The Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs split a pair of home games this weekend beating the Camrose Kodiaks 4-1 and falling to the Drumheller Dragons 5-3 at the RJ Lalonde Arena.
It was like watching two completely different Pontiacs teams play as everything that went well for them in the win Saturday night went completely wrong in the loss on Sunday afternoon.
The Pontiacs got off to a great start against Camrose stunning the Kodiaks when Spencer Foo found a loose puck in the slot and scored just 51 seconds into the game.
The one goal lead stayed until the 4:33 mark of the second period. A defensive breakdown resulted in an odd man rush for the Kodiaks with Connor Mailey beating Pontiacs goalie Stephen Klein high glove to tie the game.
Bonnyville took back the one goal lead at the 12:29 mark when Spencer Foo scored his second goal of the game.
Foo along with line mates Jackson Dudley and Steen Pasichnuk combined for nine points in the win.
"We have had a bit of a struggle lately," said Foo. "It seemed like the bounces weren't going our way. (Saturday) it seemed like the puck was always on one of our sticks and we always were able to find one another. It is nice when that happens. It was nice to get some production, finally."
The Pontiacs came flying out of the gate to start the third period scoring two goals in the first minute. Redford Swan blasted a point shot past Camrose goalie Matthew Zentner 38 seconds in, which was followed with Foo's hat trick goal just 15 seconds later.
"You always want to have a great start and I think we have struggled with that a little bit this year," Foo said. "Obviously getting the first goal has a big thing to do with winning the game."
Bonnyville head coach Rick Swan said that the coaching staff emphasized getting a quick start in their pre-game speech.
"That was the challenge. One of our keys to the game here was to make sure that we had a strong start to the game and to get out of the gate strong," said Swan. "In order to do that we had to stay in the moment and make sure they weren't worried about anything but their next shift."
Another key to the Pontiacs victory was staying out of the penalty box, as they have been one of the most penalized teams in the league this season. Against Camrose the Pontiacs only took one penalty through the first two periods.
"We are (one of) the most penalized teams in the league and that has been something we are addressing," said Swan. "Not only are we continually killing penalties and that's tough, but you lose your momentum with your lines, guys don't get out there, they sit for a longer period of time."
The win over Camrose gave the Pontiacs four wins in a row and a little added confidence going into their Sunday afternoon tilt with the Drumheller Dragons.
Unfortunately the team wasn't able to carry any momentum over to the Sunday game. The Pontiacs did come out of the gate fast, carrying the pace of the game for the first half of the first period. It took Drumheller over 11 minutes to get their first shot of the game, but once they did the tides turned.
Bonnyville's 9-0 shot lead quickly evaporated and by the end of the first period the Pontiacs were outshot 13-12 and down 1-0 on a late goal by Dakota Zaharichuk with ten seconds left.
The second period was back and forth with the Pontiacs throwing 14 shots towards the Dragons goalie Jonny Hogue.
Pontiacs forward Luke Mahura was able to pounce on a rebound and shovel it by Hogue at the 13:06 mark of the period to tie the game 1-1.
The third period started off with the teams trading goals about four minutes into the frame. Dallas Smith beat Bonnyville's Josh Erickson to give Drumheller the 2-1, then Bobby McMann scored his first AJHL goal just five seconds later to tie the game at 2-2.
Bonnyville then had a series of defensive mistakes resulting in three straight goals in a span of five minutes. With eight minutes left in the third period the Pontiacs trailed 5-2.
Swan wasn't too happy with the play of the team's defensemen.
"I thought our forwards were good. I thought that they pressured their defensemen hard. I thought that our defense, as a collective group, needs to be better and I think our goaltender needs to make some saves when the team needs it. Not that I am criticizing anybody there, but collectively in the back part of our game we have to get better."
Foo added a late goal for the Pontiacs but it wasn't enough as the team dropped the game 5-3 to Drumheller.
Swan talked about two specific areas the team is going to focus on at practice this week. He feels the team needs to be better prepared entering games and needs to work on their play without the puck.
"I think preparation is going to be an every day, every game thing with this group." Swan said. "If they are into it you can tell it in their eyes and through their body language. I think a lot of these guys haven't been held accountable to the level that you need to play at in this league."
The Pontiacs lost a couple defensemen to injuries over the weekend with Dallas Mortensen suffering from concussion-like symptoms following a fight against Camrose. Max Gottlieb banged up his shoulder after getting hit on Sunday and was removed from the game.
Bonnyville's next game is on Oct. 25 at home against the Whitecourt Wolverines before travelling to Drayton Valley to face the Thunder on Oct. 26.
