The Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs won two of three matchups last week.
The Pontiacs picked up back-to-back victories when the Drayton Valley Thunder came to town and against the Drumheller Dragons on the road. However, the Brooks Bandits would prove to be too much for Bonnyville.
Head coach Rick Swan said this puts the Pontiacs back in second place in the AJHL north division, describing what’s ahead as an “uphill battle” to get the number one spot.
“We just have to invest in every single game that we play and make sure that we’re prepared to treat it like a playoff game,” he stressed.
Pontiacs best the Thunder
The Pontiacs came out on top on home ice when they defeated Drayton Valley 8-3 on Tuesday, Jan. 8.
Bonnyville was first to get on the scoreboard with a powerplay goal from Bobby Young.
Daine Dubois would quickly add another point.
Bringing their lead up 3-0 was Jaden York.
Marc-Antoine Benoit started the second frame with a goal of his own less than three minutes in.
Pontiac Garin Butler would quickly follow suit, finding the back of the Thunder’s net.
Continuing to build on the local team’s lead was Joel Ray. He brought the game up 6-0.
Drayton Valley finally got their first point of the evening.
Grayson Constable added his name to the scoresheet, followed by the Pontiacs last goal of the night from York.
Drayton Valley tried to close the gap with two more goals in the third, but the Pontiacs still walked away with an 8-3 victory.
Winning on the road
The first game on the Pontiacs’ short road trip saw them beat the Drumheller Dragons 5-3 on Friday, Jan. 11.
“Drumheller was a hard emotional game,” recalled Swan. “Our guys were exceptional on the penalty kill, and we were able to get a real good character... victory in a difficult place to win.”
The Pontiacs started the night off quickly, with Lucas Thorne capitalizing on a powerplay less than two minutes in.
While Bonnyville managed to hold off the Dragons for the majority of the first, Drumheller tied it up 1-1 with less than a minute left in the frame.
The Pontiacs took the lead early in the second, but it wasn’t over for the Dragons. They tied it up once again.
Heading into the third 2-2, the Pontiacs kicked it up a notch. Benoit started the scoring off, followed by a goal from the Dragons.
With the game neck-and-neck, Young broke the tie for Bonnyville.
Ray scored an empty-net goal with less than a minute left in the game.
Swan said, “We found ourselves in a goalie-pulled situation. It was a six-on-four scenario, and (Joel) just outworked a really hungry team that was trying to get back into the game and trying to force it into overtime.”
Bandits defeat the Pontiacs
The Pontiacs continued their road trip for a matchip against the Brooks Bandits on Saturday, Jan. 12.
In the end, their efforts wouldn’t be enough and they fell to their opponents 4-0.
“Things didn’t go our way, but it’s nice to know what we can expect out of a top team in Canada. Now we have something to push for,” expressed Constable.
Brooks dominated Bonnyville throughout the first, scoring two of their four points.
Swan described the first 20-minutes as “a disappointing start” for the home team.
“They overwhelmed us a bit, but we took three penalties in that first period with one of the best teams in Canada,” he detailed.
The second period went to the Bandits. They found the back of the net on two occasions, landing their final two goals of the night.
“We really gave them everything that they got going into the third period... For 40-minutes, we played really even with them, and if we had some opportunities to get some bounces like Brooks was getting it could have been a really different result even though that first period was uncharacteristic for our guys,” exclaimed Swan.
Constable agreed with his head coach.
“It goes to show that we can’t take a single shift off for the entire game, but I know we can be right there with them. We played probably 30-minutes in that hockey game, beat them in shots... and proved to ourselves that we can play with these guys. But, we just have to play a full 60-minutes.”
The Pontiacs get some time off ahead of their next game. They will be playing the Fort McMurray Oil Barons at the R.J. Lalonde Arena on Saturday, Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
