Connor Garden scored under a minute into overtime to propel the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs to 3-2 victory over the visiting Lloydminster Bobcats on August 27.
Garden took a beautiful cross-crease pass from defenseman Max Gottlieb and slipped it by the sliding Bobcats net minder on the first shot of the extra period.
The win improves the Pontiacs to 2-2 on the preseason. After opening up the exhibition schedule with back-to-back losses to Sherwood Park, Bonnyville has registered back-to-back wins over Lloydminster.
Although the team has climbed back to .500 in exhibition play the team's record isn't much of a concern to the Pontiacs coaching staff.
"(Lloydminster) was playing some young guys, we were playing some young guys, the score doesn't really matter. It is more on individual performances and really allowing our guys, when the pace increases, to step up their game," said Rick Swan, head coach and GM of the Pontiacs. "We know the pace is just going to continue to increase, so we are looking for consistency, we are looking for guys that are competing, we are looking for guys that are dropping off and tough decisions with us are based on the actions of the players on the ice."
Bonnyville dressed four returning players against the Bobcats, while Lloydminster had five veterans in the lineup.
It was scoreless until the fifteen-minute mark of the first period when Pontiacs forward Alex Smith walked off the left sideboard and ripped a wrist shot past Lloydminster goalie Sean Keuhn. The power play goal was Smith's third in his last two games versus Lloydminster and gave Bonnyville the lead going into the first intermission.
Early on in the second period the Pontiacs found themselves in penalty trouble, taking two minors in the first five minutes. Bonnyville's penalty kill held the Bobcats off the board and gave the team momentum.
At 12:31 Shelby Kostyshen let a wrist shot go from the top of the left faceoff circle and beat Bobcats goalie Jeff Orser over the shoulder, giving Bonnyville a 2-0 lead.
The lead was short-lived as Lloydminster answered back a minute later with a goal from Eric Therrien.
Emotions were high as the second period came to a close with both sides pushing and shoving after every whistle. Smith and Lloydminster's Spencer Johnstone got engaged in a lengthy fight at the end of the period with both players landing punches.
The intensity continued into the third period with players throwing their bodies around and continuing to scrum during stoppages in play.
With 2:33 left, Cole Porter finished off a give-and-go, taking a pass from Lukas Biensch and beating an outstretched Ryan Larochelle to tie the game at two.
The Pontiacs were able to bounce back after allowing the late tying goal, something that impressed Swan.
"It shows a little bit of intangibles with the players," said Swan. "We obviously see if they can skate, shoot, pass and those are the tangible part of a hockey player. Really it is the want and the compete and it's the internal desire to never quite and those things build identity and character within a player and that is a really positive thing for us."
Swan and the rest of the Pontiacs staff with have some tough decisions to make in the coming days as the team needs to get down from 38 players to 26.
"We've got some difficult decisions that aren't going to be fun," said Swan. "No matter what, coaches have a heart and they have a human side. It's a humbling experience for a coach (to cut players)."
The Pontiacs will need to have their 25-man roster set before their season opener on September 6 in Lloydminster.
