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Tough loss for the Sr. Yaks

The Bonnyville Sr. AA Pontiacs went down fighting against the Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs. The back-and-forth matchup at the R.J. Lalonde Arena on Saturday, Nov. 2, ultimately went to the Chiefs with a 7-6 win.
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Tanner Corbeil makes his way across the ice during the Bonnyville Pontiacs game against the Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs on Saturday, Nov. 2.

The Bonnyville Sr. AA Pontiacs went down fighting against the Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs.

The back-and-forth matchup at the R.J. Lalonde Arena on Saturday, Nov. 2, ultimately went to the Chiefs with a 7-6 win.

“It was a tough one for us,” noted head coach Corey Wandler. “We led for the first 40 minutes, and we played okay. There were some defensive breakdowns, we gave them easy looks, and just couldn’t take care of our own zone the way we need to win in this league.”

Bonnyville started the scoring less than a minute into the game when Denis Cadrin found the back of the net.

Tanner Corbeil added another point to the Pontiacs’ 2-0 lead shortly after.

Fort Saskatchewan answered with their first goal of the evening, followed by Pontiac Ty Carey adding his name to the scoresheet.

The final point of the period went to the Chiefs, but the first frame ended in Bonnyville’s favour.

Corbeil came out of the locker room hot, scoring a point less than a minute into the second.

The Chiefs answered with two of their own to tie it up at 4-4.

The teams stayed evenly matched through the remainder of the period, trading goals again to end the second at 5 a piece.

For Bonnyville defenceman Steven Knoblauch, the final    20 minutes was the highlight of the night.

“I think we came back in the third period, and we almost had a chance to come back and win. We got out-shot a little bit, but we came back in the third in the last 10 minutes and we gave it all that we could,” he exclaimed.

Fort Saskatchewan added two more points in the final frame to come ahead 7-5.

Although Pontiac Zachary Zarowny was able to cut the Chiefs’ lead down to 7-6, Bonnyville couldn’t tie it up before time ran out.

“It would have been nice to go into overtime, but we definitely had what it took to get two points tonight. We take one on the chin, we’ve got to regroup, and we’ve got a big road trip coming up next weekend, and hopefully, we can scrap together a win on the road trip,” said Wandler.

He continued, “We’ve just got to continue to improve every week, and just clean up defensively. Man-to-man coverage, making sure we’re responsible, we’re winning those puck battles, we’re locking onto those guys and not letting them get time and space.”

The Pontiacs won’t be hitting home again ice until Jan. 4, when they face-off against the Blackfalds Wranglers starting at 7:30 p.m.

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