An offensive explosion saw the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs notch three goals in the first three minutes of the third period en route to a 6-3 win over the division rival Fort McMurray Oil Barons on Saturday night.
“It feels great to get the win over Fort McMurray,” said Bonnyville forward Brady Bakke. “They have had our number here for a while. We caught them with a good performance from our team here tonight.”
The Pontiacs, who were a little rusty after taking a few rest days away from the rink, took a little time to get going against the third place Oil Barons.
Mitch Vanderlaan got Fort McMurray on the board first. The veteran forward snapped a wrist shot short side on Pontiac goaltender Troy Trombley just 44 seconds into the game.
The goal, which came on the Barons first shot of the game, was all the offense the first period would see.
Bobby McMann lead the charge for the home side in the second period as the Pontiacs shook off the rust.
McMann grabbed the rebound of an Evan Warmington shot and fired it past Oil Baron netminder Brett Lewchuk to even the game 1-1. The powerplay tally at 9:46 was the first of two for the Bonnyville forward.
Just over three minutes later Ryan Piche put the Pontiacs up 2-1. Then McMann and Warmington went to work.
After Lewchuk had wandered out of his goal, Warmington met him behind the net, stripped him of the puck and fed a pass to McMann who beat the Baron goaltender back to his empty cage.
McMann's 12th goal of the year sent the Pontiacs into the intermission with a 3-1 lead.
Although Bonnyville Head Coach and GM Rick Swan says no real pep talk was given, Bonnyville came out of the break on fire and caught the Barons on the back foot.
“All I said was that the little things make all the difference. It is about putting the team first,” said Swan. “We wanted 40-second assertive shifts and to make sure we played our team game. Playoffs start for us right now because we need that home ice advantage.”
Brinson Pasichnuk scored 16 seconds into the third to extend the lead to 4-1.
Thirty-seven seconds later Dillon McCombie stripped the puck off a defender, went on a breakaway and stuffed a backhand past Lewchuk for Bonnyville's fifth goal.
Then, with just 3:01 gone in the final period, Brady Bakke walked across the top of the slot a ripped a wrist shot to the back of the net for the team's sixth tally.
“We feel that our goaltending definitely makes us a stronger team and makes us a more confident team,” said Swan, referring to recently acquired goaltender Trombley. “It just allows us to play a game where we can push offensively a little more.”
Fort McMurray added a few more goals late with Jetlan Houcher and Salvatore Scalise scoring. All it did was make for a friendly score line as Bonnyville held on for a 6-3 win and their 20th victory of the season.
The win gives the Pontiacs 46 points on the year and has them one point back of the Sherwood Park Crusaders and eight points back of Fort McMurray.
“We had a tough loss against Whitecourt and we bounced back. We knew we had to beat these guys,” said Bonnyville Captain Ryan Black. “We are climbing the standings and are right behind Sherwood Park. We are looking for home ice advantage (in the playoffs).”
Bonnyville will travel to Spruce Grove for a tilt with the Saints on Wednesday before returning home on Saturday and Sunday to take on Okotoks and Drumheller.
Saturday's contest will be the organizations annual tribute game. The team will be wearing uniforms that honor the oil and gas industry.
The jerseys will be auctioned off after the contest with all funds raised going to the Bonnyville Health Centre.
