.
