Pre-season is already half over for the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs, with three games played and only three to go before the regular season kicks into gear and games start to matter in the standings.
The Pontiacs have two losses and one tie in their first three exhibition games, but head coach and general manager Chad Mercier said wins and losses are not the most relevant measuring tool at this time of year.
Instead, he and the coaching staff are looking at the response of individual players to game action. He noted, for many players, training camp and pre-season can be the first game action since the end of last season.
"We've seen some real good things at times, a lot of potential in some of our new faces. But there is still a lot of work to get the players consumed with what we're all about here," he said following a 6-3 loss to Portage College in Bonnyville this past Saturday.
He said about scheduling games with the bigger, more experienced Portage College players, "It's very important for all our players to be challenged early on. We now know what our starting base is, where we have to be and we're finding out what we need to do to get there."
Mercier said it has been tough getting everyone in the lineup with a large roster and a short period to evaluate players.
Leask was one of the veterans getting into game action for the first time this pre-season this past Saturday.
"It seemed to start out slow for a lot of guys, myself included. We're trying to get back into the game mode," he said. "But once the game progressed it felt more comfortable."
Leask is looking for a couple of wins from his team in the next three pre-season games, but he said playing a complete game is even more important than wins and losses.
"You've got to look at your game before you look at results and it has to come with a progression. All we want to see is 100 per cent effort for a full 60 (minutes)."
With over 30 players still on the roster and only three games to evaluate the remaining players before final cuts just prior to the start of regular season, Mercier acknowledged, he has some tough choices to make.
"We do have some very tough decisions to make. There are some tough choices with guys that we think are good hockey players, but we haven't really liked the response from them," he said. "We can't wait around. We're going to have to really sit down and contemplate some of these decisions. And I think the quicker we get down in roster numbers the better it will be for the club."
With a roster of nearly all rookies, the Pontiacs kicked off pre-season action with a 7-1 loss to the Bobcats in Lloydminster on Aug. 24.
Bonnyville followed that up with a 2-2 tie against Portage College in Lac La Biche this past Friday. The Pontiacs lost to Portage College the next night in Bonnyville 6-3.
The Pontiacs close out pre-season this week, starting with a game at home versus Lloydminster Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Pontiacs then travel to Camrose for a game Friday, before returning home to face Camrose again in the teams' final pre-season game.
Bonnyville opens the regular season Sept. 9 in Lloydminster. The Pontiacs home opener is Sept. 10 in the R.J. Lalonde Arena at 7 p.m. also against the Bobcats.
