BONNYVILLE - The Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs had a successful week with three straight wins.
They bested the Drayton Valley Thunder when they came to town, and found success on the road against the Lloydminster Bobcats and Fort McMurray Oil Barons.
Pontiacs tame the Bobcats
When the Pontiacs entered enemy territory on Dec. 11, they walked away with the 6-4 win over the Bobcats.
Lloydminster started the scoring off with two points in the first, but they didn’t hold onto the lead for long. Back-to-back goals from Bonnyville’s Curtis Hammond and Matthew McKim brought the game to a 2-2 tie.
Pontiac Reilly Connors capitalized on a power play to kick-off the second, and Justin Stathopoulos found the back of the Bobcats’ net to bring Bonnyville’s lead to 4-2.
Less than a minute into the third Pontiac Lucas Thorne snuck the puck past Lloydminster’s goalie. He wasn’t done for the evening, adding his name to the scoresheet for a second time with Bonnyville’s last point of the night.
Although the Bobcats landed two more goals before the game was through, the 6-4 win went to the Pontiacs.
Gritty win on home ice
Bonnyville dominated the Drayton Valley Thunder 5-1 on home ice on Friday, Dec. 13.
Thorne started the scoring, followed by back-to-back goals by Daine Dubois to give Bonnyville a 3-0 lead by the end of the first.
Connors believes Dubois fired the team up for the rest of the game.
“There were a couple of really tough shifts in the beginning, but we really battled back and showed who the Pontiacs are.”
Drayton Valley got the only point of the second frame, but they didn’t catch up to the home team.
Early in the third, Pontiac Thomas Kramer added his name to the scoresheet.
Two separate fights broke out in the final period that saw Dubois and Thorne thrown out of the game after Cam Newton and Joel Ray were levelled into the boards.
“It really says a lot when our best players are also the guys that lead the way by saying, ‘hey, look, these are my players, and you can’t take liberties with them.’ I liked that a lot,” expressed head coach Rick Swan.
Connors said, “It really brought more energy to the bench, and I think everyone respects them for stepping up and standing up for the teammates that did get the injustices during the game.”
With less than a minute left on the clock, Stathopoulos scored one last goal to finish the night 5-1 in Bonnyville’s favour.
The game was filled with penalties, with Bonnyville racking up over 60 minutes.
“There was a lot of passion going on, and that’s usually the case when the officials can’t clean up after the whistle,” explained Swan. “I think that caused a little bit too much specialty teams play to occur out there, but our guys sure rallied together to play tough.”
“I think when a team doesn’t have as much skill as another team, they have to find other ways to break down our mentality to get us off our game,” Thorne stated. “They tried to get us off our game, and we just responded the right way with playing hard, sticking up for each other, and playing tough.”
Win streak continues
The Pontiacs kept their success going with a 4-3 win over the Fort McMurray Oil Barons.
The first goal of the Ponatics’ Dec. 15 game went to Chayce Schmidt followed by a goal from Kramer.
The Oil Barons managed to cut the Pontiacs lead in half before the period was through.
The only point in the second frame went to Fort McMurray, tying it up at 2-2.
Kicking off the third, Pontiac Bruce MacGregor added his name to the scoresheet before Connors brought the score to 4-2.
Fort McMurray added another goal, but couldn’t catch up to the Pontiacs before the final buzzer.
The Pontiacs next home game is against the Lloydminster Bobcats on Friday, Dec. 20. Puck drop is 7 p.m.