Pontiacs best Crusaders in impressive road win, prepare for Storm

The Bonnyville Pontiacs added another notch in their belt with their biggest road win of the season on Wednesday. 

Proving they are capable of beating any team in the AJHL, the Yaks travelled down Highway 28 and snapped the Sherwood Park Crusaders ten game winning streak with a 7-4 road victory. 

With the focus on execution, the Yaks offense had their best period of the season considering the circumstances, scoring five 1st period goals, and chasing backup netminder Elliot Pratt early into the game.  

In total, seven different goal scorers – Jack McAra, James Schneid, Levi Green, Luka Sukovic, Nicolas Beaudoin, Max Seguin, and Tyler Blocha – displayed a depth-fuelled offense, matching their goal-scoring total from three combined games last week.

The Crusaders were coming off of a 9-2 win over Calgary last Sunday, and tied for the best record in the AJHL at 13-2, before Bonnyville handed them their loss of the season.

It was a parade to the penalty box, with some questionable calls, including a five-minute major assessed to Clarence Beltz for slamming 16-year-old Kale Dach in the boards, and called hitting from behind.

Sherwood Park was trailing 5-3 at the time of the five minute powerplay, but the Yaks penalty kill held strong.

The home side came within one goal five minutes into the 3rd period, before the Pontiacs replied with a great combination play from Schneid and Seguin, the cushion they needed to eventually win.

Tyler Blocha snapped a six game pointless drought with his late game breakaway marker, his 8th goal of the season.

After being one of the highest scoring teams while shorthanded last year, the Yaks have now scored on the penalty kill in back-to-back games, with Beaudoin’s 6th of the year.

His goal stood up to be the game-winner, which is 5th GWG of the year, the most in the league. Bonnyville is also 5-0 in games Beaudoin scores.

Bodee Weiss started his 7th consecutive game, and was pelted with 24 shots in the 2nd period, and again put together another winning performance. Weiss has been one of the busiest netminders in the AJHL, and has seen his save percentage and goals against average come within the top-10 amongst starters.

JR Ashmead and Dante Siciliano played nearly half the game between them. Siciliano, now committed to Maine, has been a monster lately. Ashmead is proving to be the team’s number one option, playing his best hockey of his junior career.

Up next is another competitive back-to-back, with the Grande Prairie Storm in town for a set, riding a five game win streak and an ability to fill the net lately.

With a quarter of the season done, the Pontiacs sit 8-6-2, and one point ahead of the Storm heading into this pair of games.

You can listen to every game, all season on lakelandconnect.net or lakelandconnect.mixlr.com.