Pontiac pride to be on display in 70th anniversary game Friday

On December 16, 1952, the Bonnyville Sr. Pontiacs played the first game under their new moniker. Formerly the Bonnyville Bruins, the owners of Central Motors Pontiac dealers Alex and Walter Lochansky, were approached to see whether they would purchase new jerseys for the hockey team.

At that time, the Bruins were the game in town, but wore mismatched sweater and socks. When they obliged and the shipment of jerseys arrived, the Bonnyville Pontiacs were then born.

This Friday, they’ll commemorate 70 years of rich hockey history as the current edition of the senior hockey team takes on the Devon Barons.

Laurier Sylvestre, an member of that 1952 team will drop the puck, and Cliff Galloway, the grandfather of a current Pontiac, will also be on hand. ‘Getaway’ Galloway was a member of the Pontiacs from 1960-67. A crowd favourite at the time, he’s making the trip from Saskatchewan to join those in attendance and drop the puck with Sylvestre.

The Sr. Pontiacs began outdoors in their first two seasons before the old Bonnyville Arena was constructed in time for its third incarnation.

But the small town team started to gain more legitimacy as the years wore on and became a powerhouse in Alberta hockey.

They were members of the Northeast Alberta Hockey League, the Nor Lake League, the Centennial League, the Wild Goose League, the Battle River League and now the North Central Hockey League.

Winners of four straight league championships from 1959-1962, back to back titles in 1976-1977, six championships in the 1980s, and one more in 2014, the team also collected provincial championships.

A win in 1962 was later followed by an incredible run from 1978-1981 of four straight Provincials wins, followed by two in the 1980s, three in the 1990s, 2003-2004, and finally in 2018.

Board member and longtime Bonnyville hockey fan, Ray Prevost, remembers two games in particular that stand out over the years.

“The two most exciting games that I’ve seen in Bonnyville in the past seven years, I think on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, the Vegreville Rangers defeated the Bonneville Pontiacs in the 7th and deciding game in sudden death overtime at the old Bonnyville Arena, that was an exciting game,” Prevost told Lakeland Connect.

“But I think the best game I’ve seen over the years was the one we played the Japanese National Team. I think Denis [Germain] would remember that very well. In Bonnyville, in the old arena, they were hanging from the rafters. I’ve always said that’s the best game I’ve ever seen. At the end of two periods it was 0-0. It was scoreless into two periods.

“And then the floodgates opened in the third period and the Pontiacs ended up winning 6-0 over the Japanese national team. That I think was one of the most exciting games I’ve seen in the past seventy years, and just great hockey players in the past as well.”

With such rich history, the pinnacle could be found perhaps in 1980-81.

They won the Norlake League, the Alberta Intermediate ‘A’ Championship, the Pacific Zone championship (defeating Victoria for the Alberta/BC regional championship), and finally, meeting Winnipeg in the Hardy Cup Canada West Championship playoffs, just one step away from nationals.

Although the Pontiacs lost, they got just about as far as a team could go, an incredible feat for that team.

Fast forwarding to today, the Sr. Pontiacs are battling with the Devon Barons for a playoff spot, which raises the stakes for the game.

“It’s a critical game for us. It probably will determine the last playoff position in the North Central Hockey League. So it’s an important game on its own,” said Dennis Germain, who wrote the book on the Sr. Pontiacs — literally — in 1988 on the club’s first 35 years.

Germain has been a board member for decades. Germain’s father Rollie Germain was a longtime equipment manager of those storied teams and as such, has the Sr. Pontiacs area in the RJ named after him.

“We’ve got a couple of dignitaries joining us, the MLA, the mayor, the Reeve of the M.D. We have some league officials here as well. And they’ll have just a few minutes to speak. We don’t want to drag it out too long. There’ll be a tribute video, which was produced by Lakeland Connect. Thank you, EJ and Michael Menzies. Thank you for your work on that. So we’ll be debuting that video that night, just a five minute video, and then we’ll have a ceremonial drop of the puck.”

The event begins at 7:30pm at the RJ Lalonde Arena.

With files from Dennis Germain.