Sr Pontiacs sweep Devon in Round 1 of Playoffs

The Bonnyville Sr. AA Pontiacs are headed to the second round of the North Central Senior Men’s Hockey League playoffs with a 3-0 series win over the Devon Barons. After taking Devon in game 1 last weekend, the Seniors continued to dominate with a 6-5 overtime win at home at Saturday, followed up with a 5-2 road win to capture the series. Head Coach, Brad Paice, “the goal for this series was to get two at home and steal one outta their barn.”

Saturday Game 2 of the series

Tanner Corbeil opened the game with an electrifying short-handed goal, from Chad Schultheiss just over eight minutes into the game. It was complimented nicely with an unassisted follow-up goal from Devon Kalinski. The Barons snuck in a goal by Brandon Powlik, but the glory would be all Corbeil’s as he popped in his second goal of the period shortly thereafter to make it a 3-1 game at the end of the first.

“The second period, I’m sure the fans can tell you, was pretty bad to watch,” Coach Paice says it was hard as a coach to watch the team give up 20 valuable minutes. The Barons put in three unanswered goals during the second and another goal to start the third to take the lead, 5-3. “The guys dugged deep and came back,” the Seniors had to put everything they had into the last seven minutes of play to secure tie it up and force extra time. Troy Dumais and Denis Cadrin put in the tying goals.

It was Captain Lucas Isley on the power play, a minute into overtime that got the game winner, with an assist from Ty Carey and Devon Kalinski. The Sr. Pontiacs took Game 2 with a 6-5 overtime win.

Sunday Game 3 of the series

“We gotta get the legs going early in this game,” Assistant Coach Corey Wandler says the road trip can trip a guy up if the club doesn’t utilize the practice time to shake off the travel legs. “We need that sweat. Get the guys involved and engaged. We know we have to work through this feeling.” The club may be up two games in the series, but they still need to win a hockey game, says Wandler, “the guys need to be prepared, Devon’s probably going to come with everything that they’ve got.”

The Pontiacs went back-and-forth with with Barons in the first period of the game with Mike Desjarlais starting it off for the Seniors with a goal from Chad Schultheiss and Lucas Isley. That was answered by Devon’s Wyatt Morin and followed up by  Devon Kalinski from Tanner Corbeil and Mike Desjarlais. Once again, Morin with the Barons scored to exit the period two all.

Mike Desjarlais got thing rolling, again in the second, with a goal from Beau Ferbey. The Pontiacs continued to dominate the plays, puck and period with another goal Curtis witney with Dillon Kalinski and Allias Kalinsky on the assist. With the series on the line, the Pontiacs maintained their strength and powered through the third period. Killing eight minutes of penalties and scoring another with just a minute left in the game. It was Captain Lucas Isley with the goal from Mike Desjarlais and Devon Kalinski.

The Bonnyville Sr. AA Pontiacs took game with a 5-2 win and the series 3-0. The Sr. Pontiacs will enjoy a couple days practice while they wait the results of the other series in the league. You can catch exclusive player and coach interviews on the Pontiacs’ playoff run on Lakeland Connect’s Facebook Page, thanks to Rapid Response Energy Services, Thinkwerx and Double R Heavy Duty.