After opening the tournament with a loss, the Bonnyville Senior Pontiacs rattled off a pair of victories to claim bronze at the Senior AA Provincials over the weekend.
“It is gratifying. Obviously it would have been nice to win the gold,” said Pontiacs coach Shaun Hebert. “But any time you win at provincials it is a good feeling.”
Bonnyville put themselves in a tough situation after losing the opening game to the Nanton Palominos on Friday night.
The Sr. Pontiacs were slow out of the gate and dug an early hole finding themselves down 2-0 just 10 minutes into the game.
“The start got us. It was one of those nights where once we got down 2-0 we would have had to be perfect to come back and win,” said Bonnyville coach Chad Mercier.
“Once we were down we started chasing it a little bit knowing the importance of the game and that effected our play.”
The two sides went back and forth each scoring twice, sending Nanton into the third with a 4-2 lead.
Another quick goal by the Palomino's just five minutes into the third gave them a 5-2 lead. For a second it looked like Nanton was going to ease their way to a victory, but then Bonnyville came alive.
The Pontiacs offensive attack finally clicked resulting in a couple of quick goals from Niko Bourget and Dallas Ansell. With six minutes to go Bonnyville found themselves trailing 5-4.
Bonnyville continued to push throwing everything they had at Nanton netminder Tyler Hughes. The extra emphasis on the offensive side of the puck eventually led to a defensive miscue. A mistake, would up in the back of their net and squash all hopes of a comeback.
“Honestly that loss wasn't a great thing for us but at the same time it was a good thing for us because it opened our eyes and showed us that there are other good hockey teams in this province,” said Pontiacs captain Logan Isley.
“We fought the puck a lot in that game. It was probably the weakest game we have played all season. The bounces just weren't going our way.”
The opening game loss put Bonnyville in a bleak situation. The Pontiacs entered their second game against the Devon Barons needing a three-goal victory to have any chance of making the finals.
The importance of the game showed as Bonnyville was able to keep pace with a Devon squad for the first 40 minutes before pulling away in the final frame.
Levi Ansell and Lucas Isley netted goals just minutes into the third to open up a 4-2 lead for the Sr. Pontiacs.
Then, with the seconds ticking down in the contest, Niko Bourget walked off the halfboards and snapped a wrist shot into the top left corner to extend Bonnyville's lead to three.
“It was do or die,” said Isley. “We had to win by at least three goals. Now we just wait and see.”
Bonnyville's championship hopes rested on the shoulders of the Devon Barons who needed a three-goal victory against Nanton to send Bonnyville through to the finals.
Unfortunately it just wasn't in the cards, as the Barons were thumped 6-2 by the Palomino's. Nanton's win sent them through to the finals while the Pontiacs were awarded a bronze medal matchup against the Westlock Warriors.
Although Westlock drew first blood, scoring midway through the first period it turned out to be all the offense the Warriors would muster.
Bonnyville overcame a lackluster first period by notching four second period goals to pace themselves to a 6-1 victory.
Logan Isley started the offensive onslaught just three minutes into the second when he trickled one fivehole on goaltender Chris Kuhar.
Minutes later Michael Desjarlais walked in and launched a wrister top corner to extend the lead to 3-1.
The fourth goal came courtesy of Trevor Makaruk who picked up a loose pick in the slot and snapped it bar down.
Tyler Ferbey kept the Sr. Pontiacs going by weaving his way around four Warriors defenders, deking Kuhar and sliding the puck into an empty cage.
“We came out a little flat in the first period. We were a little tired,” said Hebert. “We changed out game plan a bit and the bounces started going our way. We just opened up our game, and got back into our systems.”
The 6-1 victory capped off the Bonnyville Sr. Pontiacs first season back with a provincial bronze medal.
