With essentially a day and a half of rest following the AJHL Showcase Weekend, the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs got back on the road for a two-game trip to Drayton Valley and Grand Prairie. The Pontiacs made a comeback to beat Drayton Valley 3-2, then defeated Grand Prairie the next night by a score of 5-0.
The Pontiacs had a bit of a slow start against Drayton Valley Oct. 5. But head coach and GM Chad Mercier said, "Our energy level and our legs picked up as the game went on." The Pontiacs were down one early, but Eric Peterson tied it up halfway through the first period. Drayton Valley took the lead back in the second and held onto it until there were 11 minutes left in the game.
That was when the Pontiacs made their comeback. Brennan Volcan scored the tying goal at the nine-minute mark, assisting on it was Jesse Williamson. Then with only a minute and a half left in the game Dante Borrelli scored, unassisted, to take the lead and win the game. Mercier said the game was a grind, but they found a way to pull it out.
Following the game, the Pontiacs hopped on the bus and drove to Grand Prairie. "Our guys had to battle and fight through," after showing up at 3:30 in the morning, said Mercier. He felt his team played pretty well, especially defensively, against Grand Prairie.
The Pontiacs only allowed three shots in the first period and held the Storm to 23 shots in total. The Pontiacs only got 20 shots on net of their own, but they managed to capitalize on five of them. The Pontiacs won 5-0, giving Julien Laplante his second shutout of the season. Laplante has been a huge part of the team's success so far this season, allowing a near league-low amount of 19 goals.
The two wins last week extended Bonnyville's winning streak to an incredible nine games. From a coaching standpoint, the results are nice, but they are going to continue to focus on the entire process.
"We're happy with the results we've been getting here, but we understand that it's early and our team has to continue to get better," said Mercier. "So we're constantly working with our players, trying to get our team game to the highest possible level."
Mercier said that hockey is not only about how you handle your failures, not getting too down, but also how you handle your successes. "We'll take this early success...but it's the teams that continue to improve throughout the year (that) are the teams that move on and have the success they want to have."
The Pontiacs played the Drumheller Dragons Saturday night at home. However, results were not available by press time.
