The Bonnyville Sr. Pontiacs kicked off the home portion of their season this past weekend splitting a pair of games with the visiting Tofield Satellites.
An emphatic 10-3 romp over the Satellites on Friday night brought the Sr. Pontiacs their first home win of the season before the team lost a back and forth battle 7-4 the next night.
“(On Friday) everything went our way. The bounces were going our way and (on Saturday) they weren't,” said Pontiacs assistant captain Lucas Isley. “We just seemed to be frustrated with it. We just weren't producing the chances that we had (on Friday.)”
The Pontiacs came out hot on Friday night scoring on three of their first four shots. Five-minutes into the game and they had jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
After Levi Ansell scored late in the first to extend the lead to four, the Satellites got on the board with a quick pair of goals of their own.
Bonnyville held the 4-2 lead after twenty minutes.
The second period also saw the hometown Pontiacs come out firing. Just 43 seconds into the frame Lucas Isley found the back of the net for the third time on the night, and several hats hit the ice.
Minutes later, with Bonnyville killing a penalty, Isley picked the puck up around centre and broke in on a breakaway. A nifty forehand-backhand move gave the Bonnyville sniper his fourth of the night.
When it was all said and done, Lucas Isley had four goals, Logan Isley scored a pair and Dallas Ansell, Levi Ansell, Michael Desjarlais and Joel Olszowka all scored one.
“I think we are going to be a strong club this year,” said Isley. “We have a good group of guys and we have a lot of guys, which is nice because in senior hockey with everybody working, not everybody is going to be able to make every game. We have 35 committed guys and we are going to be able to produce a full lineup every night.”
The next night saw the game stay closer for a lot longer and the teams battled in a hard fought, physical game.
After the first period the Satellites were up 2-1.
The second period saw the floodgates open as both teams scored at a high pace.
Midway through the frame Tofield scored to expand their lead to 3-1.
Within minutes Trevor Makaruk and Denis Cadrin had both scored to tie the game at three goals apiece.
The stalemate was short lived, as Tofield needed just 11 seconds to regain the one goal lead. A minute later, at 14:08 of the second the Satellites expanded their lead again by notching their fifth goal of the game.
Cadrin added another late in the frame and the teams went into the break with Tofield up 5-4.
The Satellites put the game away early in the third with a powerplay goal.
After some scrums and a slew of penalties to both sides, the Satellites added a seventh goal on another man-advantage late in the frame.
“We dominated them last night so tonight we came out cocky and it bit us in the ass,” said Makaruk. “We just have to realize that anyone can beat anyone in this league. We have to come out to play every night. We have the talent in this room to go up against any team in this league.”
The Pontiacs next game is Sat, Nov. 22 at home against the Big Valley Oil Kings. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m.
“It is a tough league,” added Makaruk. “It is rough. It is good hockey and it is good to be back out there. I think we are in for a lot of good battles for the rest of the season.”
