A four-point weekend allowed the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs to leapfrog the Sherwood Park Crusaders and grab sole possession of fourth place in the AJHL's North Division.
The jump in the standings came off the back of a 3-1 victory over the Whitecourt Wolverines on Saturday night and a 3-2 win over the Lloydminster Bobcats on Sunday afternoon.
With ten games left in the season the Pontiacs sit just two points back of third place Fort McMurray and five points back of second place Lloydminster.
“I think we are in a pretty good spot here, so we just have to keep rolling,” said Bonnyville forward Mitch Fritz who scored the game-winning goal against Whitecourt. “With the North Division being so tight and us being in the middle of the pack, every point matters, so we just have to do what we can to get as many (points) as we can.”
The weekend didn't start all too well for the Pontiacs, who trailed 1-0 to the visiting Wolverines after 20 minutes of play.
After a back and forth second frame Bonnyville was able to break through and tie the contest up. Forward Ryan Symington found Gen Bryshun on the point who then ripped a shot past goaltender Jared Rathjen for the Ponitacs opening tally.
The two sides played a physical, intense contest until midway through the third period, when a James Vermeulen roughing minor gave Bonyville the opportunity they were looking for.
The Pontiacs powerplay went to work and quickly propelled the home side into the lead. Fritz found the back of the net at 12:25 of the final period with Kyler Hehn and Evan Warmington drawing assists on the play.
Bonnyville held off a late charge from the Wolverines and sealed the deal with four seconds remaining when Bobby McMann hit an empty net.
“I was happy with the result and the two points, but from a coaching perspective I think that we allowed them to get too many quality opportunities on our goaltender,” said Bonnyville Head Coach and GM Rick Swan after the game. “That is a thing that we want to address here to make sure we are controlling the puck more.”
It was a quick turnaround for the Pontiacs who were back at it for a Sunday afternoon tilt against the rival Lloydminster Bobcats.
The Bobcats came to Bonnyville ready to play and proved to be too much for the hometown “Yaks” to handle early on.
Lloydminster's forecheck put Bonnyville on the back foot from the get go and resulted in the Pontiacs taking a slew of early penalties.
The Bobcats controlled the play for the better part of the first period, using two lengthy powerplays and a 5-on-3 man advantage to pummel Pontiac netminder Troy Trombley with 17 first period shots.
“On a positive note it was great thing for Troy Trombley,” said Swan. “The reason why we brought him in at the deadline was for when things aren't going well and there are mistakes, especially in our zone. We have a goaltender that is in there and can make saves for us.”
Trombley thwarted the Bobcats attack and allowed the tides to turn. Lloydminster's Ashton Clark took an interference call at 14:35 of the opening frame and Bonnyville's powerplay made him pay.
Bryshun walked across the top of the blue line, made a quick pass down to Kyler Hehn at the top of the right circle, who then let a hard, quick wrist shot on goal. Warmington, who was parked at the side of the net, immediately jumped on the rebound and whacked it past Bobcat netminder Devin Green.
The goal allowed the Pontiacs to get out the first period with a surprising one-goal lead.
The second period was a lot more even than the first with both squads not giving much space for the other to work. It took another Lloydminster penalty for any offense to strike.
This time Fritz was the recipient of a gift of a pass from Warmington. The hulking centre tracked down a loose puck behind the Lloydminster goal and fed a wide-open Fritz out in front of the net, who then slid it through the legs of a scrambling Green.
Things were looking good for the Pontiacs until early in the third period when a blunder by defenseman Cody Fiala resulted in Lloydminster getting on the board.
After taking a pass from his defense partner, Fiala went to give it right back and whiffed on the pass. The puck found the stick of Bobcats forward Zac Giroux, who walked in on a short break and fired the puck on Trombley. The shot kicked off the pad of the goaltender and bounced back to Taylor Lotoski, who deposited it into the wide-open cage.
The goal came just 47 seconds into the third period and gave the visiting Bobcats life.
Roughly nine minutes later, another Bonnyville error allowed the Bobcats to even the score.
Great work from Shane Switzer allowed 17-year-old Evan Tschumi to find a loose puck in the neutral zone and walk his way though the Pontiac forwards untouched. The defense held back and allowed Tschumi to wander into the high slot and unleash a rocket of a wrist shot into the top corner. The goal, at 9:41 of the third, tied the game 2-2.
With time ticking down in a tie game the Pontiacs Kyler Hehn stepped back into the spotlight and made the play of the game.
Bonnyville's Brinson Pasichnuk tracked down a loose puck behind his own net, make a quick look up the ice and unleashed a 150-foot past to Hehn, who was streaking across the Lloydminster blueline. Hehn, sprung on a breakaway, broke in on goal pulled off a nifty forehand-backhand deke and slid the puck fivehole.
The highlight reel play was all Bonnyville needed as they held on for the slim 3-2 victory.
“I think we did pretty well. We came together and played as a team. Recently we have been kind of up and down and our game shows that. If we are winning we are using each other and when we are losing that is when we haven't been,” said Fritz.
“We played physical. When we play and use our body that is when we seem to have success.”
Bonnyville will be in action on Feb. 4 when they travel to Fort McMurray. They will then return home for a pair of games on the weekend with Canmore coming to town on Friday night and Drayton Valley visiting on Saturday night.
