BONNYVILLE – It was a challenging year for the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs, said Neil Langridge, associate general manager of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) franchise.
The Pontiacs wrapped up the 2024-2025 regular season on March 15 with a 4-3 loss to the Fort McMurray Oil Barons. The team finished the season in fifth place in its six-team AJHL North Division, one rung above the expansion Devon Xtreme, who began its inaugural season in the league in September.
While there were some bright spots throughout the season, the team struggled with consistency.
“The team had some key wins down the stretch, but was too little too late,” he said.
With the new 12-team AJHL and six-team North and South divisions, the AJHL changed the playoff structure so that only the top four teams in each division make the playoffs.
This, he added, left the Pontiacs six points short of a playoff spot, ending their season early.
“The changes made the regular season that much more important, and I believe our team started to hit its stride much too late in the year to make up the ground we needed to,” said Langridge.
The Pontiacs only had three out of a possible 14 players return for the 2024-25 season from the previous season. Pontiacs staff, he said, did a good job of bringing in some veteran players to help bridge the gap of essentially starting a whole new team.
Despite a difficult season and not making it to the playoffs, there were some strong positives for the Pontiacs this year, including some members of the roster who are being recognized for their hard work.
The goaltender for the Bonnyville Pontiacs, Cody Butikis, will be named the Viterra Star of the Game league wide. Butikis was a big reason the Pontiacs won the games they did this past season.
Forward Porter Byrd-Leitner is a top four finalist for Rookie of the Year among all AJHL rookies.
The team was also able to secure a Division 1 NCAA scholarship for Mathieu Lajoie, according to Langridge.
“We saw tremendous growth in some of our players, which gives us hope for a great start to next season,” said Langridge.
With the season now behind them, the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs are looking ahead and preparing for when they hit the ice at the RJ Lalonde Arena for the 2025-26 season.
“We will take the offseason to rebuild and ensure our program returns to one of the top in the AJHL for next season,” Langridge said.
