Bonnyville Pontiacs earn important road win in Spruce Grove

The Pontiacs have a four game point streak as they host the reigning Centennial Cup champs on Wednesday night, buoyed by the success of Luka Sukovic, left, Jack McAra, middle, and Billy Batten, right. 

While it wasn’t always pretty, it was effective, and the Bonnyville Pontiacs earned three out of a possible four points against the floundering Spruce Grove Saints this weekend. 

A tough to swallow 2-1 overtime loss at home, was followed up by a suffocating 3-1 victory at the Grant Fuhr Arena. 

Both teams right now are far cries from the exhilarating North Final last year – Bonnyville a team trying to find chemistry throughout their lineup and Spruce Grove a club that is noticeably lacking the elite skill they seemingly possess every season. 

But the Pontiacs now have points in four straight games going 3-0-1 as of late, and are finding paths to success, while limiting their overall mistakes.

“The guys played hard all three periods, but it was a really tight game…in the third we got three good goals to give us the lead. We’ll take it,” said assistant coach Darick Ste-Marie on the B&R Eckels Pontiacs Postgame on Lakeland Connect.

Nothing easy

Each game was a tight-checking, dump and chase battle, where each mistake was magnified, and either goaltender playing well. 

On Friday, it was another Luka Sukovic goal, his 8th of the season, that was the lone Yaks marker. But a turnover and dash from Evan Sundar tied the game in the 2nd period. 

In overtime, a gassed Pontiac group got caught in their own zone and the Saints took advantage for the full two points. 

Fast forward 24 hours and the game flow was exactly the same, the Yaks slightly better at 5-on-5, but it was scoreless for 46 minutes. 

Billy Batten broke the deadlock at the 6:27 mark of the 3rd period, which opened the floodgates for goals from defencemen Dante Siciliano and JR Ashmead, whose meek non-celebration underscored a terrific effort from that pairing throughout the weekend. 

Batten and linemates Jack McAra and Luka Sukovic remained the team’s most potent attack, with McAra earning three assists, and each extending their point streaks. 

Bodee Weiss has strung together three terrific starts in a row, making 25 saves, and would’ve had a shutout too, had the Yaks completed the zone clearance on the Saints desperation 6-on-5. 

Weiss is currently rocking his best ever goals-against-average at 2.84, and his save percentage is getting back on track at .892. 

The Yaks PK went 5/5 over the weekend and continues to rise up the AJHL ranks, sitting 8th at 82.5 per cent, and killing 11 of their last 12 in three games.

“They did a great job…they move fast and they played really with their stick and cutting those passing lanes. Everyone was focused on their job,” said Ste-Marie.

Major test on the way

The team is now sitting at .500 with a 5-5-2 record, good enough for a tie in 8th place overall in the standings.

Luka Sukovic has already tied his total goals from last season with eight after Friday night and is riding a six game point streak. Billy Batten and Jack McAra each are sitting top-10 in rookie points across the league.

However, trying to find scoring from the rest of the lineup remains a challenge, but not for a lack of trying, as Nico Beaudoin was turned aside by a toe on a breakaway.

Getting execution more often is the trick. In the 3rd period, the Yaks buried each goal with a well-placed shot, but rebounds were their friend.

They are going to need more of that on Wednesday night as Bonnyville hosts the Brooks Bandits, who aren’t necessarily the offensive juggernauts of old, but maintain far and away the lowest goals against across the AJHL, surrendering just 18 goals in 11 games.

The Bandits sit 10-1 on the season with their loss coming to the hands of the Camrose Kodiaks, and play the Fort McMurray Oil Barons tonight before coming to Bonnyville on Wednesday.

“Obviously Brooks is the team to beat and we need to keep building on what we’ve done in the last couple games. Offensively, we need to better for sure. Hopefully we’ll keep improving every game and we’ll see what happens.”