Pontiacs Take Down Chippy Canucks

Things get heated at the RJ with 4-2 win over Calgary

It got a little chippy at the RJ Lalonde Arena in Bonnyville on Friday evening, as the Calgary Canucks were in town. Head Coach Rick Swan says things tend to get heated when there’s a lot of pressure in the game.

“That’s a good team. They pressure hard, they have skill and can skate real well,” Coach Swan says the Canucks definitely put up a great battle for the Pontiacs.

The game started off well enough with new acquire Riley Smith, at a staggering 6’4″ snipping in a power play goal from Mitchell Oliver and Ryan Symington, while Calgary’s  Josh Giacomin sat it out for high-sticking. The Pontiacs worked the rest of the period to hold off the Canucks, who would get the goal back just before the buzzer at 19:00 from Matthew Painchaud.

“The reason teams are successful is because they play to a certain standard.” Coach Swan says the second period the Pontiacs began to digress their game, “we played below our standard and allowed a pretty good hockey team to give it to us for 40 minutes.” With no scoring in the second the teams kept the crowd entertained with hard-hitting hockey action.  Mark Drohan of the Canucks and Trygve Many Guns got into a scuffle at 7:21 in the period following a check from behind by Drohan. Frohan receiving a game misconduct following the fight and Many Guns with unsportsmanlike behaviour.

“The message between the second and third was, ‘guys we’re lucky that we’re tied at a 1-1 hockey game’,” Coach Swan says the boys were checked and set free for the last 20 minutes of play. 13 seconds into the final round,  Brendan Holterhus made it a 2-1 game for the Pontiacs from PJ Marrocco; followed by a Marrocco goal from Holterhus.

The lead set off a flurry, first it was Canucks’ Dylan Williamson and Luke Israel for unsportsmanlike conduct at 15:29, then Matthew Painchaud and Josh Gagne of Calgary scuffle with Brendan Holterhus at 16:32. Finally the heat boiled over and the Canucks could not contain themselves, getting a team penalty game misconduct that erupted from a slash by Allan MacPherson.

The game ended in true RJ Lalonde excitement with a goal from Holterhus with the assist to none other than Marrocco. Followed up with a final Calgary goal three seconds to the buzzer from  Dylan Williamson. Game ended 4-2 Pontiacs.

Pontiacs goalie, Sandro Silvestre had an outstanding performance, says the coach. “His performance was something we haven’t had in our organization in a long time.”

The Canmore Eagles are in town tonight at 7:30 pm. WIN tickets to the game on LCN!