Sr. Pontiacs fall in OT

Playoffs start this weekend!

Photo credit: Game Ready Photography

The Bonnyville Sr. Pontiacs played out their last regular season game on Saturday versus the Mornville Kings. Putting on an exciting show for the home crowd, at the RJ Lalonde Arena, the Yaks fell 5-4 in overtime to the Kings. With Devon Kalinski and Mike Desjarlais both out due to injuries, the Seniors were short some key players, says Assistant Coach Corey Wandler, “both players are week-to-week and we’ll have a better idea of what their status will be next weekend. We have a playoff game (at home) next weekend.”

In the last home game of the year, the Pontiacs lost taking forth place in the North Central Sr. Men’s Hockey League. Joel Miller opened the game, at 10:29 in the first, for the Pontiacs with an assist from Chad Schultheiss. It was a 1-0 game heading into the second. The Seniors kept the game exciting with a goal from Denis Cadrin from Jordan Fuder and Lucas Isley. Giving the Yaks a nice 2-0 advantage.

The Kings closed the gap for a 2-1 score; which was followed up by a Pontiac goal, from  Lucas Isley with Mike Bosse and Craig Wowk on the assist. With two seconds left on the clock, Morinville put in another goal for a 3-2 score at the end of 40 minutes. “The outcome of this game is huge for us,” Captain Lucas Isley explains where the club lays in the standings will be determined in the next 20 minutes of play, “we need to place higher to get the lower point the first round.” Should the club win they would land in 3rd; however if they lose it’s a 4th place finish.

The Kings would make it very tough for the Pontiacs to capture the win, with  Zach Carr scoring two points in the third period for his hat trick of the evening. Bonnyville would only score one goal, from Joel Miller, assist from Mike Bosse. Making it a tied game, at 4-4 after 60 minutes of play. Zach Carr put in the winner for the Morinville Kings just seconds into overtime. It was a 5-4 final.

“I didn’t like the way we played, I can say that much. We just weren’t going tonight,” head Coach of the Sr. Pontiacs, Brad Paice says there’s going to have to be chances as they head into playoffs, “we’re going to have to step up. The leaders in the room are going to have to help out those young guys.” It wasn’t just atmosphere in the bench that contributed to the team dropping a lead, says Coach Paice, “we just made way too many mistakes. They came here short benched and we didn’t take advantage of that. It turned into a pond hockey game.”

Collecting the point on the tie game wasn’t enough to launch the Pontiacs into a third place finish. The club will head into the playoffs at forth. Their first playoff game will be this Saturday at the RJ Lalonde Arena, TBA. Catch exclusive game interviews with players and coaches thanks to Rapid Response Energy Services, Thinkwerx and Double R Heavy Duty.