On Tuesday the Bonnyville Pontiacs beat their rival the Lloydminster Bobcats 3-1, while only putting 9 shots on net. The very next night in Bonnyville, the Pontiacs put 40 shots on net against the Sherwood Park Crusaders, but were unable to have the same success as the night before, losing to the Crusaders 6-3.
After a big win in Drayton Valley Nov. 20, the Pontiacs traveled to Lloydminster to face the Bobcats. Despite the shots being 28-9 in favour of the Bobcats, Pontiacs took the win 3-1.
Bonnyville got on the board first, with Ryan Kearns scoring six and a half minutes into the second, assisting on the goal were Levi Ansell and Blake Leask.
But only two minutes later on the power play, the Bobcats tied it up.
Then it was Pontiacs goalie Julien Laplante's turn to take over. The Bobcats threw 14 shots on net in the second and eight more in the third.
With the third period underway, Laplante made a big save, and the puck was sent up the ice to Marc-Antoine Juneau who scored to make it 2-1 and extend his goal-scoring streak to four games.
From there the Pontiacs and Laplante kept the Bobcats in check. Then with the Bobcats goalie pulled, Pontiacs forward Kevin Carthy made the safe play, banking the puck off the boards and out of his zone. Fortunately for him and the Pontiacs, the puck took the right angle off the boards and slid straight into the Bobcats net, putting the game away for good.
The Pontiacs came out hard against Sherwood Park, but it was the Crusaders doing all the scoring early on.
“The first period we came out flying and outshot them pretty bad, but they were able to capitalize on their chances off the rush,” according to Pontiacs captain Michael Westfall.
The Crusaders scored only 36 seconds into the game, but the Pontiacs stuck with it and maintained a territorial advantage for most of the period, directing more than 13 shots on net.
The second period started much the same as the first with Bonnyville coming out strong but just not being able to put one past the Sherwood Park goaltender. And again, the Crusaders were able to capitalize on their chances, scoring only three minutes into the period on the power play, to make it 2-0.
Sherwood Park struck again halfway through the second to make it 3-0, which forced Pontiacs head coach Chad Mercier to pull starting goalie Connor Creech.
The Pontiacs seemed to respond well to the switch, as they continued to out-hit, outshoot and outplay the Crusaders, and finally they were rewarded for it.
Forward Levi Ansell took the breakout pass from Jordon Krankowsky and rushed up the ice. Using his teammate in front of the net as a decoy, Ansell got the Crusaders goalie to pull away from the post only slightly and fired a shot top shelf, to make it 3-1 with four minutes left in the second period.
But the Crusaders would not allow the Pontiacs back in the game that easily, as they marched back down the ice and responded with a goal of their own only a minute later.
With the score 4-1 and looking like the Pontiacs were not going to be able to get anything going, Westfall grabbed a loose puck, and with the Crusaders goalie out of position, he shot the puck into the open net, to make it 4-2 with two minutes left in the period.
Both teams poured it on in the third. The Pontiacs outshot the Crusaders 15-10 in that period and 40-24 overall. But it was the Crusaders again capitalizing on their chances, while Bonnyville was stymied by Sherwood Park's stellar goaltending.
The Crusaders added two more goals in the third period and Ansell responded with one goal late. But this game belonged to the Crusaders, who may have been outplayed, but did not relent, beating the Pontiacs by a final score of 6-3.
“We fired over 40 shots, we had lots of offensive opportunities, but when you give up six it's tough to win a hockey game,” said Head Coach Chad Mercier following the game.
“Now we go into a bit of a break here and we've got to go back to work. We'll get some rest but we'll also work on some things and get our work ethic where it needs to be.”
The Pontiacs will now have a 10-day break before their next game Dec. 5 at home against the Calgary Canucks.
With the win over the Bobcats Tuesday, the Pontiacs are now 2-1-2 (win, loss, overtime/shootout loss) against Lloydminster this season.
Forward Tyler Henry returned to the lineup for Wednesday's game, getting one assist.
Dante Borrelli remains out of the lineup with a lower body injury.
Christopher Romanchuk remains out of the lineup indefinitely with an upper body injury.
