The Bonnyville Junior A Pontiacs played back to back games at home last weekend. They faced the Sherwood Park Crusaders Saturday night, winning 4-0, with goalie Julien Laplante getting his first shutout of the early season. The very next day, the Pontiacs played the Okotoks Oilers in an afternoon affair. Bonnyville won their fifth in a row against the Oilers, taking it in a shootout.
Following Saturday's game Laplante said, “Our start was key, getting the early lead and finishing on our chances.” He added that getting traffic in front of the net is the most important part to any offensive success, and that his team went to the net hard against the Crusaders, which lead to the Pontiacs' early lead and eventually the win.
Forward Tyler Henry led the Pontiacs fast start. He made a nice pass to Matt Montesano, who made it 1-0 only six minutes in. Then only 30 seconds later, Henry took a quick snap-shot from 30 feet out, going post and in, making it 2-0. A minute later on the power play Henry again set up another goal, feeding it through the middle to Marc-Antoine Juneau, who one-timed it passed Sherwood Park's goalie.
The game got a little rough after the three quick goals, with lots of bodies being thrown around and pushing and shoving going on after the whistle.
Pontiacs head coach and GM Chad Mercier said his team had a great start but became a little lackadaisical, which led to a dogfight the rest of the game. “Our consistency has to continue to get better,” said Mercier.
Just before the end of the first period a Pontiac giveaway led to a Sherwood Park breakaway. Laplante, who had not seen much action to this point, came up huge, making the save and preserving the three-goal lead.
Extending the Pontiacs lead in the second period was Ryan Kearns. Kearns got himself stationed out front of the net, as his linemate Dante Borrelli pulled off some pretty moves, sliding the puck through the defenders feet before passing off to Kearns, who one-timed in the Pontiacs fourth goal of the game.
From there Laplante carried the load. He made big saves in the second and third periods, keeping the game at 4-0. There was one close call for Laplante in the third. A Crusader took a weak shot that seemed to fool Laplante, as it hit, then bounced over him and headed towards the goal. But Laplante, using his reflexes, dove on the puck just before it crossed the line.
Mercier said of his goalie's play, “He's been very good for us…the backbone of our club.”
Laplante made a few more saves before the final whistle to get his first shutout of the year. “It feels really good,” said Laplante, following the game. “It's always nice when it's a shutout.”
Before the two games over the weekend the Pontiacs coaching staff had decided to give Laplante a much-deserved day off for Sunday's game. “You never want a day off,” said Laplante. “I would play if I could, but you can't play them all.”
Late in Saturday's game Pontiacs captain Michael Westfall took a hard hit to the head, with no call on the play. Mercier said his captain has a concussion and will be out indefinitely.
Sunday's game: Pontiacs make big comeback, win in shootout
With captain Michael Westfall out of the lineup with a concussion and starting goalie Julien Laplante getting the day off, the Pontiacs looked significantly different for Sunday afternoon's game.
But, even with some new faces in the lineup, the team came together, made a three-goal comeback, got the lead, lost the lead, and then won in a shootout against the Okotoks Oilers.
The Pontiacs came out slower than usual on Sunday, which head coach and GM Chad Mercier said was not fatigue, but rather “preparation is what it is…it's learning to go back to back nights and knowing that you're not going to be that 100 per cent, but learning to get yourself up and do your job.”
The Pontiacs slow start led to three unanswered goals by the Oilers, giving them a 3-0 lead five and a half minutes into the second period.
The Pontiacs play seemed a bit disorganized at times, but Mercier felt the line of Jake Towriss, Brennan Volcan and Levi Ansell really got them going.
The Pontiacs first goal came on the power play, which the coach also said helped the team get going.
Scoring the goal was Tyler Henry with just two and a half minutes left in the second.
Just prior to the Pontiacs first goal, their back-up goalie Connor Creech, made two huge saves on a two-man penalty kill, keeping the game within reach.
The Pontiacs scored a beauty to bring the game within one, when Jordon Krankowsky took a low point shot on the power play, which Kearns tipped in top shelf past the Okotoks keeper.
Then only moments later, with 10 seconds left in the period, Matt Montesano roofed it to tie the game up at three.
You could see the frustration building in the Okotoks players.
As the whistle blew to end the period Kevin Carthy threw a big hit, which wound up two Oilers players. One of the players chased Carthy around trying to entice a fight, but to no avail, as Carthy maintained his composure. The Oiler antics led to a penalty being called against them.
The Oilers continued to take penalties in the third. With seven minutes left in the game and just after an Oiler penalty expired, Pontiacs defenceman Nick Scott put one past the keeper to take the lead, assisting on the goal were Dante Borrelli and Ryan Kearns.
The game became increasingly chippy, which led to an Okotoks power play with five minutes left in the game.
Creech came up big with one save and his post came up with another to kill off the penalty.
But, with less than two minutes left in the game the Pontiacs had a two-man disadvantage and could not hold the lead. Okotoks tied it up on the power play at 18:22 of the period.
The game went into overtime and then a shootout. Tyler Henry shot first for the Pontiacs. He scored with ease. Creech then came up big, stopping the next two Oilers shooters. Matt Montesano and Devon Kalinsky were both unsuccessful for the Pontiacs, while the third Okotoks shooter put one past Creech. Juneau shot fourth for the Pontiacs and scored, putting the pressure on Okotoks to score and Creech to make the save. The Okotoks player came in without a lot of speed, tried to deek, but Creech stood his ground and made the save.
He captured the Pontiacs fifth win in a row for his team, as well as his first victory of his career.
Mercier said Creech had some nerves early, not having had a chance to play a whole lot, but built his confidence throughout the game.
“He made some big saves for us…looked good in the shootout…gave us a chance to win the game…nice to see the result.”
