The Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs are moving on to the second round of the AJHL playoffs after sweeping the Drayton Valley Thunder.
After notching 3-2 and 3-0 wins on home ice last Thursday and Friday the Pontiacs pulled out the brooms on Sunday night and swept the Thunder aside with a 6-3 road victory.
Helping the Pontiacs to their back-to-back home victories was a rambunctious crowd, which packed the RJ Lalonde arena for the opening two games of the series.
“It is awesome. It is a seventh man for us out there,” said Bonnyville forward Dillan McCombie. “When you are getting down on yourself you just have to look out and see everyone in the crowd getting pretty amped up. It is huge. Home ice is a huge advantage.”
The Pontiacs gave the RJ faithful a ton to cheer about on both nights as they broke out of the gate with early goals.
Four minutes into Game 1 Kyler Hehn walked out of the corner and found Evan Warmington streaking to the goal. Warmington made no mistake firing the puck upstairs over Marc-Oliver Daigle for the games opening tally.
After Drayton Valley's Jason Miller evened the score Bonnyville's powerplay went back to work.
Defenseman Ryan Black found a wide-open Dillan McCombie who snapped a wrist shot past Daigle to put the Pontiacs back in front.
Just over a minute into the second another powerplay allowed Bonnyville to extend their lead. Steen Pasichnuk and Mitch Fritz went to work in the offensive zone with Pasichnuk scoring and blowing the roof off the RJ Lalonde Arena.
“It felt pretty good,” said Pasichnuk. “I remember watching guys scoring those playoff goals as a kid and just always wanted to be them. It was a pretty unreal feeling. The place got super loud.”
Pasichnuk's goal would hold up to be the game winner with Bonnyville sqeeking out a 3-2 victory.
“The guys came out playing super hard,” said McCombie. “That first game is huge, whoever wins it puts the pressure on the other team.”
Bonnyville took the advantage into Game 2, which saw the two teams faceoff in another packed rink.
The Pontiacs fed off the energy of the racus RJ and once again notched an early tally.
Just 2:59 into the game Alden Dupuis found a loose puck at the hash marks, walked in and roofed a backhand past an outstretched Daigle. The goal gave Bonnyville the lead until McCombie once again blew the roof off the joint.
After being hauled down on a clear cut breakaway, McCombie was awarded a penalty shot.
“I just lined up. I wasn't sure what I was going to do,” said McCombie. “I thought I was going backhand when I originally went in, but when I faked the shot backhand (Daigle) bit pretty hard so I went back to the forehand and had a wide open net.”
The beautiful penalty shot goal at 18:58 of the first period gave Bonnyville all the offense and momentum they needed.
McCombie ripped home another goal early in the third period to seal the deal and give the Pontiacs a 3-0 victory.
In Game 3, with their season on the line, the Drayton Valley Thunder came out of the gate with a spark and were the first ones on the scoreboard.
Trevor Poirier beat Bonnyville's Troy Trombley at 4:25 of the first to give the Thunder unexpected life.
Dupuis wasn't fazed and quickly stole Drayton Valley's thunder notching a goal just ten seconds later, before Poirier's goal could even be announced.
The goal, which was assisted by Bobby McMann, was a sign of things to come for the pair of Pontiacs.
Midway through the period the duo went back to work and both scored goals 19 seconds apart to open up a commanding 3-1 lead for the Pontiacs.
Although a late powerplay goal from Liam Gregor would give Drayton Valley life, they didn't have enough to combat the Pontiacs offense.
Hehn, Warmington and Donald would all tickle the twine in the remaining 40 minutes as Bonnyville waltzed their way to a 6-3 win.
“We have been playing really well,” said Pasichnuk. “Our goal was to be as physical as we can; to put them back on their heels and I think we had around 173 hits in the first six periods, so that is always nice. We wore them down.”
Dates for the second round of the playoffs have been set. Games 1 through 4 will take place on March 13, 14, 16 and 17. Due to an early press deadline the opponent and home dates were not yet known.
Bonnyville could be playing the opening game of the series without the services of Fritz; the feisty forward is facing a one-game suspension for taking two goaltender interference penalties in the opening round.
