BONNYVILLE – The Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs collected three out of four points over the weekend with a win and overtime loss.
The Pontiacs got out of their slump with a victory against the Olds Grizzlys, but didn’t have the same outcome against the Drumheller Dragons.
Pontiacs taste victory
When the Olds Grizzlys came to town on Friday, Jan. 31, Bonnyville skated away with the 5-4 overtime win.
Just before the halfway-point in the first period, Kash Rasmussen put the home team on the board.
Olds took the lead when they netted two more goals, but Pontiac Joel Ray was quick to respond. He added his name to the scoresheet before the first was through to tie it up at 2-2.
The Grizzlys came ahead during the second frame, and managed to keep the Pontiacs at bay.
Bonnyville came out of the locker room in the third determined to take the win. Goals from Pontiacs Matthew McKim and Thomas Kramer sent the game into overtime.
When Olds was down a man as a result of a hooking penalty, Rasmussen capitalized on the powerplay to give Bonnyville the 5-4 victory.
Overtime loss for Bonnyville
After a hard fought battle on home ice, Bonnyville fell 2-1 to the Drumeheller Dragons on Saturday, Feb. 1 in overtime.
“It hurts,” noted head coach Rick Swan. “It was a playoff-feel atmosphere where our goaltending played well, and their goaltending played well. It was a game that came down to details and we missed coverage in our three-on-three from a veteran player. Those are the things that cost you at the end of the day… if this is playoffs, that one hurts because we worked so hard.”
It was Bonnyville who took the lead in the first period when McKim snuck the puck past the Dragons’ goalie when there was less than five minutes in.
Bonnyville kept Drumheller off the scoreboard for the remainder of the frame, but the visiting team kicked it up a knotch in the second, scoring their first goal of the evening.
The teams battled it out for the rest of the game, but remained tied until the final buzzer.
The Dragons were the first to find the back of the net just 35 seconds into overtime, solidifying their 2-1 win.
“I thought we deserved a better fate,” expressed goaltender Easton Hesse. “It was kind of back and forth all night, it was pretty tight defensively, but we just drew up short in the three-on-three in overtime.”
Right wing Justin Stathopoulos said the team was hoping to finish without having to go into overtime.
“We wanted the game over with as soon as possible. Obviously, overtime and a shootout is a 50/50 battle. Definitely not something we wanted.”
Ahead of their next home game against the Lloydminster Bobcats on Wednesday, Feb. 5, Swan said the Pontiacs are going to be focusing on the finer details of their gameplay.
“Defending is going to be the theme for the next little while so that we’re defending really well so we don’t give up a lot of shots, and then we don’t give up those shots that allow Easton Hesse to come up so big,” he explained.
Puck drop is 7 p.m. at the R.J. Lalonde Arena.
