Former Pontiac Wyatt Noskey scored in the shootout to lead the visiting Drumheller Dragons to a 3-2-comeback victory over the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs on Sunday afternoon.
Although they lost, it wasn't due to a lack of effort. The Pontiacs chucked 41 pucks on Dragons goaltender Jonny Hogue, who came up with several huge saves over the course of the contest.
“You are always disappointed when you lose, but you are more disappointed when you don't compete and they guys don't put in the effort needed to be successful at this level,” said Pontiacs head coach and GM Rick Swan. “I think these guys can hold their chins high knowing that we worked today and we forced Drumheller to earn the two points.”
Forward Kyler Hehn kept his hot weekend going when he took a beautiful pass from Dillan McCombie and tucked it five-hole on Hogue just over nine minutes into the game.
The goal was the lone tally of the first period and allowed Bonnyville to take a lead into the first intermission.
Minutes into the second, after being pinned in their zone for an extended period of time, the Pontiacs conceded the equalizer.
Connor Boyd tipped a Brody Valette shot past Bonnyville's Joey Desrosier at the 6:49 mark of the second frame to even the game.
The goal didn't seem to affect the home side. Just 1:35 later Bonnyville was back on top due to the efforts of Bobby McMann and Chad Hurtubise. After Steenn Pasichnuk freed up the puck, Hurtubise found McMann streaking toward the Drumheller goal. The young Bonnyville centre made no mistake, redirecting the puck to the back of the net.
The effort from Hurtubise and some of the other “unsung heroes” was appreciated by the Pontiacs coaching staff.
“We felt that we were better five-on-five when we were allowed to put guys like Chad Hurtubise and Ryan Symington, Ryan Piche and Brady Bakke out there,” said Swan. “Those were the guys that allowed our powerplay guys to have opportunities and create the 41 shots.”
Bonnyville took the lead into the late stages of the third period, before finally conceding another equalizer. Mitchell Cook converted on a nice feed from Noskey to even up the score at two.
The ensuing overtime period saw both sides get their fair share of chances, as the officials put their whistles away. Neither team was able to break through during the five-minutes 3-on-3 action sending the game to a shootout.
A nice deke by Noskey resulted in the only goal of the shootout and gave the visitors the one-goal victory.
The loss capped off a three-point weekend for the Pontiacs, who were 7-0 victors over the visiting Okotoks Oilers on Saturday night.
“Our puck movement was great,” said Bonnyville forward Mitch Fritz. “I was out (injured) against Spruce Grove and it was nice to get a different perspective in seeing the guys play. We weren't really moving the puck well that game. Last night we were moving the puck around a lot better and it really made a huge difference an allowed us to come out on top.”
An undisciplined Oilers squad took penalty after penalty throughout the game, basically handing the contest to the Pontiacs. Bonnyville took advantage of the sloppy play and went 5-for-10 with the man advantage.
The power play sparked the home offense early on in the game with forward Alden Dupuis notching his sixth goal of the season at the 10:20 mark.
Less than five minutes later Kyler Hehn got in on the action, scoring his 17th of the campaign, to open up a 2-0 lead.
“We were making a lot of great passes, had a lot of energy. The boys were going. The fans helped us out too,” said Hehn.
An enraged Cole Dunphy turned the game on its head minutes into the second period when he lost his cool and racked up 17 minutes in penalties. Bonnyville's Cody Fiala dished out a hard hit to the head of an Oilers forward, which sent Dunphy berserk. The Oilers forward chased Fiala down, dropped his gloves and started throwing punches. The move eliminated what would have been an Okotoks powerplay and handed Bonnyville a five-minute man-advantage.
The Pontiacs struck twice on the lengthy ensuing powerplay, blowing the game open and taking a 4-0 lead.
Hehn tallied his second of the night at 6:27 before Dillan McCombie found the back of the net at 9:17.
Even with a commanding four-goal lead the hometown Pontiacs didn't let up. Dupius added his second of the game at 5:26 of the third to extend the lead to 5-0.
Then it was Fritz's time to go to work. Fritz, who was in his first game back from a rib injury, used two more Pontiac powerplays to record his 12th and 13th goals of the year.
When the dust settled Bonnyville walked away with a resounding 7-0 win.
The night also marked the Pontiacs annual jersey fundraiser. The team wore special blue jerseys in honour of the oil and gas industry. The uniforms were auctioned off, with all proceeds going to the Bonnyville Health Foundation.
Up next for Bonnyville is a crucial tilt on Jan. 28 against the Sherwood Park Crusaders. The Pontiacs currently sit one point back of the Crusaders with two games in hand.
Bonnyville will also host Whitecourt on Saturday night and Lloydminster on Sunday afternoon.
