Pontiacs head coach to officials following weekend losses: “It’s unacceptable”

The Bonnyville Pontiacs were shutout 5-0 on Friday night in just their second home game, then couldn’t buy a goal in the shootout on Saturday, taking just one point against the Lloyd Bobcats last weekend. They are now on a four game losing skid. 

In the rarity of a 12 round shootout, Bonnyville Pontiacs head coach Ayrton Nikkel was not so much focused on the myriad of chances to win the game in the shootout that were squandered — it was the officials.

“I think it’s extremely difficult – like I said last night — taking six penalties again. I thought four of the calls were atrocious,” said Nikkel following the 2-1 loss on Saturday night. 

“I think we’re getting penalized more than any other team in the league and we absolutely don’t deserve to be doing it. I think there are a lot of soft calls against us. It’s unacceptable.” 

These comments on Lakeland Connect got Nikkel in some hot water on Monday with the AJHL brass, but the rookie head coach was looking to send a message: either to the league, his team, or both.

Penalties are killing the Pontiacs right now.

Twice, the Bobcats were afforded five-on-three powerplays on Saturday, and eventually they hit paydirt.

On Friday, four of the five goals against where when the Yaks were shorthanded.

Overall, the Bonnyville penalty kill has surrendered nine goals in the last four games, all losses.

In each game against Devon to start the year, they were shorthanded seven times.

The consistent trips to the penalty box are costing them. Overall, they’re minus-9 in powerplay to penalty kill differential, which is not a recipe for success.

Where are the goals?

But borne out of this frustration could be the fact that the Pontiacs, who scored 18 goals in their first four games, now have only two total in their last three games — both from Kailus Green.

The offense has not been clicking.

With a crowd packed on Friday night for the first home game in three weeks, the Yaks struggled to move pucks cleanly from zone to zone on the poor ice.

Rhett Miller in his Bobcats debut scored twice on the powerplay, Alessio Nardelli scored his second of the season, and Jack Ferguson and Cooper Moore both earned their first AJHL goals.

Even in the 3rd period when the chances were coming, there was a repellent force surrounding the puck, shown when Bronson Ross had a tap-in to an open net, and the puck hopped over his stick.

With the focus on execution and tracking zone to zone, Bonnyville was much better on Saturday night.

Brayden Vandenbilche was forced to play defence, as Lynden Hanvold didn’t make the trip due to injury, and the Pontiacs IR list grows.

He was sturdy in the circumstances, and it was nip and tuck hockey game.

Kyle Kalamaras was called for holding deep in Pontiacs territory, and then on the kill, Jordan Schanbacher’s over zealous crosscheck put the Yaks on another extended PK.

This allowed Nardelli to break the ice finally at 13:50 of the 2nd period.

To Bonnyville’s credit, they tied it up right away, with a perfect Kailus Green shot on the rush from a Slade Firkus saucer pass.

The return of Myles Gauld to the lineup was a surprise, but he nearly played hero, hitting the post in the 3rd, and had three chances in overtime, hacking and whacking at the goalmouth.

The full 12 rounds

However, overtime determined nothing, creating then the longest shootout in over five years for the Pontiacs.

With the Pontiacs shooting second, Cody Butikis, who had made 37 saves in 65 minutes, was sensational.

Dayton Reschny was a cool customer and scored in the first round, creating 11 chances for the Pontiacs to win in the shootout. They couldn’t beat Anders Miller again.

Jaxan Hopko’s 12th round goal was the difference.

The loss puts the Pontiacs record to 2-4-1 on the season, which for the moment, is the lowest in the AJHL standings. Bonnyville has also played the fewest games in the league thus far.

The heavy road weighted schedule does not let up either.

This weekend, the Pontiacs play three games in three days, first in Olds, then twice in Canmore.

That should be a silver lining to this situation to a disgruntled fan. Once they finish this weekend stretch, they’ll play two at home and two on the road, then have a gargantuan home stretch before Christmas.

Bonnyville will host 11 of 14 games before the holiday break — that’s a substantial opportunity to make headway in the standings.

But more than that, they need to get the new pieces on the chess board going.

Personnel/Notes

Some quick hitters for you:

• Dayton Reschny has the tools. The Yaks forward is skilled and even in limited minutes in his season debut on Saturday coming off of injury, he’s going to be a welcome addition. Reschny was 5th in SMAAAHL (Sask U18 AAA) scoring last year. He’s also cousins with Cole Reschny, who is projected to be a mid-first round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.
• Help on the backend? The Pontiacs could use another defenceman. Alex Coventry’s practice injury is not short term and he’s a big loss (literally). With Hanvold’s status uncertain, are the GMs able to bring another defender to help for the time being? Or will Vandenbilche, who did play a handful of games on the backend two years ago, continue to slot there until health returns?
• I don’t have the desire to look through the results of the past 15 or so years, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Saturday’s shootout is the longest in franchise history. Please reach out if you recall a longer one. It’s easily the longest in the six years I’ve done play by play.
• Kailus Green remains top-3 in league scoring with 11 points. The league’s leading scorer is Ellis Mieyette, a rookie for Drumheller, who has 14 points in 9 games.
• Meatloaf famously sang that Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad. But it’s not a great penalty kill percentage, and Bonnyville’s is 68.4%.
• The Calgary Canucks, who lost three in a row to start the year, are back. They’ve won six straight.
• Canmore Eagles netminder Hudson Sedo is off to an incredible start. He’s 4-0 and only allowed four goals, boasting a .959sv%.
• Everyone is adding. The player movements are wild right now. Every time you look at a roster sheet you see new names.
• Remember those guys? Some former Pontiacs are off to good starts in the BCHL, others have been quiet. Nico Beaudoin has 5 points in 5 games in Sherwood Park, but Max Seguin (captain of the Spruce Grove Saints), has yet to score. Dante Siciliano has been in and out of the lineup in Brooks. Jack McAra has one assist in 5 games in Blackfalds.

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Lakeland Connect is the home of ENT Oilfield Bonnyville Pontiacs hockey. You can listen to Michael Menzies call every game, all season on lakelandconnect.net/pontiacs.